We first encountered the Jefferson name when we found that the Sarah Godfrey whom William Asthorp, Mike’s 5gr-grandfather, married at Luddington, Lincolnshire, 10.10.1738, as his second wife, was a widow who had been baptised Sarah Jepherson 9.3.1704NS at Haxey, Lincolnshire the daughter of William Jepherson and Elizabeth Sealand. All prior register entries at Haxey use the Jefferson spelling, so we are doing the same.
For the Aisthorp family story see Ref Y21 especially Appendix 4 thereto, which recites that William brought to their marriage two young children. In fact Sarah and her first husband Edward Godfrey, whom she had married 3.2.1732 at Luddington, had produced Dorothy, baptised 27.3.1733NS (buried 31.5.1739 at Luddington) and Elizabeth, baptised 13.5.1735. William and Sarah had just one child together, i.e. John (Mike’s 4gr-grandfather), baptised 2.3.1740NS. The marriage was short-lived as William’s burial was 13.3.1741NS at Luddington.
By that time one of Sarah’s children had died so she had the one year John and three other young ones to care for. As far as we know, she did not remarry and there was a burial at Luddington of Sarah Aistrop 19.11.1769. It is possible that she got support from the Godfrey family, who were local, or from her Haxey family who were quite numerous at that time and only about 15 miles away.
Jefferson Sealand family
Turning to Sarah Jefferson’s parentage, the obvious marriage was the one already mentioned, i.e. 13.11.1691 at Haxey between William “Jepherson” and Elizabeth Sealand. They lived at Burnham, which might mean Upper Burnham, the highest part of Haxey parish at around 130 feet above sea level, no less, or Lower Burnham, at the bottom of the hill. Not that anywhere in the Isle of Axhome, of which Haxey was the capital, could claim to be very elevated. William was said to be a yeoman, i.e. a leading citizen.
Some 70 years previously the newly ascended King Charles I had contracted with Cornelius Vermuyden and his predominantly Dutch associates to share the benefits of his proposed massive drainage works in the northwest corner of Lincolnshire, mainly so as to improve the royal hunting ground at Hatfield Chase, just over the border in Yorkshire. Ostensibly many landowners in the Isle of Axholme also stood to benefit but the outcome was by no means satisfactory for many of them and the whole project became the subject of bitterness and disputes, not to mention disastrous floods.
One result was to make Haxey more isolated, because two local rivers, the Torn and the Idle were diverted away and the neighbouring Great Mere became very shallow in summer, so that access to the outside world, which, because of widespread marshy ground, had always been predominantly by water, was very much curtailed. Hence the population remained quite static during 17C. A family historian might not mind this, since a greater proportion of marriages could be expected to be found in Haxey’s own register. The registers were written in Latin but are quite legible in facsimile.
William and Elizabeth are known to have had five children of whom Sarah was the youngest. Details are given at Appendix 1 hereto. William Jefferson was buried 4.3.1738 At Haxey. We have not seen a burial for Elizabeth.
Sarah Jefferson’s grandparents
As regards Mike’s 6 gr-grandmother, Elizabeth Sealand, the only possible baptism in the data available to us was 21.3.1669NS at Haxey, the daughter of Jacob Sealand. Elizabeth’s eldest sibling was Jacob, baptised 1.2.1663 at Haxey, so we were happy to associate this family with the marriage 16.11.1661 at Haxey between Jacob Sealand and Margaret Mosgrave. For the Sealand family story see Ref Y2121.
Turning to William Jefferson, the obvious baptism was 20.10.1661 at Haxey, the son of Thomas Jefferson, mother not named. This date would make William somewhat older than than Elizabeth Sealand but not excessively so. There was another Haxey baptism 7.8.1664 for Edward Jefferson the son of Thomas and Elizabeth. Furthermore, there was a burial 26.4.1666 at Haxey for Elizabeth Jefferson, wife of Thomas. We naturally looked everywhere in Lincolnshire for a Thomas Jefferson marrying an Elizabeth, prior to 1664 but the only Thomas Jefferson one we could find was indeed at Haxey but to Mary Browne 29.6.1656. If this was the same Thomas Jefferson we would expect to find a burial of Mary and a marriage to Elizabeth. We could find neither but by scrolling the rolls of images offered by the databank we could see that BMD data was missing for Haxey for the period 1654 to 1659. Hence it is quite possible that Thomas Jefferson had a family with Mary Browne then she died and he duly married Elizabeth, resulting in at least Thomas and Edward. So all we can say is that Mike’s 7 gr-grandfather was Thomas Jefferson with Mike descended also from an Elizabeth of unknown origin.
