Person:Samuel Dingley (4)

Samuel Dingley was baptised on 29th January 1682 at Cropthorne in Worcestershire, son of Mary Dingley, formerly Eden, and her husband Francis Dingley, a yeoman who lived in the hamlet of Charlton in the parish of Cropthorne.

On 9th September 1708, aged 26, Samuel married Elizabeth Woodward at Cropthorne. They went on to have four children baptised at Cropthorne between 1709 and 1717, although it seems likely that their eldest son Samuel died young, and their second son, also Samuel, died as a young man of about 23 years old in 1734. Samuel was often described as “Mr Samuel Dingley”, at a time when the use of the Mr indicated a reasonably high standing in the community.

Samuel’s father died in 1712, leaving Samuel the modest sum of five shillings in his will. Samuel’s mother died the following year.

It is not clear when Elizabeth died. There are two equally plausible burials of people called Elizabeth Dingley at Cropthorne in 1753 or 1761, either or neither of which may be her. Samuel died aged 75, and was buried at Cropthorne on 1st April 1757.

1. ↑ Cropthorne, Worcestershire: Parish Register Transcript.

   Baptized 1681 / Jan[uary] 29 [i.e. 29 Jan 1681/2]. Bapt[ized] Samuell Son of Mr Francis Dingly.

   This baptism has been linked to the Samuel Dingley who married Elizabeth Woodward on the basis that it is in the same parish in which they married, of a similar status (Samuel’s father being “Mr Francis” is echoed when Samuel and Elizabeth’s children were baptised, when he was “Mr Samuel”), and Francis’s will makes a bequest to his son Samuel.

2. ↑ England. Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991. (FamilySearch, Ancestry.com).

   bur. 1 Apr 1757, Cropthorne, Worcestershire: Samuel Dingley