Orwell Ancestors featured in the Wills on Orwell Past & Present
A letter from Heather Bellamy about all the Orwell connections she has discovered.
By Heather Bellamy
I have just discovered your wonderful site. One side of my husband's family came from Cambridgeshire, many from Orwell itself, and the information found on this site is very interesting to us. We hope to visit the village in the near future but in the mean time I would like to thank you for the hard work done to transcribed the wills of some of the early residents of Orwell; this was great discovery for me, as many of the wills relate directly to our family.
Thomas Caldecutt is my husband's 9 times great grandfather. His daughter Martha, mentioned in his will, married William Swanne (8 times great grandfather) in 1665. William was buried on 9th December 1691 and Martha was shown as a beneficiary of his will as well as his children James, Martha and Frances.
Two of the other wills that also relate to our family, are those of 9th great grandparents William Adams, who was buried on the 29th October 1676 and his wife Elizabeth Adams, who was buried on 25th November 1680. William and Elizabeth's son Robert born C.1660 married Elizabeth Warboyes in 1682, and their son Robert Adams born in 1683, married Mary Merry, the daughter of John Merry (butcher) another 9th great grandfather (and another will). The families of Swanne, Caldecutt, Adams and Merry then come together when Sarah Adams daughter of Robert Adams and Mary Merry married John Swann, son of James Swann(e) and Elizabeth Staismore.
Another will is that of Richard Merry b.1706, son of John Merry and brother of Mary Merry, thus an 8th great uncle of my husband.
Another possible family link is to the will of William Fairchild, as William Swanne's mother was a Frances Fairchild. So there are seven wills that link directly to our family.
As happened often in smaller villages, the grandson of John Swann married the grandaughter of his sister Ann Swann, leading to my husband's direct ancestor George Dellar, born 1825 in Bassingbourn who then moved to London in the 1870's.
I don't know if any of these family names still exist in Orwell, but it would be wonderful to find out if they did.
Heather Bellamy