Although not significant for our purposes we discovered that Thomas Jefferson, on being widowed in 1666 (with young William aged only four) married for the third time 13.7.1667 at Haxey to Elizabeth Post, she having been baptised 3.1.1641NS at Haxey as the daughter of William and Isabella Post. They had three children, the youngest one being called Edward. The details of Thomas Jefferson’s families are given at Appendix 2 hereto. Thomas Jefferson was buried 28.8.1680 at Haxey.
Jefferson Browne family
The earliest child of Thomas Jefferson that we know of was baptised in 1661 at Haxey, so we searched for a baptism of Thomas in Lincolnshire from 1620 to 1640. The most obvious one was 5.9.1630 at Haxey, the son of Edward Jefferson. A later sibling was said to be the son of Edward and Margaret and we duly found a marriage 10.4.1625 at Haxey between Edward Jefferson and Margaret Browne. As Mike’s 7gr-grandfather twice named a son Edward we readily accepted this couple as ancestors. Details of their family are given at Appendix 3 hereto. Edward Jefferson was buried 30.11.1661 at Haxey and Margaret was buried there 25.1.1679NS.
Further research
We searched for an Edward Jefferson baptism back from 1605 but found none at Haxey, although another researcher has claimed one for 1596. We widened the search to the whole of England but found nothing of interest. In a similar fashion we were not able to verify the same researcher’s claim for Margaret Browne being baptised 18.5.1601.
February 2022
Appendix 1 to Ref. Y212
FAMILY OF WILIIAM JEPHERSON AND ELIZABETH SEALAND
William Jepherson and Eizabeth Sealand married at Haxey, Lincolnshire, 13.11.1691. They had children baptised there as follows:
Elizabeth Baptised 4.12.1692. Died young but burial not seen.
Anne Baptised 3.2.1694NS. Buried 26.8.1720.
Thomas Baptised 18.9.1696. Married 9.5.1723 at Haxey Sarah Scott. They had five children, four of whom had died under five years of age. Thomas was buried 12.6.1740 and the widow Sarah married 6.1.1741 at Haxey John Pettinger.
Elizabeth Baptised 11.11.1698 and buried 6.2.1702NS.
Sarah Baptised 9.3.1704NS. Married 3.2.1732NS at Luddington, Lincolnshire, Edward Godfrey. They had two children before Edward died with burial at Luddington 31.5.1738. Sarah then married 10.10.1738 at Luddington William Asthorp, their one child John being Mike’s 4gr-greatgandfather – see main text.
William Jefferson was buried 4.3.1738 At Haxey. We have not seen a burial for Elizabeth.
Appendix 2 to Ref. Y212
The Families of Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson married Mary Browne 29.6.1656 at Haxey. Various Haxey lists are missing for 1654 to 1659 so we do not know what children they had nor when Mary died. A daughter of Thomas Jefferson called Mary was buried 25.3.1661NS at Haxey. We surmise that she was from this marriage.
Thomas Jefferson’s second marriage was to a lady called Elizabeth but we have no details. There were two children baptised at Haxey, Lincolonshire who we believe were theirs, as follows:
William Baptised 20.10.1661. Married 13.11.1691 Elizabeth Sealand at Haxey, Lincolnshire. See main text and Appendix 1.
Edward Baptised 7.8.1664 and buried 10.8.1664.
Elizabeth Baptism not seen bur buried 26.4.1666
Thomas Jefferson married thirdly 13.7.1667 at Haxey Elizabeth Post. They had children baptised at Haxey as follows:
Elizabeth Baptised 29.11.1668 and buried 8.12.1668
Thomas Baptised 23.1.1670NS
Edward Baptised 22.3.1674NS
Thomas Jefferson was buried 28.8.1680 at Haxey and Elizabeth was buried there 6.2.1702
Appendix 3 to Ref. Y212
FAMILY OF EDWARD JEFFERSON AND MARGARET BROWNE
Edward Jefferson and Margaret Browne married 10.4.1626 at Haxey, Lincolnshire. They had children baptised there as follows:
Elizabeth Baptised 28.1.1627NS.
Thomas Baptised 5.9.1630. Married Elizabeth (details unknown) and was the father of Mike’s 6 gr-grandfather – see main text and Appendix 2
Mary Baptised 12,2 1633NS
Margaret Baptised 18.3.1635NS
William Baptised 17.12.1637.
Edward Baptised 2.3.1642NS.
Sarah & Ann Baptism not seen but buried together 21.11.1644, probably as new born twins.
Edward Jefferson was buried at Haxey 30.11.1661 and Margaret, his widow 25.1.1679NS likewise.
Young Family History 