Hi Mary. Like you I have not heard of a 'Faymehall' or similar in or around Waltham Holy Cross (Waltham Abbey), despite being an amateur local historian of the town. However, the surname CURTIS does have strong historical associations with the locality, especially with the parish of Nazeing just to the north of WHX. Nazeing contributed a significant number of the 17th Century settlers of New England, including William Curtis, baptised at Nazeing in 1592, who settled at Boston forty years later. I have forwarded your request to the Essex Rootsweb list. Lawrence. > -----Original Message----- > From: MWTRE@aol.com [mailto:MWTRE@aol.com] > Sent: 24 July 2005 17:36 > To: SOG-UK-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [SoG] an Essex query > > > A 1693/4 will of Mary Blatt nee Curtis (widow of William, > silkman of the > City of London) filed in Suffolk (her home county to which > she had returned with > her four children upon the death of her husband) mentions (in > relation to her > eldest son, James) a property she called "Faymehall in > Essex", indicating that > her bequest to him was conditional upon the above property > not descending to > him. (In the event, James died unmarried in Bury St. Edmunds > in 1709, so > presumably this property never came to him. I have looked > for some trace as to > the possible location of this property, but so far have found > nothing. The IGI > shows early Essex records for the surname Blatt in Barnston & > Waltham Holy > Cross, but I have not found such a property in conjunction > with either place. > (The surname was sometimes written Blate & one clerk has > erroneously recorded it > as "Place".) As I have been tracking the Curtis line and > know of no Essex > connections there, and as James Blatt was the eldest son of > the eldest daughter > - and as Mary Curtis Blatt had a younger brother with living > sons, it would > seem most likely that the property in question was descended > on the Blatt side. > Has anyone out there any knowledge of such a property ever > existing anywhere > in Essex? > > Mary T. > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.9.4/57 - Release Date: > 22/07/2005 > > -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.9.4/57 - Release Date: 22/07/2005