Nothing is known about the early life of Joseph. He is Ian's 4x great grandfather.

He married Elizabeth Gooch on 28 Jul, 1766 at St. John's Church, Metfield^a1 . They had nine children.

• Joseph baptised on 1 May, 1767 in Fressingfield, Suffolk^b1. Married Susanna Botwright on 13 Oct, 1788^c1. Died on 29 Nov, 1854 in South Elmham St. James, Suffolk^d1 at the age of eighty-seven.
• Mary baptised on 4 Feb, 1769 in Fressingfield^b2.
• John baptised on 14 Mar, 1771 in Fressingfield^b3. Buried on 23 Jan, 1772 in Fressingfield^e1 in infancy.
• Elizabeth baptised on 13 Nov, 1772 in Fressingfield^b4.
• Sarah baptised on 8 Mar, 1775 in Fressingfield^b5. Buried on 11 Jun, 1776 in Fressingfield^e2 at the age of one.
• Rose baptised on 29 Dec, 1776 in Fressingfield^b6.
• Sarah baptised on 27 Dec, 1778 in Fressingfield^b7. Buried on 13 Jan, 1779 in Fressingfield^e3 in infancy.
• Christobell baptised on 27 Dec, 1778 in Fressingfield^b8. Buried on 4 Jan, 1779 in Fressingfield^e4 in infancy.
• Maria baptised on 22 Feb, 1780 in Fressingfield^b9. Buried on 22 Mar, 1780 in Fressingfield^e5 in infancy.

He married Sarah Meen (1751–1820)★ on 25 Jul, 1785 at Church of St Peter & St Paul, Fressingfield^a2 and went on to have five children with her.

• Thomas baptised on 6 Aug, 1786 in Fressingfield^b10.
• Sarah baptised on 23 Dec, 1787 in Fressingfield^b11.
• John baptised on 4 Oct, 1789 in Fressingfield^b12.
• Sarah baptised on 27 Nov, 1791 in Fressingfield^b13. Married Jonathan Mobbs on 20 Jun, 1825^f1.
• James★ baptised on 11 May, 1794 in Fressingfield^b14. Married Mary Ann Martin★ on 12 Oct, 1821^f2. Died on 4 Feb, 1854 in Fressingfield^d2 at the age of fifty-nine.

Timeline

1766

28 Jul

Married Elizabeth Gooch at St. John's Church, Metfield^a1.

1767

1 May

Son, Joseph, baptised in Fressingfield, Suffolk^b1.

1769

4 Feb

Daughter, Mary, baptised in Fressingfield^b2.

1771

14 Mar

Son, John, baptised in Fressingfield^b3.

1772

23 Jan

Son, John, buried in Fressingfield^e1.

13 Nov

Daughter, Elizabeth, baptised in Fressingfield^b4.

1775

8 Mar

Daughter, Sarah, baptised in Fressingfield^b5.

1776

11 Jun

Daughter, Sarah, buried in Fressingfield^e2.

29 Dec

Daughter, Rose, baptised in Fressingfield^b6.

1778

27 Dec

Daughter, Christobell, baptised in Fressingfield^b8.
Daughter, Sarah, baptised in Fressingfield^b7.

1779

4 Jan

Daughter, Christobell, buried in Fressingfield^e4.

13 Jan

Daughter, Sarah, buried in Fressingfield^e3.

1780

22 Feb

Daughter, Maria, baptised in Fressingfield^b9.

22 Mar

Daughter, Maria, buried in Fressingfield^e5.

1785

25 Jul

Married Sarah Meen★ at Church of St Peter & St Paul, Fressingfield^a2.

1786

6 Aug

Son, Thomas, baptised in Fressingfield^b10.

1787

23 Dec

Daughter, Sarah, baptised in Fressingfield^b11.

1789

4 Oct

Son, John, baptised in Fressingfield^b12.

1791

27 Nov

Daughter, Sarah, baptised in Fressingfield^b13.

1794

11 May

Son, James Chambers★, baptised in Fressingfield^b14.
Economic status recorded as Pauper^b14.

1854

4 Feb

Son, James, died at the age of fifty-nine in Fressingfield^d2.

29 Nov

Son, Joseph, died at the age of eighty-seven in South Elmham St. James, Suffolk^d1.

Research Notes

When and where was Joseph born? #

We don’t currently have a good candidate for Joseph’s baptism. There are two principle problems:

1. there are several Joseph Chambers’ in the area at around the same time
2. some indexes of the parish records are unreliable

There are four baptisms in the Suffolk Baptism Indexes for Hoxne 1650-1812 and Dunwich 1754-1812. Here they are along with a short code for each one.

