My grandmother's name was Isabella Sheaf. In the Sheaf family, her name was almost unique. As I have been researching the different lines of this family, Isabella or its variations has rarely featured.
Going back about 400 years however, there are fleeting references to an Isabel Sheaf, daughter of Thomas Sheaf DD and Maria Wilson. Up until now, she has been a shadowy figure, mentioned by her birth name in only one family will. The first reference I found to Isabel was in the will of her uncle, David Rawson (Husband to the sister of Maria Wilson) citizen and Merchant Taylor of London, in 1616. He leaves her "three pounds to be bestowed in a piece of plate and given her at her age of twenty one years or at the day of her marriage, which ever shall first happen." From this, one presumes that Isabel is not yet married OR 21, putting her birth sometime between 1595 and 1616.
In the absence of any record for birth, marriage or death for an Isabel Sheaf at the appropriate time, this necessitated some alternative research strategies. One of the difficulties with this family is that they consistently referred to women in wills by their married family names only - eg: daughter Westley, daughter Norwood, sister Whitfield, sister Bale etc. Grrrrrr!
After trying many different combinations of names and places I found baptism/burial records for children of Thomas and Isabel Norwood in the parish of St Alphege, Canterbury and also in Harbledown, a hamlet just outside Canterbury. The children were named Mary, Rebecca, William and Isabel which fitted into the context of family naming patterns; and the dates between 1633 and 1639 also fitted an appropriate time frame. A little more research yielded the information that Thomas Norwood was an Anglican Clergyman, born in St Mildred Canterbury, ordained as a preacher to the diocease of Canterbury and Rochester in 1632 and appointed curate of the parish of Harbledown in 1636. A perfect fit! He died in 1637 and in his will named his widow Isabel and daughters Mary, Rebecca and Isabel.
The next reference that seems to match Isabel, was in the 1639 will of her father Thomas Sheaf, also an Anglican Clergyman. He refers to her as daughter Norwood but gives no other indication of her identity.
In 1647, Isabel's brother Edmund Sheaf died. He was a citizen and mercer of London and had married Elizabeth Cotton. He also names his sisters by their married names, but sister Norwood has disappeared from the list and "sister Bale" appears. From this I deduced that Isabel Sheaf, then Norwood, had remarried to a Mr Bale. I had a look at more Canterbury registers and found a baptism for John Bale in 1646, son of John and Isabel. This looked hopeful!
I cross checked against some other family wills and found a legacy to John Bale, son of Dr John Bale of Canterbury in the will of Isabel's brother Grindall Sheaf in 1680. Grindall (also an Anglican Clergyman) named several nieces and nephews but going by his birth date I think Dr John Bale was Isabel's son, rather than her husband, making the legatee a great-nephew of Grindall.
It is also highly probable that Isabel and John Bale had at least one other child, a daughter Isabel, who married Thomas Smith in 1677 at St Mary Bredin, Canterbury. Another highly probable link is that a John Bale of Canterbury married Elizabeth Juxon in 1676 also at St Mary Bredin. The Juxon family were connected to the Sheafs through the marriage of Edmund Sheaf (Isabel's brother) and Elizabeth Cotton, who was the daughter of Samuel Cotton and Elizabeth Juxon.
All things considered, I think it is highly probable that the Isabel Sheaf, daughter of Thomas and Maria, married first Thomas Norwood and then John Bale and bore at least 6 children.
