Chapter 16

Chapter 16.

THE LINE FROM WILLIAM "MAGNUS" DAGGETT

William Daggett I had two surviving sons, William and Robert. Robert has been dealt with in Chapter 4 as one of our own ancestors and his brother William founded a dynasty whose members appear on the left-hard side of our main chart.

This William was born in Pickhill about 1588 and died there in 1651. He married Ann Winde in 1653, who died in 1691 at Pickhill. The details of some of the male descendants have not been researched, but it is possible that some of them have continued to the present day. Many of the issue of those Daggetts were girls who either died in infancy or took on a different surname on marriage. Similarly some of the male line died soon after birth. However, there was one member who must be treated separately. This was Jane, baptised at Pickhill 18th August 1802, the daughter of William and Elizabeth. In 1824 at Sedgefield Co.Durham, she married a Newcastle attorney-at-law named Henry Ingledew who himself had been baptised in 1786 at Burneston, a parish adjacent to Pickhill.

Of Jane and Henry's children, William was given the name Daggett as a second forename, after his mother's maiden name. This William Daggett Ingledew dropped his surname when his mother died and became known as William Daggett. He married Eliza Ann Umpleby in Lambeth in 1853 and he died in Newcastle in 1888 at the age of 60. Two children were named Kate and Henry Ingledew Daggett and Henry Ingledew Daggett, while the rest did not include Ingledew in their names. We believe that the last member of this line of "Daggetts" died in 1980. There were other, unconnected, Daggetts in the Newcastle district all this time.

Going back now to William (Magnus) (1588-1651) we find him so-called in the Pickhill registers for 1651. On 15th April we read of the burial of "Willi Daggett de Roxby Cognomine magnus". This nickname may have referred to his physical size or, perhaps, to his temperament. In 1632 he was served with a summons "to appear before the King and his Council in the North on the 28th May then instant at York to such complaint as Robert Daggett had exhibited against him." Robert was his brother.

William is thought to have married in July 1633, the bride being the daughter of John Winde of Sinderby, a manor in Pickhill parish. Her sister Elizabeth in 1622 had married Richard Daggett, a second cousin of "Magnus"; and much later, in 1659, Richard Winde married Esther Daggett at Pickhill. Thus the 'Winde-Daggett families were very closely interlinked.

Soon after Magnus' marriage "Mary Mattison a poor child of about the age of 9 years" was bound "unto William Daggett until she should accomplish the age of 21 years or be lawfully married to be taught the faculty of Good Housewifery."

William was also later known as Magog! He was buried at Pickhill on 15th April 1651, leaving his wife Ann who lived on for a further 40 years. Of their seven children, two died in infancy, three were girls who subsequently married and the two boys William and John continued the family line. John settled in Ripon and had four sons and a daughter. The last of these, John, carried on the family line in that city, but the loss of some of the early Ripon registers has rendered very uncertain any attempt to separate John's family from other Daggetts in the same place at the same time. Indeed, J.D.Daggett has found this confusion has frustrated all his intense efforts to trace his own family history back beyond this period.

William Magnus' other surviving male issue was another William, known as "longus" or Lofty! He was baptised at Pickhill in 1635 and buried there when he was 52. Although generally described as of Roxby, Sinderby was later added to this term. This may have been connected with his mother's family. A deed of December 1667 refers to William and his distant cousin, Richard. A further Deed of 1670 mentions "William Daggett of Sinderby" and his brother John of Ripon. Both of these documents concern transactions over certain land in Pickhill and neighbouring Burneston.

The terms "senior" and "junior" were often used to differentiate between people of the same name, but the method tends to be somewhat confusing now because successive generations of Johns and Williams have replaced each other as time passed, rendering such descriptions meaningless or nearly so to us. However, in 1686, we read in the Pickhill registers of the marriage of "Willia Daggett junr de Roxby & Mar…." Two years later we have, in April 1688, the baptism of " ––lia son of Margaret Dagget Roxby". This supplies the missing names: - The father William had died on 14th December 1687. This younger William in his turn became known as "senior", as did his son!

About 1713 the later William married Margaret Theakston of Hunton. She died in April 1717 at Pickhill. Theakston Hall is about half mile from Burneston Church.

In December 1713 there was a lease of land in Ripon from William Daggett of Pickhill yeoman to Christopher Theakstone of Hunton yeoman. We will hear more of Hunton when we come to discuss the Patrick Brompton Daggetts. Other Deeds resulting from the Theakston marriage include references to land in Leeming Lane opposite Healam House which is only half a mile from the inaptly named Roxby House of today on the Great North Road. Willliam Daggett senior and William Daggett junior are also mentioned and the names of some fields are given.

Margaret's husband ("senior") died in 1749 and administration of his estate was granted two years later to his son William (born 1714). Margaret was buried at Pickhill on 18th April 1717, the same day that her daughter Elizabeth was baptised! Elizabeth married when she was 22, but her brothers remained single until later in their lives.

