THE FROGGATT FAMILY OF BREWHOUSE YARD:Earlier Generations in Clifton, Ashbourne & Norbury, DerbyshireWILLIAM FROGGATT (1693-1759)James FROGGATT and his family lived at Brewhouse Yard, Nottingham from about 1798 to 1835. James and his wife Ellen (PEACH) can be traced back to Duffield, Derbyshire and before that back to Clifton, Derbyshire (assuming James' baptism was wrongly recorded as John Froggatt). If our assumption is correct, James was the seventh child of the 12 children of William FROGGATT and Mary (WOODHOUSE) of Clifton, near Ashbourne Derbyshire.
(Note: you can read through each page, or you can follow the links for the people in the tree for more information on each one. There is a link at the bottom of each page to bring you back here!) William FROGGATT (1693-1759)William was born in Clifton, near Ashbourne, Derbyshire in 1693 to William FROGGATT and his wife Ann (GREEN). He was baptised at Ashbourne St Oswald on 9 April 1693.
Marriage to Mary WOODHOUSEWe do not have a record of the family's occupation but they were presumably farmers or agricultural labourers at Clifton. William married Mary WOODHOUSE at Ashbourne St Oswald on 25 April 1716. William was aged 26 and we think Mary was 30. There is a baptism for a Mary WOODHOUSE at Ashbourne St Oswald on 14 September 1685 with father John WOODHOUSE.
The family of William and Mary FROGGATTWilliam and Mary had 12 children, all baptised at Ashbourne St Oswald, Derbyshire. Note the dates are as recorded in the register. Those with two years (e.g. 1716/17) indicate the event fell late in 1716 in the Julian calender (when the New Year began on 25 March) or early in 1717 in the Gregorian calender that we use today. In 1752 the start of the year was set as 1 January, so all dates from 1752 onwards are Gregorian.
Parish RecordsThese are the relevent parish records for St Oswald in Ashbourne.
Death of William and Mary FROGGATTWe know little more about the life of William and Mary FROGGATT. They appear to have remained at Clifton all of their lives. They lost at least 5 of their children early in life. Mary died at Clifton in April 1744 and was buried at St Oswald in Ashbourne on 3 April 1744, aged 59 years. William outlived Mary by 15 years. He died at Clifton in November 1759 and was buried at St Oswald in Ashbourne on 4 November 1759, aged around 66 years.
The Children of William and Mary FROGGATTWilliam FROGGATT (1716 - 1786)William FROGGATT was born in Clifton, Derbyshire in 1716, the oldest child of William and Mary. He was baptised at Ashbourne St Oswald on 18 March 1716 (or 1717 in the new Gregorian calender). We presume William became a farmer or agricultural labourer. The next record we have for William is when he baptised his first child - William - on 3 June 1738 at Norbury St Mary and buried him there a few weeks later. The baptism notes the child was illegitimate - William later married the mother - Prudence PALMER - on 9 May 1739. William and Prudence had seven children, all baptised at Norbury St Mary. There is more information about William and Prudence and their family hereHumphrey FROGGATT (1719-1786)Humphrey FROGGATT was born in Clifton, Ashbourne in 1719 to William and Mary (Woodhouse). He was baptised at Ashbourne St Oswald on 5 April 1719. He married Mary BOULTON at Norbury St Mary on 14 February 1736. Humphrey was "of ye parish of Ashbourne" at the time. Humphrey and Mary had eight children. They all appear to have been baptised privately and then the certified event was entered into the Register of Norbury St Mary. This would suggest the baptism was conducted by a dissenting minister, such as Wesleyan. For one event the baptism was conducted by Mr Haynes. There is more information about Humphrey and his family hereMargaret FROGGATT (1723 - ?)Margaret was baptised at Ashbourne St Oswald on 12 May 1723 to William and Mary. It is not clear what happened to Margaret as there are no further definitve parish records for her. I cannot find a burial record, suggesting she married, but where and to whom? One possibility is the marriage of Margaret FROGGATT to John CHANTRY at Heath, Chesterfield on 1 August 1757, both "of this parish". Chesterfield is a long way from Ashbourne and Margaret would have been aged 34. But if we consider this marriage is possible then there is burial for a Margaret FROGGATT at Heath on 26 April 1730. James FROGGATT (1725 - 1808)James was baptised privately at Clifton on 17 November 1725 (probably by a Wesleyan minister) and the event later recorded in the Register at Ashbourne St Oswald, at a cost of 10 pence (about £ 7 today). James moved to east to Duffield in search of work where he married Ellen PEACH. They later moved to Bewhouse Yard, Nottingham. There is more about James and his family hereThomas FROGGATT (1729 - 1796)Thomas was baptised at Ashbourne St Oswald on 25 May 1729. The record does not note whether it was private, but the cleric also forgot to enter the mother's name. Thomas lived in Clifton. Thomas married Dorothy KEELING at Norbury St Mary on 17 December 1750. The parish record notes that the marriage was by Banns (published 2, 9 and 16 December) and the ceremony was conducted by Mr HANCOCK of Bromshall (a distance of about 16 miles). It is likely that Mr Hancock was a dissenting minister.
Thomas and Dorothy lived at Clifton. They had 8 children. Most were baptised privately and the event recorded at Norbury St Mary.
