Frances Dry

[kiterunner]

Name - "official" name and what they were known as Frances Dry
Date and place of birth About 1745, don't know where
Names of parents William Dry and Frances nee Hodges
Date and place of baptism - if applicable Not found
Details of each of his or her marriages - if any 9 Jul 1766 All Saints, Edmonton, Middlesex, to Joseph Brown, witnesses Jno Fisher and Joseph Brown
Occupation(s) - if any Housewife
Addresses where they lived (including county if in UK) - and please list which censuses you have or haven't found him/her on (if s/he lived in census times!). 1766-1776 Edmonton, Middlesex
Date, place and cause of death Not found
Date and place of burial. Possible burial at Bunhill Fields 7 Feb 1826 Frances Brown 77y, brought from London Wall
Details of will / administration of their estate - if applicable Not found
Memorial inscription - if any Not found

Link to son's thread: Joseph Brown

Frances' parents were married 2 Dec 1740 at St Sepulchre, Holborn, London, William being a "gentleman" of the parish of St George, Middlesex. The will of William Dry of Edmonton was proved 11 Oct 1773, appointing William Lee as executor and as guardian to William's two daughters (not named) and leaving everything to William's wife (not named) and two daughters. Henry Clarke of Chipping Barnet, Herts, butcher, and Edmund Richardson of Swallow Street, St James Westminster, gave evidence saying that they knew William Dry of Edmonton and that he died in 1764. Frances Dry, widow, remarried 1 Nov 1771 at St Leonard, Shoreditch, to a Samuel Quested, and Frances Quelsted was buried 29 Nov 1775 at All Saints, Edmonton. So I am pretty sure that my Frances Dry is the daughter of William and Frances, but there are quite a few steps missing!

It is a fascinating church Kate. Have you been there? Julie

[kiterunner]

I haven't been to any of the churches mentioned, Julie, but I'm not sure which one you are asking about?

Sorry Kate I was meaning St. Sepulchre's at Holborn. My Ware/Climpson ancestors were married there and I visited last year. Julie

[kiterunner]

I found a website which has a Dry one-name study on it and have contacted the site owner to see whether she has any more info. Her site mentions a Devon covenant from 1741 which mentions William Dry of London, gent, and Frances his wife, and I have managed to find more info about the convenant in the Stories section on ancestry - it looks as though Frances Hodges (who I think was the mother of Frances Dry) was the sister of Nathaniel Hodges of Plymouth, Devon, gent.

[kiterunner]

These are the names mentioned in the covenant, according to the stuff on ancestry:

John Lambert Middleton of London, cornfactor, & Ann his wife.
Thomas Glass of Exeter, M.D. & Mary his wife
William Dry of London, gent & Frances his wife
George Hodges of Watling Street London, haberdasher
Nathaniel Hodges of Plymouth, gent, brother of the above
Mary Hodges his mother

There is a book on Google Books - Reports of Cases Argued and Determined in the Court of King's Bench - which includes a complicated case starting with the following:

Hodges against Middleton and Another 1780
This was a case sent by the Court of Chancery for the opinion of this court, which stated:
That Frances Bladen, widow, devised as follows:- "I give to my kinswoman Mrs Anne Middleton, my house and lands at Arlborough Hatch, and all my real estate, in the parish of Barking, during her life, and at her death, to her children, upon condition that she or they constantly pay £30 a year for a clergyman to officiate in my chapel, &c and on failure of these conditions here mentioned, then I give the said house and lands to my own next heirs, to be enjoyed on the same conditions, and in case of failure of children of my said kinswoman Mrs Anne Middleton, then I give the house and lands aforesaid to her brother Mr George Hodges, and his children, on the same conditions, and, in case of failure of his children, then I give the said house and lands to the sisters or sister of the said Anne Middleton and George Hodges, tlo be equally divided between them, or their children that are living at that time." - That the testatrix died, leaving the said George Hodges her heir at law; that Anne Middleton entered upon the premises, and enjoyed them till her death; that she had issue living at the death of the testatrix seven children, two by a former husband, the rest by her then husband John Lambert Middleton; that in 1749, John Lambert Middleton, and Anne his wife, suffered a recovery, to the use of themselves for life, and to the children of Anne Middleton, in such manner as they jointly, or the survivor of them, should appoint, and, in default of such appointment, to the children of Anne Middleton, by John Lambert Middleton, except the eldest, and the heirs of the several bodies of the said children, share and share alike, that, in 1761, Anne Middleton died, and in 1768, her husband, then Sir John Lambert Middleton, died, without having made any appointment; that Anne Middleton had issue living at her death six children, (one of them by her first husband), who entered on the premises on the death of Sir John Lambert Middleton, one of them being the eldest son excepted in the declaration of the uses of the recovery; that, in 1770 the six children suffered a recovery, to the use of themselves in fee, and that three of them were since dead; that the bill was brought by Joseph Hodges, son and heir at law of George Hodges, to have his right to the freehold and inheritance of the said premises, subject to the life estates of the surviving children, declared, and for an injunction against waste."

So I think that my Frances Dry's mother is one of the unnamed sisters of Anne Middleton. The Peerage . com has an entry for Sir John Lambert Middleton, 4th Baronet, which says that he married Anne Hodges, the daughter of Sir Nathaniel Hodges, in 1737,and that her first husband was called Warner Perkins (Debrett's says Charles Perkins).

This entry in TNA's catalogue must be the same case:

Reference:

C 11/1124/18


Description:




Short title: Hooper v Foster.

Document type: Bill and answer.

Plaintiffs: Sarah Hooper, spinster of Tower Hill,London, Thomas Glass, doctor in physic of Exeter and Mary Glass his wife, William Dry, esq of Devon and Frances Dry his wife, John Lambert Middleton, gent of Albro Hatch, Essex and Ann Middleton his wife (said Sarah Hooper, Mary Glass, Frances Dry and Ann Middleton, together with George Hodges, a defendant are cousins and next of kin of Frances Bladen, widow deceased late of Bocking, Essex).

Defendants: Thomas Foster, esq and Mary Foster his wife and George Hodges.

Date of bill (or first document): 1756

[kiterunner]

There is a burial at Stepney 12 Jan 1717 of Mackre, son of Nathaniel Hodges of B.G. Gentleman, so this could be the same family.

[kiterunner]

Ooh, British History Online has this monument in Stepney church:

SIR NATHANIEL HODGES, Knight (1727). Altar tomb, muchbroken and decayed. Arms: 3 crescents and a canton, impaling a bardure.Crest: on a ducal coronet over a knight's helmet, a crescent.

From: 'Churchyard and monuments', Survey of London Monograph 6: St Dunstan's Church, Stepney (1905), pp. 40-47. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/rep...?compid=117409 Date accessed: 16 November 2013.


I don't think I've ever found anything to do with my family on there before! Well, I know I haven't proved this is my family yet, but it's looking likely...

[kiterunner]

I've downloaded the will of Dame Mary Hodges written 2 Feb 1744/5 and proved 12 Feb 1744/5 from TNA and had a quick look at it. She doesn't say where she lived but she mentions the Sugar House and lands at Topsham in Devonshire, and names her daughter Frances Dry the wife of William Dry as executrix, along with son George Hodges as executor. Also mentions daughters Ann Middleton and Mary Glass, the wife of Doctor Glass. As far as I can see, she doesn't mention grandchildren, sadly.

I love this bit after the witnesses' signatures and before the probate information:
I Desire you will threaten George Way and get him to pay some Money.

[kiterunner]

Dame Mary Hodges of St Giles's Criplegate buried 14 Feb 1744 at St Dunstan & All Saints, Stepney.