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THE FIRST JESPERS
We take up now the history of our own family.
(1) JOHN JASPER, the eldest son of John and Mary Jasper, of Duton Hill, was born in 1641 and baptised at Great Easton, June 29th of that year. In 1662 he married, the entry on the church register reading:--
"1662, John Jaspar (sic) and Elizabeth Gun, of this parish, were married the 24 July.
The following year we have the entry:--
"Bap. 1663, John, son of John Jasper and of Elizabeth, his wife, was baptized on Easter Monday, 20th April, 1663."
John seems to have been their only child.
Shortly after this the Family appear to have joined the Society of Friends as Thaxted Monthly Meeting records, under date 22-7-1666, the death of Mary Jesper, whom we may identify with the mother of John.
Hereafter the name is invariably spelled with the "e," and it seems futile to conjecture whether this was accident or design. It has been suggested that the alteration was made deliberately by the Quaker branch of the family as an outward and visible sign of the spiritual change that had been wrought within,--even as our Viking ancestors (we use that word loosely), adopting the religion of Christ, tore the wings of Odin from their helmets. It seems to us that it was more probably merely the result of a certain laxity in pronounciation and spelling, of which we saw examples in the Shalford registers. The Essex dialect of to-day is no respecter of vowel sounds, and the change from "a" to "e" is not a whit more violent than countless mutations which might be cited, In that same parish of Shalford, for instance, there is now a Kill-hogs farm,--obviously, the amateur etymologist would say, the village bacon factory. The parish registers, however, reveal the existence of a now extinct family of Kellogg, and it is evidently their memory that the giver of the name was endeavouring to keep green. Before such an example the simple Jasper-Jesper change pales into insignificance.
On Jan. 29, 1671, Josiah Smith gave a receipt to "John Jesper, of Mure Eiston [Great Easton?] in the County of Essex, for the full sum of fourscore pounds of the lawful money of England in full for the purchase of a certain parcel of land called Rands in Stebbing in the county aforesaid."
On Oct. 21st of the same year, John Jesper purchased from the same Josiah Smith a certain estate named "Martins" for £400.
On this land, at Bran End, near Stebbing, was built and still stands in very much the same form (outwardly at least) Martin's Hall, a picturesque homestead typical of its period, which was destined to be the home of Jespers and Jesper descendants for over 200 years.
To Martin's Hall, John and his family removed soon after the purchase, and rumour has it that they took with them from Duton Hill what is now the dining room door at Martin's. This is in part confirmed by the fact that the door has originally been hung the other way round, but a door is a peculiar form for the Penates to take.
The Jespers seem to have escaped much of the persecution to which the early Friends were subjected; we can trace no imprisonments, and it is not until 1700 that we have any record of tithe rent charge distraints. In that year:
"In the Parish of Stebbing, John Jesper, senr., had taken from him
| £ | s | d | |
| out of 2 acres of White Oates Corn worth | 00 | 08 | 00 |
| out of 2 acres of Ry Corne worth | 00 | 12 | 06 |
| out of 2 acres and above of Bullamong worth | 00 | 12 | 00 |
These distraints were made with regularity year by year until the end of the century.
John Jesper died 12-12-1712, and was buried at Stebbing.
An Elizabeth Jesper died 18-6-1733: she may have been his widow, but is described as the wife of John Jesper, jun. If she was not Elizabeth Jesper (née Gun), we have failed to identify her.
(2) JOHN JESPER, son of the foregoing.
Born, as previously stated, in the Spring of 1663.
He married (? in 1694) Judith ..... and had issue:--
(a) John Jesper, B. 1695, whom see,--No. 3.All the children were born at Stebbing, and the places enumerated are within a comparatively short distance of that village.(b) Elizabeth Jesper, B. 1-2-1697, D. 13-7-1697.
(c) Joseph Jesper, B. 1699, whom see,--No. 4.
(d) Robert Jesper, B. 2-11-1701/2. He married Elizabeth ..... and had one son, Robert, who died aged 9. He seems to have died at Broomfield.
(e) Judith Jesper, B. 12-1-1702/3. Married, 7-10-1727, John Smith, son of Henry and Abigail Smith, of Felstead, and had two daughters, Bethiah and Judith, both of whom died unmarried. John Smith and his wife lived at Bardfield Hall; he predeceased her, and his nephew, Thomas Smith, managed the farm for the rest of his Aunt Judy's life.
(f) Mary Jesper, B. 14-3-1707. We know nothing more of her.
(g) Elizabeth Jesper, B. 27-4-1709, Married 28-10-1742 at Saling, Joseph Smith, of Black Notley; he was a nephew of the John Smith, and brother of the Thomas Smith mentioned above. They had no children.
