The Doggett Family in 16th Century Suffolk
I am descended from Richard Doggett of Suffolk through his daughter Alice Lappage (d. 1584/5 Boxford, SFK) and, in the course of my research - both documentary and on the World Wide Web, I have found J. J. Muskett’s publication, Suffolk Manorial Families which includes the pedigree, Doggett of Groton, Lappage1.
My specific interest is in the structure of the Doggett family, prior to their friend and neighbour John Winthrop’s migration to Massachusetts in the 1630s, and particularly with respect to the apparent existence of two adult sons to John Doggett (died1564/5), both named William, who are shown in that pedigree; to John’s marriages and to the identity and marital condition of his daughters.
In essence, Muskett’s pedigree and other research recorded in the web document noted above shows the following:
John Doggett, d. 1565
+ perhaps Martha Ashfield, b. ?, d. ?
William the Elder, b. 1545; d. unknown
John (jnr), b. 1551, d. 1619
+ ?
Oreell (name uncertain), b. 1552, d. unknown
+ Mr Ardelye
Anne, b. 1555, d. unknown
+ Mr Kent
William the Younger, b. 1557, d. 1610
+Avis Lappage
The two William Doggetts.
The argument for this very unusual state of affairs is that William Doggett of Lavenham, who having been left certain lands in the parish of Groton by his father John Doggett, was selling those lands at a time (1567) when, according to his age at death as stated on a memorial stone in Boxford church, he was only about 9 years old - thus apparently proving that there must have been two sons of John called William; the second being considerably older.
After revisiting the original documents and study of the evidence developed by others, I have found the following:
Within the relevant period, there appears to be only one baptism/christening recorded for a William Doggett, son of John Doggett. viz. 4th May 1545 at Bures St Mary in Suffolk.
There appears to be only one burial of a William Doggett within the relevant period viz. 10th October 1610 in Boxford – according to his memorial stone in Boxford Church. Although the Lavenham registers started in 1558 (i.e. before 1567), there is no known burial for a second William Doggett; there or anywhere else. The 1610 burial does not appear in the Boxford Register.
John Doggett makes frequent mention of his children in his will2. The wording in each case is as follows (taken from my own transcription of the probate copy – (my notes in italics)):
William Doggett the younger my son (note: it does not say "my youngest son". Also, although it is not an unbreakable rule, it is quite usual to commence bequests with the wife – who predeceased him in this case – and then the oldest child.)
William my son
John my son
John my son
John my son
William my son
Said two sons William and John (note: the only two he has mentioned up to now)
William Doggett my eldest son (note: the only William known to have been baptised by John (1545) appears to be his eldest son)
William my eldest son (note: this need only mean that William is older than John – which is confirmed by the baptismal record and probably by his being mentioned first in the will.)
Anne my daughter
Anne my daughter
My sons John and William the younger (note: still no mention of a third son. Why not, if three existed, in particular as William of Lavenham talks about the property left to him by his father John?)
The said William my youngest son (note: use of the word "said" means he must be referring to one of the sons already mentioned in his will and therefore "my youngest son" should have been written as something like "the younger my son" because only two sons have been mentioned - William the Younger and John. So, as in many documents of the period – a mistake; certainly not proof of the existence of a third son. The point must also be made that this wording has been taken from the registered copy of the will and not the original document, which is now, in large part, unreadable. There is nothing to show therefore if the wording in the original will was actually "my youngest son" or "the younger my son" or similar expressions.)
My daughter Ardelye
My said three children John Doggett William Doggett the younger and Anne Doggett my daughter (note: here he confirms that he has only mentioned two sons)
William almost certainly died in 1610, but there is no known primary evidence (i.e. a baptism register entry in or about 1557; the relevant burials page in the Boxford parish register for 1610 is blank) supporting his age at death as stated in the inscription on his memorial stone in Boxford parish church. Who confirmed his age for the memorial stone, and how? His parents were dead (John in 1564/5 and his two wives Martha and Margaret before him in 1549 and 1562 respectively) and the only register showing the baptism of a son William to John Doggett indicates a birth date obviously not after his baptism in May 1545.
Additionally, there is no indication as to when the memorial stone was actually installed and it may have been a considerable time after his demise.
