EDDY Family of Cornwall

As William's son William baptised 10 Nov 1764 was illegitimate, ascertaining which of the fertile William EDDYs in and around St Just could be the father will be impossible to work out with any surety. To confuse things even more, there is a second illegitimate William baptised 1 Jan 1766, base son of William EDDY & Mary WARREN.

Assuming he (William senior) was at least 18 years old when he got my 5th great grandmother pregnant, there were a number of William EDDYs that were around locally at that time. I found 10 baptisms for a William EDDY between 1722 and 1745 and of these, only one can definitely be eliminated, William son of Peter EDDY, who was buried 30 Oct 1740 in St Just in Penwith.

An alternative approach involves studying the names of William's grandchildren: Thomas, Esther, William, Edward Grenfell, John, James and Richard Grenfell. Of these, the unusual name of Esther sticks out. Looking for other Esther EDDYs - and hoping it was a name passed down within the EDDY family - gives only one baptism, Esther EDDY, 2 Jun 1771 in St Just in Penwith, daughter of Thomas EDDY & Mary. This Esther had a brother William that died aged about 7, so the forename William is in her family. I believe she also had an uncle William EDDY (that married Mary HOCKING), and based on this connection with the name Esther, I believe that he is probably the father of the illegitimate William.

In the baptism registers, there are many children with parents recorded as William and Mary EDDY, and as there were several marriages between William EDDYs and a Mary, trying to work out which child belonged to which parents was difficult, and open to subjectivity. However, William EDDY and Mary HOCKING married in St Just 1766 and this is the earliest William and Mary marriage (there is another William and Mary in Zennor in 1750, but they had children baptised in Zennor), the next being William EDDY and Mary BOSENCE in St Just, 11 Mar 1780. Therefore, all children baptised to a William and Mary before 1780 have been attributed to William EDDY and Mary HOCKING (Mary, Mary, Bridget, Elizabeth and Ann).

After 1780, there were the following children baptised to a William and Mary in St Just in Penwith: (a) William, baptised 18 Jun 1780, (b) Grace, baptised 29 Oct 1780, (c) another Grace baptised 17 Jul 1782 (there is a burial of a Grace, the daughter of William "IDDY" 6 Jul 1781), (d) Mary, baptised 03 Nov 1782, (e) Benjamin, baptised 4 Nov 1784, and (f) John, baptised 16 Apr 1788

There were more baptisms after 1788, but as Mary HOCKING would have been aged at least 40 years old by then (assuming aged at least 18 when married) more children born to this couple grow less probable with time. Also, there was another William and Mary couple, as William EDDY married Mary GRENFELL 15 Sep 1791 in St Just in Penwith.

I had a theory that William EDDY and Mary HOCKING would probably not have had a son named William since William senior already had an illegitimate son named William. However, speaking to staff at Cornwall Record Office, this wouldn't necessarily have been the case and a second son of the same name in these circumstances is not unheard of. Regardless, I believe it is still a valid comment and that it must reduce the probability that William (a) is the son of William EDDY and Mary HOCKING.

I believe that Mary BOSENCE's husband was buried 28 Nov 1782 in St Just, suggesting (e) and (f) were both children of William EDDY and Mary HOCKING. One piece of information supporting this is that Mary HOCKING possibly had brothers named Benjamin and John. Indeed, I can find no baptisms for a Benjamin EDDY before this one in 1784 suggesting the forename came from a maternal line.

Of the remaining, unassigned baptisms, (a) - (d), given the spacing of the dates I believe it would be fair to assume that the 2 Graces were from one couple, and William and Mary from the other. The first children born to a couple tended to be named after their mother and father, suggesting (a) and (d) belong to William EDDY and Mary BOSENCE. This is further backed up by the fact that William EDDY that married Mary HOCKING had a great aunt by the name of Grace, baptised 1 Jan 1684/85 in St Just, so Grace was a name used in the family. However, William EDDY that married Mary BOSENCE possibly had an aunt named Grace (I say possibly as there is a second possible set of parents for William's mother, Mary MATTHEW) so Grace was a name also used in their family. For now, and unless presented with a case to change this, I have assumed (b) and (c) belong to William EDDY and Mary HOCKING, and (a) and (d) belong to William EDDY and Mary BOSENCE.

If a link could be found between the forename Benjamin and the family of Mary BOSENCE (or her husband William EDDY's maternal line), then this would completely unhinge the conclusions drawn. If so, children (a) - (d) could be theirs, and it would suggest Mary BOSENCE's husband didn't die in 1782 (and in fact it was Mary nee WALLIS, wife of Stephen EDDY that remarried Thomas VEALE).

Incidentally, just because the baptism of William (18 Jun 1780) is so close to the marriage of William EDDY and Mary BOSENCE (11 Mar 1780), it doesn't exclude them from being parents. Apparently it was acceptable at that time to get your wife-to-be pregnant before committing to marriage, just to make sure she could have children and carry on the family name. Marriages would typically be preceeded by 3 weeks of banns being read in the bride and groom's parishes, but in some situations the marriage was "by licence" possibly because one parish was too far away to arrange banns, or possibly because of some urgency (due to pregnancy, for example). Unfortunately this doesn't help here as both marriages were by banns.

William's daughter, Elizabeth, had a daughter Grace but she could well have been named after Elizabeth's husband's grandmother. Incidentally, Elizabeth married John NEKERVIS, whose brother William married Elizabeth's sister Bridget!

In Phillimore and Taylor, the marriage between William EDDY and Mary HOCKING doesn't state that either William or Mary were from another parish (as was often indicated if so), so assuming William was from St Just, there are 2 Williams baptism in St Just that could fit: (A) 25 Aug 1733, son of William EDDY (B) 16 Mar 1734, son of Peter EDDY

As there is a burial recorded for William, son of Peter, 30 Oct 1740, this eliminates (B) and leaves (A) to be the husband of Mary HOCKING. Furthermore, William has a daughter, Bridget, named after his mother.