Thursday, March 12, 2020

Who Were the Parents of John Richman (1788-1867) of Hilperton, Wiltshire? - Part I

John Richman (1788-1867) of Hilperton, Wiltshire in England is my 3rd great-grandfather.  I wrote a biography about him in 52 Ancestors in 52 Weeks - Week 33: #40 John Richman (1788-1867) back in 2014.

I started collecting information about the Richman families in Hilperton and the surrounding area in the early 1990s, and visited the County Record Office in Trowbridge in 1993, in addition to visiting the Hilperton church for worship and walking the grounds.  

Hilperton is a small village northeast of Trowbridge about 4 miles - really just a church, a school, and houses on a main road in two clusters at each end of the road.  

Hilperton Marsh is to the northwest of the stickpin, and the area near the stickpin is the second housing area.  Here is a map of Hilperton:

The church is near the small green area by the H in Hilperton.  

I think that my John Richman (1788-1867) resided in Hilperton Marsh as an adult, and may have been born there.  His son, James Richman (1821-1912) worked on the nearby Avon and Kennett Canal (the blue water course just west and north of Hilperton Marsh). 

There were a number of Richman families having children in the 1775 to 1800 time frame, based on the Bishop's Transcripts (on FamilySearch digital microfilm) and Wiltshire Baptisms (on Ancestry), including:

1)  John Richman (1744-1808) and Mary Parsons (1750-1817?), married in 1775 in Trowbridge.  They had children whose baptisms were recorded in:

*  Thomas Richman in Hilperton on 14 May 1775.
*  Ann Richman in Hilperton on 7 February 1777, buried on 28 February 1779.
*  Joseph Richman in Hilperton on 29 September 1779.
*  Ann Richman in Hilperton on 20 April 1782.
*  Mary Richman in Hilperton on 3 September 1784
*  Phebe Richman in Hilperton on 25 February 1787, buried 25 June 1788.
*  William Richman in Hilperton on 3 July 1796.

2)  Joseph Richman (1749-1829) and Hannah Mission (1749-1832), married in 1774 in Hilperton.  They had children whose baptisms were recorded in:

*  Elizabeth Richman in Hilperton on 23 October 1775.
*  Sarah Richman in Hilperton on 8 September 1781.
*  Eleanor Richman in Hilperton on 10 September 1785.
*  Hannah Richman in Hilperton on 23 July 1797.

3)  William Richman (1760-????) and Hannah Picture (1774-????), married in 1793 in Hilperton.  They had children whose baptisms were recorded in:

*  John Crabb Richman in Hilperton on 12 April 1795.
*  William Richman in Hilperton on 6 January 1797.
*  Elizabeth Richman in Hilperton on 25 December 1798.
*  Henry Richman in Hilperton on 14 December 1800, buried 15 January 1801.
*  Henry Richman in Hilperton on 4 July 1802, buried 7 October 1802.
*  Frances Richman in Hilperton on 30 December 1804.
*  Jane Charlotte Richman in Hilperton on 22 December 1805.

4)  Charles Richman (1760-????) and Jane --?-- (1762-????), married about 1784.  They had children whose baptisms were recorded in:

*  William Richman in Hilperton on 30 July 1786.
*  Julia Richman in Hilperton on 16 December 1787.

5)  John Richman (1765?-????) and Jane Child (1767-????), married in 1788 in Biddestone, Wiltshire.  They have no recorded children, but John was born in Hilperton.

6)  Some other Richman male or an unmarried Richman female out of wedlock.

For this list, I excluded couples where the mother was over 50 years old in 1788, and were married after 1795.  

John Richman (1788-1867) would fit well in the 1) Richman/Parsons and 2) Richman/Mission families, and perhaps in the 4) Richman/--?-- and 5) Richman/Child families, but not in the 3) Richman/Picture family.  It is possible that John Richman's (1788-1867) baptism was not recorded or was not performed, or was recorded in a local non-conformist church.

I have found two probate records for Richman men in this time period, and also Hilperton Land tax assessments in Hilperton and Whaddon, Wiltshire 1773-1884.  Neither record set has enough information to identify my John Richman (1788-1867).

Records that I have not been able to find for Hilperton include:

*  Hilperton church vestry records - probably still held at the church.
*  Non-conformist (Trowbridge?) church records - FamilySearch has an index for some or many of these.
*  What else?

This series will continue when I have more information.  DNA may be a help here, since I have many Richman cousins, but I need to experiment a bit.

If someone has ideas that might help me with this project, I will be happy to hear about them!  When in doubt, crowd-source!!


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