Rebecca Fowkes

[Mary from Italy]

Name - "official" name and what they were known as
Rebecca or Rebecka Fowkes

Date and place of birth
Probably Claybrook, Leicestershire c. 1753

Names of parents
John Fowkes and Ann Paul (or Pall)

Date and place of baptism - if applicable
Baptism not found

Details of each of his or her marriages - if any
Married John Pool on 15th August 1775 at St. Simon & St. Jude Parish Church, Earl Shilton, Leicestershire.
Aged 22 according to marriage licence.

Occupation(s) - if any
Not known

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!).
1775: Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire (marriage register and licence)
1776-1779: probably Ibstock, Leicestershire (children's baptisms)
1780-1785: Nailstone, Leicestershire (children's baptisms)

Date, place and cause of death
Died in Nailstone in 1785, 2 days after the birth of her last child.

Date and place of burial
19th February 1785 at All Saints parish church, Nailstone, aged 32

Details of will / administration of their estate - if applicable
Not known

Memorial inscription - if any
Not known

A contact has passed on a copy of a very interesting diary by Rebecca's brother Richard, which shows that she's the child of John Fowkes and Ann Paul. According to the diary, after John and Ann were married (in 1743) they moved to Claybrook, Leicestershire, where they lived for 13 years before moving to Hinckley or Barwell, and later to Elmesthorpe, Leicestershire. It says they had 11 children, 7 of whom "lived to be men and women".

According to the marriage licence Rebecca was 22 when she married in 1775, so she should have been born about 1753. I've found 8 baptisms for children of John and Ann in Claybrook so far, including Cordelia, 1753, but not Rebecca. I was hoping that Cordelia was a mistranscription for Rebecca, but I've checked the fiche for Claybrook, and it definitely says Cordelia. I haven't found any reference to Cordelia elsewhere. Rebecca's age in the burial register is consistent with a birth in 1753.

The last baptism I've found in Claybrook is Thomas (1756). There was also a child Catherine, mentioned in John Fowkes' will, who was born about 1759 according to her age on burial. I haven't found a baptism for her yet.

UPDATE: I've now found a baptism that's almost certainly Catherine's, under the name of Kitty Foulkes, daughter of John and Ann, in Hinckley in 1758. Still no sign of Rebecca's baptism, though.

Richard Fowkes diary also contains a very interesting family tree, showing that he and his siblings (including Rebecca Pool) were descended (through Ann Paul) from Sir Richard Halford (whose line appears to go straight back to William the Conqueror). It's mostly based on heralds' visitations, and almost everything I've been able to check has proved accurate.

Rebecca is named in the 1776 will of John Fowkes of Elmesthorpe as his daughter, Rebecca Pool. There doesn't appear to be another Rebecca Fowkes/Pool marriage, so I don't think there's much doubt that she was Richard Fowkes' sister and John Fowkes' daughter (Richard Fowkes was a witness at her wedding), but it's annoying me that I can't find a baptism for her.

For son Richard Pool, see http://www.genealogistsforum.co.uk/f...t=richard+pool