There is no dispute that the William Doggett of Lavenham, who sold lands in 15673 which his father John had given him, is the William mentioned in John Doggett’s will. If he was born in 1545, then he was over 21 and was old enough then to sell them if he wished. Where was William Doggett the Younger – if he is truly a different person to William of Lavenham – at that time? There is no record to be found in the district of a second William, in or around 1567 and there is no reason why William the Younger should not have been living in Lavenham at that time. It is only about 5 miles from Groton – a little over an hour’s walk.
In his will of 15664 William Moore (John Doggett’s brother-in-law) named William Doggett the Younger as a beneficiary. He (William Moore) only names one William - the Younger - before the sale of land in Groton when William of Lavenham must obviously have been alive. As William’s brother John and sister Anne were also beneficiaries, it seems strange that William Moore did not mention another brother William – if one existed.
William Doggett’s will of 16105 made specific mention of his brother John. So it again appears to be a curious omission, similar to that of William Moore’s, that a second brother, if there was one, was not mentioned as well.
John Doggett junior’s will of 16196 makes no mention of a brother William. As a William Doggett is commemorated on a tombstone in Boxford Church as having been buried there in 1610, this other brother William is again conspicuous by his absence.
There is no known will or probate documentation, nor mention in any other known sources of either having existed in the past, for a second son of John named William Doggett.
There is no reason why any or all of the properties mentioned by William of Lavenham should tie up in whole or in part with the lands stated in John’s will as being left to his son William. Hereditary and long held lands would pass by right to the eldest son and no mention would necessarily be made in a father’s will concerning them. Generally speaking, early wills tended to only mention those pieces of land recently purchased, when no other settlement or arrangement had been made about them at the time of the owner’s demise7. In the chancery suit concerning William’s will in 16448 this point is reinforced in Avis Doggett’s answer to the plaintiff’s bill in that Thomas (her son), received no bequest or devise in the will, which seems to be due to the fact that, by law, Thomas was entitled to receive the real estate belonging to his father, subject to any dower rights of William’s wife, Avis.
John Doggett’s frequent mention in his will of his son William as "the Younger" necessarily only means that there was another, older William Doggett known to him. This other William was possibly closely related and the sobriquet would have been used to ensure that the correct person was identified. However, the use of this expression to identify his son does not even mean that the older William was still alive at the time but, to avoid confusion in probate over any mention of assigns or devisees to or of any William Doggett, he might still have added "the Younger".
So this situation, per se, does not define the two Williams as being siblings. It is well known from the record that there were several other related Doggetts in the area at the time – some are actually referred to in wills and other papers mentioned in the web document. John is himself described as John the Younger in the Suffolk Feet of Fines of year 38 Henry VIII (April or May 1546) concerning a land transaction9 and this is because there was another John Doggett – certainly older than him (this other John was definitely over 21 in 1520) – still living in the area10.
Razzel has recently published a paper11 challenging the suggestion that there were ever any proven cases of two live children in the same family having identical Christian names. He asked for any evidence which he had not yet seen which might refute his arguments to be sent to him. I forwarded the case of the two Williams for examination and his conclusion12 was that there was no direct evidence whatsoever to substantiate the claim of John Doggett having two live adult sons named William. There could still have been, of course, two William Doggetts.
Finally, it is perhaps worthy of note that in the Boxford parish register for 1st June 1591, the marriage of William Doggett and Avis Lappage was recorded, but no mention was made of William being either the Elder or the Younger.
From this absence of any positive evidence for the existence of a second son called William, other than an uncorroborated age-at-death given on a memorial stone of unknown provenance and some ambiguous wording within a copy of John Doggett’s will, I have to conclude that John had only two sons, William and John, and that use of the sobriquet "the Younger" was only made to differentiate between his son William and another, non-sibling who was older than his son and who might still have been alive in 1564/5.
John Doggett’s Marriage
John’s apparent marriage to Martha Ashfield has been proposed elsewhere13. The Will of Robert Ashfield, of Stowlangtoft, Suffolk, dated about 1550 and probated in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury, (12 Goode), mentions his "brother" John Doggett and two sons of John had by "Martha my sister." Only one son, William, is known to have been born before 1550, but there is some doubt as to the precise date of the probate and there could have been another son born in that period whose birth was not recorded in the Bures Parish Register, and who died between 1550 and 1564/65.
Alternatively, it is possible that this is a minor error where John’s "daughter Ardelye" (see below) is actually identified as a daughter of Martha – which would appear to be sensible in terms of age - if reference was actually being made to two children, rather than two sons.
One of the legatees of John Doggett’s will was a Gyles Ashfilde, Gent., so there was an obvious close connection with the Ashfield family.
