Many clues but no solution!

[kiterunner]

Humphry Chambers turns out to have a sister Catherine who married an Anthony Kingscott (they are on The Peerage . com website) and Anthony Kingscott's will mentions "my brother Humphry Chambers" so this is definitely right. So Joan's "cozen Kingcott" must be one of their children.

[kiterunner]

So, having established that Anthony and Joan named their first son Humphrey after Joan's father, I thought it was very likely that Anthony's father would be called Edward as that was the name of their next son. I found a baptism on FamilySearch: Anthony Wood, son of Edward and Anne, born 7 Dec 1623 and baptised 17 Dec 1623 at Hamsey, Sussex. It turned out that Edward Wood was the minister or rector of Hamsey and that his father-in-law (Anne's father) was Samuel Norden, the rector of Hamsey before Edward, and a Puritan. So they would be a very good fit for Anthony's family as Joan's father Humphrey Chambers was also a Puritan vicar.

But it has taken me a lot of work to prove the link! This is what I ended up with:

Joan Wood's will of 1713 mentions "cousin Thomas Hind". Some of the "cousins" (the term was used very loosely in those days) in her will are surely Anthony's relatives rather than hers, as one is a Robert Wood.

The will of Edward Wood, rector of Hamsey, of 1641, mentions his wife Anne, eldest son John, son Anthony serving an apprenticeship, daughter Elizabeth, "son" John Hinde of London, and grandchildren Anne Hinde and Mary Hinde. FamilySearch has a marriage between John Hinde and Anne Wood at Hamsey in 1637, and then there is a baptism for Mary Hinde 24 Feb 1637 at St Margaret Lothbury, London, father John Hinde. There is a PCC will proved in 1668 of John Hinde, haberdasher of London, which mentions his children Edward, John, Joseph, Thomas, Katherine, Elizabeth and Hannah, and his married daughters Anne Allen (wife of Benjamin Allen) and Mary Kenett (wife of Godwin Kennett). Godwine Hennett married Mary Hinde 5 Sep 1667 at St James Dukes Place, London. "The Connoisseur, an Illustrated Magazine for Collectors", has a sketchy tree of the Kennett family which says that Godwin Kennett was baptised at Lydd 28 Nov 1641, and died without issue, although it doesn't give the date of his death. The Bristol Marriage Bonds show that Anthony Wood, sugar baker, stood as bondsman for the marriage of Mary Kennett, widow, to Edward Williams, cooper and widower, 17 May 1678.

So I reckon that is enough proof that my Anthony is the son of Edward Wood of Hamsey! And Edward Wood of Hamsey appears in the Visitations of Sussex, so I should be able to find plenty more to add to my tree now!

[Lindsay]

I'm really pleased for you - it's so satisfying when you can tie together so many different pieces of information like that!