[There is some doubt in our mind as to whether there were not two John Jespers, each with a wife Judith, living about this time. John's uncle, James Jasper, had a son John Jasper (bap. Nov. 5, 1678, buried July 7th, 1733), and it may be there is some confusion between the two. Our reasons for thinking this possible are:--
(1) We have the following records:--
Judith Jesper, wife of John, buried at Thaxted,
15-6-1708.
Judith Jesper, wife of John, buried at Thaxted,
10-6-1736.If this be the same woman, she shewed marked originality.
(2) In a mortgage deed dated 20th April, 1703, which we hold, the mortgagee, John Jesper, is described as a yeoman of Thaxted, whereas the subject of this present notice was then living at Stebbing.]
It is not clear whether John and Judith Jesper lived at Martin's Hall prior to the decease of John Jesper, senr., in 1712 or not: they may have taken up their abode there in the dinnerplate year (see below). At the foot of the garden at Martin's Hall flows the little Stebbing brook, whose waters turn the wheels of a small mill. This was on the Jesper estate, and was occupied by various members of the family at different times. John and Judith may have lived in it: there were here oast-houses, and tradition assigns to John the trade of a maltster.
Several of our readers will have seen one or more of the dinnerplates made for John and Judith Jesper. They are of plain Delft ware, white with a blue pattern, the latter compounded of a crown, two fabulous monsters rather like winged chess knights, some ornamentation, a human face and three tassels. In the centre are the letters III (John and Judith Jesper) and the date 1709. The why and wherefore of the date are not obvious, unless as conjectured above it is that of their removal to Martin's.
It appears from a deed of feoffment dated 29 June, 1721, that john Jesper was one of the trustees of the Friends' Meeting House at Stebbing, a quaint little place of worship, now closed, with the date "1674" over the doorway. Here six generations of Jespers attended divine service--over a period of 200 years--and here many of them sleep their last sleep beneath the quiet sod with nothing to mark their graves.
John Jesper died at Martin's Hall, 27-12-1730.
His widow carried on the farm in her own name for a short time, but soon handed it over to her son John. She died, 7-6-1736, and was buried at Stebbing.
(3) JOHN JESPER, eldest son of the foregoing.
Born 17-2-1695 at Stebbing.
Married 24-8-1737 to Esther Goodale.
Died 22-1-1769, and was buried at Stebbing.
Esther Jesper died 5-12-1787 at Stebbing, aged about 84 years.
When his father took over the management of Martin's
Hall, John appears to have succeeded to the malting business. In an indenture
dated 1730, wherein he solemnly purchases from a certain Hannah Appleby
her goods, chattels, and household effects for the "sum of £6 of
good and lawful money of Great Britain," he is described as a Maltster.
Soon after the death of his father, however, we find him assisting his
mother with the Martin's Hall farm, and a year after her death he brought
his bride to Bran End, where both passed the rest of their days.
He succeeded his father in the trusteeship of the Stebbing Meeting
House in 1721, was continued in the trust on its reconstruction in 1747,
and kept it until his death.
His widow seems to have managed the farm after her
husband's decease: in 1786 (i.e. in her 83rd year), the records state that
John Chopping, Constable, of Stebbing, took from Esther Jesper, wheat and
barley value £6-16-9
| For the great tither demanded by Jane Stern, tithe farmer | £ 3 | 12 | 0 |
| Small tithe demanded by William Hills | £ 2 | 8 | 9 |
| (Illegible) | 16 | 0 | |
| £ 6 | 16 | 9 |
John and Esther Jesper had issue as under:--
(a) Judith Jesper, B. 25-10-1738 at Stebbing and died unmarried at Bran End, 11-3-1797.(b) Mary Jesper, B. 11-8-1739, died 29-12-1739 at Stebbing.
(c) Elizabeth Jesper, B. 6-2-1745, died 29-1-1746 at Stebbing.
(d) Hannah Jesper, B. 3rd mo., 1746, married 12-11-1805 (in her 60th year, and "hurriedly" according to one account!)
Robert Levitt, a farmer, of Little Coggeshall, son of Joseph and Mary Levitt. She died 3rd-2-1825 at Coggeshall.
They all died without issue, and this branch
comes to an end.
(4) JOSEPH JESPER, the second son of John and Judith Jesper, and brother to the foregoing.
Born 23-4-1699 at Stebbing.
Married Elizabeth Marriage, daughter of Samuel and Mary Marriage, of Broomfield.
Died 22-6-1738 at Broomfield.
