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Pywells in Leicestershire

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Too many Josephs!

Although it’s certain that Joseph Pywell was Edward’s father, his dates are somewhat elusive.  Unfortunately there are rather a lot of Joseph Pywells around that time, so it’s difficult to identify which record refers to which Joseph. For the purpose of this page I’ll refer to him as 4GGF Joseph.

There are numerous family trees on various ancestry web sites that say he was born in 1725, and that he died on 3 October 1810 in Great Glen. That in part doesn’t seem to hold true for the following reasons:

Firstly I’ve yet to find independent evidence that he was born in 1725.  That doesn’t mean he wasn’t, just that I have to take it on trust that someone somewhere has verified it. There is certainly a baptism record for a Joseph, son of Edward Piwell for 12 September 1725.  Secondly there was definitely a Joseph who died in Great Glen on 3 October 1810, but his gravestone inscription declares he was in his 62d year, so he must have been born circa 1748.  4GGF Joseph was married in 1749 so clearly that is not him.  It would also be a remarkable coincidence if two Joseph Pywells died in Great Glen on the same day!  In addition there is the will of a Joseph Pywell dated 1 October 1810 which makes no mention of a wife or children, leaving legacies instead to his nephews Thomas (son of his brother Thomas), and Thomas (son of his brother David) and also to his married sister Ann Ellingworth.  This will then looks to be one of 4GGF Joseph’s nephews, the son of his brother William. This would also fit with a Joseph Pywell who was born and baptised in Great Glen in 1748.

A number of family trees alternatively show 4GGF Joseph as 1725 -1799. Would this fit instead?

1725 remains unverified as his year of birth, but I have located the will of a Joseph Pyewell dated 1783, with probate being granted to Ann Pywell on 13 July 1799.  In this will he leaves £50 to his son William and everything else to his “beloved wife Ann”, which fits rather well with 4GGF Joseph.  So 1725 - 1799 is the most plausible date range so far.

Some who believe 4GGF Joseph died in 1799 give the date of his burial as 8 August 1799, but that would seem at odds with the earlier July probate date. That date of 8 August is also often cited instead for the burial of his grandson Joseph Orlando Pywell (1798-1799).  However, that too seems dubious, the reasons as follows: 

Joseph Orlando, grandson of 4GGF Joseph and son of Edward Pywell and Ann Pywell (Hodgkin), was baptised at Great Glen on 10 June 1798. The entry actually reads Joseph Olander but spelling was often not a strong point at that time!   On 19 November 1801 there is a record for Joseph, son of Edward and Ann Pywell, being buried in Great Glen - aged four.  If he wasn’t baptised soon after birth, this could well be Joseph Orlando, leaving the 8 August 1799 open for the burial maybe even another Joseph.  

So for the moment what seems most likely is:


Joseph Pywell

Like many of his relatives Joseph was a Grazier and Farmer


Joseph’s Marriages

Ann Hutchins, is often cited as 4GGF Joseph’s only wife, but in fact he married twice, firstly to Mary Harrison who died in 1763 and with whom he had at least eight children.  By the time he married Ann in 1765 only two of these children had survived, and together he and Ann went on to have a further 6 children.  


Mary Harrison

They were married 21 May 1749 in Great Glen

Children:


Ann Hutchin(g)s

They were married 19 February 1765 in Great Glen (although Joseph was not described  as a widower).


Children:


All of the above children are believed to have been born in Great Glen (then often referred to as Glen(n) Magna), Leicestershire

When Ann senior died in 1819, her will, dated 19 July 1813, required her sons-in-law Henry Branson and George Gee of Great Wigston (graziers) to convert everything to money, and then distribute one fifth to each of her married daughters:

The remaining fifth went to the children (upon reaching the age of 21) of her fifth daughter Ann (Heap) who had died in 1813 - the year that she made her will. Interestingly Edward was not mentioned in the will.


4GGF Joseph’s will does have one curiosity for me, in that it left legacies only to his son William and his wife Ann.  At the time it was written in 1783, only William and Matthew had survived from his first marriage, and the rest of his children by Ann would not yet have come of age.  With that in mind, William and Ann make sense but it does seem odd that Matthew, who was also still alive at that time, was not mentioned, although he died some three years later, well before 4GGF Joseph’s death in 1799.

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Prior to 1752  England adhered to the Julian Calendar whereby new year started on 25 March (Lady Day)

In 1752, Great Britain (and its colonies) moved to align to the Gregorian Calendar (Scotland having already done so in 1600). This resulted in Wednesday 2 September 1752 being followed by Thursday 14 September, and the the start of the new year moving to 1 January.  

As far as family trees are concerned it means that ages may sometimes appear to be one year adrift, being perhaps most apparent when considering the death of an infant. For example, a child born in Early March 1730 and dying in April 1731 would at first sight have appeared to have lived for a over a year, but in fact survived only about a month.

This deletion of 11 days also resulted in the start of the Financial Year moving to 5 April to avoid loss of tax revenue. It was then moved to 6 April in 1800 because that would have been a leap year under the Julian calendar but not under the Gregorian, again to avoid a day’s lost revenue!