THE MURKINS

notes by P John Partington

JOHN MURKIN (bef. 1583 - unknown) AND HIS CHILDREN

Sir Claud Hollis GCMG, CBE (1874-1961) was an imperial administrator who served as British Resident to the Sultan of Zanzibar between 1923 and 1929.  In 1946 he published his ‘Family Records’, in which he recounts that the Murkins “are an old Essex family (there is a Merkin Farm at Stondon Massage at Ongar), but they ... lived at Barnardiston and at Hundon, Suffolk, from about 1590 to 1741”.  We first find the family sometime in the second half of the sixteenth century, when a John Murkin had a son, also named John.  In 1621 this younger John married Elizabeth Carter (daughter of Roger) at Kedington:  the couple had a son, also named John, born in about 1635.

THE CHILDREN OF JOHN  (bef. 1603 - aft. 1620)

In 1662 John’s son John married Martha Everard (daughter of Philip) at Hundon in Suffolk.  The couple had a son, yet another John, born in about 1663..

THE CHILDREN OF JOHN  (bef. 1645 - aft. 1661)

John’s son John was born in about 1663.  In 1700 he married Sarah Tiffin, with whom he had at least two children:  a son, Francis, born in about 1715, and another son, Joseph, who died in 1740.  John died in 1722.

THE CHILDREN OF JOHN  (c. 1663 - 1722)

John’s son Francis was born in about 1715.  In 1741 he moved to Debden, and apparently married Ann, “widow Rushford” (though a register entry suggests that her husband was in fact a Thomas Murkin).  The couple had six children, all born in Debden:  Francis in 1743, Peter in 1746, Mary in 1748, Thomas in 1750, another Thomas in 1751, and John in about 1753 (details below).  Francis senior “of the White Horse Inn, Debden” died on 19 November 1770;  Ann died in 1799.

John’s son, Joseph, died in 1740. Nothing further is yet known of him.

THE CHILDREN OF FRANCIS  (c. 1715 - 1770)

Francis’ first child, Francis, was born in Debden in 1743.  He married Susannah Perry and had eleven children:  Sarah, born in  1770, Ann in 1771, Francis in 1773, Jack in 1774, Susannah in 1776, Peter in 1777, Mary in 1779, Elizabeth in 1780, Keziah in 1783, Ruth in 1784 and Jane in 1788 (details below).  Francis died on 4 May 1817 in Debden;  Susannah died on 5 October 1837. 

Francis’ second child, Peter, was baptized in Debden on 19 October 1746.  Nothing further is known of him.

Francis’ third child, Mary, was baptized in Debden on 2 October 1748.  In 1769 she married Henry Smith, by whom she had a daughter, Ann, born in 1778.  (Ann in turn married Robert Smith, the brother-in-law of her cousin Keziah.)

Francis’ third child, Thomas, was baptized in Debden on 6 April 1750;  he died that same month.

Francis’ fourth child, Thomas, was baptized in Debden on 18 August 1751.  He died on 23 December the following year.

Francis’ fifth child, John, was born in Debden in about 1753.  He died there on 17 November 1772.

THE CHILDREN OF FRANCIS  (1743 - 1817)

Francis’ first child, Sarah, was born in 1770.  She married John Fennell, “publican of the Hercules Inn, Newport, Essex”, and had three sons.  She died in 1804, and John in 1814;  both were buried at Widdington.

Francis’ second child, Ann, was born in 1771.  She married Charles Perry, “of Debden, yeoman”.

Francis’ third child, Francis, was born in 1773.  He was buried at Debden in 1792.

Francis’ fourth child, Jack, was born in 1774.  A “publican, of the White Hart Inn, Debden”, he married Elizabeth Barthrum and had two sons.  He died in 1811 and was buried at Debden.

Francis’ fifth child, Susannah, was born in 1776.  She married George Fennell, “victualler, of Newport, Essex”, and had seven children.  Both she and George died in 1832 and were buried at Widdington.

Francis’ sixth child, Peter, was born in 1777.   He succeeded to Bishops Farm, Widdington, on his father’s death in 1817, but “sold the copyhold of this property to his nephew Francis Smith in 1843”.  He never married, and died, still in Widdington, in 1853.

Francis’ seventh child, Mary, was born in 1779.  She “devised land at Rickling, Essex, under her father’s will”.  She never married, and was buried at Widdington in 1853.

Francis’ eighth child, Elizabeth, was born in 1780.  In 1810 she married Philip Martin, “of Widdington, carpenter”;  the couple had four children.  Philip died in 1815 and Elizabeth in 1852;  both were buried at Widdington.

Francis’ ninth child, Keziah, was born in Widdington in 1783.  In 1809, in Battersea, she married Thomas Smith, “of Furnival’s Inn and St Pancras”, by whom she had nine children, the eldest born in Widdington, and the younger nine in St Pancras – Keziah in about 1810, Francis in 1811, another Keziah in 1812, Thomas in 1814, Emma in 1816, Robert in 1818, another Robert in 1820, Henry in 1822 and Susan in 1825.  Keziah died in 1839, and Thomas the following year;  both were buried at Widdington.

Francis’ tenth child, Ruth, was born in 1784, and his eleventh, Jane, in  1788;  they died in 1835 and 1791 respectively.

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