What I have learned from a very good soul with very good eyes!!!...is that William Bartlett died in 1631 in Cowfold...that would have been 2 years or less after his "betrothed", Sarah Tillinghurst.  So he likely did not marry. Seems as if there may have been a contagion in Cowfold at the time....anyone have any ideas about that? Donna   The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it will change; the realist adjusts the sails.

The Local Population Studies Society has some learned papers which may help. Quite a lot to read, but at a quick glance I can't see anything remarkable around 1630 in the Cowfold area. Brent, Colin: Devastating epidemic in the countryside of Eastern Sussex between harvest years 1558 and 1640 Nelson, Ian: Famine and mortality crises in Mid-Sussex, 1606-1640 Turner, Derek: Crisis mortality in nine Sussex parishes Links in: http://www.localpopulationstudies.org.uk/authoridx.htm It's a pity parish registers rarely recorded cause of death If Churchwardens Accounts have survived they can fill in amazing social background. They may record epidemics, e.g. Laughton April 1741 - "time of smallpox" (viewed at ESRO) Barbara Sanders ----- Original Message ----- From: "Donna Casey" <[email protected]> To: "SFHG SxFamHXGrp" <[email protected]> Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2012 5:52 PM Subject: [SFHG] Willilam Bartlett Follow-up - Death;No marriage. Cowfold Contagion? c1630 What I have learned from a very good soul with very good eyes!!!...is that William Bartlett died in 1631 in Cowfold...that would have been 2 years or less after his "betrothed", Sarah Tillinghurst. So he likely did not marry. Seems as if there may have been a contagion in Cowfold at the time....anyone have any ideas about that? Donna The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it will change; the realist adjusts the sails. ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

In message <[email protected]> <[email protected]> wrote: > The Local Population Studies Society has some learned papers which may > help. Quite a lot to read, but at a quick glance > I can't see anything remarkable around 1630 in the Cowfold area. Another interesting source of weather and pestilence information is J M Stratton's "Agricultural Records". This relates crop and livestock prices to the weather and also mentions exceptional weather events and illness outbreaks. In this case it doesn't actually mention anything for 1630/1 but it does record 1625 as "A very severe winter was followed by violent outbreaks of plagues during the summer." It also says plague was "widespread" in 1636. The period 1620 to 1635 seems to be largely characterised by severe winters (frost fairs on the Thames) with spring, summer or autumn floods. Harvests were poor resulting in exports being prohibited. Land prices fell 15% in 1621. The exception to this seems to have been 1630/1 when there were very dry summers resulting in droughts with the wheat price rising to 68s a quarter in 1631. Not much help to your enquiry perhaps but it may set the background for the string of deaths. Chris -- Chris Shepheard writing as himself [email protected] from far west Surrey www.chrispics.co.uk

Chris, I think what you have added is VERY important to what was going on....the reading I have done this afternoon tells me that autumns after poor crops brought on much illness/flu type of contagion and that poor crops set up the following year for illnesses and that stark winters did the same...so it certainly sets the stage for poor health conditions in that period of 1628 - 1632 in Cowfold and its environs. Thanks again for taking the time to send the information.  I can't seem to ever get enough information to "paint" the background for my family history! Appreciatively, Donna   The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it will change; the realist adjusts the sails. ________________________________ From: Chris Shepheard <[email protected]> To: SFHG List <[email protected]> Sent: Thursday, July 12, 2012 2:23 PM Subject: Re: [SFHG] Willilam Bartlett Follow-up - Death; No marriage. Cowfold Contagion? c1630 In message <[email protected]>           <[email protected]> wrote: > The Local Population Studies Society has some learned papers which may > help. Quite a lot to read, but at a quick glance > I can't see anything remarkable around 1630 in the Cowfold area. Another interesting source of weather and pestilence information is J M Stratton's "Agricultural Records". This relates crop and livestock prices to the weather and also mentions exceptional weather events and illness outbreaks. In this case it doesn't actually mention anything for 1630/1 but it does record 1625 as "A very severe winter was followed by violent outbreaks of plagues during the summer." It also says plague was "widespread" in 1636. The period 1620 to 1635 seems to be largely characterised by severe winters (frost fairs on the Thames) with spring, summer or autumn floods. Harvests were poor resulting in exports being prohibited. Land prices fell 15% in 1621. The exception to this seems to have been 1630/1 when there were very dry summers resulting in droughts with the wheat price rising to 68s a quarter in 1631. Not much help to your enquiry perhaps but it may set the background for the string of deaths. Chris -- Chris Shepheard writing as himself          [email protected] from far west Surrey                        www.chrispics.co.uk ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to [email protected] with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message