#52 Ancestors # Week 25 - Earliest

#52 Ancestors  Week 25 -  Earliest

The earliest ancestor who I have traced is Mark Golding, born 1599 in Glemsford, Suffolk.  He was my 9 x great grandfather.  The Golding family is listed in the records of Glemsford and the neighbouring village of Cavendish over the next 300 years, and Mark’s descendants are an unbroken line through

John b 1631

Mark b 1676 #

Mark b 1712

Luke b 1745

Clement b 1785

James, b 1823.

James and his wife Elizabeth (nee Dare) came to Australia on the ship, “Hornet” in 1859.  They were assisted immigrants and had been sponsored by Elizabeth’s sister and her husband who had come from Cavendish a few years earlier and were working on the large propery, “Tomki Station” near Casino, NSW.

There were four children in the family travelling with them.  Susan (10), Eliza (8), Deborah (5) and John (aged 10 months).  Sadly, Deborah died on the voyage and was buried at sea. 

Susan was my 2 x great grandmother and I have written about her family before in #52 Ancestors –

(see #Week 1 “First”, and #Week 11 “Large Family”)

The Golding family appear to have come to Suffolk in the Middle Ages as wool merchants, although I haven’t yet been able to establish a direct line from Mark to the prominent merchant John Golding. Nor do I know where the Goldings came from, although there is a suggestion that they came from Belgium

A local history records it as follows: *

In the 15th Century the Golding family came to Glemsford. They were a wealthy family of wool merchants and the probate of their wills may be read in the Glemsford Records deposited in the County Archives at Bury St. Edmunds. John Golding died in 1496 and left instruction in his fill that the Church of St. Mary Glemsford should be extended. His wishes were carried out by his Widow and sons and the present building was erected. The writer has avoided long tedious quotations from works of reference but feels that the details of Golding's Will may be of interest. They are typical in wording and layout of wills of this period.

THE WILL OF JOHN GOLDING In the name of God. Amen. "JOHN G0LDING of GLEMSF0RDE, the elder, clothmaker, in the diocese of Norwich, to be buried in the Churchyard a Jesus Altar on the South side in the saide town of Glemsforde.
I bequeath the High Altar 13/4 and to the priests, clerks, and poor folk on my burying 6/8.
I will that a chapell be made over me where 1 shall ly in the saide churchyard and thereto bequeath £40
To all the four orders of Freress i.e. Sudbury, Clare, Babwell and Cambridge, to each of them 10/- to sing St. Gregory's Trentall for me and my friends soules.
Item; to Johanna, my wife the house I dwell in for 1ife and £100.
To Dan, my son of Bury £40,
To William, my son, house and land which I have in Poslingforth at Bulley Grenes and £40 and a meadow called TURPITTES and three acres called SEGELAND in Glemsford
To John my son land in Glemsford except CHAMBERSCROFT in NETHERSTREET.
To John my son,the younger, house in Poslingford.
To Margery Trumbill my daughter £80.
To Kath Wood my daughter £30 and land called CROSSES
To Joan Hill my daughter, Chamberscroft and three acres in Pentlowe, and twenty marks.
To all my Spinners l2d. each.
To Joan Golding daughter of William my son ten marks
To each of my children's children 20/-
To my servants 3/4d each.
To the poor of Melford 6/8,

Executors: William my son and John Golding the elder
Supervisor Joan my wife.

Proved 80th May 1497 by the Executors named in the will

William and John Golding arranged for the Architect who designed the masterpiece of Holy Trinity, Long Melford to draw up plans for the Church of St. Mary Virgin at Glemsford, Their wool merchants mark may seen carved in stone upon a shield set into on the exterior of the last wall of the North Aisle. The Arms of their father is displayed on a stone shield in the small museum in the North Aisle Cut into the stone on the outer wall of the South Aisle Chapel known as the Golding Chapel are the words - JOHN GOLDING JOAHN HYS WIFE TEE FOUNDER OP THIS CHAPEL AND IYLAS. There is a similar inscription upon, the North wall of the North Aisle referring to their sons and daughters but this has become almost illegible through the weathering of the stone.

John Golding is believed to have lived at the house now known as The Angel, in Glemsford. Although this is now a public-house it is clear that at one time it was a fine residence.

The Angel in Glemsford

Sadly, the wool trade was not to last – as recorded in the same volume,

“With the decline of the Wool Trade, the agricultural workers were the first to suffer and there is evidence of continuing poverty among the inhabitants of Glemsford. The succeeding centuries tell of a constant battle to preserve the prosperity of the parish”

Whatever wealth there may have been in the family did not last either.  Generations of Golding men are described as “agricultural labourers” in marriage documents and census records, and most appear not to have had literacy skills.  By the time James and Elizabeth packed up their family to come to Australia, life must have been hard.  A look at the English censuses of 1901, 1911 and 1939 reveal that those left behind did not fare much better.  Susan’s cousins are working as farmhands and domestic servants in the early 20^th century.

I don’t know if there are still Goldings in Glemsford and Cavendish, but I am trying to find out.

Footnotes:

# Mark Golding’s sister Judith married John Constable and was the grandmother of the painter of that name

*A Short History of Glemsford by Rev Kenneth W Glass, former rector of St Mary the Virgin, Glemsford.

Published by the Foxearth and District Local History Society