Person:Mary Card (6)

Name^[9]^[10]	Mary Card
Married Name^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]^[6]^[8]	Mary Creasy
Married Name^[7]	Mary Cresy
Gender	Female
Birth`^?`	Abt 1715	East Grinstead, Sussex, England
Christening^[10]	17 Jun 1715	East Grinstead, Sussex, England
Marriage	21 Apr 1738	East Grinstead, Sussex, Englandto George Creasey

Mary Card was baptised 17 Jun 1715 in East Grinstead, Sussex, England, the youngest of 8 children of Nicholas Card and Ann Taylor. It's not known when her parents died or what became of her siblings except her eldest brother Nicholas likely died in his infancy before Mary was born, and her sister Anne died "a young maid" in 1720 when Mary was 5 years old. Mary's sister Edess married Robert Matthew in 1731 in the "Rules of the Fleet" area of London, a destination for weddings outside of the usual church rules, which normally required banns to be posted for three weeks prior to the marriage or a marriage license to be granted (for more information on Fleet Marriages see Wikipedia). Edess was also likely the mother of a son John born out of wedlock and baptised in East Grinstead on 14 Dec 1729.

Mary had a paternal aunt and an uncle Thomas who married in East Grinstead and may have stayed in the area however no children have been found for his marriage so it's not known whether Mary had any first cousins on her father's side. Her mother's parentage is currently unknown as she had a common maiden name and there were a number of possible baptism records and families she could have been related to. So it's not known whether Mary had any aunts, uncles, or cousins on her mother's side.

On 21 Apr 1738 23 year-old Mary wed 29 year-old George Creasey, the second of two children of John Creasy and Sarah Stevenson. George and Mary had 8 children baptised in East Grinstead:

John bap. 13 Jun 1739
Anne bap. 14 Dec 1740
Katherine bap. 20 May 1743
Mary bap. 2 Feb 1744
George bap. 8 Jan 1750
Walter bap. 24 Apr 1754
Edward bap. 2 May 1756
Thomas bap. 16 Mar 1759

The six-year gap between Mary and George may indicate the birth of a child whose baptism record hasn't yet been found.

It's not known when Mary died - possible burial records exist in East Grinstead in 1783, 1786 or 1796 (the burial record for the Mary Creasey who died in 1772 gives her husband's name as "Ninyon Creasey" and the 1799 burial was the wife of Edw Creasey). George was buried in St. Swithun's Churchyard on 3 Dec 1775.

It's also unknown what became of most of George and Mary's children however John may have been the infant buried in East Grinstead in 1741. Mary's son Walter married in 1776 and had 8 children, and her son Edward married in 1779 and had 9 children, but it's not known whether Mary lived to meet any of her grandchildren.

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Geographical and Historical Context

East Grinstead has been an important market town since the early middle ages. St. Swithun's Church was rebuilt after it was struck by lightning in 1772. Near the entrance to the church, stones mark the supposed ashes of three martyrs who were burned on 18 July 1556 during the reign of Mary I because they refused to renounce the Protestant faith.

Mary was likely born during the reign of George I and died during the reign of George II or III.

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