Additionally, as shown below, "The Doggett wife called Martha" was buried in Bures in 1549. This was John’s home parish at that time. Within the normal limits of the quality and quantity of evidence available for this period, this appears to provide a reasonable and adequate genealogical case for John’s first known wife being Martha Ashefield.
No wife is mentioned in John’s will and, indeed, in that will he asks William Moore (2nd husband of John’s sister Alice – thus his brother-in-law) to look after his children. This would confirm the register entry for his second wife Margaret’s burial and for him being a widower at the time of writing his will.
Parish Register evidence for some of the Family Structure
The following data have been found in the original parish registers14, all in Suffolk:
The baptism register for Bures St Mary has an entry for William Doggett the son of John on 4th May 1545.
William’s marriage to Avis Lappage on 1st June 1591 in the Boxford register.
Avis Lappage’s baptism is in the relevant Groton register on 1st August 1568.
Avis Doggett (née Lappage) is recorded as being buried at Boxford on 27th June 1652.
No other children are known to be baptised to John and Martha Doggett before her death (burial, to be precise), which was recorded in the Bures St Mary register on 9th May 1549 as "The Doggett wife called Martha was buried".
A son John was baptised by John Doggett at Bures St Mary on 12th Jan 1550/51.
A daughter, whose name cannot be deciphered but which appears to begin with either an O or an A and consist of five letters in total, (Oreel has been suggested) was baptised by John Doggett at Bures St Mary on 5th Jan 1551/52.
A daughter Ann was baptised by John Doggett at Bures St Mary on 22nd Mar 1553/54.
Margaret, the wife of John Doggett was buried at Bures St Mary on 26th Aug 1562.
Ann Doggett married Simon Snelling in Groton on 18th June 1576.
A daughter Mary was baptised by Simon and Ann Snelling on 5th May 1577 in Groton.
Another un-named Snelling daughter was apparently baptised by them on 10th Aug 1578 in Groton.
Simon Snelling (born 2nd Nov 1578, died 3rd Mar 1583/84), William Snelling (born 2nd Jun, 1582) and Simon Snelling (born 2nd May 1584, died 23rd Feb 1584/85) were all baptised by Simon and Ann Snelling in Boxford.
John Doggett’s Daughters
In his will noted above, John Doggett mentions only 4 children: William the Younger, John, Ann and his "daughter Ardelye". I believe I have shown who William the Younger was, and there is no argument about John and Ann being his children.
Who was "daughter Ardelye"?
Firstly, it is necessary to examine the naming conventions often used in 16th century wills. While they were not rigid, certain usages were quite general.
What is relevant to this argument is that a married daughter was considered to be a member of her husband’s family rather than as a member of her parent’s family. Thus, an unmarried daughter, often living at home, would be identified in a will as "Ann my daughter" or "Mary my daughter" or "my daughters Ann and Mary" etc., whereas a married daughter would usually be known as "my daughter Smith" or "my daughter Jones"; occasionally as "my daughter Mary Jones", the identifier being the surname of the daughter’s husband. Indeed, this is also the preferred method of naming a married sister such as "my sister Spencer" (as is mentioned in John’s will, referring to his sister Elizabeth Doggett). Whilst this can lead to problems later in identifying exactly which daughter was involved, it was obviously clear enough within the time period of a typical probate process not to have caused a problem – everyone involved would have known exactly who had married Mr. Smith, Mr. Jones or Mr Spencer.
If this convention was applied, it appears that "my daughter Ardelye" should properly be identified as a daughter married to Mr Ardelye and with this in mind, could John’s daughter with the undecipherable name (Oreel) be Mrs Ardelye as proposed in the Doggett document?
I would suggest not.
Oreel was not born until 1551/52. This means that she would have been about 13 years old at the time of John writing his will and have to have been already married. Although marriages at a much younger age were sanctioned in those times than is the custom now and the possibility cannot be totally refuted, this appears excessive and very unlikely. Although there was a considerable age differential between William and Avis at their marriage, there is certainly no evidence of any such youthful marriages occurring in the Doggett family.
Thus, we have Oreel, born in 1551/52 but not mentioned in John’s will and who is probably too young to be Mrs Ardelye and "my daughter Ardelye" - who is probably a third daughter. Ann Doggett born in 1553/54, surely cannot be Mrs Ardelye – she was even younger than her sister Oreel and, in any case, was mentioned separately and by name in John’s will.