It appears that Thomas and Dorothy lived all of their lives in Clifton. There is nothing in the records to tell us what occupation Thomas had, but it was probably some form of farm work, either a farmer, husbandman or agricultural labourer. They had eight children and the records tell us that that they were baptised privately - i.e. by a dissenting minister. Other branches of the family were Wesleyan so Thomas may have been also. Dorothy died at Clifton and was buried at Norbury St Mary on 2 March 1800, aged 78. The burial record does not note that she was a widow (as if does for some other deaths at that time), so we cannot assume that Thomas was still alive. His death does not appear in the Norbury register, so he was buried elsewhere. There are several burials for a Thomas FROGGATT that might be him but nost are distant from Norbury or have an age at death that does not agree with Thomas' birth date. For instance there are several family trees online that ascribe a burial of 13 May 1770 at Alton, Shropshire but this is not correct. Although Alton is close to Norbury the record shows that this Thomas' mother was Hannah FROGGATT, indicating this Thomas was a child. The most likely death for Thomas is the one recorded at Ashbourne on 12 December 1796 although it gaves an age for Thomas of 75 (born about 1721) and location as Compton. As Thomas was probably illiterate that age at death may have been approximate.
George FROGGATT (1731 - ?)George was born at Clifton and baptised at Ashbourne St Oswald on 9 May 1731. There is some confusion around who George married as there are two potential marriages, in 1757 and 1759. Most family trees have assumed the two marriages are for the same George and (presumably) his first wife had died shortly after marriage.The confusion is increased by the information provided on the LDS FamilySearch site - George was aged 21, widowed and a breeches maker, none of which is shown in the parish register (presumably added by the well-meaning transcriber for some reason). As there are no known children for George and his first wife it probably doesn't matter if we assume both marriages are for the same George. Thus George first married Ann WIBBERLEY at Ashbourne on 9 September 1757 and then Mary KEELING at Norbury on 5 February 1759. It is not clear what happened to Ann between 1757 and 1759, as there is no obvious burial record for her. The 1759 marriage shows George was living at Darley Dale at the time but the marriage was in Norbury where Mary lived.
George and Mary appear to have had only two children - Ellen in 1760 and Edward in 1763, both baptised at Norbury.
For the time it would have been unusual for George and Mary to have had only two children, suggesting one of them had died. They may also have moved away from the Ashbourne area but even so more births that can be linked to this couple do not show up in the records elsewhere. There are few deaths for a George or Mary but the burial of a George FROGGATT at Ashbourne in 1764 may be correct, as this would explain the absence of more children. However there is also a burial in 1771 for a Mary FROGGATT at Ashbourne (from Compton) wife of George and this might also explain the absence of more children. There is also a burial for a George FROGGATT at Ashbourne in 1775 (from Offcote). More information is needed to solve this puzzle.
John FROGGATT (1732 - ?)John was born at Clifton and baptised at Ashbourne St Oswald on 4 April 1732. The handwriting in the register is difficult to read but by comparison to other names this indeed reads FROGOT. It would appear that John went to live at Darley where he married Ann HARRISON on 8 January 1755. Ann had been born to John HARRISON and Elizabeth (REINS) and baptised at Darley on 6 January 1726.
Ann FROGGATT died at Darley in early 1762 and was buried at Darley St Helen on 13 January, the same day her son Samuel was baptised. John appears to have remained in Darley with the four children. He did not remarry. John died at Darley in August 1791 and was buried at Darley St Helen on 12 August. The register entry is a little confused as the rector had begun to write the name of a different person. Apparently John was a pauper
Dorothy FROGGATT (1733 - ?)Dorothy was born at Clifton to William and Mary and was baptised at Ashbourne St Oswald on 5 November 1733.
The next record we have for a Dorothy FROGGATT is the baptism of John FROGGATT to a Dorothy FROGGATT at Norbury on 16 January 1759 (being noted as "illegitimate"). As there was another Dorothy FROGGATT baptised at Ashbourne in 1729 (to John and Sarah FROGGATT) and no burials recorded for a Dorothy between 1729 and 1759, we cannot be certain which Dorothy was the mother. Dorothy the younger is preferred as her siblings were attending Norbury church by this time.
A Dorothy FROGGATT married William ELLABY at Ashbourne St Oswald on 6 July 1762. One Dorothy would have been aged 29 and the other was 33. Assuming one of these Dorothy's married William ELLABY, if we look for her death we find Dorothy ELLABy was buried at Ashbourne St Oswald on 6 May 1819. She was recorded as aged 89 so was born in 1729 - so she was the daughter of John and Sarah. After the birth of John, Dorothy seems to vanish from the records. There does not appear to be a marriage for her, or a burial. John however, appears to have remained at Norbury. It is likely that he married Margaret HILL at Norbury St Mary on 25 November 1789. They had two children baptised at Norbury (Ann 1791 and John 1793) before they also vanish from the records. Ann FROGGATT (1735 - 1735)There does not appear to be a baptism for Ann. We only know about her from the burial at Ashbourne on 29 September 1735 - "Ann daughtrer of William FROGGATT, Clifton". This suggest she died on the day of birth.
Back to Froggatt Family History Last updated: 2 November 2022 |
