Chapter 18.
SOME DAGGETTS OF WIDER PICKHILL.
So far we have discussed only those Daggetts who followed John Richard of Roxby. In the single parish of Pickhill there were still further Daggett families, notably at the townships of Ainderby and Howe. There is some evidence of links between these and the Roxby groups, with occasional excursions into the nearby district of Thirsk and Topcliffe. The Deed of 1590/91 mentioned on P.4/2 was signed jointly by William Daggett of Roxby, Richard Daggett of Aynderby Quernhow and Robert Daggett of Howe, all yeoman.
Middleton Quernhow in the parish of Wath and Aynderby (Ainderby) Quernhow or Whearnhowe (and other variants) in Pickhill parish may need explaining. "How" is thought to derive from an Anglo-Saxon word for a low hill, and a"quern" from a similar source and from Icelandic too, means a milestone. So Quernhow must have referred to a low, round flat-topped hill. (Incidentally there is also a village near Northallerton know as Ainderby Steeple.)
The earliest Daggett burial we have found was that of William of Ainderby on 2nd August 1577. From him it is possible, by the aid of his will, to name his six sons, but further descent from them is uncertain. We have drawn a tentative tree for this family which suggests that some members left Pickhill and went to live in Thirsk after about 1690. Others moved across the parish boundary into Topcliffe. Much the same popular selection of Christian names is found, although for once there is a dearth of Williams! Hester Daggett, a great grand-daughter of William of Aynderby was baptised in 1624. When she married in 1659 to Richard Wind her name was entered as Easter. There were two Dorothy's and a couple of Mary's, but the male offspring were usually Richard or Robert, and one was called Thomas. One such Robert (1672-1730) who married Jane Dale in Topcliffe Church in 1700 named his first daughter Hellen. This was, presumably, after his mother, Ellen née Grange. Hellen was the person referred to at the end of the previous chapter as the bride of Christopher Wilson in 1724.
The Daggetts who were at Howe towards the end of the 16th century were less connected with our Roxby branches. They are fairly well accounted for down to about 1700. Unusual Christian names at that time in Daggett circles included Jennet, Frances and Francis, Leonard and Catherine. Before 1700 many members moved south to Boroughbridge in the parish of Aldborough, while others had gone south-west to Middleton Quernhow.
Francis, born in 1634, was registered as a Draper's Apprentice in 1651, as was his brother John five years later. The Drapers' Company listed them as being the sons of Richard Daggett of Howe, Yorks., yeoman. They are easily identified among the family at Howe, Pickhill.
Then in 1705 Stephen (son of?) Richard Daggett of Kirby Hall,Yorks., husbandman, was similarly apprenticed. The only names that we have in Kirby Hill as Stephen son of Richard refer to a birth in 1671, which would have made him 34 in 1705! The other possibility is that Kirby Hall is just what it appears to be.
The reference to Howe, Yorks. in the earlier two cases leads us to suppose, as have many other examples here and in other countries, that people were identified more by their own small settlement (hamlet or manor) ratherthan by their parish. There are many Kirby or Kirkby Halls in Yorkshire, part of villages with Kirby as part of a compound name. There is also one, fairly near at hand, in the parish of Little Ouseburn.
In April 1666 William, son of William Daggett of How was baptised at Pickhill. While he was only 16 he attended Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, where the authorities contributed towards his expenses. He had been previously educated at Leeds and at Coxwold near Thirsk. Three years later he took his B.A.. In 1694 William married Dorothy Moor in York Minster - the only Daggett ever to have had the honour of being married there - and he gave his address as Boroughbridge. He later became Rector of Birmingham. William and Dorothy raised four children of whom the eldest, Arthur, also went to the same College in 1714, having also attended Coxwold School. He took his M.A. seven years later and became Vicar of Theddingworth in Leicestershire.
John Daggett, of an earlier generation (1604-1644) had been a member of the same College in 1623, after being educated at Topcliffe. He took his M.A. in 1630 but did not enter the Church. He died unmarried at Pickhill in May 1644. That John had a brother George (b,1636) whose son George was listed as a "'Citizen of London" in 1675. His WilI of 1692 described himself as "George Daggett, Gentleman of Sion College Cambridge and St. Alphege, Cripplegate, London."
nother Daggett said to have come from Howe was Robert, whose baptism has not been found. He was at Sidney Sussex College, then took his B.A. and subsequently went on to Oxford soon after in 1612. He returned to Cambridge for many years and finally became Rector of Kirklington near Pickhill in April 1639.
Robert died on l9th August 1649. The Surtees Society Volume 62 contains "The Life of Mrs.Thornton". This woman was née Wandesford and she came from East Newton, Yorks., a place we have not identified. She and her family stayed with Robert at Kirklington in 1643 and the account includes a long eulogy on the Rector, "the godly man Mr.Daggett at Kirklington, minister there". He is said to have pined away because of his concern over the new methods of teaching and preaching religion, "this pieous minister of God's word".
In the same volume, and connected with the same East Newton, was the Will of William Thornton of that place "esquire" dated 8th February 1615. Among his many bequests, those to his servants were headed by . . . . . .
"My will is that John Daggitt my servant have the
growndes in the Marrishes he now possesseth, for
his life, paying the present rent".