The Durham Littlefairs before 1700

Where are the Cockfield Littlefairs before 1700?

A glance at the 1700's Data section tells us that almost all Littlefair marriages and births at that time were in and around the parish of Cockfield.

I was looking for the birth of the Ralph Littlefare who married Elizabeth Etherington in 1731 at Cockfield and was asking the question "Why with so many Littlefare 's at Cockfield in the 1700's were there no recorded Littlefare male marriages in the area in the 1600's".

Indeed there was just one Littlefare mentioned in the Cockfield area before 1700. A female marriage of a Dorrithy Littlefaire to a John Mayer in 1655 at Hamsterley,Then I noticed on Paul Joiners marriage index some early Littleforth Marriages, an Edward at Cockfield 1678 (Litleforth ), a Ralph at Bowes in 1697 and a Jane at Kelloe also in 1697 and decided to look at these.

Littlefair's were Littleforth's in the Cockfield area before 1700

The Igi uses standard names. It converts names like Littlephare,for example, to Littlefair then searches. It converts Littleforth and similar to Littleford. I enterred the surname Littleforth into the internet Igi search and Bingo ! I had found the Littlefair ancestors. They were being recorded with varying forms of Littleforth.

Section Littleforths Data lists my Littleforth findings. You will find in that section and in the text below, numbers allocated to Ralph's so as to avoid confusion.

Have we discovered the birth of Ralph who married in 1731

Referring to the section Littleforths Data I would guess that the Ralph(3) christened at Hamsterley in 1709 with surname Litelforth was the Ralph Littlefare marrying Elizabeth Etherington in 1731. He would be of the right age and in the right place with the appropriate christian name. Ralph went on to have a family with Elizabeth that included a Rachel and a Sarah and significantly in the listing his mother is Sarah and his older sister is Rachel. Ralph(3) 's youngest sister Mary has a christening record that lists Sarah as her mother which seems to confirm the group as a family.

Ralph (2) 's links with the past.

Ralph(2) married Sarah at Bowes in 1697 and had his first child William there in 1698. He then had four children at Hamsterley before moving to Cockfield where his last two were born. I believe he was a Cockfield/Hamsterley lad for it seems to have been a practice for lads to go outside their parish seeking a wife. Moving to Hamsterley was a move to the area of his youth.

Is Ralph(2) linked to the Jane Littleforth marrying at Kelloe 1697, the Rachel marrying at Cockfield in 1704 and to the earlier Edward and Ralph(1) with families born in the 1680 's. My guess is Ralph(1) and Edward are brothers. Jane is the daughter of Edward & Jane Betson and named after her mother, probably born before their marriage and not christened. Ralph(2) and Rachel are early non christened children of Ralph(1) and his liaison with, I suspect a Rachel.

Before her marriage to Thomas Graham in 1704 the younger Rachel undergoes an Adult christening at Cockfield in 1703 supporting the guesswork that Ralph(1) had children who were not christened.

Where did the earlier Ralph(1) and Edward come from?

The only Littlefair/forth records in the Cockfield/Hamsterley area in the 1680 's were in respect of the above two who were fathering children. I have already suggested and argued a case that they were brothers and I considered it likely they would be born in the 1650's or 1660's.

From the marriage listing for Littlefair males we find there are three possible marriages that could have produced the pair :-

Looking on the internet only one Ralph Littlewhatever can be found to have been christened in the period and that is a Ralph Litelfare at Gateshead on the 14/3/1650 to a father Thomas. Two years later 19/4/1652 an Edward Litelfare is christened at Gateshead, again with a father Thomas. It is almost certain that these were children of the Thomas = Dorathie Sigsworth marriage . Also christened by Thomas and Dorathie were George in 1643 and Margaret in 1647.

I conclude that the Ralph and Edward Litelfare 's born at Gateshead to Thomas and Dorathie were the same people as the Ralph and Edward Littleforths having families at Hamsterley/Cockfield in the 1680's.

Dorothy's move from Gateshead to Hamsterley

Now, remember, back at Hamsterley on 11/9/1655 a Dorrithy Littlefaire married a John Mayer and we start to conclude that this was Thomas's wife, the former Dorathie Sigsworth remarrying.

So did Thomas die at Gateshead, perhaps of the plague, and leave a widow, with children, who remarried at Hamsterley. Alternatively did they undergo a marriage break up. A Thomas married a Katherine Johnson at Chester le Street in 1653. Was that him? Was that the cause of a break up and if so did Dorathie leave or flee the Gateshead area in 1652 or 1653 with some or all of her children.