William (b.1714) was also known as "senior" when he was older because he too had a son of the same name! This "senior'' William married his distant relation Margaret Dagget at Kirby Wiske on 5th November 1744, after which they returned to Pickhill. She was born in February 1718/19, the daughter of Richard Dagget who had married Ann Walker. Her grandfather, also Richard, was born in Pickhill in 1664 and married a Margaret --- on some unknown occasion and settled in Kirby Wiske where his son Richard was born in 1686.

Of the younger Margaret's two brothers, Thomas died when he was four and Richard married and had one child, Christy or Christiana, still at Kirby Wiske. The latter married in 1773 at Knaresborough. Her husband was Metcalfe Graham Steel and the marriage was by licence.

Apart from the occasional occurrence of the surname Metcalfe in the Daggett history, we have been told the story of Metcalfe Graham who was buried at Pickhill. He was a very influential local landowner who, in his will of 1720, left a bequest for his health to be drunk as long as there was a Daggett left in Pickhill to drink it!

To keep all the several Williams, Johns and Richards in their proper context this account should be read with frequent reference to our family tree charts. We return now to a discussion involving William "senior", born 1714 and noted on the larger chart.

This William was buried at Pickhall on 18th October 1763. His will had been made six years earlier and was finally proved at Richmond in June 1765. Margaret died in September 1811 at the grand old age of 92, having been born at Kirby Wiske early in 1718/19 !

William and Margaret had five sons, William, Richard, Christopher, John and Thomas whom we will deal with in turn.

1. William was born in October 1745 - during the '45 Rebellion - and he formed the link with what was later to be the Ingledew family. He married Elizabeth Hunton at nearby Burneston in 1770 when she was only 16 and he was 25. She was the only child of John Hunton of Carthorp. "The marriage was witnessed by William's brother, Richard. After William's death in May 1781 Elizabeth remarried two years later in Topcliffe to George Raper whom she also survived until 1840. In his will dated 10th March 1781 and proved in August at York by Richard, William left much to Richard on trust "until my son William Daggett shall attain the age of 21 years." This included property in Pickhill and Ainderby called The Moors and West Fields. He left large sums of money to his children and wife, and he described himself as "gentleman". An Inventory was to be made. Richard reported later that, instead of an inventory, he would swear that William's personal effects would not amount to more than £80. This, of course, did not include his landed property.

William's daughter, Christiana, born in 1770 had, according to the Mormon I.G.I., died in infancy but we have not found the appropriate entry in the records.

Elizabeth, born the following year, at the age of 18 married a farmer called John Raper of Scruton near Catterick. (How the name Raper has re-occurred throughout this history!)

William was born in 1774 and was, therefore, only seven when his father died. At one time we considered whether this William was our own forebear who was born the same year, but other facts came to light to disprove this theory. William married in April 1799 at Bedale, where his uncles Richard and Christopher had become well-known. The bride was Elizabeth Pybus, daughter of John Pybus, baptised at Kirkby Fleetham. William and Elizabeth lived at Pickhill where their four children were born. Three of these died within a week of birth, including two more Williams who marked the end of an unbroken line of William Daggetts stretching back over eight generations. The surviving child was Jane who has been already mentioned on page 16/1 in connection with Henry Ingledew.

Reverting to the children of William and Elizabeth Hunton, Ann was born in 1775 and married in the neighbouring parish of Kirklington in November 1798. The marriage was by licence and was to Simon Kettlewell, the witnesses being William and Margaret Daggett, her brother and sister. She died in 1812. John, baptised in 1778, died unmarried at the age of 36 and Margaret (b.1780) married Thomas Richardson at Topcliffe in August 1817.

2. Richard was two years younger than his brother William. He took up residence at Bedale and became the administrator of William's estate. He was described in various documents as "gentleman" which may have meant he was a lawyer. If this is correct it is very strange that he did not leave a will! His brother started to administer his affairs after Richard had died in 1796, but Thomas himself also died before he had completed the task. Richard was buried at Pickhill.

3. Christopher was the next brother of William. He was born at Pickhill in 1750 and died in 1784. He was an attorney-at-law at Bedale, following in the footsteps of his uncle Christopher. In Hird's "Annals of Bedale" there is a poem referring to Daggett the attorney, with a graphic account of how he met his death while travelling at night. Although Christopher is not mentioned in the North Yorkshire County Record Office publication "Bedale 1772-1841", it does quote a Mrs.Daggett (presumably a widow) who owned various plots of land shown on a terrier of 1772.

This would have been "Uncle Christopher's" widow Ann Hutton who sold some land in Ripon in 1769 and near Knaresborough the following year. We do not know whether the younger Christopher or Richard ever married.

