I am the six-times great granddaughter of William Easter. He is the oldest member of my paternal Easter line that we have found. He married in Stow cum Quy in Cambridgeshire in 1700, aged 25, which places his birth around 1675. I can’t find his birth in the parish records there, so I’ve searched surrounding parishes, and eventually other counties, with no success so far. He doesn’t seem to appear before his marriage to Ann Bradwell, who was born in the village in 1679. Her parents were David Bradwell and Ann (Green).
Not all the parish records have been digitised, but in 2007 CFHS produced an indexed listing of the parish registers. This shows one baptism, (1706, Ann dau William and Ann), one marriage (1700, William and Ann), and one burial (1732, Esther Easter) who may or may not be connected.
At the time of William’s birth, the village apparently had about 40 or 50 houses, with about 80 adults living there. This was based on the Compton Census of 1676, which was created to ascertain the religious affiliation of the population of England. Very little of this census remains. Citation :A F Wareham and A P M Wright, ‘Stow cum Quy’, in A History of the County of Cambridge and the Isle of Ely: Volume 10, Cheveley, Flendish, Staine and Staploe Hundreds (North-Eastern Cambridgeshire) (London, 2002), pp. 230-233. British History Online
William and Ann’s first three children were born in the village. At some time around 1707 the family moved to Aldeburgh in Suffolk. They had two more children, although I can’t find either birth or baptism dates for them. I know their youngest son was born in Aldeburgh, but I’m not sure if the older son was born in Stow cum Quy or Aldeburgh.
Some confusion as FamilySearch have a second wife, married in 1712 – this must be incorrect, as by then they had moved to Aldeburgh. There are also other families in Stow cum Quy with names Eastern, Esther, and Ester, which may be mis-spellings or transcription errors, or may be totally unrelated, but which may be associated with William.
Here’s my timeline for the information I do have.
Why did they move from the fens to Suffolk? Cambridgeshire History records that in the 1700s flooding was a major problem with much land lying underwater. This may have been the reason for the move. There are many Easter families in Aldeburgh, many are related, but are they all related? Was William born in Suffolk rather than Cambridgeshire?
What next?
I’ve been researching online with the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Family History Society, the Suffolk FHS, the LDS (FamilySearch), and FMP. Once we’re free to visit, I’ll go to both my Local Studies library, where I can access the full version of Ancestry or Find my Past free of charge, and my local LDS Family History Centre, where I hope to be able to access full records not yet digitised on their website.
I can also search for a marriage likely (by rough date) to be his parents, though they don’t appear in the Stow cum Quy list, which goes back to 1541 for marriages. So perhaps they married elsewhere, and perhaps William was born in that place rather than in Stow cum Quy.
Perhaps, as I suggested earlier, his family was originally from Aldeburgh, and his marriage in Stow cum Quy is purely because that is where his wife was born. It’s still traditional to marry in the bride’s home town if the couple come from different places.
Perhaps I’ll never break through this brick wall.
Easter Family Genealogy 