John Collet STRATFOLD [21917]

  Research Notes:

The Stratfold and Collet Families
The history of the Stratfold and Collet families seems somehow to be intertwined. Both families in the main lived in the relatively small area between Woburn and Ivinghoe. Both families probably came from the area of Buckinghamshire close to the Bedfordshire border. There are records of Stratfolds in the villages of Bierton and Burcott as far back as the late 1600's, but later the branch of the Stratfold family that we are interested in had moved a short distance east and were living in the small village of Potsgrove in Bedfordshire midway between Leighton Buzzard and Woburn. The Collet family were centred on Ivinghoe in Buckinghamshire. There are numerous examples of Stratfold children being given 'Collet' as their second name and similarly Collet children having 'Stratfold' as their second name. I have not worked out how this all came about but there must have been some close contact and intermarrying between the two families over a fairly long period.

Robert Stratfold's Family
The Robert Stratfold was born about 1725, probably in the village of Potsgrove. He was a dairyman and a churchwarden at Potsgrove. He married Elizabeth Collet in about 1744 and they had at least 7 children:
Sarah Stratfold Born about 1745 Baptised 21 Jul 1745, Potsgrove
Robert Stratfold Born about 1747 Baptised 20 May 1747, Potsgrove
Hannah Stratfold Born about 1749 Baptised 21 Jul 1749, Potsgrove
John Collet Stratfold Born about 1751 Baptised 17 Aug 1751, Potsgrove
Richard Collet Stratfold Born about 1752 Baptised 10 Apr 1753, Potsgrove
William Collet Stratfold Born about 1757 Baptised 8 Feb 1758, Potsgrove
Elizabeth Stratfold Born about 1758 Baptised 9 Aug 1758, Potsgrove, Married Thomas Harris 7 May 1795

One of the witnesses to the marriage Elizabeth Stratfold when she married Thomas Harris in the church at Potsgrove on 7 May 1795 was her brother Richard Collett (sic) Stratfold.

Were there One Or Two John Collet Stratfolds?
There is some confusion as to whether there was one or two John Collet Stratfolds. We know that Robert and Elizabeth Stratfold had a son who they named John Collet Stratfold baptised on 17 August 1751. We also know that John Collet Stratfold married Martha and they had 7 children between 1791 and 1811
If there was only one John Collet Stratfold and he was born c1751, then he could have been a widower or he just married late in life when he wed Martha sometime before 1791. Martha could not have been much more than 45 when her youngest child, Anne Stratfold, was born in 1811. Thus Martha would have been born about 1765. So she would have been about 25 and her husband about 39 when they married - probably in about 1789 or 1790.

If there were two John Collet Stratfolds, with the first one who we know was born in 1751 or slightly earlier, then he must have married when he was about 19 and had a son who he also named John Collet Stratfold in about 1770 or 1771. This second John Collet Stratfold could have been the one who married Martha when he was about 19 or 20 (ie in about 1790 or 1791). Therefore I think the evidence points to there being two John Collet Stratfolds - the elder being born in about 1751 and his son who married Martha born about 1770.

It seems that the first of these two John Collet Stratfolds got married in a village other than Potsgrove as his marriage does not appear in the Potsgrove Parish Register. As yet the name of his wife is not known.

The Younger John Collet Stratfold's Family
In about 1790 John Collet Stratfold married Martha (surname as yet unknown), probably in Woburn where Martha lived (although their marriage does not appear in the Woburn Parish Register) and where the couple continued to live after their marriage. They had eight children:
Sarah Stratfold Born 15 July 1791 Baptised 10 August 1791, Woburn
William Collet Stratfold Born 6 Sept 1798 Baptised 9 Oct 1798, Woburn
Richard Collet Broughall Born 12 Apr 1800 Baptised 13 May 1800, Woburn
Susan Collet Stratfold Born 30 Sep 1801 Baptised 3 Nov 1801, Woburn
Joseph Stratfold Born 30 Sep 1801 Baptised 3 Nov 1801, Woburn
Martha Stratfold Born 15 Sep 1805 Baptised 5 Nov 1805, Woburn
John Collet Stratfold Born about 1810 Buried 9 Apr 1830, Woburn
Anne Stratfold Born 13 Mar 1811 Baptised 26 Jul 1811, Woburn
It was their daughter Martha who married Charles Henry Broughall in 1828

The Collet Family
This branchline is traced back to (Harry)Henry and his wife Elizabeth/Isobel, married and with their first two children Henry and Gabriel at Newbury prior to 1538. There are 4 more children born in Newbury, Berks.
Research and hints and leads point back further to a John Colet (will proved 1461) married to Alice ...... and with issue:
These Col(l)et(closely linked with the family in Wendover, Bucks, where there is currently a John Colet School.) Their successors in Wendover intermarried with the Stratford family, hence a large collection of Stratford Collett.
Eve McLaughlin
Author of the McLaughlin Guides for family historians
Secretary Bucks Genealogical Society
The story of the Collet family can be traced back to the village of Cheddington in the mid 1600's when Robert Collet and his wife Ann baptised a child they named Robert Collet after his father. It is known that they went on to have at least another 4 children. Their family included:
Robert Collet Born about 1654 Baptised 27 July 1654, Cheddington
Richard Collet Born about 1657 Baptised 11 June 1657, Cheddington, Died before 1668
John Collet Born about 1665 Baptised 27 April 1665, Cheddington
Richard Collet Born about 1668 Baptised 28 May 1668, Cheddington
Joseph Collet Born about 1672 Baptised 16 April 1672, Cheddington
The younger Robert Collet Marries Elizabeth And Moves To Ivinghoe

In about 1685 the younger Robert Collet married a lady named Elizabeth and moved to the nearby Ivinghoe where they had at least four children:
Robert Collet Born about 1687 Baptised 17 May 1687, Ivinghoe
Richard Collet Born about 1689 Baptised January 1690, Ivinghoe
Amy Collet Born about 1692 Baptised 5 October 1692, Ivinghoe
Thomas Collet Born about 1697 Baptised 1697, Ivinghoe
Thomas Collet Marries Twice In Padbury
Their youngest son, Thomas Collet, moved to the village of Padbury where he married a lady named Mary. Thomas and Mary Collet had 2 children:
Elizabeth Collet Born about 1722 Baptised 20 May 1722, Padbury
Edward Collet Born about 1725 Baptised 20 February 1725, Padbury
It appears that Thomas's first wife, Mary, died sometime before 1732 as in 1733 Thomas Collet and his second wife, Elizabeth, had the first of their 3 children who were:
Catheren Collet Born about 1733 Baptised 1733, Padbury
John Collet Born about 1737 Baptised 24 April 1737, Padbury
William Collet Born about 1741 Baptised 1 July 1741, Padbury
In about 1744 Thomas's eldest daughter, Elizabeth, married Robert Stratfold.
Ref: Oakley Family Tree Ancestry 2015
http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/tree/176888/person/6067685411?pgnum=1

Image of Stratfold Family Bible courtesy Pip Bucknell 2016

John married Martha GAMBY [21962] [MRIN: 7883], daughter of Daniel GAMBY [21963] and Elizabeth [21964], in 1790. (Martha GAMBY [21962] was born in 1767 in Husborne Crawley BDF.)