One of Ari’s 6x great-grandfathers was William Rice. Working back from his death and marriage dates, he was probably born around 1730, when George II was on the throne. There is a baptism record in Uppingham for a William Rice on 2 August 1730, son of William, who was a joiner (mother not mentioned!). Finding this record has helped me find his seven siblings, four of whom died as babies, and put his parents’ marriage date at about 1726. On 7 October 1762, William married Mary

David Stapleton was one of Ari’s 5x great-grandfathers (and before you read on, one of the criminal ancestors I wrote about here). He was born in 1772 in Harringworth, Northamptonshire, the youngest son of Joseph Stapleton and Mary Lewis. His christening took place at the church of St John the Baptist in Harringworth on 12 July 1772. The Harringworth Viaduct, built in 1878. It is the longest masonry viaduct across a valley in Britain, and a Grade II listed building. In 1797 D

Francis was one of Ari’s 6x great-grandfathers. We know that he died in Belton, Rutland, in 1794 and was buried there on 3 April. On 27 September 1779 he had married Susannah Whiteley at the church of St Mary Magdalene & St Andrew in Ridlington, a small parish north of Uppingham. Specially for Ari! From this date we can estimate that he was born in about 1759, but I haven’t found a record of his baptism. This is the marriage entry from the Bishop’s Transcripts from Ridlington

James Cobley was one of Ari’s 3x great-grandfathers, born in 1846 in South Luffenham, Rutland. His father was William Cobley and his mother was Mary Davis. Corbel on St Mary’s church, South Luffenham I have just found his baptism at St Mary’s, listed as Calverley: He appears in the 1851 census, age 5, when the family were living in Barrowden. Inscribed stone at Appletree Cottage, Barrowden. Possibly an admonition to mourners passing in funeral processions. By 1861, at age 15,

One of Ari’s 5x great-grandmothers was Susanna Burton, the mother of William Cobley. Susanna was born in 1784. I am working on the theory that her parents were Francis and Susannah Burton, and if this is the case then she was born on 13 April and baptised on 10 June in the village of Ridlington in Rutland. The baptism record on Findmypast says that the parents live at Leigh Lodge, which is a listed building now. Of course once you identify someone’s parents you can start to f

William Cobley was Ari’s 4x great-grandfather, born in 1814 in Barrowden, a parish on the river Welland in Rutland, and also on the Jurassic Way. As I started looking at what I knew about him this morning, things got a bit confusing. I thought I’d found his marriage to Mary Davis in 1841 but then couldn’t find it again. What I found instead were the banns and marriage record for: That definitely says Coverley! Now I wasn’t sure. Is this the same person? Would Cobley and Cover