descendants of richard piper

Pipers Farm, Hawkhurst Common, East Hoathly (circa 2003)

This is the main page for the Piper family descendants.I have chosen to start with Richard and his wife Mary (Taylor) as to go back further introduces another level of doubt into the accuracy of the tree. Because of this I have presented what is currently known about his ancestry on a separate page.

The family, both ancestors and descendants, lived in an area known as the Weald of East Sussex.The Weald is the term used to describe the gently undulating land between the two east- west running chalk hills known as the North and South Downs spanning the counties of Kent, Sussex and into Surrey and Hampshire The eastern part in particular is known to have had all the raw materials for iron to have been smelted for about 2,000 years. The sands and clays yielded the iron ore, as well as the stone and brick to build the furnaces; the woodland provided the charcoal fuel and the numerous small streams and valleys ensured water power for the bellows and hammers of the forges and furnaces. The use of coal and the growth of the industrial revolution brought an end to the Sussex iron industry. The last furnace closed in 1813 in Ashburnham. More information about this industry can be found at this site http://www.hammerpond.org.uk/index.htm

Few early records for this part of Sussex are available online. Helen Phillips, a descendant of Richard's son William, has done a lot of research some years ago by visiting the East Sussex record office in person. She was also assisted by Jane Seabrook a resident of East Hoathly and a keen family history researcher. I am indebted to both these ladies for much of the names dates and information about the early generations of this family tree. They have also identified a few gaps and errors in those records that are available online at the very comprehensive site about wealden families http://theweald.org/home.asp

I have put a small descendant chart here to show the family of Richard and Mary, however, a larger, 6 generation, chart can be downloaded from the link below. It is a pdf file so it will open in programs such as Adobe Reader and can be viewed in another window at the same time as looking at the Piper pages. As it is a big display you will need to magnify it and scroll around the screen to see the people you want to follow. If I haven"t got anything about a person other than the dates that are included on the descendant tree chart I haven't given them a separate text entry on this and the following linked pages.

Richard married Mary Taylor in Framfield in 1785.Their first three children were christened in the same church that the couple were married in (St Thomas à Becket's). The remaining six children were christened in the East Hoathly Parish Church. It is likely that this change in churches was prompted by Richard taking over the property Piper's Farm which was in the East Hoathly parish from his uncle William Piper. The famhouse is about 1km north of the church. Framfield is roughly 8 km south of East Hoathly.

John Piper

east_hoathly_church John married Elizabeth Gasson in East Hoathly and over the next 11 years Elizabeth gave birth to 5 boys and two girls. Both John and Elizabeth died the town of Ripe, Sussex. In John's will, written the same year he died (1843) he left the following properties in trust to one William Russell to be leased:

A Hailsham property
The blacksmiths shop and orchard at the Nursery in East Hoathly;
4 acres of land on the River Dicker in parish of Chiddingly

The proceeds from the leases were to go to his wife Elizabeth for her life and on her decease the proceeds of the sales were to be divided between their surviving children (or their offspring if deceased). In his wil he mentions his daughter, Eliza, the wife of William Chapman of Eastbourne as having no children. He also mentions that his son Philip had earlier received £66 (found in census as born in East Hoathly but not in the parish register) and his son Matthew had received £56. Both amounts were to be deducted from their final inheritance.

richard piper

Richard married Sarah Cottingam in Buxted, Sussex in 1814. There isn't much more about them until the census's. In 1841 the family is living in a place called Six Vents in the parish of Maresfield. Richard's occupation is given as a Blacksmith. With them are 5 of their offspring ranging in age from 25 down to seven years old, the oldest two being boys. In the 1851 census, they are still living in Maresfield and Richard is still working as a Blacksmith but they only have the two youngest girls living at home, 21 year old Dinah and Sarah 19 years old. No occupation is given for the daughters. By the 1861 census Richard is listed as a retired Blacksmith living with his daughter Sarah and her husband at "Curds" in Maresfield parish, his wife Sarah having died previously (possibly Junje 1851).

william piper

William was the first child to be christened in East Hoathly. When he was 25 he married Sarah Hemsley 3 years his junior. They were married in The Church of St Michael in the parish of Lewes. The marriage was by banns and both were noted as "of this parish" so they may have moved away to get married as Sarah was pregnant at the time. Their first child Caroline was born about four months later and christened back in Framfield. William died in 1834 in East Hoathly. In all, so far as is known they had six children, two girls and four boys in 14 years. William died in 1834. In the 1841 census Sarah seems to have married again to Reuben Reed (Agricultural Labourer and later having his own farm) and living in East Hoathly with the three youngest children and a new toddler Barbara Reed (2y.o.)

james piper

James married Mary Butler in Lewes 1825. Over the next 43 years the couple had 10 children (5 girls, 5 boys). James went on to become a shoemaker in Little Waldron. he died1865 and Mary died in 1875 both in Waldron.

robert piper

Robert married Mary Berwick in Buxted and they had at least three sons. On the 1851 and 1861 census' he is shown as a farmer of 110 acres near Mayfield. On the 1871 census at 67 years old he is shown as a widower, lodger and farm servant living with the Wood family in Buxted (suggesting he was a leasing land to farm in earlier years?). In 1881 he was living with his son Samuel and his family in Cuckfield and was recorded as a Tailor. He died in the Cuckfield registration district about a year later.