Griggs family

The information below is based on known facts not speculation. I have read some histories that talk about Celtish origins, that may be but that applies to many of us with established British origins. What can be said about our surname is that the spelling Grigg(s) is most common in the South East part of the country and can be found in East Anglia, Essex and Kent. My family has East Kent roots and it is reasonable, based on the genealogy, to say that most or all the families in East Kent with our surname trace back to a single point of origin. One day a DNA study may verify this.

The earliest reference to a Grigg in East Kent is to a Richard Grigge at Canterbury in 1218 making payments in respect of entertainment of the Mayor.

There is mention of Griggs in East Kent from 1325, John Grygges was a burgess of Queensborough. The lay subsidy of Kent includes several heads of household - Robt Grygg in Brenchley Hundred and Wm Grigge, Jn Grigge and Wm Grigge all in Folkestone Hundred. Early references such as these generally relate to families of substance and the paying of taxation where the poor rarely feature.

The Black Death 1349-1350 devastated the population of Britain wiping out whole village populations and some estimate more than halving the population of the country. The poll tax return of 1377 shows Thomas and Henrico Grigge in Canterbury and the 1381 return suggests the family members of that time were merchants - Thomas Grigge a cobbler receiving a number of entries.

The Poll taxes were deeply unpopular leading to the Peasant's revolt in 1381 led by a Kentish man Wat Tyler. Many ordinary people took part on this march on London. A contemporary poem of the time lists some of the leaders names. Amongst them appears the name Grigge - romantically I am certain this is an ancestor but no proof exists.

The period from 1450 more certainly establishes the genealogy to myself and those who may find their ancestors on my tree.

From the Norman conquest only large landowners were known by their surnames, while the lower orders were called by the fore-names. Common usage tended to attach descriptions such as their occupations to individuals, and the relationship of one to the other such as Greg's sort, which ultimately became Gregson, with a series of permutations. The White and Black Book of the Cinque Ports shows the following variants to our family name Grygge, Greges, Grige, Grigge, Grigges, Grigg, Griggs, Grygges, and the modern form was first used in 1528. There was no standardisation of spelling until probably greater written usage settled on one of their number. It is perhaps not without significance that it was about the time of the commencement of the parish registers that some stability became apparent. The spelling of the name Griggs, varied from 1440 to 1536 during their service to the Cinque Ports. There was also a limited used in the number of forenames with much repetition through the generations particularly, in the case of this family the following forenames with the date of their known use as follows: Thomas (1500), John (c 1450), William (1500), Richard (c 1430), James (c 1500). Henry appears somewhat later. The name of Thomas recurs most often.

On the sometimes circumstantial evidence with some supposition necessary to take account of lack of records it is possible to construct the Griggs tree. The records of Thomas, the cobler/cordwainer, in Canterbury around 1400. Grigg is also the name of a district and a farm as well as a road in the Headcorn area about 1450, and this is where John, William and Henry Griggs were involved in Jack Cade's rebellion. The White and Black Book of the Cinque Ports records a Robert as Mayor of Dover in 1453. while Richard occupied a similar office in 1452, and was a representative of Sandwich in 1461-3. In view of the family‘s later roots around Sandwich this is the likely connection to the earlier lines above.

The Griggs line with which we are concerned appears in a number of villages around Sandwich during the period 1450 to 1630 while other branches add to this number. Records appear in the form of wills, parish registers and the White and Black Book of the Cinque Ports. John of Finglesham made a will in 1482 making the principal beneficiary his son William, and leaving a number of ornaments to his wife Cecily. As was usual he left sums to the local church of St, Augustine in Northboume. He would have appeared to have been a husbandman, and would have been born c. 1450. William of Great Mongeham in turn willed his property in 1497 mainly to his eldest son (later identified as of Sholden}. Nevertheless he left a considerable sum of money, to be paid by Thomas his elder son, to Richard his younger son, with a tenement, as well as a tenement to his grandson Thomas. A reasonable timescale of births would be William, 1470, Thomas, 1490, Richard, 1500, and Thomas 1520. James, the son of Thomas, the beneficiary in the senior line died in St. Bartholomew‘s Hospital, Sandwich, in 1546, where he was one of the Bretheren.

Thomas represented Sandwich at the Cinque Ports Brodhall from 1526-35 and is recorded as Griggs, the modern form of the name, in 1528. There is a record of the granting of the administration of his will in 1541, but it has not been possible to find a copy of the actual will. Since the next generation is speculative such a will would have proved very valuable. Thomas and Richard appear about 1560 in a reasonable time-scale, which makes it possible that Thomas and Richard are the sons of Thomas, christened about 1530.

