Hij is getrouwd met Lucy CHAUNTLER.
Zij zijn getrouwd op 14 februari 1694/95 te St Peter &, St Paul, Wadhurst, Ticehurst, East Sussex, hij was toen 51 jaar oud.
Kind(eren):
John Barham became of age in 1663 or 1664, and was the third, and last in line to own the Shoesmiths estate. It is not certain whether the forges and furnaces were in operation at that date.
In 1664, when there was a war with Holland, and a revival of the Wealdan Iron industry, lists were drawn up of the establishments at work. There is no mention in any of these lists of either Brookland or Verage forges, although the furnace at Snape is recorded. Mr. Straker thinks that this is a reference to the furnace at Snape or Scragoak purchased by the second John Barham. This furnace is stated to have been in ruins before 1663, but could have been rebuilt and set to work again. It appears that the Barhams’ forges and furnaces ceased to operate before the end of the 17th century.
However the master of Shoesmiths owned ample lands, and enjoyed a corresponding income, even if the ancestral ironworks no longer contributed to it. John Barham was over fifty years of age when on the 14th Feb. 1694-95 he married Lucy, daughter of John Chauntler of Lofton, near Lewes. His wife was a Wadhurst lady and the marriage was an ill omen to Shoesmiths.
Mistress Lucy is described as a very subtle ill-tempered woman, of whom her elderly husband was much afraid. It is fair to state however that this unfavourable character was imputed to her by those who were aggrieved by the disposal of the estate at John Barham's death. Lucy had a sister, a half sister and nephew who comes into our story.
John Barham celebrated his belated marriage by repairs or additions to Great Shoesmiths, and one of the gables bears the date 1695, and the initials "B.J.L.", for Barham, John and Lucy.
A daughter was born to whom on the 6th March 1695-96 the family name of Elizabeth was given. In the following year, as if he had a premonition that there would be no male heir, her father made a will, bequeathing his personal estate, after payment of certain legacies, and the whole of his real estate in Wadhurst, Ticehurst, Frant, and Yalding, to his daughter, and her heirs; and in default of heirs to his dear and well beloved wife, Lucy Barham, who was named the sole executor of his will.
In 1699 however his wife presented him with a son, who was christened John on 16th May of that year, but he died the following August. Wealth brought honours to John Barham.
In the 14th year of William III (1701-02), he served as Sheriff of the County of Sussex, but he was now advancing in years, and all his hopes and affections were now focused on Elizabeth, his only surviving child. He had arranged a special match for her, for she was to be married to a Baronet, Sir Walter Clark of 'Ratten', Willingdon, near Eastbourne, but there was to be no wedding at Great Shoesmiths and no lady Elizabeth. She was stricken with consumption and died on 20th September 1712, at the age of 16.
Grief at the loss of his daughter seemed to have dejected John Barham wholly to the influence of his wife, who under the terms of his will, which he didn't amend, was now his sole heiress and executrix, and indeed is said to have executed deeds conveying to his wife power to dispose of his whole estate, personal and real, for, we are told, she had such advantage over her husband that he would not deny what she desired, and did persuade the said John Barham to settle his estate as she would have it. Lucy, for her part made her own testamentary dispositions.
Four years after the death of Elizabeth, John Barham lost his domineering wife. Lucy Barham was buried at Wadhurst on 2nd October 1716. The old man was now quite alone. He lived on for a few more years, and died on the 10th March 1723, aged over 80 years. He had outlived two other veteran kinsmen, his uncle William, who died in 1702, aged 72, and Mr. William Barham of Scragoak, who died in 1701, aged 80.
There was litigation over John Barham's will, which was not proved until 1727, nearly four years after his decease. The administration of his estate was granted to Nicholas Barham, of Speldhurst, his second cousin, and grandson of his father's elder brother Stephen, an indication of the low estate to which remnant of the Barhams in Wadhurst had fallen
By the dispositions of the late Lucy Barham, the greater part of her husbands' property fell to George Eagles of Uckfield, her nephew, being the son of her half brother. The fortunate but undeserving beneficiary, then 39 years of age received Great Shoesmiths, and the rest of the Shoesmiths estate with Snape Wood, Brooklands, Well Wood, and Newlands, Bartley Mill and Verage, Lambkin Corner, Noble's Gate, and Tuckinghurst, other farms in Yalding. Faircrouch, Buckhurst Wood, and other land mortgaged to John Barham by William Benge went to John Eagles a half brother of George. I give these names and places as quoted by Mr. FitzGerald-Uniacke but not all of them can be identified on the modern map.
This willing away of the Barham estates to comparative strangers was an act of injustice to the remaining members of the family, and in particular to Nicholas Fowl of Riverhall, who is described as the heir-at-law, being the grandson of John Barham's only surviving sister, Elizabeth, who had married one of the Fowls of Riverhall, a cousin in 1666. Nicholas Fowl, and other interested parties who may have received some personal legacies, and made no attempt to attack the settlement, but Thomas White, a son in law of the same Elizabeth was not satisfied, and filed a Bill of Complaint against George Eagles and other legatees, in the answer to which George Eagles furnished an inventory of the furniture and effects of Great Shoesmiths, and an abstract of the title, and other deeds relating to the estate. Mr. FitzGerald-Uniacke quotes some items from the inventory, which includes: "Silver plate, valued at £109:17:9d, and £160:4:0d in cash in the house at the time of the decease." I assume that the complainant did not win his case. It should be added that the aspirations on Lucy Barham's character and actions are largely derived from Thomas White's allegations and may be unduly biased against the lady. Mrs. Lucy's machinations did not rob the parish of John Barham's benefaction. He bequeathed the sum of £5 a year to the instruction in reading of five children of the parish, whose parents were not of the ability; and 12 2d loaves to be distributed every Sunday after evening service to 12 poor persons, who receive no relief from the parish. Presumably an endowment was established which brought in between £10 and £11 a year, representing a much greater sum today.
The education endowment has I believe been augmented by modern representatives of the family, but I do not know what, if anything has taken place at the distribution of the 2d loaves of bread. Particulars of the charity are to be read on the monument of John Barham, his wife, son and daughter, which is displayed on the south wall of the chancel of the Wadhurst parish church. This is no crudely lettered slab of cast iron, the work of some local craftsman, but an elaborate marble tablet, with composite columns and curved pediment, and a shield on urn between leaping cherubs, signed by a London sculptor, but the colours have been banished by time. This imposing monument informs the reader that it was erected with the utmost gratitude and respects to the memories of the deceased by George Eagles, of Shoesmiths, Kent. Anno Dom. 1730, but the fact is that Lucy Barham set aside in her will the sum of £300 for the purpose of a memorial, with an endowment of £5 a year for keeping it in repair, and the inscription legible.
SOURCE: The Name & Family of Barham by Mr Nobby Clark
John BARHAM | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Lucy CHAUNTLER | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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