EDDY Family of Cornwall

Baptism records for William EDDYs are as follows. Records checked are for dates prior to 1776 as he would have been older than 16 when married. (a) 04 Nov 1776, St Just, son of John EDDY & Mary (b) 18 May 1775, St Just, son of William EDDY (c) 15 Apr 1769, St Just, son of Thomas EDDY & Mary (d) 01 Jan 1766, St Just, son of William EDDY & Mary WARREN (e) 28 Jul 1765, Zennor, son of William EDDY & Margery (f) 10 Nov 1764, St Just, base son of William EDDY (g) 26 Jan 1755, Zennor, son of William EDDY & Mary Of these, (a) & (b) appear too young, (g) possibly too old, leaving (c), (d), (e) and (f) as the most likely parents. WARREN and Margery are names that don't seem to be used in subsequent generations, casting doubt over (d) & (e), and the marriage register claims William EDDY and Mary GRENFELL were both of this parish - St Just - eliminating (e) and (g) more firmly. This would leave both (c) and (f) as favourites, although (d) cannot be fully discounted, as the age when married would be approx. 22, 27 and 25 respectively, and the names Thomas, Mary and William all appear in subsequent generations. Baptisms (d) and (f) would appear to be for illegitimate children, making determining the father more difficult.

However, looking through burial records post April 1810 (when son Richard would have been conceived), I found 2 possible matches. (A) William EDDY buried 2 May 1812, St Just in Penwith. Unfortunately there is no age recorded, but as he is not recorded as "son of", we can assume he was of adult age. (B) William EDDY buried 10 Jan 1836, St Just in Penwith, aged 72. Residence recorded as Carrarrack. This would mean he was born before 10 Jan 1764, and is most likely the illegitimate child, (f), above.

Burial (A) is very interesting as this date coincides exactly with when Richard (his son) was baptised at the odd age of 1 year and 4 months (age noted especially in the baptism register). Is this a coincidence or deliberate? Originally I thought it perhaps a little unpleasant to have a child baptised the same day as his father is buried, so assumed burial (B) to be the correct one. However, I've since come across other examples of a child being baptised the same day as the father's burial which means I now believe (A) is the correct burial.

From further burial checks I have found a William, son of Thomas, buried 29 Nov 1776, and as I have found no other baptisms for a William son of Thomas, this burial probably refers to (c) which eliminates him, leaving (d) and (f) as the only possibles of which I believe (f) is the most likely due to the rationale given in the burials above.

In the baptism registers, there are many children with parents recorded as William and Mary EDDY, and as there were several marriages between a William EDDY and a Mary, trying to work out which child belonged to which parents was difficult. However, William EDDY and Mary HOCKING married in St Just 1766 and is the earliest William and Mary marriage (there is another William and Mary in Zennor in 1750, but their children were baptised there) and the next is William EDDY and Mary BOSENCE in St Just, 11 Mar 1780. As Mary BOSENCE's husband was buried 28 Nov 1782 in St Just, all children baptised to William and Mary from then until 15 Sep 1791 (when William EDDY married Mary GRENFELL) must be from William and Mary HOCKING - the last being John baptised 16 Apr 1788.

So, bearing this in mind, some of the children baptised in St Just after 15 Sep 1791 could have been born to William EDDY and Mary HOCKING, growing less probable with time as Mary HOCKING would have been about 45 in 1791 (assuming she was about 20 when she married in 1766). The following children were in the St Just register for baptisms 1784 - 1812 after 1791 with parents "William and Mary EDDY" : Thomas (1792), Esther (1794), William (1796), Edward (1799), John (1802), Esther (1804), James (1808) and Richard (1812, aged 1 year 4 months). Since there are many cases where the first child born to a couple is given the same name as its parents, William (1796) could be the first child for William EDDY and Mary GRENFELL, with Thomas and Esther (x2) belonging to the 'other' couple. This is speculation though, and as well as Mary HOCKING's age, one piece of evidence that would suggest that the Esthers are part of this family is that James has a granddaughter named Esther Aveline EDDY. Working out the significance of Thomas (grandfather/uncle/??) to both/either family could provide clues.

On a file from Bob Beaton there was allegedly another daughter for William EDDY and Mary GRENFELL, Mary born 1797 in St Just, with source recorded as "ancestors of Joy Hammond". I have not found proof for the existence of this daughter, and suspect it could be an error. The only Mary EDDY that I know of baptised around that time was the daughter of David and Mary, baptised 11 Apr 1797.