Joseph's wife came of an old Essex family who
can, we believe, claim Huguenot descent. They were staunch Quakers: Elizabeth's
grandfather, Francis, the first Marriage Friend, being twice imprisoned
for conscience sake--once for having married contrary to the mode prescribed
by Parliament, and once for non-payment of tithe.
Joseph and Elizabeth Jesper lived originally at Shalford, where their three elder children were born, and latterly at Broomfield, where Joseph died and Elizabeth lived until 16-1-1755, when she married, at Chelmsford, John Mascall, son of William and Elizabeth Mascall, a yeoman of Little Baddow, Essex. She had no children by her second marriage, and it is probable that she died before 1768.
Joseph and Elizabeth Jesper had issue as under:--
(a) Joseph Jesper. B. 5-5-1727 at Shalford. D. 25-9-1755. The Quaker records for Essex include no entry of his marriage or the births of his children, but he is said to have had two sons (John and Samuel) and two daughters (Ann and Elizabeth), all of whom died without issue.(b) Elizabeth Jesper. B. 11-3-1729 at Shalford. Married 22-6-1751 at Chelmsford, Thomas Gospill, a woolstapler, son of John and Mary Gospill, of Southwark, Surrey. D. 10-9-1764, at Chelmsford, buried at Stebbing. Her daughter, Mary Gospill, married John Marriage (who was the son of William Marriage, who was the son of William Marriage, who was the son of Francis Marriage, Mary Gospill's great great grandfather), and by him became the ancestress of a long line which counts amongst its members an Australian millionaire, a director of a leading English newspaper (not the Daily Mail), a well-known novelist, and many others of light and leading.
(c) John Jesper. B. 30-2-1731 at Shalford; we know no more.
(d) Judith Jesper. B. 29-5-1733 at Broomfield; we know no more. On 29-10-1761 a Judith Jesper purchased from John Skingle, a ploy of land near Stebbing, formerly occupied by a messuage known as "Ælemyngs." This may have been this Judith, or possibly her cousin--3a, the daughter of John Jesper.
(e) Samuel Jesper. B. 5-6-1735, whom see--No. 5.
(5) SAMUEL JESPER, the third son of Joseph and Elizabeth Jesper.
Born 5-6-1735 at Broomfield.
Married 1-12-1768 at Chelmsford, Susannah Marriage, daughter of William and Susannah Marriage, of Springfield (Essex)--She was sister to the John Marriage who married Mary Gospill.
Died 20-6-1783 at Broomfield, and was buried at Stebbing.
Susannah Jesper died 2-10-1780 at Broomfield, aged about 36.
The marriage certificate of Samuel Jesper is
still extant: it bears, as is customary with Quaker certificates,
the signatures of the witnesses, which in this case number thirty, including:--
John Jesper (brother of groom), Judith and Hannah Jesper (first cousins), William and Susannah Marriage (father and mother of bride), Thomas, Robert, John, William, Joseph, Ruth, and Elizabeth Marriage (brothers and sisters of the bride), Elizabeth Gospill (sister of Groom) and Thomas Gospill (her husband), John Mascall (groom's stepfather), &c., &c.
At the time of his marriage, Samuel Jesper was described
as a maltster, when his wife died (1780) as a farmer, and so at his own
death. He had two children,
(a) Elizabeth Jesper, B. 26-10-1769 at Broomfield.(6) SAMUEL JESPER, son of the preceding.(b) Samuel Jesper, B. 13-7-1772, whom see,--No. 6.
Born 13-7-1772 at Broomfield.
Married (1) at Maldon, 5-1-1796, Elizabeth Puplett, duaghter of Thomas and Elizabeth Puplett, of Purleigh, who died 15-7-1823 at Stebbing, aged 48, and (2) 18-3-1828, Hannah Scott, then of Southwark, who died 22-10-1833 at Stebbing, aged 63.
Died 15-9-1846 at York.
Samuel Jesper was a farmer at Purleigh, Essex. The farmstead, the name of which is variously spelled as Digoods, Drygoods, and Dygoods, was demolished some years ago, but there is still a "Diegoods Farm" in the parish.
It will be remembered that Martin's Hall, which
we have regarded as the Jesper homestead, was occupied in turn by John
Jesper (1), John Jesper (2), his widow Judith, his som John Jesper (3),
and the latter's widow Esther. Esther died in 1787, leaving Martin's Hall
to her daughters Judith and Hannah, the former died in 1797, the latter
married Robert Levitt, and went to live at Coggeshall in 1805. We find
Samuel and his wife at Bran End soon after trhe birth of Rebecca, the youngest
daughter: possibly he kept both farms on until his oldest son John was
old enough to take over management of Dygoods--it is, however, rather a
far cry from Purleigh to Stebbing.
