The Sunley Dynasty
Chapters (click here to open chapters menu click here again to close it)
1. FROM SONLEY TO SUNLEY TO STUBBS AND BACK TO SUNLEY 2. SIMPSON 3. SELLERS
4. COWTON 5. DITCHBURN 6. THE FAMILY OF JOHN RICHARD COWTON AND MARION DITCHBURN


THE EARLY COWTONS
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The following is a tentative history of the early Cowtons of the Hunmanby area, researched by Roy Pledger. If anyone can add to or update anything here I would be very pleased to hear from you.

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Sometime in the mid Sixteenth Century John and Jennet Cowton were living in or around Burton Fleming in North Yorkshire. (Jennet was buried at Burton Fleming in September 1570.) John and Jennet had the following children:-
James (unverified) born February 1555 at North Burton.  
Ann born July 15th 1560.  
Michael born July 19th 1562.  
THOMAS born November 3rd 1566 at North Burton.  
Doratie born August 22nd 1564.  
Michael born July 19th 1567.  
THOMAS Cowton married Elizabeth. Elizabeth died November 1612 and Thomas died May 23rd 1613 both at Burton Fleming. Thomas and Elizabeth had the following children:-
JOHN born February 7th 1586.  
WILLIAM born 1588 at Burton Fleming.  
On 14th July 1674, WILLIAM COWTON ‘aged about 86 years’ was buried at Hunmanby. His wife may have been ANN who was buried at Hunmanby on 12th March 1682, ‘ wife of William’. William was probably the father of John (1620) and Denise (1623) and maybe of Dorothy, Mathew (1626), JOHN (1633) and Robert (1635).
Around the same time a JOHN COWTON had a daughter baptised at Hunmanby (Jana 1618), John may have been baptised at Hunmanby in 1587, the son of Thomas, who may also have been William’s father (Thomas may have originated in North Burton, now Burton Fleming, near Hunmanby).
WILLIAM was probably also the father of STEPHANIO (1632), variously named as Stephan, Stephon, Stephen and Steven. He was married at Hunmanby on 30th November 1658 to Bridget (Maltby). ‘Brigid’ was buried at Hunmanby on 27th August 1691, ‘wife of Stephen’. They appear to have had six children, all baptised at Hunmanby:-
John born 1658 died 1681.  
Mathew born 1661.  
WILLIAM born 6th November 1664.  
Grace born 1668.  
Robert born 1670.  
Stephon born 1671.  
WILLIAM (born 1664) was probably married to MARY who was buried at Hunmanby on 12th March 1708, ‘wife of William’. Paver’s Marriages records the marriage of William Cowton, yeoman, 23yrs(?) at Hunmanby in 1684 to Mary (Nouble) 21yrs. William was probably the William Cowton buried at Hunmanby on 10th February 1712.
(There was another William baptised at Hunmanby 16th June 1671 who was probably the one buried at Hunmanby on 22nd December 1741. He was the son of Robert baptised at Hunmanby in 1635, whose wife was probably the Mary buried at Hunmanby on 29th November 1688).
Eleven children are recorded as being fathered by WILLIAM at this time, all baptised at Hunmanby :-
William born 1685.  
Francis born c1687 or 1688.  
ROBERT born 30th March 1690. ‘Son of William’  
Ann born c1691 or 1692.  
Margarot born 1694.  
Mary born 1696.  
Jane born 1699.  
ROBERT born 23rd February 1700 ‘Son of William, taylor (as in a tailor ?)’.  
Valentino born 1702.  
Elizabeth born 1704.  
Hannah born 1706.  
The two ROBERT’s were the father of some twelve children between them, all baptised at Hunmanby:-
Ann born 1718 died 1719. ROBERT (Robt)
William born 1720 died 1727. ROBERT (Robt)
ROBERT born 25th October 1722. ROBERT (who Roy believes to be his GGGG Grandfather (my GGGGG Grandfather))
Mary born 1724 died 1726. ROBERT (Robert, yeoman)
Susanna born 1724 died 1731. ROBERT (poss twin?)
Mary born 1725. ROBERT
Ann born 1725. ROBERT (Robert, taylor) (poss twin?)
William born 1728 died 1796. ROBERT (Robert, taylor)
Francis born 1729 died 1730. ROBERT
John born 1730. ROBERT
Mary born 1731. ROBERT
Hannah born 1732. ROBERT
I need to separate the two Robert’s to decide my line.
Unfortunately it seems that both Robert’s were married to Ann’s. We find burials for:-
Ann, wife of Robert senior, who was buried at Hunmanby on 5th August 1755.
and Ann, wife of Robert, taylor, who was buried at Hunmanby on 2nd January 1756.
Robert ‘senior’, was buried at Hunmanby on 9th February 1769,
whilst other Robert’s were buried on 10th February 1715, 27th February 1727 and 11th March 1727.
So I am faced with two William’s,  two Robert’s and two Ann’s, with little to help me to decide which is which ...
Another slight complication is that WILLIAM (b 1664) had a brother called Robert (b 1670), who had a son called Robert (b 1701-1702) and William (b 1671) also had a brother called Robert (b 1674) (as if I needed any more Robert’s !).
One final thorn is the fact that Robert Cowton of Hunmanby was married at Bridlington 22nd August 1723 to Ann (Dunn) – perfect for ROBERT (b 1700), BUT they had four children baptised at Bridlington :-
Dorothy born 1723.  
Dinah born 1725.  
Ann born 1726.  
John born 1729.  
making it very difficult to fit them in ...
