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H O L M E S

This page is a tentative sketch of the family to which we suspect belonged Mary Holmes, wife of Robert Holmes, of Cromford. Our main source is John Palmer’s transcriptions of the parish registers of Wirksworth and Middleton-by-Wirksworth, Derbyshire, England, 1608-1899.[1]

Samuel Holmes, of Cromford, a chapelry in the parish of Wirksworth, Derbyshire, living 1706-20, and perhaps the one of this name who was buried 20 April 1742, was the father, by an unnamed wife, of the following children, all baptized in Wirksworth parish church:
  1. Elizabeth Holmes, bapt. 18 Dec. 1706.
  2. Ann Holmes, bapt. 18 Nov. 1709.
  3. Mary Holmes, bapt. 23 May 1712, perhaps the one of this name who m. 26 July 1739 in Wirksworth parish church, Robert Britland, of Cromford, b. say 1715, living 1758 (when his youngest known child was baptized), who was probably the one of this name buried 5 March 1782 in Wirksworth churchyard. This is the only marriage of a woman named Mary Holmes recorded in the Wirksworth parish register during this period, and the only one which could reasonably belong to the present person. Assuming this identification is correct, their issue is treated under BRITLAND.
  4. Samuel Holmes, bapt. 26 Nov. 1714, buried 11 Dec. following.
  5. Daniel Holmes, bapt. 20 Feb. 1716/7. He was pretty likely the one of this name who m. 1 Dec. 1742, Ellen Limn, and had a son, Samuel, bapt. 6 Jan. 1743/4 (perhaps the Samuel Holmes of Cromford who m. 28 Sept. 1774, Lydia Roper, the witnesses being a Samuel Needham and a Robert Britland[2]). Other Holmes children born during this period with fathers named Daniel (but whose mother’s names are not mentioned in the records) were: Joseph, bapt. 14 March 1745/6; Elizabeth, bapt. 20 April 1748; another Elizabeth, bapt. 24 Sept. 1748; yet another Elizabeth, bapt. 6 Dec. 1749; and Daniel Holmes, son of Daniel, bapt. 5 July 1752. A Daniel Holmes of Cromford was buried 17 Jan. 1768. However, there appear to have been at least three more-or-less contemporary men of the same name: Daniel Holmes, father not named, bapt. 8 June 1699; Daniel Holmes, son of George, who was bapt. 4 April 1711 at Wirksksworth; and Daniel Holmes, son of Daniel, who was bapt. 22 Nov. 1723 at Wirksworth (an older sibling of the same name, who was bapt. 30 March 1722 at Wirksworth, having presumably died young).
  6. James Holmes, bapt. 29 April 1720.

Notes

1. Full indexed details of entries found in the Parish Registers for Wirksworth and Middleton-by-Wirksworth, Derbyshire, England 1608-1899, transcribed by John Palmer, available online at http://www.wirksworth.org.uk/Frontpag.htm#1
2. This Robert Britland may have been a son of the above-mentioned Robert Britland and Mary Holmes, which would seemingly make him a first cousin to the groom.

From the Genealogy Page of John Blythe Dobson
URL = cybrary.uwinnipeg.ca/people/Dobson/genealogy/ff/Holmes.cfm
This page written 29 June 2003
Revised 1 July 2003