We have in our possession the original marriage certificate
of Samuel Jesper and Elizabeth Puplett. It is pleasing to see that Quaker
wives of those days did not promise to obey, and the appearance of the
name "Hannah Scott" amongst the list of witnesses is not without interest,--one
wonders if the maiden, as she signed her name, had visions of another ceremony
32 years later, at which she would occupy a more important position. There
are no Jesper witnesses, the only survivors, Judith and Hannah, being no
doubt too old for the drive from Bran End. The family bible, now in our
possession, is inscribed,
"Samuel and Elizabeth Jesper's book given them by Judith and Hannah
Jesper, the 29th day of the 6th month, 1796,"
--a belated wedding gift.
Elizabeth Puplett was the daughter of Thomas Puplett (who "grew beans for the horses in the Napoleonic Wars") and Elizabeth Edwards, his first cousin, and granddaughter of Thomas and Mary Puplett of Boreham and Hatfield Peverel. Her brother, Benjamin Puplett, was the father of Thomas Puplett, whose name is a household word for all but the very youngest generations of Ackworth Scholars. [We are indebted to our cousin Edith Mary Doubleday, herself a Puplett descendant, for much Puplett information].
Samuel and Elizabeth Jesper had seven children:--
(a) John Jesper--see Chapter IV.(b) Susannah Jesper, born 29-6-1798, at Dygood's, Died 8-4-1817 at Stebbing.
(c) Thomas Jesper--see Chapter V.
(d) Samuel Jesper--see Chapter VI.
(e) Elizabeth Jesper--Born 17-9-1803 at Dygood's. She never married, but lived (except for the first few years) all her life at Bran End, firstly with her father, and after his death with her sister Rebecca and her husband.
After Elizabeth's death, 26-12-1885, Martin's Hall was sold.(f) Joseph Jesper, Born 22-5-1805 at Dygood's. Married 20-4-1841 at Morley, Cheshire, Sarah Sayce, daughter of John Sayce, tailor and draper, of Stockport.
In partnership with Charles Wilson, his brother Samuel's wife's brother, he founded the business of Wilson, Jesper, and Company, Woollen Drapers and Clothiers, with headquarters at Preston, and branches at Penrith, Carlisle, Appleby, and elsewhere. Joseph Jesper had two children, Joseph (B. 25-6-1842, D. 20-1-1846), and William (B. 7-1-1844, D. 9-10-1847). In later life failing eyesight compelled him to relinquish business, and he retired to the little village of Freckleton, outside Preston, where Sarah Jesper died 19-6-1889, and Joseph 6-3-1890. He was a "minister in good esteem" in the Society of Friends, and took an active part in its religious life.(g) Rebecca Jesper, Born 22-4-1807 at Dygood's. She married 6-10-1835 at Stebbing, Joseph Whitehead, son of Mark and Mary Whitehead, of Totham, Essex, a miller. They had one child, Susannah Whitehead, B. 29-1-1837, who died young. They lived at Martin's Hall, with Rebecca's sister Elizabeth, and there Joseph Whitehead died 14-4-1875, Rebecca Whitehead 3-11-1883. These were the palmy days of Martin's Hall: Joseph Whitehead--"a kind-hearted, dapper little Friend, very neatly attired in Quaker broadcloth and white cravat"--and his wife--"a bright, cheery little lady in Quaker dress"--kept open house, and many relations and friends testify to their unfailing hospitality. We have heard from several sources of the strawberry banquet held at Bran End every June, when the Quarterly Meeting came to Stebbing, of the kindly bees that for years made their home in the roof, and never stung even the most austere visitor, of the grape vine that covered the old house (there is a fragment still left, --but quantum mutatus ab illo!), of the Mulberry tree, of the boat on the little brook for the more adventurous nephews and nieces, of the dolls that came from market in Joseph Whitehead's capacious pockets for the less so:--for everyone, Martin's Hall seems to have pleasant associations.
The Annual Monitor says of Rebecca Whitehead: "Her means were never
abundant, yet her hospitality was great, and her husband was like-minded
with herself: she was always ready to assist the poor in cases of sickness,
and was a sympathizing friend to all." We have spoken already of the Stebbing
Meeting House: Rebecca Whitehead was one of the last worshippers there,
and towards the end of her life she sat there on many occasions alone.
Her grave, and that of her husband and sister, are amongst the few for
which namestones have been provided.
Here the family divides into three distinct branches, the descendents of John, Thomas, and Samuel, and each will require a chapter into itself.
CHAPTER IV-THE CHILDREN OF JOHN
CHAPTER V-THE CHILDREN OF THOMAS