Thomas Griggs of Northbourne left his property to his son James in 1590/1, who in turn left his property in his son Thomas, Sara his daughter and his wife: Jane. The estimated birth of this Thomas does not fit with a time-scale which would match with the Thomas who would have been born about 1589. It must be assumed therefore that Richard and his wife Jane are the parents of Thomas — there is a record of them marrying in 1583. The Griggs tree makes this clearer

Thomas married Dorothy, probably in 1609, the first child Darnell being born in 1610 in Betteshanger parish, next door to Ham in which the majority of his children were born. The most striking feature is the number of children who died just after birth. Disease at this time was rife, so much so that the White and Black Book of the Cinque Ports records that ’the bortherhood summoned to be held at New Romney on 26 July 1625 was by consent of the Ports adjourned until a new summons "by reason it pleased God to visit theis Kingdoms: with a great plague which was dispersed much in the Ports, Townes and Members". The death of Thomas and Dorothy and another member of the family almost contemporaneously suggest some epidemic in 1632. James was born in 1619 and some speculation is necessary to guess what happened to the 13-year old boy bereaved of both parents, who surfaced some twenty years later, married to Susanna and recording the birth of another Thomas at Birchington on the north-east coast of Kent in 1652.

It is not at all unusual for individuals to appear in adjacent parishes. The distance between Ham and Birchington presents some problems in tracing the whereabouts of James' family after 1632. Luckily a note appended to the burial record of James' wife Susanna states her christening as Susanna Wood at Tilmanstone. since that parish is adjacent to Ham it makes the probability of the connection firm. The absence of traceable records for the period 1640 - 50 can be attributed to the unreliability of parish registers during the Civil War.

In rural communities where occupations were few and families were large, the custom was for the eldest son to take over the interests of the father, while the other sons either left with their skill or joined the lowest rung on the work ladder as an agricultural labourer. The earlier generations of the Griggs family seem to have been husbandmen until their arrival in Birchington

James is recorded as having paid Hearth Tax in 1662, which indicates some wealth, as well as the possibility of the century old benefit under the will of William in 1497. James and Susanna were the parents of Thomas (1652) and Susan (1655). The inventory submitted at the death of this Thomas designates him as a yeoman (a cut above the great majority of the male rural population). From the inventory itself some idea of the house of Thomas can be envisaged as well as the contents. A. description of the items suggests a hall house.

It is clear that James was the patriarch of a branch of the family which over two and a half centuries spread over the Isle of Thanet from the eldest sons who became substantial members of the community. The family of his son, Thomas moved westwards eventually to Selling.

Thomas was a substantial yeoman, as has already been said. He himself was married in 1678 to Martha Cook and secondly in 1719 to Margaret Coleman. Thomas and Martha had 10 children (7 male and 3 female). It is difficult to see how the estate of a small farmer could support such a large family. It is not unreasonable to imagine the eldest son, Thomas, looking around for some other occupation. In fact he is recorded as a blacksmith in 1701 at his marriage. His mother née Covill came from a family that had been smiths in Birchington for 100 years. It is not an unreasonable supposition to see Thomas learning the trade from his mother's family and leaving the parish to supply the need in another. There are records of his having been in Herne Hill until 1751, after which time he took over the smithy in Selling and was followed by his sons and grandsons for more than 100 years. This lead to the Griggs family spreading out and dominating the trade around the Canterbury and Faversham area. The b1acksmith's trade in a rural community was one of the most important, since he was responsible for not only the shoeing of horses but for the making and maintenance of many of the farm implements. The respect in which he was held is shown by the number of cases in which blacksmiths were elected to such important posts-as church-warden and Overseer of the Poor. The trade gradually lost its importance with mechanisation generally through the 19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. It is of interest to see today the prime position of the forge in many villages.

Thomas married Elizabeth Blandery of Sturry in 1701, and they were married in Canterbury Cathedral. They had two surviving daughters Elizabeth and Catherine who were mentioned in their father’s will in 1745. After Elizabeth his wife died in 1713, Thomas married again, Ann Pepper of Faversham, who from her mother’s will seems to have come from a family of some substance, some of which Ann inherited.

