All, I do not do much on the family tree these days, but I am still intrigued to answer a few basic queries. On my grandmothers side (a Littlechild), I go back to a marriage in 1819 for a John Littlechild and Sarah Lagden: http://essex1841.com/Legacy/104.htm I have the parents of Sarah Lagden, as Henry Lagden & Sarah Martin (where does she come from?). Also, Henry is son of a Henry Lagden & Mary Thomas (where do they come from?). My tree is fairly comprehensive, even if it is full of mistakes, and the Littlechild side is pretty good, thanks to a rather good source of information - but I would love to know more about the Martin, Thomas & Lagden side of the family. No rush for answers, but any suggestions are very welcome. Best Kevan

Wouldn't it be a good idea to correct the mistakes? You may not get people willing to help if you're collecting 'errors'. Regards Andy ----- Original Message ----- From: Kevan To: 'Essex-UK-L Mailing List' Sent: Monday, August 25, 2008 12:11 AM Subject: [Ess] Littlechild, Lagden, Martin, Thomas My tree is fairly comprehensive, even if it is full of mistakes, Best Kevan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

I am adding a reply by Lawrence Greenall, it may help others, for clarity I have the Littlechild family well documented by Stephen Littlechild, Wills et al (see two volumes at the ERO in the oversize section), and many local communications - thanks Lawrence. <<Hi Kevan. Just a few thoughts generated by the info on your (very clear) webpages: John L (b1819) as a farmer would probably have left a will, detailing property transactions at least. Such transferral of property often allows you to follow the families as they inherit/sell it. I would also search for court roll entries and local poor rate returns. He may well have not owned Dodds Farm, but a relative might have done. There could be many reasons why he's not there in 1871, not just 'hard times'. Had the farm been passed on as the result of some relative dying? Maybe his wife was the entitlee (is there such a word?) to it rather than him, until a third party came of age or some other such event took place. >> hard times forced them out, see the historyhouse.co.uk (Kelvedon Hatch) site for this. I think dad was fairly well off, according to wills. They moved to Becontree, and later married into a ag lab family from Suffolk. We Wildings always marry up, I married a vicars daughter. John L snr (b1796) also holds a large parcel of land, presumably recorded in the tithe awards going by the 1847 date? If the awards show the owner as the lord of the manor, check the court rolls as well; if he was a copyholder then finding out who he superseded and who superseded him could be very interesting. If the landlord was some local bigwig instead, then perhaps that family has some estate papers deposited somewhere. They may well provide details of servants and tenants. Even in old age, John L snr was well off enough to keep a servant; he may well have still owned property or was receiving an income from some? Look out for his will. And so on - but that's not the branch you were asking about. Henry Lagden (b1762): Again, was he a tenant or copyholder of Park Farm? Check the marriage register for several entries either side of their marriage, to see if the same witnesses crop up a lot; if they don't, then look out for their surnames in the area too - they may well be in-laws or cousins (or neighbours or colleagues). Try to find their marriages - I bet there's a Lagden witness to one of them! Remember that saying that everyone in the world is connected to everyone else by no more than six emails? Or however many it was. I think something similar applies to names recorded in local communities. << I have most of the info from ERO Parish registers, but the Littlechilf family appear from Cambridge , or Herts, maybe the Lagden family are the same??? Use the IGI to plot a district-wide distribution map of the surname throughout the 18th century, separated into decades or so, then start extracting all the register entries etc. and try to build up an overall picture of the development and spread of the surname in the area. Like a jigsaw puzzle, at first nothing will seem to be at all relevant to your own lot, but with luck putting one piece in place will suddenly link half the puzzle together! << I have used the IGI considerably, not that I trust much of the data here, nothing obvious. As Mary was a minor at marriage, was there a kerfuffle over an early pregnancy? Check the quarter sessions and so on. Was Richard really her father, or an impersonator? Also check the parish register carefully in case the incumbent made a marginal cryptic comment about the event being recorded; such comments won't often find their way into indexes and transcripts. << Interesting point. I have a Lagden who gets his housekeeper pregnant, he does the right thing apart from marrying her, and have seen the will that sets the son up for good. I must publish the details on the site, as the tree has not been updated for several years. Sarah Martin: As she was Henry's 2nd wife, could he also have been her 2nd hubby? This would mean that Martin wasn't her maiden name. << Missed that, good point. Hope this tickles the old grey bits Kevan, unless they're not grey or old yet in which case I apologise most profusely. Mine are. Lawrence << Lawrence is always full of excellent observations, many thanks. -----Original Message----- From: essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Kevan Sent: 25 August 2008 00:11 To: 'Essex-UK-L Mailing List' Subject: [Ess] Littlechild, Lagden, Martin, Thomas All, I do not do much on the family tree these days, but I am still intrigued to answer a few basic queries. On my grandmothers side (a Littlechild), I go back to a marriage in 1819 for a John Littlechild and Sarah Lagden: http://essex1841.com/Legacy/104.htm I have the parents of Sarah Lagden, as Henry Lagden & Sarah Martin (where does she come from?). Also, Henry is son of a Henry Lagden & Mary Thomas (where do they come from?). My tree is fairly comprehensive, even if it is full of mistakes, and the Littlechild side is pretty good, thanks to a rather good source of information - but I would love to know more about the Martin, Thomas & Lagden side of the family. No rush for answers, but any suggestions are very welcome. Best Kevan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Any problems, please contact the List Admin: Essex-UK-admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ESSEX-UK-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Thanks Kevan. I did intend to send this to the list as well, and was wondering why it hadn't shown up yet. I agree the IGI is entirely unreliable for specific details, but as a block of data it can give interesting indications en masse as to surname distribution, both as a static snapshot and as it mutates over the years. Glad I gave you some bits to think on. Lawrence -----Original Message----- From: essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:essex-uk-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of Kevan Sent: 25 August 2008 01:50 To: 'Essex-UK-L Mailing List' Subject: Re: [Ess] Littlechild, Lagden, Martin, Thomas I am adding a reply by Lawrence Greenall, it may help others, for clarity I have the Littlechild family well documented by Stephen Littlechild, Wills et al (see two volumes at the ERO in the oversize section), and many local communications - thanks Lawrence. No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG. Version: 7.5.524 / Virus Database: 270.6.6/1624 - Release Date: 20/08/2008 19:11