Peasants to Puddles - My Family History

Peasants to Puddles
My Family History - By Nicky Rowberry

The Ingles

Almost all of the information given on this page was kindly supplied by Mel Lowth, who had been researching the Ingles for many years. Sadly Mel has since passed away, but I will always be grateful for all his kindness and help with my family history.

Elizabeth Ingle was one of my 6 x great grandmothers, married to William Lowth. She was born in Colsterworth, Lincolnshire in 1733, the 3rd child of John Ingle & Elizabeth Palmer.

Baptism of Elizabeth Ingle 1733.

The Ingle family had been in Colsterworth for about 100 years by this time and Ingle descendants were still there 100 years later. Elizabeth's father John Ingle (and her brother) was a husbandman, a form of small landowner or free tenant farmer. Her nephew Maurice Ingle branched out though and became a shopkeeper in Colsterworth and then a wool stapler - someone who deals in wool. Her great-nephew Edward Ingle became a fellmonger - someone who sells fur and wool pelts.

The Ingles had the interesting habit of using the mother's maiden name as a first name for a child - so there was Cooper Ingle, Groves Ingle and best of all Plumpton Ingle. These names were then sometimes carried on to the next generation.

Probably the most historically interesting Ingle was Elizabeth's grandfather Henry Ingle (born 1670 in Colsterworth). He was described as a form of farmer, but he also worked for the famous scientist Isaac Newton, probably as some kind of bailif for Newton's estate in nearby Woolsthorpe. There is a letter written by Isaac Newton to Henry Ingle in 1712, I've not found an image of the actual letter, but there is transcription of it in this pdf (final page of the document): Newton's letter. Newton signs off as "Your very loving friend", suggesting he and Henry Ingle were well known to each other.

The Ingles had settled in Colsterworth in the first half of the 17th century, having moved there from Cold Overton in Leicestershire. Maurice Ingle was born in Cold Overton in in 1608, and the family must have moved sometime between then and the death of Maurice's father Henry Ingle in Colsterworth in 1640. There were Ingles in Cold Overton as least as far back as 1559 and probably much longer than that, but records don't go further back than that.

These early generations of Ingles in Cold Overton must have been relatively prosperous- having sufficient means at least to warrant making wills. So far I've found wills for 3 generations of Ingles - John who died in 1583, his son Thomas who died in 1607 and his son William who died in 1624. The will for John Ingle in 1582 includes an inventory of his possessions taken after his death. The image below shows part of it, listing things like a table, brass pot and coffer, bed clothes, a foal and some lambs etc.

Extract of Inventory of John Ingle of Cold Overton 1582

The will of Thomas Ingle from 1607 is beautifully written (though still really hard to read) and after the usual instructions for his body and soul, he leaves various land and belongings (particularly lambs) to members of his family.

First lines of Thomas Ingle of Cold Overton will

William Ingle's will from the 1630s is particularly helpful as not only does he name all his surviving children, but he also says which order his sons were born - first, second and so on.

Extract of William Ingle of Cold Overton will

The Ingles weren't the only ones making will. Henry Ingle had married Margaret Taylor and not only did her father George Taylor make a will, but unusually for the time so did her mother Elizabeth. George helpfully names his grandson Maurice Ingle as the son of his daughter Margaret and leaves him some money.

Extract of George Taylor of Cold Overton will

The Ingles were a large family and left more marks in the records than many families I've researched. It would be interesting to see if there are any manorial records that might take this line back even further.

The family trees below summarise what I know about the Ingle family. They are hopefully reasonably accurate, but if you spot any errors, or any relatives, please feel free to E-mail me

Please click on one of the red links on the tree to move to a different page.

Ingle Family Tree

Ingle Family Tree - Part 2

Ingle Family Tree - Part 3

Tayler Family Tree

If any of the above is of further interest, please feel free to contact me at: n.rowberry@btinternet.com

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Peasants to Puddles - My Family History. By Nicky Rowberry