It looks very much as if the two families of William/Robert were yeomen on the one hand and tailors on the other.
ROBERT (b 1722) was married at Muston, 26th December 1750 to Mary (Lowthorp) when he was described as Robert junior.
They had seven children, all boys baptised at Hunmanby and mainly described as ‘son of Robert junior’.
Their eldest son, Robert (b 1751) was described as ‘yeoman’ when he was buried in 1810.
Their youngest son, Francis (b 1765), a farmer was Roy's GGG Grandfather, therefore my GGGG Grandfather.
Obviously I am favouring a farming line which tends to point me towards:
William? =  Stephen (1632)  =  William (1644)  =  Robert  (1690)  = Robert (1722)  = Francis (1765).
The above was compiled by Roy Pledger 23rd November 2003 and messed about with by me (Dave Cowton) 23rd June 2009.
OTHER COWTON FAMILIES IN THE HUNMANBY AREA :-
FRANCIS COWTON born c1610
ALL EVENTS AT HUNMANBY UNLESS OTHERWISE STATED
(Francis’ father may have been WILLIAM (1588 – 1674) who may top my tree, and therefore be the brother of Stephanio (1632)?
FRANCIS was the father of eight children in the mid 17th century:-
WILLIAM
born July 1632 (PR) He was probably married twice first to Margret who was buried 10th October 1688 (PR) and secondly Ann who was buried 12th March 1682 (PR). William had six children :-
  JANE born 1653 (PR), who married Stephen (Newton) 22nd July 1677 (PR).  
  HENRY born 14th October 1656 (PR) died 23rd February 1680 (PR).  
  CHRISTOPHER born 9th April 1665 (PR).No marriage found but he had six children :-  
    Frances born 2nd September 1688 (PR)
    William born 3rd August 1690 (PR) died 27th February 1693 (PR).
    Christopher born 18th February 1692 (PR) died 19th February 1692 (PR).
    Christopher buried 2nd January 1699 (PR).
    Ann born 18th February 1693 (PR)
    Nicholas born 14th December 1701 (PR) (the only instance of this name in the whole Cowton research!)
  ANN born 4th January 1667 (PR), died 22nd February 1667 (PR).  
  THOMAS born 11th March 1669 (BT).  
  ZACHORIAH born 15th February 1673 (BT). died 12th April 1749 (PR). No marriage found but he had three children :-  
    Hannah born 5th August 1703 (PR) died 11th July 1721 (PR).
    Frances born 27th July 1707 (PR) died 26th August 1708 (BT).
    William born 4th September 1709 (PR). He was an Excise Officer and is described as William junior. No marriage found but he had some six children :-
  William born 14th February 1736 (PR) died 19th October 1737 (PR).
  Robert born 20th July 1737 (PR) died 29th July 1738 (PR).
  Frances born 20th March 1744 (PR)
  William born 20th March 1744 (PR)
  Mary born 30th September 1749 (PR) died 29th July 1738 (PR).
and possibly,
William born 24th November 1751 (PR) died 29th July 1738 (PR), who was married to  Elizabeth who was buried 25.10.1795 when her husband was described as William junior, mason. (PR).(This William could belong to a different part of the family descending from Zachoriah’s Uncle Robert) William and Elizabeth had three children:-
    William born 24th August 1773 (PR). Ann born 20th March.1774 (PR). Robert born 3rd April 1777 died 17th August 1795 (BT). 
CHRISTOPHER
born December 1633  (PR).  
ROBERT 
born December 1635 (PR). He was married to Mary (buried 29th Novemeber 1688 (PR). They had seven children:-
(possibly)
FRANCIS buried 1659 (PR).  
  ELIZABETH born 14th August 1664 (PR),She was married to Robert (Haxby) born 25th April 1689 (PR).  
  DOROTHY born 13th September 1666 (PR), Either she or Dorith was married to William (Crozer) born 25th May 1692 (BT).  
  DORITH born 4th October 1668 (PR).  
  WILLIAM born 16th June 1671 (BT), died 22nd December 1741 (PR). He was described as William Snr, taylor.He had a son Robert born 23rd February 1700, son of Wm (taylor), who was married to Ann, wife of Rbt (taylor), buried 2nd January 1756.  Robert and Ann had two children:-
  Ann born 24th April 1725 (PR)
  William born 2nd July 1728 (BT) died 7th July 1796 (PR). (This William could have been the father of the William listed as grandson of Zachoriah aforementioned).
  CONNIE born 27th March 1670 (PR).  
  ROBERT born 7th June 1674 (PR), (possibly died 1727)?  Married 26th June 1700 to Elizabeth (Milnor) (PR).  
ELIZABETH
born 1636 (PR). She was married to John (Towes) on the 8th January 1660 (PR).
IRMA
born October 1639 (PR).  
CHRISTOPHER
born 10th July 1642 (PR).  
Francis was apparently married 1st April 1651 to Mary (Welburne) (PR), who would have been his second wife and mother of these two:-
MARY
born 16th May 1652 (PR). died 6th June 1657 (PR).
MARGRETT
born 31st July 1656 (PR).  
AS ALWAYS, THERE MAY BE DISCREPANCIES IN THIS ACCOUNT AND WE WOULD BE PLEASED TO HEAR OF ANY AND INDEED OF ANY FURTHER INFORMATION ON THIS FAMILY.  (INDEED, SOME OF THESE WILLIAM’S AND ROBERT’S MAY IN FACT BELONG TO MY SIDE OF THE FAMILY). Roy Pledger 24.3.2004
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