This
project commenced in April 2002 with six stages to guide its development;
Stage
6 was to enjoy what was left of life. The time has come to spend more time
and money on other things.
The
data base has taken over 4000 hours to compile and contains 784 descendants
of William and Hester High and a total of 1345
names. These include the ancestors of some of the spouses of High’s.
A lot of time was spent firstly trying
to locate the appropriate records and secondly searching the records for
ancestors or clues to ancestors. Another big consumer of time was verification
to ensure the person being researched is indeed who they appear to be and
form part of the descendants of, in this case, William and Hester.
I would
like to thank all the people who have provided information on the family
over the past two years. Without this help the results achieved would not
have been possible. The major means of communication has been emails with
over 300 being received from various family members and other people (about
37) who have been researching the surname High.
To
this point in time I have made hard copies of the Family Tree and distributed
them to many family members. Unfortunately this has proved to be a costly
exercise and one I can no longer pursue.
As
mentioned in previous Newsletters, the Salthouse History Group, as a part of their project are
developing a website. In many communications with Val Fiddian over the past
year on the High’s of Salthouse it was suggested that a section of
that website would be devoted to the High’s as they are very much a
part of the history of Salthouse from at least the early 1700’s.
The
website is up and running, but still very much in the development stages, and the High family have a section devoted
to the descendants of William and Hester. This includes a PDF file of the
latest version of the family tree that can be downloaded using Adobe Acrobat Reader.
The
website address is http://www.legacy.salthousehistory.co.uk and
access to the relevant pages is achieved by opening the Home page and clicking “Alphabetical
Index”, then click “H”, at the bottom of the text on the High’s click ” go
to Fred’s page” then to go to the PDF file on the Family Tree
click “here”.
From
time to time as new or additional information on the family becomes available
the family tree and other snippets of information will be published on this
website.
From
now on I will keep only a watching brief on
the development of the family tree and history. It is hoped by publishing
it on the Salthouse history website and giving my email address other ancestors
of William and Hester will make contact and add to the family.
It
is also hoped that sometime in the future another member of the family will
become enthused and have the resources to continue the research into our
family. The Chinese, who have a tradition of recording their family and its
history usually only update their records every 20 to 30 years.
Revelations
from Whissonset, Colkirk and Oxwick Parish Records
After
many months of waiting for the Parish Records to be made available through
LDS, they arrived and a search of the Colkirk Parish Records revealed the
two unidentified children of John (b. 1819) and Sophia.
Arthur
High was born on 17 November 1848 and died about 10 days later on the 27
November 1848. Matthias High was christened 14 March 1852 and died 23 March
1852 with the notation that he was 2 weeks of age.
The
mystery of Rosanna High who was christened on 16 May 1858 and was living
with John and Sophia in Colkirk at the time of the 1861 Census was solved
as she is recorded as having died on 16 October 1864 at the age of six years.
Also
on the microfilm where the Parish records of Oxwick and in those it was revealed
that Benjamin (born 1776 Salthouse) and Frances High had a daughter Ann High
who was born on 30 March 1802 and christened on 11 April 1802. Shortly after
this they must have moved back to Salthouse as all their other children where
born in Salthouse. Further research confirmed that Benjamin and Frances where
married in Yaxham on 16 December 1801.
Another notation in the Oxwick Parish Records shows that Benjamin and Frances High and their 6 children received a “due payment of 12 shillings” in 1823.
While
Benjamin was born in Salthouse about 1776 he must have moved around to find
work as in 1801 he was in Yaxham when he married Francis, Ann their first
child was born in Oxwick in 1802, from 1804 to 1822 they were in Salthouse
where all their other children where born, in 1823 they must have moved back
to Oxwick were they received payment from the Parish and as both Mary Ann
(born Salthouse 1808) and Benjamin Youngs (born Salthouse 1804) where married
in Whissonsett in 1829 it could be assumed the family had settled in Whissonsett
prior to that date.
Frances
died in Whissonett on 18 August 1844, the records noted she was aged 66 years.
Benjamin also died in Whissonsett on 10 May 1862 with the records showing
he was aged 89 years, that if this is correct, would mean he was born about
1773 not 1776 which is what all other records show.
All
the details of the people shown on the family tree who were born, married
or died in Colkirk and Whissonsett have been confirmed from the Parish Records. There
are too many to list individually.
Other
High’s in Colkirk and Whissonsett in the 1700’s
The
earliest the name High appears in the Colkirk Parish records is 1737 where
a Richard and Susanna High are listed as parents of Elizabeth who was christened
17 November 1737. Other entries show them being the parents of Richard who
was christened on 28 September 1739, another Richard christened 28 January
1740, Mary christened 21 September 1745, John christened 12 July 1748, died
15 October 1753 and Susanna christened 23 April 1749.
On
15 October 1766 Richard High was a witness to the marriage of William Howard
and Susanna High.
A
John and Ann High also appear in the Colkirk Parish Records as the parents
of William christened 28 April 1756 and Richard christened 23 January 1763.
In
the Whissonsett Parish records the first appearance of a High is William
High who was christened 25 February 1727 and his father was John High (alias
Heath).
Another
entry shows a William High whose father was William High (alias Heath) died
21 November 1732.
John High (alias Heath) is recorded as having died on 20 June 1729.
On
20 November 1732 a Judith High
was christened and her father was recorded as John High. A Susanna High was
christened on 17 February 1733, died 4 March 1733 and Edward High was christened
21 May 1737 for both these the parents were record as John High and Mary
High (Lucas). A John High is recorded as having died 29 August 1753.
While
no connection has been made to the Salthouse High’s, who are descendants
of William and Hester High, it is interesting to note that Benjamin the grandson
of William and Hester moved between Salthouse and the Whissonsett, Colkirk
and Oxwick area on at least two occasions. Also the Christian names used
by the two sets of High’s are similar to later descendants of William
and Hester. Also it is not known where William High (born about 1705/10)
originated from although is confirmed he and Hester lived in Salthouse from
about 1734.
The
children of Richard and Susanna (Colkirk), John and Mary (Whissonsett) where
all born in the same period (1730/40’s) that William and Hester were
having their children. The question is whether William, Richard and John
could have been brothers.
Unfortunately
of all the parish records of Norfolk churches I have researched, the births,
marriages and deaths recorded before 1725 appears to be restricted to the
titled or landed gentry not the ordinary folk.
The Future
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