John Fletcher - a twisty tale.

I am surprised by how mobile some of our ancestors were. We tend to think of people staying put for generations in a single town or village, and yes, sometimes this is the case. But sometimes the paper trail reveals a series of moves that can take a lot of painstaking unpicking before the puzzle pieces fall into place. This seems to be the case with my 6 x great grandfather John Fletcher. He was born in Ebrington in 1669 and it was there that his first child was born in 1695. The register does not mention a name for the mother. This child went on to become Mary Pool of my previous posts. The next journey for this little family appears to take them to Harvington, near Evesham, where four more children were baptised. However, before I discovered the Harvington connection, I had found a baptism record in the Wellesbourne register for Elizabeth Fletcher 1704, daughter of John and Ann Fletcher of Harvington. The dates seemed to fit so I investigated the Wellesbourne registers more closely and found two more baptisms, one for Robert in 1709 and one for Richard in 1712. I was particularly excited by this as the will of Richard Fletcher of Ebrington 1779, indicated I should be looking for him belonging to a family with siblings called Mary, Robert and Thomas. His burial record also indicated that he had been born abt 1712! So, with Mary and Robert in hand, I knew that if I could locate an appropriate baptism for a Thomas Fletcher I would be in the ball park. Time to follow up the Harvington clue. Dear Google led me to a website of the Harvington History group that has, with all the appropriate permissions, made freely available transcriptions of the Harvington parish registers. A quick search of these and I had my Thomas, as well as a William, Ann, and another Richard. Their births all slotted neatly into the gaps between the Wellesbourne baptisms, although my heart did sink momentarily when I discovered the second Richard. However further investigations revealed his burial the year after his birth. So my John Fletcher - born in Ebrington, lived in Harvington and Wellesbourne, where he died in 1725. What he did that took him to these places I don't know, but I would certainly love to find out! My next task will be to find out who Ann his wife was and where they were married.

Fletcher family of Ebrington

I finally feel as though I am starting to unwind some of the convolutions of this family. My grandmother Isabella Sheaf of Honeybourne was descended twice over from the Fletchers, with the marriage of Robert Fletcher and his cousin Muriel Fletcher in 1813. They were her great grandparents. The Fletchers are an important part of the Sheaf story not just because of this double line, but also because Isabella's childhood home at Honeybourne Manor Farm came into the Sheaf family through this marriage. Muriel Fletcher's parents were Richard Fletcher and Muriel Smith who were from the Aston Magna area near Ebrington in Gloucestershire. Richard was a child of Richard Fletcher and Sarah ? also of Ebrington. By collating all the BDMs I can find from the Ebrington registers and online indexes etc I have come to the conclusion that Richard Fletcher 1712-1779 (Muriel's grandfather) was a son of John Fletcher born Ebrington abt 1669. At this stage I have John's other children as Mary (born 1695 Ebrington), Robert and Thomas. Mary married Mr Pool and they had a child Charles. Thomas married somebody and had at least three children Thomas, Richard and Robert but as yet I have not narrowed down any specific dates for them. These are all named as legatees in an abstract of Richard's will 1779. Richard's 1779 will also mentions a niece, Mary Holtham wife of Abel Holtham of Wellesbourne. They were married in Wellesbourne in 1762. She must be a daughter of either Robert or Thomas, but at this point in time I am not sure which. Richard appears to have acquired considerable amounts of farmland in his lifetime, mentioning land/property in Ilmington, Ebrington, Hidcote and Saintbury. These are the leads I am currently following in order to find out more.