4. John was William's third brother (1751-1786), both events taking place at Pickhill. Little else is known about him.

5. Thomas is much better documented, however. He was born in Pickhill in April 1753 and is the chief reason for the section "Patrick Brompton" on the smaller of our two large charts. He was pretty wealthy with houses, land and stocks of cattle and was a "gentleman". He became known as Thomas Daggett of Hunton, a village two miles from Patrick Brompton. "To Escape the Monster's Clutches" - a N.Yorkshire County Council publication about the measures taken to anticipate a Napoleonic invasion - lists Thomas as paying for one saddle horse in the year 1798-99 - at the same time that our own William IV was serving in the Militia. Thomas died in Patrick Brompton parish in 1803 but he was buried in Pickhill churchyard near the porch and next to the Daggett table tomb described later in this chapter. The headstone is still in excellent condition and merely says :-

In Memory of

Thomas Daggett

late of Hunton

who died the 20th of March 1803

Aged 50 Years.

Thomas ' will tells us much about his life and family, some of which we have reconstructed in the Patrick Brompton chart. He mentions his "natural daughter Elizabeth Daggett otherwise Elizabeth Daggett Sackville otherwise Shackvill now or late of the City of London" who in 1803 was still under 21 and to whom he left £300 in trust. He also bequeathed a "Bedstead and Hangings Feather Bed and Bedding" (very valuable items in those days) to his "natural daughter Margaret Cockfield by my said wife", also under 21. Further bequests were made towards "the Maintenance and Education and the placing out to some Trade or Profession my natural son Richard Daggett otherwise Richard Daggett Cockfield and my lawful son Thomas Daggett (both by my said wife) as my said Trustees shall in their discretion think fit until my said Sons shall respectively attain the age of twenty one Years"...and thereafter after the death of his wife or her remarriage "between my two sons share and share alike and not as joint Tenants .... ". Provision was made for his wife Eleanor (formerly Cockfield) to continue in occupation of his house at Hunton and the use of the household goods, but "if my said wife Eleanor Daggett shall happen to marry again then I do order and direct that she shall not afterward have or enjoy the Occupation or use of my said Dwellinghouse, Household Goods .... " and that all payments shall cease.

He continued "Provided likewise that if my said Wife after the making of this my Will at the Time of my Decease shall have any other Child or Children or shall be pregnant and in due Time bring forth a Child or Children by me lawfully begotten then and in such case I give to such Child or Children being a Son or Sons and to his or their Heirs …equal with my said Sons before named ... ". He seems to have provision for every eventuality!

For some reason, before his death Thomas took his affairs out of the hands of the Trustees he had nominated and appointed new Trustees. Then later these in turn renounced their responsibilities and appointed "Joseph Lister, Notary Public or in his absence any similar Court Officer ".

It appears that Thomas' natural son Richard was born shortly before the marriage to Eleanor which took place on 8th June 1796. Eleanor was already a widow and a native of Catterick. After she was widowed for the second time when Thomas died in 1803 she married William Wilson at Patrick Brompton in April 1804.

Reference to our chart will explain these various relationships. The son Richard married Isabella Thomas in 1823 and produced a family of seven children at Patrick Brompton. The first of these was Margaret, born in 1824.

Richard's brother Thomas took himself off to Bridlington where he married Charlotte Amelia Smith in 1824. They had two children of whom the first was yet another Thomas, born the following year. In 1848 this Thomas married his cousin Margaret at Leyburn where they settled and brought up two boys, Richard and Ernest. These two died at the respective ages of 65 and 82 in Hartlepool and Cleveland and we have not attempted to reconstruct the family any further. We return to the earlier generation where we find that Margaret's brother Christopher was born in 1831 at Patrick Brompton, lived in London, Woodstock and Devon and died in 1905 in Heavitree, Exeter, Devon. His sons Frederick and Albert Edward were born in 1864 and 1879 in South London. They both died in Devon in their eighties.

To round off this account we must report that near the church porch in Pickhill Churchyard and next to Thomas' grave of 1803 there is a large table-tomb. On the south face of this is a series of inscriptions, but it is so badly weathered (the stone seems very soft) as to be only partly legible today. However, we are indebted to the Ingledew family who preserved a copy of the original wording which once read-

IN MEMORIAM MORTUORUM ..........................PRO SOLATIO VIVORUM

Buried here

WILLIAM DAGGETT .............................Senior of Roxby 18th of October 1763, Aged 49

WILLIAM DAGGETT .................….……....Son of the above named 15th May 1781, Aged 37

ELIZABETH ..........Wife of William Daggett, Son of the last named, 3rd July 1805, Aged 27

MARGARET DAGGETT .……………Relict of William Daggett Senior, 8th September 1811, Aged 93

WILLIAM DAGGETT ................the Son of second-named 21st September 1812, Aged 38

JANE DAGGETT ...............… . . daughter of last-named William Daggett and Wife of

Henry Ingledew of Newcastle upon Tyne Attorney at Law and Deputy Recorder of that Borough

10th December 1849 -Aged 47

IN CURSU VITAE MORS

The surprising thing about this is that the most recent of the inscriptions, the one about Jane, is almost completely illegible now, only some of the date and the words "Attorney" and "Borough" being still decipherable. All the dates have vanished but most of the upper wording can still just be read or guessed at.

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