Why go to Hamsterley. There were no Littlefairs at Hamsterley and there were Sigsworth's in the Gateshead area. A Margaret Sigsworth had married at Gateshead in 1643 and an Anthony Sigsworth christened a daughter Dorithy at Bishopwearmouth in 1645. Anthony may well be our Dorathie's brother, Margaret her sister, after whom she named one of her children. Well, at Auckland St. Helen, between 1663 and 1685, there were 2 male and 4 female marriages of Sigsworths and I conclude that Auckland St. Helen was home base for Sigsworth's. So at Hamsterley there was family support in the area, it was a country area less susceptible to plague and possibly somewhere she could'nt easily be found.

Edward Dorithy's youngest child to Thomas calls his first two children Dorithy and Thomas. Ralph calls the first child he christened Thomas. I think these facts support the argument that the Thomas at Gateshead was the father of the Ralph and Edward in the Cockfield area.

Dorothy comes into Property

Durham County Council's Record Office holds in its Business and Industry Category (Solicitor's records) a document which it makes reference to as follows:-

Cockfield, etc. Ref No. D/HH 3/5/35 24 December 1658
Copy of probate of will of Ralph Newby of Woodland in the parish of Cockfield (dated 11 August 1658) 5s. p.a. charged on East Farm bequeathed in perpetuity to the Overseers of the Poor of Cockfield; devises East Farm to his niece Dorothy, wife of John Mayer of Hamsterley for life, thence to her husband if he survive her, with remainder to Ralph Littlefaire, son of Dorothy charged with the payment of various legacies and rent-charges to the brothers and sisters of Ralph; devises West Farm at Woodland to brother Charles Newby for life, thence to Charles, son of George Newby (which George is another of the testator's brothers) charged with an annuity to Jennett Robinson of South Church of 20s.; minor bequests (parchment, 1 membrane)

So it seems that either Ralph Newby married a Sigsworth or one of his sisters married a male Sigsworth. I have not hitherto found a confirming record.

Littleforths at Sheffield

Littleforths Data also lists some Littleforth's at Sheffield and Rotherham. Note that the two male Littleforth's at Sheffield christened by William were George and Thomas. It was practice to name after family so did the George from Gateshead go to Hamsterley with his mother and when of age venture to Sheffield/ Rotherham, carry the name Littleforth there, marry and produce children William, Margaret, Sarah, Elizabeth, Anne, Mary and Maria .

Did he also have a son named George,after himself, who in 1702 is back in County Durham at Monk Hesledon, married, and christening a child Mary there. We shall never know but I do believe there is some connection as the Littleforth's listed in Littleforths Data are the only Littleforths, or similar, any time any place on the Igi. Similarly,when you examine the 1881 Census for the U.K., which we have on several CD 's, there is not a single Littleforth or it's like to be found anywhere.

How did Litlefare become Littleforth

Dorrithy is recorded as a Littlefaire at the time of her marriage but of course thereafter she is a Mayer and the young Littlefaire children may have lost familiarity with their surname.It is possible that after their mother died they recalled their name as Littleforth. When they married that name was given the curate and written down in whatever spelling he chose. Their families took the surname Littleforth.

I have not found the christening record of Jane Littleforth who married at Kelloe in 1697 . I suggested above that she was born out of wedlock to Edward and Jane Betson and possibly she was not christened as a result. She would take the name Littleforth from her father Edward to her marriage at Kelloe in 1697.

The end of the Littleforths

The above tries to explain how Littlefare 's became Littleforth 's but it also seems that they returned to being Littlefare's in the early 1700 's . You will note in the Littleforths Data listings that Mary, the daughter of Ralph(2) and Sarah, is recorded at her christening in 1718 as a Littlefare and that after this time there is no reference to Littleforth 's . We can only guess as to how this move back to Littlefare happened . It may be that a member of the Clergy spotted the Dorrithy entry and knowing the family all emanated from her realised the mistake. The family (apart from Jane who had changed her name anyway) were all at Cockfield or Hamsterley and the error could be rectified with subsequent entries.

The late 1600's in the Cockfield area

Dorrithy's move to Hamsterley from Gateshead would be within or about the year of 1653 when Ralph would be 3 and Edward 1. George would be 10 and Margaret 6, if they accompanied her.

Twenty years later when Littlefair families in the rest of County Durham were at a very low ebb the Littleforth's of the Cockfield area were growing in numbers and the data for the early 1700's shows us that the vast majority of Durham and Northumberland Littlefairs of subsequent years have their roots in the Cockfield area.

I have argued that all of the Cockfield Littlefair's emanated from Ralph and Edward, the two youngest sons of the Thomas Litlefare / Dorathie Sigsworth marriage and further argue that this marriage is of considerable significance in Durham Littlefair history since nearly all Durham Littlefairs will have this marriage on their family tree.