Two Names, One Family:

 

The Clarkson/Clayson Dilemma

 

Introduction

There were, in the mid to late eighteenth century in East Kent, two families of Claysons, one located mainly in Deal, the other in Elham.   The first mention of a Clayson in Elham is the marriage of Mark Clayson (of Kingston) to Sarah Norris on June 4 1773.  In Deal it is the banns in March 1757 for the marriage of John Clayson to Ann Holman.

Soon, in both places, there are a string of other Clayson names to deal with: in Deal Robert, Mark, Edward and William; in Elham Elizabeth, William and John

 

In searching for my ancestors (who include Mark Clayson and Sarah Norris) I have tried to find where these two families of Claysons came from.  In this article I wish to suggest that their common ancestor may be Mark and Angelica Clarkson, not Clayson, whom I first encountered in Barham in 1668 where their son Mark was baptised on July 30  .This son died and was buried in nearby Denton.  But Mark and Angelica went on to have three more children in Denton: John, baptised on October 16 1670, Mark on February 17 1674 and Mary, on May 20 1677.  Having searched the registers of many of the parishes around Barham, Denton and Elham and, more recently, around Deal, it is my belief that two of these children, John and Mark, gave rise respectively to the Clayson families of Elham and Deal.

 

The Deal Claysons

If we first look at the Mark Clarkson born at Denton in 1674, he is most likely the Mark Clarkson who marries Bennett Page in Barham on June 25 1696. Their children, so far as I have been able to establish, all baptised in Barham, are William, on February 20 1700, John on January 16 1703 and Vincent on February 8 1709.

Vincent does not marry and is buried at Barham on 6 February 1731.

William appears to be the one who marries Ann Higgins at St George’s church, Canterbury, on February 21 1729. They have one child, Joseph, who dies in infancy and is buried at Barham in1730. William himself dies in 1736. We have confirmation from his will that this William’s wife is Anne and his father is Mark to whom he leaves all his property.

Brother John seems more robust than his siblings and I believe it is he who marries Sarah Erridge of Ringwould at St Margaret’s Canterbury on November 22 1732. Although at his marriage he is described as being ‘of Nonington’ it seems likely that his first two children, Robert and John Clarkson, are baptised in Barham on June 24 1733 and June 5 1735 respectively. No more children of John are born in Barham but between 1737 and 1745 four more sons, offspring of a John and Sarah Clayson are baptised at St Mary’s Walmer, Mark on February 5 1737, an Edward who dies in infancy, another Edward baptised on February 25 1742 and William on March 31 1745.

What proof do we have that these are connected to Robert and John Clarkson born in Barham? Perhaps not a great deal, but what has convinced me is the 1807 will of the youngest of the Walmer sons, William, which mentions all his brothers by name, including Robert and John, and apparently refers to them in age order, starting with the eldest, Robert.

It thus appears to me that the five brothers (Robert, John, Mark, Edward and William) who founded the Clayson dynasty of Deal are, in fact, the great-grandchildren of Mark and Angelica Clarkson of Barham and Denton, the grandchildren of Mark Clarkson and Bennett Page of Barham and the children of John Clarkson and Sarah Erridge..

 

The Elham Claysons
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The tale of the Elham Claysons is not as straightforward as that of the Deal Claysons. But if we go back to Mark and Angelica’s son, John, christened at Denton on 16 October 1670, it seems likely that he is the John Clarkson who marries Mary Hudson at Nonington on 7 July 1696. They have eight children between 1697 and 1713, christened variously in the parishes of Chillenden, Womenswold and Nonington.

Two of their male children, John and Mark, die in infancy and I have been unable so far to establish what happened to two others, Thomas and George. But the fifth and youngest son, William, baptised at Nonington on 4 January 1713, is likely to be the William Clarkson who marries Anne Poole at Elham on 13 October 1741. They have one son, William, christened at Barham on 28 February 1742. Anne apparently dies as a result of William’s birth, since she is buried at Barham on 21 February 1742.

It is then probable that William Clarkson, widower, marries Anne’s sister, Katherine, not at Barham, nor at Elham, where both Katherine and Anne were born. In both places such a marriage would have been frowned on for reasons of consanguinity. Instead the marriage took place at St George’s church, Canterbury on 3 July 1749. William and Katherine have ten Clarkson children between 1749 and 1768, all baptised in Barham. Amongst them are Mark, baptised 1 April 1753 and Elizabeth baptised 10 May 1761.

The first Clayson entry in the Elham register, as I have said, is the marriage of Mark Clayson to Sarah Norris in 1773. It seems to me very likely that Mark was, in fact, the Mark Clarkson, baptised in Barham in 1753 and Elizabeth Clayson, who has a baseborn son William Sergeant Clayson, christened at Elham in 1782, is the Elizabeth Clarkson, baptised in Barham in 1761.

Returning to William, the son of William Clarkson and his first wife, Ann Poole, he apparently marries Ann Page at Elham on 20 April 1760. They have seven children between 1760 and 1785, six baptised in Elham and one, John, in Barham on 26 May 1765. This is almost certainly the John Clayson, a minor, who marries Martha Roussel at Elham on 21 November 1785 William, his father, appears to die at Elham in 1792, being buried there on April 24 (his age given as 52) under the name William Clayson

So the Elham dynasty of Claysons, like those of Deal, can, I believe, be traced back to Mark and Angelica Clarkson, via their son John and his wife Mary Hudson, then via their grandson, William Clarkson and his two wives, Anne and Katherine Poole and their offspring.

 

Clues to the Riddle

Though this change from Clarkson to Clayson may seem straightforward as described above, it certainly was not easy to disentangle and it might be interesting to examine some of the clues which led me to consider the possibility of a name change in the first place.

One of the first was an entry in Canterbury Marriage licenses 1751-1780 detailing the marriage of Mary Clayson, a minor, to James White of Deal on 9 July 1776. Mary’s father was said to be William Clayson of Barham. It therefore seemed sensible to look at the parish registers of Barham but there were no Claysons mentioned in any of the registers in the eighteenth century. There was, however, a Mary Clarkson, daughter of William Clarkson, christened at Barham on 22 August 1756, which would have made her a minor (under 21) in 1776.

Looking further into the Barham registers I was intrigued to find on 10 November 1805 the christening of Elizabeth Clarkson, daughter of William Sergeant Clarkson and Mary, his wife. Intrigued, because I knew of the christening at Elham in 1782 of a William Sergeant Clayson which I have referred to above.

Later still, I found a James Clarkson, baptised on October 27 1816 in Barham who in the 1841 and all subsequent censuses, when he is living in Nonington, then Ringwould, is always listed as James Clayson.

All this led me back to the Elham registers to look for Clarksons whom I had not previously been looking for in connection with my Clayson ancestors. And there I found the marriage of William Clarkson to Ann Page as well as their first four children, all baptised in Elham under the name Clarkson. Two subsequent children, Jemima in 1778 and Charlotte in 1785 were however baptised in Elham as Claysons.

So, I began to be convinced that the Clarksons and Claysons were one and the same family. I should add that the emergence of Claysons in Elham takes place at exactly the time of the appointment of a new vicar in 1773. Additionally, it is worth noting in relation to all of the above that not only do Claysons appear for the first time in the Deal registers in 1757 and in the Elham registers in 1773 but Clarksons disappear from the Barham registers after 1768 (apart from the burial of a William Clarkson in 1782) until the re-emergence of William Sergeant Clayson/Clarkson there in 1805.