Thomas and William were born in Herne Hill and Richard, John and Mary were christened in Selling. Thomas of Herne Hill received the forge tools and the existing fuel etc. from his father's will in 1745 while the residue, with the exception of small legacies, went to Ann (‘to my dear wife, Ann, one pound and one shilling‘), Thomas, Richard and John. The forge in Selling is still substantially as it was in the eighteenth century while the abstract of the title shows some considerable land adjacent, the whole being called Little London, and one of the fields 'Griggs hop garden'. It is situated in the centre of the village, opposite the White Lion Inn and near the church.

Thomas married Jane Ashbee of Little Chart in 1747. Records for neither children or of Jane's death can be found. Thomas married secondly Jane Curling in 1779. She also came from a smith's family. Thomas seems to have been the more enterprising of the family since records show that he was a Guardian of the Poor and a church warden. The Bishop‘s transcript of the parish register from 1763 has a well-written signature of Thomas - compared with the marks of other members of the family at about this date. Thomas seems to have had his nephew Thomas bound apprentice blacksmith to him in 1767. He is named as the tenant of Little London in the abstract of title until his death in 1793.

Thomas, the nephew, continued the East Kent Griggs line through his father John, the younger brother of Thomas. He is recorded as being christened at Challock in 1752, the parents being John Griggs and Martha neé Gates. Philip Gates is shown as a lodger at the forge in the Census Return of 1841, which indicates some affinity between the families. Thomas married Sarah Kennet of Godermersham in 1775 while his sister Mary, married John Kennet the brother of Sarah. Sarah had had a base boy, John, in 1773 — there are indications that Thomas may have been the father. Thomas and Sarah marrying in when his apprenticeship finished. Between 1776 and 1796 there were twelve children of the marriage (6 male and 6 female). All the males became blacksmiths and moved to the surrounding Parishes, and in 1841 four of the eight blacksmiths in Faversham were of the Griggs family

The forge is shown in the Tithe Map of 1841, a photograph taken in 1901 and of those taken in the present day shows the residential part nearly resembling each other while the smithy has been replaced by an electricity substation. The building is quite substantial and certainly reflects the importance of the smith in the village economy of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. An interesting feature is the number of marriage certificates that bear the signature as witness of Edward Griggs - the youngest son - possibly he was in the position of being called from the smithy near at hand when the correct witness failed to put in an appearance. A bill for work done in the church with a signature that show that Thomas lacked the clerical skill of his uncle Thomas, who died in 1793. The property was in the name of Sarah (Kennet) until 1843 when she died, and Mary, the wife of Richard until 1850. Richard died in 1839 and Edward in 1828. Henry the son of Richard, a journeyman blacksmith, is shown as living at 5 Billingsgate in 1851, adjacent to the forge

William was the fourth son of Thomas and Sarah, born in 1784 provides my line of descent. The recorded information until he died in 1840 shows him as an agricultural labourer. The second marriage certificate of Thomas, his son, as well as an indication of the Census Return of 1841 by his widow Anne, shows him as a blacksmith. Presumably the lack of work reduced him in status. He married Anne Chambers from a blacksmith's family. From 1807 there were nine children (5 male and 4 female) recorded as being christened in Boughton-under-Blean and living in the village of Dunkirk - which was extra parochial. William Henry moved to Sheldwich upon marriage, Thomas, c. 1810, married Louisa Hadlow, Esther gave a home to her mother in South Street according to the census of 1851, George was killed at Bossenden Wood. Charlotte was living with her mother in 184I and James was married to Maria Dodd and worked at Bossenden Farm. William, according to his burial certificate, died 'of a broken constitution' in 1840 - this may have been an effect on members of the family of the Bossenden affair which is another story. Anne lived until 1876, and has a memorial to her in Boughton churchyard, probably the responsibility of Esther. A feature of the females married into the Griggs family in this century is their longevity, particularly in view of their large families and hard conditions of life,

The reference to Bossenden is intended to be dealt with separately but is a major event in the family history.

James and Maria Dodd are my 2x Great Grandparents, they had eight children, and continued to survive through James work as a farm labourer. My Great Grandfather Edward James Griggs was born in the Ville of Dunkirk, laboured on the land and died in the workhouse in 1909.

The family fortune seems to have taken a turn for the better after the birth of my Grandfather Henry James Griggs in 1899. He joined the army and became an engineer. He survived the 1st World War although his first wife died sometime between the marriage and his second marriage to my Grandmother. He worked for the GPO in telecommunications, a much kinder working life that that of the labourer. His daughter Betty Joan is my mother.

The complete Griggs tree is accessible via this website. Other stories and events will gradually be entered