D is for Dickenson

Thomas and Margaret Dickenson were my 7^th Great Grandparents.  I have not yet found anything about them apart from the fact they were the parents of my 6^th Great Grandfather, John.

John Dickenson was born in 1666 at Sutton Valence, Kent England and lived all his life there.  He was christened 10 May 1666.  He married Ann Masters who was born in 1670 at Mardon. 

They had eight children: Margaret, Mary, Anne, Thomas, John, Sarah, Elisabeth and Stephen.

John died at home in June 1746 aged 80 years old. 

Here is a little about his hometown, Sutton Valence (in the past also called Sudtone, Town Sutton and Sutton Hastings. It is a village about five miles (8 km) SE of Maidstone, Kent, England on the A274 road going south to Headcorn and Tenterden. It is on the Greensand Ridge overlooking the Vale of Kent and Weald.  St Mary's Church is on the west side of the village on Chart Road, close to the junction of the High Street with the A274. Another landmark is Sutton Valence Castle, on the east side of the village, of Fweddingwhich only the ruins of the 12th century keep remain, under the ownership of English Heritage. 

Map of distance between Sutton Valence and Mardon. 16 mins by car, 2 hours 17 mins walk. 

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My 5^th Great grandfather Stephen Dickenson was born in Brenchley Kent and christened on 13 Feb. He was the eighth and last child born to John and Anne.  

The village name of Brenchley is historically derived from Branca's Leigh. The village is located 8 miles (13 km) east of Royal Tunbridge Wells, and 3 miles (4.8 km) south of Paddock Wood, and includes the neighbouring village of Matfield.

Brenchley parish church is dedicated to All Saints; there is an avenue of yew trees leading up to it. The village earns some historical fame by being one of the villages that was closely involved in post-medieval iron making.   The site of the furnace lies within the parish of Horsmonden now.

Stephen was a farmer in the Parish of Pembury, where his wife Mary lived.  Until the early 20^th century, Pembury was a village of five distinct hamlets in the SE of England lying just to the NE of Royal Tunbridge Wells.  It was first mentioned as ‘Peppingeberia’ in the 12^th century and later as Pepenbery.  The village green, originally known as Copingcrouch Green, was first recorded on a map in 1629. The green was until recently dominated by a large horse chestnut tree and has developed as the focal point of the village. The Camden Arms Hotel, which overlooks the green from its south side, was developed as a coaching inn to meet the needs of travellers along the London to Hastings road

In 2010, an Iron Age settlement was found outside of Pembury with pits, postholes, ditches pottery and fire-scorched pits, making the village possibly as old as 750BC.

Stephen Dickenson married Mary Crundall, on 14 June 1750 at Pembury. Mary lived her whole life in Pembury.  She was christened 17 Jan 1724, married there and was buried 10^th April 1777, sadly, just two weeks before her daughter Sarah was married. 

Stephen also died in Pembury, in Jun 1791. They are both buried in the graveyard of St Peter's The Old Church. 

In his last will and testament, he left the lease of his farm to his sons John (a Husbandman) and Daniel (a Servant) "to share and share alike". To Sarah Nye, his daughter (and wife of Richard Nye, Farmer and Carrier in Speldhurst) he left £10.00 to be paid 6 months after his death. Similar sums he left to his other daughters - Margaret Langridge (wife of William Langridge, a Tonbridge Shopkeeper) and Ann Smith (previously married to Collett, the "late Carrier" of Tunbridge).

He left £20.00 for his funeral and expenses for "proving" his will to John and Daniel; whom he "charged" as his executors to arrange his burial.

Within 40 days of his death, he instructed that an inventory was to be made of all his goods, money, bills and bonds etc and after his debts and the legacies were paid the remaining, except the farm, was to be divided equally between his four sons - John, Daniel, Stephen (a Pembury Shopkeeper) and Henry (a Servant).

The will was witnessed by Thomas Cornwall, John Inkpen and J. Sutting, and 'proved' on 19 Oct 1791.

Stephen Dickenson's Mark and Seal on his Will.

Stephen and Mary's daughter Sarah Dickenson is my 4th Great Grandmother and the last Dickenson family member in our line.  She was born in 1756 in Pembury Kent, the third child of six.

Sarah married Richard Nye a Yeoman farmer on 24 Apr 1777, only two weeks after her mother died.  

The wedding was held in St Peter’s the Old Church at Pembury.  Weddings are still held there today, due to the picturesque scene and the ancient church.  Most of the church building dates back to about 1300s, though the most ancient part, the Norman Window above the South door, dates back to 1100s.  

The Old Church stands in the woods outside the modern village to the north of the A228 bypass.  In the village is the newer Upper Church of St Peter's which was built in 1847, to accommodate the increased size of the village.

Sarah and Richard had six children:  William, Henry, John, Mary Ann, and Sarah.  William would have been born in the months after his parents' marriage.  He is the next in my family line. They resided at Cambridge Wells, Kent.

Sarah died in 1825 in East Peckham and was buried on 27 Oct 1825. 

Richard died in 1827, two years after his wife.

  

 Keyes Mill, Pembury JMW Turner c.1796

Giving a typical view family would have seen at that time.