Person:Mary Riggs (14)

"Mary ye daughter of Richard MYLES" was baptised at Roydon, Essex on July 30, 1576.[S1] However, I believe that she was the daughter of Richard the son of MILES RIGGS. No baptism of a Mary Ridge(s), Rigg(e)s or Rygg(e)s can be found in the Roydon Parish Registers, and Richard had been married 11 months before "Mary ye daughter of Richard Myles" was baptised. Either the vicar made a mistake in entering her father's surname or, more probably the process of acquiring permanent surnames may still have been in a transitional process in this rural area: if so, the vicar attributed to Richard his father's Christian name (Miles) as a 'patronymic byname', which was a common practice. A Mary RIGGS married ROBERT CAMP at Roydon, Essex on June 12, 1603.