Richard Wolfenden and Mary Isherwood

Richard Wolfenden was born around 1687 near Sawley, Yorkshire, England, to father Johnathon Woolfenden (1657-1703). It appears from baptism and burial records the family lived in Rimington.

Rimington, a township in Gisburn parish, is five miles north east of Clitheroe. The population in 1851 was 607. Silver, lead, and calamine were mined in the area.

There is a burial of a Johnathan Wolfenden, of Rimington (2 miles from Gisburn) on 25 Aug 1703 at St Marys, Gisburn.

There are baptisms* and burials# for other children with the father Johnathon in the Gisburn parish records – possible siblings of Richard-

• Maria b 1676* buried 17 September 1684# Rimington
• Jane (Jana) b 1678*, buried 1684 died Rimington (2 miles from Gisburn)
• Jacob(us) b 1681*, married Maria Carr of Forrest 1729 in Gisburn
• Judith b 1684, buried 18 Oct 1684#
• Richard born ca 1687, bur 24 May 1747 Bolton by Bowland, marr Mary Isherwood
• Elizabeth(a) b 1689* twin – probably died
• Mary (Maria)  b 1689* twin – probably died
• Mary (Maria) b 1692* married Peter (Petrus) Wilman in 1709 in Gisburn
• Johnathon ca 1693 (having two children baptised at Gisburn in 1718 and 1727)
• Alicia b 1695*
• Anna buried 10 April 1701# Gisburn

The two girls Elizabeth and Mary were baptised on the same day (5 January 1689).

The Gisburn parish registers have been filmed by the Lancashire Record Office and are available online on Familysearch.

Note – Some family trees have Richard baptised  on 16 July 1682 in Radcliffe, Lancashire to parents Johnathon Woolfenden and Mary Walker, but I think Radcliffe is too far away  from Sawley and Bolton by Bowland where he was married (60 miles).

Richard Wolfenden was married on 10 January 1711 at Bolton By Bowland to 16 year old  Mary Isherwood.

Mary Isherwood was born in 1695 in Ripon near Sawley, Yorkshire, just five miles from Sawley.

She was baptised at St Marys, Gisburn on 8 January 1695 to father Henrici (Henry) Isherwood.

Richard and Mary had three children –

1. James b 1713 Tosside, d 1764 Far Gill. Married Ellen Holden 1740 Gisburn. 9 children.
2. Margaret b 1715 Tosside, d 1776 Knotts. Married Samuel Jackson 1736 Broughton.
3. Elizabeth b 1719 Tosside, baptised Gisburn 17 May.

The family lived on a farm in Tosside, Yorkshire. Richard was appointed Constable of Tosside in 1729.

Tosside is a small village on the border of North Yorkshire and Lancashire in Northern England. It lies within the Forest of Bowland, and is between the villages of Slaidburn in Lancashire and Wigglesworth in North Yorkshire. Most of the village is in Lancashire, but a few houses in the eastern part of the village are in North Yorkshire.

In 1740 and 1746 both Richard Wolfenden appears in a legal document (with his daughter Margaret’s husband – Samuel Jackson) regarding a Sawley title deed held at the Yorkshire Archaeological and Historical Society (National Archives Discovery Catalogue). Note Tosset is Tosside.

1740 – Walker v Woolfenden. Document type: Two bills and two answers. Plaintiffs: John Walker of Greenford, Bolton near Bowland, Yorkshire, yeoman (cousin, heir and administrator of Judith Walker, spinster deceased late of Sawley with Tossett alias Tosside, Yorkshire). Defendants: Richard Woolfenden, Robert Bolland, Samuel Jackson and Margaret Jackson his wife and Alexander Scott. (Ref C 11/2269/41)

1746 – Walker v Wolfenden. Joint and several answers of Richard Wolfenden, Robert Bolland and Samuel Jackson, three of the defendants to the bill of complaint of John Walker, complainant; and later note about costs, 1746 Case relates to title to property in Knotts, Sawley, once in the possesion of Judith Walker, with Algernon Greville the owner of the inheritance [Former ref: Box 9; MCM 190, 191, 387]

There was also a lease document between Richard and the Hon. Mary Grevile for 3 lives of land: Higher Field, Bigg Croft, Birk Clough.

Richard made a will in 1747, in which it was stated he was of Tosside, Yorkshire. (Prerogative and Exchequer Courts of York Probate).

He died at Tosside on 24 May 1747 and was buried at Bolton by Bowland aged 58 years.

Mary Wolfenden died in May 1773 at Tosside and was buried at Bolton by Bowland on 2 May 1773 aged 84. On the burial register the clerk described her as “and old woman and a widow”.