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GGF10 – William Denton (1528- )
William’s father Thomas (GGF11) was the lawyer close to King Henry VIII and Thomas Cromwell, and also an MP for a number of constituencies. His mother was Margaret Modraunt.
Among other land acquisitions his father, Thomas, had secured Hillesden Manor in Buckinghamshire in 1547 and this became the family seat.
Thomas was born in Great Houghton as was this son William, his 1528 birth preceding the acquisition of Hillesden. Intriguingly the younger brother Sir Alexander became much more involved with Hillesden than did William.
William married Isabel Howden (1530- Dec 1598) on 28 Nov 1552 and they spent their time in Rutland. William’s son, also a William (1552 – ), and his daughter Elinor (1562 – ) were born in Haddenham. While William (the son) married in Haddenham, his sister travelled forty-five miles north to Great Houghton for her wedding with Thomas Marriatt on 19 Feb 1582.
Isabel was buried on 21 Dec 1598 at St John the Baptist, Royston, Yorkshire, England.
GGF9 – William Denton (1552- )
William GGF9 married Agnes Farrar (1550- 27 Dec 1614) from Ewood, Halifax in 1572, yet another Denton link to Yorkshire. They married in Haddenham on 29 Jun 1572.
William and Agnes had two sons, William (1572 – ) and Thomas (1574 – ), and a daughter, Isabel (1576 – ).
Presumably he died before 1580, because Agnes remarried on 21 Jan 1580 at St Marys in Woburn Beds to William Isaac Scarborough (1560-1616) at Woburn in Bedfordshire. They had eight children – William (1582-1596), Elizabeth (1584-1609), George (1586-1616), Alice (1586-1616), Hugh (1594-1607), Robert (1596-1616), William or John William (1599-1680), Agnes(1602-1602).
These beg questions. Why were all, but son William, so short-lived? Why did children George, Alice and Robert all die on 29 Aug 1616 in sleepy Woburn and their father William died just a week later? The only site that makes a comment on the deaths suggest they were all natural deaths – but in their twenties?
Weirder still the same site describes the father’s will as being produced on the 29 Aug 1616? But he mentions the three children who died that day still as heirs. Or is it just that he caught up with all the family paperwork that day?
Yet another weirdness is that George was said to have been born in July 1586 and Alice on 21 Oct 1856 – three months apart?
Agnes died on 27 Dec 1614 in Woburn Bedfordshire, but was buried at Bunhill Fields Burial Ground in Islington, London.
GGF8 – William Denton (1572- )
This William married twice, first to Elizabeth Steade in 1594, then to Margaret Purver (1579 – ) in 1601.
With Margaret he had five sons, John (1601-1601) , George (1618-?), William (1620-1675), a second William and Edward my GGF7 (1623-1681), plus two daughters both named Mary (1603 – ) and (1618 – ). George and the second Mary could be twins, or ‘Irish twins’ (both born in the same year).
Fortunately, in the next phase, there were some notable Dentons and the research proves more fruitful.
| Note on shorthand acronyms being used in the DFB: – GGF1 / GGM1 – means first great-grandfather /mother; – GU11 / GA11 – means eleventh great-uncle / great-aunt; – 1C3 – means first cousin three times removed |
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