So when was Mrs Ardelye born? She was already married in 1564/65 and, I would suggest, must surely have been at least 15 years old - probably older – which means that she would almost certainly have been born to John’s first wife Martha Ashfield. With a realistic minimum age of say, 18, it places her as a full sister to William. The lack of any mention of her in William Moore’s will of 1565 tends to confirm that she was married at that time. Although conjectural, Robert Ashfield’s mention of two sons might be more logically explained as two "children", William and Mrs Ardelye.
Ardelye is both a realistic and recognised surname at this time. Variants of the name are common in that part of Suffolk and over the border in Essex and families with various spellings of that name were recorded in Little Horkesley in Essex in the 1570s and also in the neighbouring Suffolk parishes of Stoke-by-Nayland and Polstead only a little later (1600). On the other hand, I have never seen Ardelye or any similar spelling used as a female Christian name during this period.
Additionally, in John’s original will (rather than the registered copy) mentioned above, the section mentioning this lady is clearly readable and there is a deliberate space left between "daughter" and "Ardelye" in which her Christian name could have been written. Unfortunately, this was never done.
Recent research (Dec 2000) has shown a Thomas and Elizabeth Ardeleye raising a family in the parish of Nayland in the period 1555/72 and although not proven, this may well be John’s daughter and her husband.
Lack of any mention in John’s will suggests that Oreel was dead by the time he wrote it.
Although they seem to have been undetected by all previous Doggett family researchers, Ann’s marriage to Simon Snelling and her apparent 5 children by it are clearly recorded in the local registers. However, the only known reference to her supposed second marriage to a Mr Kent before 1610 is in the 1644 chancery suit concerning William Doggett’s unseen will where there was a bequest to "Ann Kent my sister". However, in this same document, there is also mention by William of "my sister his wife" when referring to his brother-in-law John Brond15. John Brond’s wife was Susan Lappage who was not William’s sister but his cousin and therefore the identification of an "Ann Kent my sister" as definitely being his sibling is very much open to question. No confirmation of this marriage, of any issue or of the demise of the participants has been found by the author.
Ann appears to have actually had only 4 children. There is the unusually worded record of a baptism of an un-named daughter in August 1578, very close to that of her son Simon in November of the same year. This situation, combined with the atypical wording appears unlikely and leads me to believe that the reason a name was not recorded was because this was a clerical error in transferring the information from a personal note into the register long after the event – as was the common habit – and mistaking Mary’s burial for the baptism of another daughter. As the Snelling family had almost certainly moved from Groton to Boxford by the time the information transfer to the register was made, probably at the end of the ecclesiastical year, they would not have been there to consult.
The Family Structure
From all of the above, the best structure I can suggest from my research for John Doggett’s family at present is shown in Appendix I below.
04 January 2001
ã 2001 John McLinden. The right of John McLinden to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
References:
Appendix I
The Proposed Structure for John Doggett’s Family in 16th Century Suffolk
John Doggett b. unknown; d. 1564/65
+ Martha Ashfield b. unknown; d. 1549; m. prob. bef. 1545 (1st wife of John Doggett)
William Doggett b. 1545; d.1610
+ Avis Lappage b. 1568; d.1652; m. 1591
Known Issue $
dau Doggett b. bef. 1549; d. aft. 1564/65; m. bef. 1564/65 ("my daughter Ardelye")
+ Mr Ardelye b. unknown; d. aft. 1564/65
+ Margaret (surname unknown) b. unknown; d. 1562; m. aft. 1549 (2nd wife of John Doggett)
John Doggett b. 1550/51; d.1619
+ Dorothy (surname unknown) b. unknown; d.1605/06; m. unknown
Known Issue $
dau Doggett b. 1551/52; d. bef. 1564/65 (Name suggested as Oreel)
Ann Doggett b. 1553/54 d. unknown
+ Simon Snelling b. unknown; d. aft 1584; m. 1576 (1st husband of Ann Doggett)
Mary Snelling b. 1577; d. ?1578
Simon Snelling b. 1578; d. 1583/84
William Snelling b. 1582; d. unknown
Simon Snelling b. 1584; d. 1584/85
+ Mr Kent b. unknown; d. unknown; m. unknown (possibly 2nd husband of Ann Doggett)
$ These lines of descent have been investigated in depth by J. J. Muskett, J. Doggett, S. B. Doggett, J. A. Doggett, Dennys and others and are not considered relevant to this paper.