Descendants of Joseph BURNETT als
BURNITT of Knottingley
Notes
1. Joseph
BURNETT
Joseph married Ann ROBERTS at Pontefract in 1730. Assuming a likely minimum
age of 20yrs at marriage gives an estimated date of birth before 1710. Other
than that nothing is known about Joseph - his origins remain a mystery.
The baptism of Joseph's first child, daughter Elizabeth, was recorded in the
register of St. Botulph's, Knottingley - a chapelry within the parish of
Pontefract - and the entry was copied into a 'composite' parish register at
Pontefract. The St Botulph's register did not survive the ravages of time
particularly well - almost all pages are badly damaged and faded and some pages
are missing completely. The register of baptisms and burials begins in 1724 but
there are gaps 1725-1727 inclusive and 1732-1739 inclusive. Thus the baptisms
of Elizabeth
[1731] and her sister Mary [1740/41] are the only two which have survived in
the Knottingley register. However, it would be safe to assume that the rest of
Joseph's children whose baptisms were recorded in the composite register at
Pontefract were in fact baptised at St. Botulph's, Knottingley.
2. Elizabeth
BURNETT
Elizabeth's
baptism was recorded in the register of St. Botulph's, Knottingley - a chapelry
within the parish of Pontefract - and the entry was copied into a composite
parish register at Pontefract. Almost all pages of the St Botulph's register
are badly damaged and faded and the date of Elizabeth's baptism is missing in the
original entry. However, the copy entry in the composite register at Pontefract
gives the date as 26th October 1731.
Elizabeth married
Marmaduke SERVANT and they had at least five children; named John, Joseph,
Phoebe, Abraham and William. It appears that Elizabeth died sometime after
William was born [1767] because there is then a gap of eight years before the
next baptism of a child of Marmaduke SERVANT in the Knottingley register but
the entry names his wife as *Ann*.
3. Martha
BURNETT
Martha and husband John ADDY had ten children in a period of twenty years,
all baptised at Pontefract. Their names were: John, Hannah, Ann, William,
Matthew, Susannah, Mary, Richard, Sarah [d:inf] and James. The fact that there
were children named Matthew and Susannah strongly suggest a family link with
Mathias BURNETT of Pontefract who had children baptised between 1661 and 1677,
including a daughter named Susana and a son named Matthew.
5. Mary
BURNETT
Mary's baptism was recorded in the register of St. Botulph's chapel,
Knottingley, and a copy entry was made in a composite register at Pontefract.
In both entries the surname was given as Burnel, however, the person who made
the original register entry was in the habit of not crossing the letter
"t" and this is thought to have been the baptism of Mary BURNET.
Mary and husband John COPLEY had five surviving children named: Mary, John
(d:inf), Sarah, John, Ann, Elizabeth