William Finch (1685-1765) and Elizabeth Puttock (1688-1743).
My 7th great-grandparents.
William Finch was baptised on 3 April 1685 at St Peter’s Church in Slinfold, Sussex. He was my 7th great-grandfather assuming the Slinfold connection with my family is correct. His parents were John Finch and Sarah Richardson.
William married Elizabeth Puttock on 10 May 1710 in Slinfold. The Parish Record transcription copy I have makes no mention of either William or Elizabeth being from another parish, suggesting they were both from Slinfold or had been living there for a while. Records either side of theirs do mention if bride or groom were from elsewhere. The Finches may have been relatively new to the village as there is no record of any in the 1641 Protestation Returns – a list of men over the age of 18 who took or did not take an oath of allegiance to ‘live and die for the true Protestant religion, the liberties and rights of subjects and the privilege of Parliaments’. The Puttocks are present in the lists for Slinfold.
Several baptism records for his children described William as a carpenter. I’ve yet to find a death date for him that I’m 100% confident about but a William Finch was buried on 14 January 1765 in Slinfold and this is most likely to be him.
There are several candidates for Elizabeth. The most likely is the girl born to Thomas Puttock in 1688 in the village next to Slinfold, Rudgwick, and baptised there at Holy Trinity Church on 28 December. The mother’s name wasn’t recorded. Another Elizabeth, daughter of Phillip, was baptised in Slinfold in February 1678 but 32 would’ve been an older age to marry and the lack of the name Phillip in subsequent generations is perhaps evidence that she wasn’t my ancestor. A third candidate was born to Henry Puttock in West Tarring in 1690. However, West Tarring is some distance from the area and an Elizabeth Puttock married there in 1715.
Elizabeth died in 1743, and was buried at St Peter’s in Slinfold on 24 July. Records with the Sussex Family History Group list her as the wife of William Finch but don’t give her first name.
William and Elizabeth had at least four children:
- John Finch (1711-1795), my 6th great-grandfather who lived out his life in Slinfold, Sussex.
- Sarah Finch (1714-1766), my 6th great-grand aunt. She was baptised on 20 August 1714 in Slinfold and took part in a so-called clandestine marriage.
- William Finch (1718-????), my 6th great-grand uncle. Baptised on 24 April 1718 in Slinfold, I’ve yet to find other records for William. Several wives of a William Finch were buried in the village during the middle years of the 18th century. Are they relevant?
- Thomas Finch (1721-????), my 6th great-grand uncle. Baptised on 10 December 1721 in Slinfold, Thomas has not been easy to track down after this.
Sources: BMD and other records held at Ancestry.co.uk and Findmypast.co.uk, West Sussex Records Office, Sussex Online Parish Clerks for Protestation Returns and Sussex Family History Group records. National Archives