Stephen SUMMERHILL married Sarah CRATCHLEY (of Dursley, Gloucs) at Slimbridge, Gloucestershire, on 6th July 1778.
At the time of the marriage, Stephen was listed as being “of Frampton”, although he actually seems to have been born in Siston, where his parents, Isaac and Joanna (née Pool) were also born, and his grandfather, also called Stephen.
It looks as if the couple began their married life at Frampton on Severn, Gloucestershire as their first child, Betty, appears to have been christened there in 1779. Their next four children, Isaac (born c. 1780), Joanna (born c. 1782), Charlotte (born c. 1783) and James (born c. 1785) were also all baptised at Frampton. Frampton was home to the wire and iron works at Fromebridge Mill, owned by the Purnell family of Dursley and whose Fromebridge Company was a major industrial concern by the 1770s.
By 1787, Stephen and Sarah Summerhill had moved a couple of miles away to Saul, Gloucestershire, where their children Isaac (born c. 1787), Mary Ann (born c. 1790, died 1791) and Stephen (born c. 1792) were baptised. The youngest son, Stephen, married Ann Niblett in 1811 at Saul. Ann is described in the marriage entry as being of Fretherne.
Stephen and Ann Summerhill appear to have remained in Saul until about 1822, although a check of the parish registers has failed to reveal a baptism for their eldest child, Charlotte who, according to census returns, was born in Saul in about 1814. The couple seems to have stayed in Saul until at least 1822, when their daughter Lucy was baptised. At this time, Stephen’s occupation was listed as a ‘melter’ (presumably at Framilode Mills, iron, tinplate and brass works, which were also owned by the Purnell family of Dursley). The Victoria County History notes that Purnell’s offered Framilode Mills to let in 1824, which may have prompted the Summerhills to move as it was sometime between 1822 and 1825 that they moved to Staffordshire..
By 1825, Stephen and Ann Summerhill had moved 64 miles to Tipton in Staffordshire. Then, by 1832, they were in Bilston, moving to Wilden, Worcestershire by 1841, to Wolverhampton by 1851 and to Farfield, Kidderminster by 1861.
The Summerhills appear to have had a long association with Wilden. An obituary for Fanny Williams, Stephen and Ann’s grandaughter, who died in Wilden in 1935, notes her connection with the Summerhills. The paper reports “the village has been home to members of this [Summerhill] family for more than 150 years.”
I am struggling a little to unpick all the Summerhills (with variant spellings such as Summerill, Somerell, as well repeated use of the same favourite first names), but it does seem that the family moved around between a handful of South Gloucestershire parishes, just to the north of Bristol. Given the Framilode Company’s ownership of a number of iron, wire and brass works in the area, it’s possible that the Summerhill family’s movements around neighbouring parishes could have been linked to movement between the various mills.
3 Comments
Summerhill Question: Can anyone identify a Summerhill male, born c. 1585 or so, who married a Britton and had a son William (who went to Rhode Island)?
Hello John
I don’t know if this will help, as it’s a lot later that the period you’re looking for, but the only Summerhill-Britton I have is a William Summerhill (1733-1821) marrying an Elizabeth (“Betty”) Britten at Bitton, Gloucestershire on 29th May 1757. They had a son, William, who was born in Siston, Gloucestershire in 1760 – I’ve no idea if he emigrated. I haven’t traced the Britten family any further back, but I hope this is of some interest.
Tracey
1585 is a LONG TIME AGO. James Colony was founded in 1606, Plymouth in 1620 by accident, and St. Mary’s City, Maryland in 1634. This man you seek would have been 35 years old the year the Mayflower stumbled upon Cape Cod,. There simply were no Summerhill males in Plymouth or James Colony. Rhode Island didn’t even exist until Roger Williams left Plymouth and received a charter for the Providence Plantations (1636 at the earliest, most would add a decade to that). St. Mary’s City / County, Maryland is different though.
ONE male Summerhill emigrated to the New World around this time period, but if your date of birth is accurate he would have been 69 years old when he signed an indentured servant contract in Bristol, UK. William Summerhill signed a four-year indentured servant contract with a man named Richard Ward in 1654, bound for James Colony in Virginia, I forget the ship. However, he actually ended up in St. Mary’s County, Maryland. (William Summerhill appears in the “Bristol Register of Indentured Servants (1654-1686)”, but his name is frequently reflected as Sommerhill in Maryland Colonial records.
After working off his indenture, he was able to purchase 250 acres of land, and grew tobacco along along the Chaptico River after earning his freeman status. He died 23 Jun 1714 and left the land to his two sons Samuel (b. 1685) and James (b. 1694) jointly, with rights to his surviving wife. James (his great, great grandson) served in the Continental Army (registered in Olde Frederick, VA), moved to the Ohio frontier, and is buried in Pittsburgh with a headstone reading “Summerill.” (It is the only family headstone in the line lacking the “H” spelling.). All other descendants of the original immigrant William stayed south of the Mason-Dixon line, mostly in North Carolina by the U.S. Civil War.
Two other Summerhill males were in the Northern States before 1776; however, to the best of my knowledge, both of those two migrated from Ireland immediately prior to their arrival, and both after the year 1700.