• 27 Jun 1680, baptism of Joseph, son of Joseph Chambers, of Fressingfield, in Fressingfield (JOS1680)
• 4 Jul 1765, baptism of Joseph, son of Mary Chambers, in Cratfield (JOS1765)
• 1 May 1767, baptism of Joseph, son of Joseph and Elizabeth Chambers, in Fressingfield (JOS1767)
• 8 Jan 1797, baptism of Joseph, son of Joseph and Susan Chambers, late Botwright, born 19 Nov 1796, in Wisset (JOS1797)

However the “England Births & Baptisms 1538-1975” collection on Findmypast and others shows these additional ones:

• 1 Mar 1691, baptism of Joseph, son of Joseph Chambers, in Fressingfield
• 6 Oct 1714, baptism of Joseph, son of Joseph Chambers, in Fressingfield
• 26 Dec 1738, baptism of Joseph, son of Joseph and Elizabeth, in Fressingfield.

It’s a mystery where the 1691, 1714 and 1738 baptisms have come from. We have an old printed copy of the IGI for Suffolk from 1988 and they appear there too. We suspect the entries in the IGI were simply made up to cover an inconvenient gap between 1680 and 1767. The gaps between 1691, 1714, and 1738 are 23 and 24 years, so perhaps they look like obvious generation gaps. We need to see the actual Fressingfield parish register to be sure.

There are very few Joseph Chambers in either the SFHS or Findmypast. These are the only baptisms between 1680 and 1800 in the whole of Suffolk. Strangely they are only in these few parishes. It’s a similar story for Norfolk with even fewer occurences of Joseph Chambers

There are four marriages involving Joseph Chambers in the Suffolk Marriage index for Hoxne and Dunwich Deanery 1754-1812 published by the Suffolk Family History Society (SFHS)

• 28 Jul 1766, marriage of Joseph Chambers and Elizabeth Gooch, in Metfield (JOSMAR1766)
• 25 Jul 1785, marriage of Joseph Chambers, widower, and Sarah Meen, in Fressingfield (JOSMAR1785)
• 17 Jan 1787, marriage of Joseph Chambers, widower and Frances Brundish, widow, in Fressingfield (JOSMAR1787)
• 13 Oct 1788, marriage of Joseph Chambers, of St James, and Susanna Botwright, in Wisset (JOSMAR1788)

We have these burials from the Suffolk Burial Index:

• 29 Aug 1676, burial of Joseph Chambers, in Bardwell
• 14 Jun 1684, burial of Joseph Chambers, infant, in Fressingfield
• 26 Mar 1694. burial of Joseph Chambers, son of Joseph, in Fressingfield
• 6 Jul 1765, burial of Joseph Chambers, son of Mary, in Cratfield
• 16 Aug 1777, burial of Elizabeth Chambers, in Fressingfield
• 21 Feb 1782, burial of Elizabeth Chambers, wife of Joseph, in Fressingfield
• 11 Oct 1807, burial of Joseph Chambers, in Fressingfield
• 21 Mar 1815, burial of Joseph Chambers, age 79, in Fressingfield
• 3 Dec 1854, burial of Joseph Chambers, age 85, in South Elmham

The 1815 burial indicates a Joseph born in 1736, between JOS1680 and JOS1765

There must be a Joseph Chambers born around 1736, but he wasn’t baptised in Fressingfield according to the indexes produced by the Suffolk Family History Society which tend to be quite reliable. We call this candidate JOS1736.

Currently the Joseph are accounted for in the following way:

• JOSMAR1785 is my ancestor
• JOS1765 was the Joseph buried in 1765 (as an infant)
• JOS1767 married Susanna Botwright in 1788 and is thus JOSMAR1788. Also he is the eldest son of Joseph Chambers and Elizabeth Gooch (JOSMAR1766). He died in 1854 in South Elmham and was a husbandman.
• JOS1797 is the son of JOS1767 and Susanna Botwright
• The Elizabeth Chambers buried in 1782 is Elizabeth Gooch
• JOSMAR1766 is the same person as JOSMAR1785, i.e. Joseph Chambers first married Elizabeth Gooch and then Sarah Meen. This is supported by there being 9 children baptised of Joseph and Elizabeth, a gap of six years and then 5 children being baptised of Joseph and Sarah. Sarah Meen was likely born in 1751 and woiuld have been 43 when her last child was born (my ancestor James)
• JOS1736 was buried in 1815

The following are unaccounted for:

• 1787, marriage of Joseph Chambers, widower and Frances Brundish, widow, in Fressingfield. There are no children of Joseph and Frances which suggests she was past childbaring age.
• 1807, burial of Joseph Chambers, in Fressingfield.
• 1777, burial of Elizabeth Chambers, in Fressingfield (but this is probably Elizabeth dau of Joseph Chambers and Elizabeth Gooch)

We don’t know the birth or death of my ancestor JOSMAR1785 but it’s possible that he was baptised in 1736 and that he is the Joseph buried in 1807.