Some years ago I was shown copies of the Sentinel from 1999 and 2000 where the descendants of William Skaife and Alice Haxby were discussed. Since joining I have also found the piece some 10 years later concerning the will of Ellin Metcalfe of 1723. Reading this I see different conclusions have been reached about the various Williams and maybe I have some information which might confirm this.
My principle family is the Pullans and I have a family copy of The Pulleyns of Yorkshire by Catharine Pullein 1916. William Skaife and Alice Haxby are my 7th Gt Grandparents.
During the course of my research I have been in contact with various researchers related to me and from one I heard of a diary written by one John Pullan born 1815 died 1885 who was the son of William Pullan born 1788, son of Robert Pullan and Alice Skaife. I understand the diary is in a local archive but I was given a copy of typed transcript from the 1970’s which contained the following extracts from a family bible and his genealogical enqiries:
The following is copied from gravestones on the south side of Hampsthwaite Church.
“In hopes of a glorious resurrection resteth here the body of William Skaife of Holme who departed this life the 8th day of March 1702 being aged 48 years
Here lies the body of William Skaife jnr late of Darley who departed this life January 16th 1719 aged 33 years
Also William Skaife son of the above William Skaife jnr died at Hampsthwaite in the year 1799 aged 85 years. (This last not mentioned on the gravestones but the particulars were given to me by my Uncle Robert)
There then follows details of three generations of Pullan families including Robert and Alice Skaife and their children but then, more interesting to the current work is:
The following was copied from another tombstone on the same side of the Church as the others: Mary Haxby, daughter of Stephen Haxby of Hartwith departed this life April 1707 aged 19 years. This was my Grandmother’s Grandmother’s sister who died from the effects of having a tooth drawn, it is supposed the jaw was damaged or broken.
John’s grandmother was Alice Pullan nee Skaife, her grandmother was of course Alice Haxby dau of Stephen of Hartwith who did have a sister Mary.
Stephen Haxby’s 4 children were baptised at differing places,
JANE 2.8.1684 at Hampsthwaite (buried 1692) MARY 1.4.1686 K Malzeard (died as above) THOMAS 25.7.1691 Ripley (buried the same year at Hampsthwaite) Alice’s baptism, as you know, has not been found but if she was baptised at Ripley the page is very faded and unreadable. However, her Marriage Licence at York dated 1715 gives her age as 26 and birth year as 1689 – William’s age 28.
Finally – I did find a marriage for Stephen Haxby to Alice Ward at Kirby Overblow and they were married 11 Oct 1684. (the actual page is not dated although it is indexed this way) The Marriage Bond dated 8 Oct 1683 describes him as Stephen Haxby of Hartwicke. They may have therefore been married a year earlier than the index as the first child was born 1684.
I hope the foregoing is of some interest to the Group – some of John Pullan’s dates may have suffered in translation and I must go through my notes to try to locate the original.