Person:Dorothy Greenwood (4)

Dorothy Greenwood was baptised 2 Feb 1650 in the small village of Cowden, Kent. She was the eldest daughter of Silvanus Greenwood Jr. and Dorothy Beard. While Dorothy was still a toddler she moved with her parents and elder brother Silvanus III 6 miles west to the market town of East Grinstead, Sussex, where three more siblings were born but died young:

• Mary bap. 22 Nov 1652. She must have died before 1656 when another child was named Mary
• Elizabeth bap. 23 Mar 1654, bur. 4 Apr 1657
• Mary bap. 10 Jan 1656 d. 7 Oct 1657

Dorothy's paternal grandmother probably also moved to East Grinstead with Dorothy and her family. The evidence for this is that her grandmother (also named Dorothy) was buried in East Grinstead on 28 Oct 1675 rather than being buried with her husband in Cowden, which probably indicates she was living in East Grinstead when she died. The only members of the Greenwood family known to be living in East Grinstead at the time were Silvanus Jr. and his family. Dorothy (grandma's) burial record comments that she was "poor", which probably indicates that Dorothy Greenwood grew up in impoverished circumstances.

On 4 Aug 1678 at the age of around 28 Dorothy Greenwood married 31 year-old John Creasy. So far John's parentage remains unknown although he may have been related to the family of Ninian and Ursula Cresie - the fact that Dorothy Greenwood and John Creasy had a son and grandson with the unusual name Ninian indicates a possible relationship between these families.

John's headstone records that he was a "chirurgeon" or surgeon. This doesn't necessarily indicate he was educated or well-off - in the late middle ages many surgeons had no formal learning and were illiterate. They learned their skills as an apprentice to an experienced surgeon who taught them to suture wounds, set bones, extract teeth, and practise bloodletting.

Dorothy's brother Silvanus Greenwood III married in 1679 and over the next few years had 5 children baptised in East Grinstead so she had some extended family living in the same town.

As for John and Dorothy, they went on to have six children, all baptised in East Grinstead:

• John bap. 10 Dec 1680
• Ninian bap. 20 Aug 1682
• Elizabeth bap. 21 Jul 1684
• Edward bap. 8 Mar 1685
• Richard bap. 2 Apr 1689, bur. 12 May 1689
• Thomas bap. 20 Sep 1690

Sadly Dorothy died just after Thomas was baptised and she was buried in East Grinstead on 24 Sep 1690. Given the timing, it's quite possible she died from complications of childbirth. She was only about 40 when she died.

John was left with five young children to raise, so it's unsurprising that just a few years later he remarried a spinster, giving Dorothy's children a stepmother.

Apart from eldest son John Jr. who eventually had two children in East Grinstead it's not known for certain what became of John and Dorothy's children. It's possible that Ninian died in West Hoathly (6 miles from East Grinstead) in 1755 however there were a number of people with the same name living within 20 miles if East Grinstead at the same time - see Early Creasy families in Sussex, England for a list of records.

DNA Genealogy

If you are a descendant of Dorothy Greenwood and would like to compare autosomal DNA results please contact Jocelyn_K_B (at) yahoo.com for kit numbers

St. Mary Magdalene's Church, Cowden

St. Swithun's Church, East Grinstead

East Grinstead High Street

1. ↑ Church of England. Sussex, England. Parish Registers 1538-1910. (FamilySearch)
   Elizabeth dau. of John & Dorothy Creasy bap. 21 Jul 1684 at East Grinstead.
2. ↑ England. Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. (FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, Findmypast)
   John the son of John & Dorathie Creasy bap. 10 Dec 1680 at East Grinstead, Bishop's Transcript.
3. ↑ Church of England. Sussex, England. Parish Registers 1538-1910. (FamilySearch)
   Ninian son of John & Dorothy Cressey bap. 20 Aug 1682 at East Grinstead.
4. ↑ England. Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. (FamilySearch, Ancestry.com, Findmypast)
   Edward son of John & Dorothy Creasy bap. 9 Mar 1685 at East Grinstead, Bishop's Transcript.
5. ↑ Church of England. Sussex, England. Parish Registers 1538-1910. (FamilySearch)
   Rich son of John & Dorithy Cressy bap. 2 Apr 1689 at East Grinstead.
6. ↑ Church of England. Sussex, England. Parish Registers 1538-1910. (FamilySearch)
   Tho son of John & Dorothy Creasy bap. 20 Sep 1690 at East Grinstead.
7. ↑ Church of England. Sussex, England. Parish Registers 1538-1910. (FamilySearch)
   John Cressey m. Dorothy Greenwood, 4 Aug 1678 at East Grinstead.
8. ↑ ^8.0 8.1 Church of England. Parish Church of Cowden (Kent). Parish registers for Cowden, 1566-1987. (Salt Lake City, Utah: Genealogical Society of Utah, 1979-2003)
   Baptized 1650: Dorothy the daughter of Silvanus Greenwood Feb 2.
9. ↑ ^9.0 9.1 England. Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991. (FamilySearch, Ancestry.com)
   Bishop's Transcript, East Grinstead, Sussex, Burials 1690, Sep 24, Dorothy wife of John Creasy.