Memorial to James Turner died 30 October 1789 & his wife Elizabeth who died 12 March 1776 age 42 years. Great Ellingham Churchyard
On the 3rd November, 1789, widower James Turner was buried in the churchyard of St James’s Church, Great Ellingham. He had outlived his wife Elizabeth by some 13 years.
James & Elizabeth Turner
Little Ellingham Parish Church
Photograph taken May 2020
On the 6th January, 1761, James Turner married Elizabeth Houchin in the parish church at Little Ellingham. At the time of the marriage, both James and Elizabeth lived in Little Ellingham. The two witnesses to the marriage were Edmund Houchin and Nicholas King. James signed the register. However, Elizabeth signed with her mark ‘X’.
Elizabeth
It is likely that Elizabeth was pregnant at the time of the marriage. On the 31st May, 1761, their daughter Elizabeth is baptised in the same church.
Move to Great Ellingham
By 1763, James and Elizabeth Turner were in Great Ellingham.
Church of St James Great Ellingham
Five further children were born to the couple. On the 9th October, 1763, Mary was baptised in St James’s Church, Great Ellingham.
Sarah followed in 1765, Hannah in 1767, James came along in 1768 and Edward in 1770.
I believe that James and Elizabeth Turner lived at the farm we know today as Rookery Farm. I will come back to that.
Death of Elizabeth Turner
Elizabeth Turner died at the age of 42 on the 12th March, 1776. James buried his wife of 15 years in the churchyard of St James.
Marriages
In 1781, James’s daughter Mary married William Brighten in the Church of St James.
Daughter Hannah married local blacksmith John Steel in the same church on the 20th August, 1787.
Death of Mary Brighten
Sadly, James’s daughter Mary Brighten died in the January of 1786. She was just 22 years old.
The parish register reveals that William and Mary’s infant daughter Sarah was buried on the same day as her mother i.e. 23rd January. Infant Sarah had been baptised just four days earlier on the 19th.
Sarah left her widower William Brighten with a daughter, Mary.
James Turner’s Will
By 1788, James Turner decides to put his affairs in order and make his last will and testament. Turner was a yeoman. A small farmer who owned and cultivated his own land.
He appoints the Reverend Thomas Bond of Little Ellingham and Capel Bringloe of Hingham as his executors. Bond is also the vicar at Great Ellingham.
James Turner directs Bond and Bringloe to sell and dispose of all his property and lands in Great Ellingham and Rockland St Andrew. He expects them to obtain the best price.
All his debts are to be paid off. This includes any mortgages on his properties, ‘just debts’, funeral charges and the probate fees.
Beneficiaries
James Turner specifically names his beneficiaries as “my daughter Sarah Turner, my daughter, Hannah the wife of John Steel, my son James Turner, my son Edward Turner and my granddaughter Mary, the daughter of William Brighting.
I assume that as James’s eldest daughter Elizabeth is omitted from the will that she predeceased her father.
The will also contained specific instructions as to when the beneficiaries are to be paid. Further, James stipulated that his sons James and Edward, and granddaughter Mary, will take their share at the age of 21. Should either or both of Edward and Mary die before the age of 21 (and without leaving lawful issue), their share or shares will be paid to James.
However, should James die before reaching 21 and without leaving lawful issue, then his share (or shares) will be shared amongst James senior’s then surviving children.
James Turner signed his will on the 23rd May, 1788. His signature was witnessed by William Ripper Coe, Charles Bringloe and Robert Sheldrake.
Death of Granddaughter
Sadly, James Turner’s granddaughter Mary Brighten, the only surviving child of James’s late daughter Mary and her husband William Brighten, died in the November of 1788. She too is buried in the churchyard of St James.
Death of James Turner
On the 3rd November, 1789, James Turner was laid to rest in the churchyard of St James. I believe he may have been 63 years old.
Sale of Farm & Household Items
On the 2nd October, 1790, a notice appeared in the Norfolk Chronicle advertising an Auction to be held in Great Ellingham on Thursday 7th October, 1790. The sale beginning at 10 o’clock will continue until all the live farming stock, implements of husbandry, household furniture and other effects of the late Mr James Turner are sold.
Farming Stock & Implements
The items include horses, mares and foals as well as cows, heifers, sheep, lambs and sows. There were also two road carts, three ploughs, a narrow wheeled waggon, two par of harrows and cart & plough harness.
Household Items
The household items comprise several good feather beds and bedding, chairs, tables, ‘an exceedingly good thirty-hour clock’, a wainscot bureau, chest of drawers, two good coppers, mash-tub, half barrel churn, milk-keelers, tubs, beer and other casks.
Property
As mentioned, I believe that James Turner owned and lived at Rookery Farm. I know from other research that in 1790, Henry Norton purchased Rookery Farm. Rookery Farm land was both freehold and copyhold.
Many of the Court Books for the Manors of Buckenham Close, Buckenham Lathes and Buckenham Castle Outsoken are available to view online. Accordingly, I decided to look at these Manor Court Books for any entry relating to James Turner’s death. I was in luck!
The Court Books confirm that Henry Norton purchased certain pieces of copyhold land of the Manor of Buckenham Castle Outsoken from the executors of the late James Turner.
Indeed, Henry Norton appeared before a Manor Court held on the 16th December, 1790. He produced a copy of the probate and the will of the late James Turner, details of which concur with the will I discovered dated 23rd May 1788.
Norton also produced the Indenture of Bargain & Sale dated 6th November, 1790, by which Bond and Bringloe as executors for the late James Turner, sold all the messuages, lands, tenements and hereditaments of the late James Turner to him. This included all copyhold land.
Accordingly, I have little doubt that James Turner once owned and lived at the property which, much later, became known as Rookery Farm.
Brother Benjamin Turner
At a similar time, James Turner’s brother, Benjamin Turner, owned and occupied the farm in Church Street, which became known as Church Farm.
In his will of the 3rd February, 1804, Benjamin Turner specifically mentions his ..”nephew, Edward Turner, the son of my late deceased brother, James Turner“. Edward stood to inherit his uncle’s property in the event that Benjamin’s daughter Hannah predeceased him. As it happened, Hannah survived her father.
Sources:
Great Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD 609. Also available via www.familysearch.org
1788 May 23. Will of James Turner of Great Ellingham, Yeoman. Viewed on microfilm at The Norfolk Heritage Centre, Millennium Library, Norwich. GS0167160. ANF 1787-1789. fo.388 (1789 no.84) MF 234.
Turner, Benjamin. 3rd February 1804. Norfolk Record Office. ANF will register 1814-1815 fo.169 (1814 no.25). MF241. Viewed Norfolk Sources http://www.norfolksources.norfolk.gov.uk January 2019.
Little Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office PD 568. Transcripts Norfolk Family History Society
1790 October 2. Norfolk Chronicle page 1. Viewed via The British Newspaper Archive website
Manorial court rolls for Lathes, Close, Castle and Buckenham Priory, 1595-1847. Manorial Court rolls for the manors of Close, Insoken and Outsoken, Buckenham Priory and Buckenham Castle 1767-1909. Norfolk Record Office. Ref: MC 1813/32-45 840X6. Copies viewed via www.familysearch.org