A new picture of Therfield Church

Therfield Church

Therfield

I have now added a post card (by Robert H Clark of Royston) showing the interior of Therfield church to compliment the ones I had showing various stages of the rebuilding.

A Sermon by the Rector of Therfield on sale on ebay

I have just spotted this sermon, published in 1708, by the rector of Therfield, on sale on ebay (end of auction just before midday on 30th October). If you are interested in Thomas Sherlock or the village you might consider bidding. I have added details of Thomas Sherlock, and his father William Sherlock, both of whom were Rectors of Therfield, on the page for St Mary's Church, Therfield. 

Was your ancestor baptised by a translator of the King James Bible?

Issue 18 of Herts Part and Present includes an article The Hertfordshire men who translated the King James Bible by Richard N W Lambert. The abstract reads:

This series of mini biographies of the Hertfordshire men who worked on the translations for the King James Bible takes us back to Jacobean Hertfordshire and the lives of eight scholarly priests. Jeremiah Radcliffe, Richard Fairclough and WilIiam Dakins were Hertfordshire born and five others, John Layfield, Francis Burleigh, John Spencer, John Overall, and Samuel Ward had links with Hertfordshire towns and villages. Learned men who shared in the work of translating from the Latin, Hebrew and Greek, many combined distinguished academic careers with a plethora of priestly appointments. One died after being imprisoned in his Cambridge college during the Civil Wars and one sailed to the New World as chaplain to the Earl of Cumberland.

It is quite possible that several of them held a pastoral appointment in Hertfordshire and if you ancestor was baptised in the right parish at the right dates they could have been baptised by one of the translators. John Layfield was rector at Graveley from 1606-1613. Francis Burley was rector of St James the Great, Thorley,  between 1594 and his death in 1619 and was also rector of Bishop's Stortford between 1590 and 1604. Jon Spencer was vicar of St Augustine's, Broxbourne, between 1592 and 1599. John Overall was rector at Clothall between 1603  and 1615 and nearby Therfield between 1605 and 1614. Samuel Ward was rector at Great Munden between 1616 and 1636.

Unfortunately the fact that your ancestor was baptised in one of these parishes at an appropriate date does not automatically mean that they were baptised by one of the translators of the best know English language bible. Often rectors did not even live in the parish, having appointed a curate to minister to the population. This is highlighted by case of Jerimiah Radcliffe who was simultaneously vicar at Shudy Camps, Cambridgeshire, Trumpington, Cambridgeshire, Eaton Bray, Bedfordshire, and Heversham, Westmorland.

One Place Studies - North Mymms, Preston and Therfield

If you are very interested in the people who used to lived in the place where your (or your ancestors) live you may want to set up a one place study. Sites are intended to include transcripts of censuses and other lists relevant of genealogists. Currently there are three such studies running for Hertfordshire (all accessed from the relevant palace page on this site) .

• The excellent Preston web site is run by Philip Wray and contains extensive indexes and much historical information.
• The long menu to the left on the Therfield site run by Martin Hagger reveals a wide range of transcribe goodies that makes me wish I had an ancestor with connections in the village.
• The North Mymms site contains the contents of many books relating to North Mimms and much other historical information - but does not include (as far as I could see) any census or other transcriptions of lists of names of the former inhabitants.