John Esling c1780 - c1850

John Esling married Sophia Chinnery in Felsham in May 1806 and they had four children baptised there over the next few years.

                          |-John Esling 1806-c1846 mar 1834 Hannah Sparkes
John Esling c1780-?       |-Sophia Esling 1808-? mar 1833 Jonathan Cooper
mar 1806 -----------------|-Amy Esling 1811-? mar 1840 Thomas Smith
Sophia Chinnery c1780-?   |-Ambrose Esling 1815-? mar circa 1860 Elizabeth

Their elder son, John, was born in August 1806, only 3 months after the marriage, and was baptised the following December. He married Hannah Sparkes in Felsham in November 1834, when he was 28. Their daughter Susannah was baptised the in March 1836 and John probably died before 1848 because a Hannah Esling/Sparkes married John Grimwood in October 1848.

Their elder daughter Sophia was born in September 1808 and baptised in October. In August 1830, when she was 22, “Frederick son of Sophia Esling” was baptised in Felsham. This form of entry implies that Frederick’s mother was either unmarried or widowed. If her mother Sophia had been 18 when she married, she would have been 42 in 1830 and could have been the mother of Frederick. The registers must be checked to see whether Sophia’s father John Esling was still alive in 1830 and so whether Sophia’s mother was a widow. If this is not the case, then we have to assume that Sophia had an illegitimate son Frederick. In May 1833, Sophia married Jonathan Cooper in the neighbouring parish of Gedding and after this, they returned to Jonathan’s home in Battisford and raised a family there.

Their younger daughter Amy was baptised in 1811 and married Thomas Smith in Felsham in October 1840, when she was 29. They have not been traced any further.

Their younger son Ambrose was baptised in 1815. He was probably the Ambrose Esling who married Elizabeth and had four children baptised in Redgrave-cum-Botesdale between 1850 and 1861.

Page maintained by Susan Laflin. Last updated December 2004.