The Grey Family

Ref. S211

The Davy Family story (Ref. S21) mentions Margaret Grey marrying John Davy 17.9.1762 at Wooler and her burial there 30.9.1804.  If we take the burial register to mean that she died in her 73rd year and we settle on the only baptism of a girl of that name indexed in the northern half of Northumberland between 1731 and 1741 we can accept that Margaret Grey was baptised at Wooler 5.12.1731, the daughter of James Grey. Apart from Margaret’s birth and marriage places being the same, there is further comfort in that John and Margaret named their first surviving son John and their younger one James.  If they followed custom and practice then the maternal grandfather would indeed be James Grey.  Furthermore that makes Margaret  marrying John Davy when she was 30 (and he was 26) and having her last child – correct that, twins – when she was  41, which all seems quite reasonable.

Grey-Johnson Family

James Grey had children baptised at Wooler from 1726 but the mother’s name is not mentioned on the records we have seen. The indexes offer only two possible marriages in the northern half of Northumberland in the early 1720s, i.e.

2.6.1723 at Embleton James Grey and Jane Embleton and

11.6.1723 at Ford James Gray and Mary Johnson.

The former couple proceeded to have a number of children at Embleton with dates clashing with those of “our” James Grey, but the latter couple just had a boy in 1724 at Ford, so not ruling out having their next child in 1726 in Wooler. In the absence of any reasonable alternative we are accepting Mary Johnson as an ancestor.

The resulting family is given in Appendix 1 hereto.

 James Grey was buried ay Wooler 11.3.1763, age not disclosed and we have seen no possible leads as to his origin. Mary nee Johnson was buried at Wooler 30.8.1766, again age not disclosed.  Actually, we did notice a baptism at Ford 29.3.1699 of Mary Johnson daughter of Michael.  Given that James and Mary gave their second son that name it could well be that Michael Johnson is a 6 x great-grandfather of Sheena’s

February 2019

Appendix 1 to Ref. S211

 James Grey Family

 James Grey and Mary Johnson married 11.6.1723 at Ford.

They had children baptised as follows:

At Ford

Thomas Gray   Baptised 24.6.1724.  Buried 5.7.1724

At Wooler

Michael Grey  Baptised 7.4.1726NS.

Margaret Grey Baptised 5.12.1731.  Line of descent.

Andrew Grey  Baptised 17.3.1734NS.

James Grey      Baptised 1.4.1739.