WHITFIELD OF WEETWOOD
An important record for this family is the 1667 will of James Thompson of Weetwood in the parish of Leeds, clerk. James mentions “my Sister Elizabeth Whitfeild... and... her Three daughters Bridget Watson Eliz: Tailforth and Grace Turner of Barwicke”.[1]
There were earlier Whitfields in and around Stonegrave who may be ancestral to the Thomas Whitfield who married there in 1612 and who later lived at Weetwood. There were also Whitfields in Chapeltown, not far from Weetwood, in the 1590s and 1600s.[2]
Thomas Whitfield and his wife Elizabeth are mentioned in Ralph Thoresby’s Ducatus Leodiensis, published in 1715. In discussing longevity, Thoresby refers to “Thomas Whitfield of Hedingley in this Parish, and Elizabeth his Wife (who was related to my Grandmother Thoresby) who lived in Matrimony full 80 Years; She was married at 18, had fourteen Children, died within ten Weeks of her Husband, aged 98 or 99. they made near 200 betwixt them”.[3] Thoresby does not provide the years when any of these events occurred and it is difficult to reconcile the details he gives with the entry in the Leeds parish registers for “Elizabeth wife of Thomas Whitfield of Weetwood bur: at Hedinley chappel” on 3 February 1675/76. Elizabeth (Thompson) Whitfield was still having children baptised during the 1630s so she could not have been in her late nineties in 1675/76. I have not located a plausible burial for Thomas Whitfield, whether around February 1675/76 or later, or one for Elizabeth around 1692 which would match the age given by Thoresby. There is a chance that the 1675/76 burial refers to the wife of a different Thomas Whitfield, perhaps the Thomas Whitfield of Weetwood Side who married Hester Franke at Leeds in 1653 and who may have been a son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Thompson) Whitfield. However, I have not found a matching marriage. It seems that some of the events which took place at Headingley chapel were not recorded in the main Leeds registers.
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WHITFIELD
THOMAS WHITFIELD of Weetwood, Yorkshire, married on 27 April 1612 at Stonegrave, ELIZABETH THOMPSON,[4] daughter of Henry and Jane (Curtis) Thompson (see here). Elizabeth was baptised on 4 May 1593 at St Peter, Leeds.
Children of Thomas and
Elizabeth (Thompson) Whitfield:[5]
i JANE WHITFIELD, bap 2 May 1613,
Great Edstone.[6]
ii BRIDGET WHITFIELD, bap 8 Dec 1614,
Great Edstone;[7] m
2 Sep 1635, St Peter, Leeds, MATTHEW WATSON.[8]
iii ELIZABETH WHITFIELD, bap 26 Sep
1616, Kirkdale,[9]
bur 9 Oct 1682, St Peter, Leeds;[10] m
22 Jan 1639/40, St Peter, Leeds, WILLIAM TAILFORTH[11]
(see here).
iv RICHARD WHITFIELD, bap 4 Mar
1618/19, Kirkdale.[12]
v WILLIAM WHITFIELD, bap 17 Jan
1620/21, St Peter, Leeds.[13]
vi HESTER WHITFIELD, bap 12 Apr 1626,
St Peter, Leeds.[14]
vii HENRY WHITFIELD, bap 20 Feb 1633/34,
St Peter, Leeds.[15]
viii DANIEL WHITFIELD.[16]
ix GRACE WHITFIELD, bap 21 Oct 1638, St
Peter, Leeds,[17]
bur 13 Jun 1675, Barwick in Elmet;[18] m
JOSHUA TURNER.[19]
[1] Will dated 1 Nov 1667 (Borthwick Institute).
[2] The will of Francis Whitfield of Denton in the parish of Otley, dated 7 Feb 1595[/96] and proved 5 Oct 1597 (Borthwick Institute) mentions “Hugh Whitfielde of Chappell towne aforesaied my brother”.
[4] Stonegrave parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[5] Other likely children include a Hugh Whitfield and a Thomas Whitfield who are mentioned in the 1667 will of James Thompson, as well as “Thom. Whitfeld of Weetwood an infant” who was buried at St Peter, Leeds, on 29 Dec 1622.
[6] Great Edstone parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[7] Great Edstone parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[8] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[9] Kirkdale parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[10] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[11] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[12] Kirkdale parish registers (online at www.findmypast.co.uk).
[13] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[14] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com). She may be “Hester daughter of Thomas Whitfeld of Weetwood” who was buried at Headingley on 23 Jan 1656/57 (St Peter, Leeds, parish registers, online at www.ancestry.com). However, it is possible that was a daughter of Thomas Whitfield of Weetwood Side and Hester Franke who were married at St Peter, Leeds, on 11 Apr 1653. The latter Thomas may have been another son of Thomas and Elizabeth (Thompson) Whitfield.
[15] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[16] The will of James Thompson of Weetwood, dated 1 Nov 1667 (Borthwick Institute), leaves “unto Henry Whitfeild Fourtie shillings: & his Brother Daniell Whitfeild Three pounds”.
[17] St Peter, Leeds, parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[18] Barwick in Elmet parish registers (online at www.ancestry.com).
[19] The will of James Thompson of Weetwood, dated 1 Nov 1667 (Borthwick Institute), mentions his sister Elizabeth Whitfield’s daughter “Grace Turner of Barwicke”. Grace, wife of Joshua Turner of Barwick, was buried at Barwick in Elmet in 1675.