As you can see from the two facing pages of marriage allegations (including that of William Heath, possibly my paternal ninth great grandfather, on the top left), each entry was made by a different man, none of whose writing is particularly legible to modern eyes.
[Ancestry.com. London and Surrey, England, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1597-1921 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Marriage Bonds and Allegations. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives. Surrey Marriage Bonds and Allegations records held by the London Metropolitan Archives, London, England.]
However in my experience, studying an enlarged version of the relevant text together with a sample of 17th century letter forms for comparison can be very helpful.
[Ancestry.com. London and Surrey, England, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1597-1921 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Original data: Marriage Bonds and Allegations. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives. Surrey Marriage Bonds and Allegations records held by the London Metropolitan Archives, London, England.]
And here's how I read the two lines extracted above:
...that William Heath of St Andrews in Eastcheap haberdasher and a bachelor aged...
Now to check my work. Is it credible?
Eastcheap* (cheap coming from the Old English word for market) has been a street in the
City of London since at least medieval times. The churches commonly associated with it are
St. Leonard Eastcheap and
St. Clement Eastcheap which was worrying, but through further research I learned that there used to be a
St. Andrews in Eastcheap that wasn't rebuilt after the Great Fire of 1666.** On the 1653 London map below, Eastcheap is numbered "12" on the legend.***
[A map of London, designed to help country men to find their way around the city, 1653. British Library]
To be named as a "haberdasher" in an official document during this period, a man had to be a member of the
Worshipful Company of Haberdashers**** so that's where I looked next and I found a William Heath in the 1633 Register of Freedom Admissions in the Haberdashery Company's records.
[findmypast.co.uk © Images reproduced by courtesy of The Haberdashers’ Company, London, England]
Edward Compton was the Master under whom William served his
apprenticeship of seven years during which time he would have lived in Compton's house. He was subject to strict rules while learning his trade and wouldn't have been allowed to marry until after he was accepted into the Company as a Freeman.
As a haberdasher what would have been in William's shop?
"The origin of the word “haberdasher” is unclear although it is generally considered to be taken from the Anglo-Norman word ‘haberdache’, sometimes rendered as ‘hapertas’, which means ‘small goods’. A haberdashery was a shop that would sell accessory items such as hats, scarves, gloves, shawls, parasols, needles, buttons and thread."
Why did William Heath bring Solomon Valman(?) of Fenchurch to the office of the Lord Bishop of London to vouch for him in the allegation? Since he and Anne were planning to be married by license and not publicly announced banns, an allegation was required that there was no impediment to the marriage, including consanguinity.
Source: Google Books]
[
St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney Parish (Tower Hamlets, Middlesex, England), marriages, 1631-1686, William Heath and Anny Hale, 2 July 1634; Church of England Parish Registers, 1538-1812. London, England: London Metropolitan Archives; digital images, London, England, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812 database on Ancestry.com(http://search.ancestry.com/search/db.aspx?dbid=1624 : accessed 15 Aug 2015).]
All of this means that I'm confident about the circumstances of the William Heath who married Anne Hale (or Gale) in 1634. What I'm not so sure of is whether he's the same man who emigrated to Virginia sometime around 1650.
Unfortunately for William Heath (if this is the right person), the rise of puritanism in the 17th century led to hard times for haberdashers as fashions became plainer and less ornamented. Perhaps that's why he chose to emigrate to Virginia in the early years of the
Commonwealth.
*Now in the
Eastcheap Conservation Area (PDF).
**Also known as
St. Andrew Hubbard, it was joined with St Mary at Hill during the rebuilding after the Great Fire. Fortunately the church records survived the fire.
***Note that the coat of arms of the Haberdashers is the second one from the top of the left side of the map.
****The second in order of precedence of The Twelve Great Livery Companies of London.
© 2015 Copyright, Christine Manczuk, All Rights Reserved.
