HENLEY

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One of my paternal great-great-great-grandmothers was Sarah Henley (1802-72). She was born at Petworth, the second child of Joseph Henley (1776-1855) and Ann STEVENS(1770?-1813).

Sarah Henley (1802-72) married William BARNES (1791-1859) at Coldwaltham in 1822. They had seven children there. Two of the daughters of William and Sarah Barnes, Ann (1829-1907) and Elizabeth (1833-98), married CHEESMAN brothers, Thomas (1826-93) and Hayward (1830-99).

Joseph Henley (1776-1855) married Ann STEVENS (1770?-1813) at Northchapel in 1798. Joseph was a labourer of Kirdford at the marriage. Joseph and Ann are known to have had six children at Petworth from 1800. After Ann's death (she was buried at Barlavington in 1813) Joseph married Maria HOOKER (née RUSSELL (1782-1856)) at Upwaltham in 1815. Joseph and Maria had two children at Barlavington then three at Petworth. Three of Joseph and Ann's sons, William, James and George, had families at Petworth, as did all three of Joseph and Maria's sons, Joseph, Benjamin and John. This makes quite a lot of Henleys at Petworth in the 19th century, most of them lived in the eastern part of Petworth known as Byworth. The two daughters of Joseph and Maria, Eliza and Mary, married two brothers, Daniel and Charles JOINER. The JOINER families moved to Fittleworth and Oving, with Daniel's family of 11 children ending up at Coldwaltham.
William Henley (1800-73) married Mary (probably née ADVAD (1808-98)) and had nine children, one of their daughters, Mary (1831-1902), married George CHEESMAN (1832-92) at Bury in 1860. George Cheesman was brother to Thomas 1826-93) and Hayward (1830-99) mentioned above. Like the other Cheesmans they lived at Coldwaltham. William and Mary only had two sons who survived to have families. One, William (1837-?), married Harriet and moved to Brighton. The other, James (1840-?), became a policeman, he had to move around West Sussex but most of his children were born at Woodmancote.
James Henley (1804-91) only had one daughter, Ann, with his wife Eliza COOPER (1803-80).
George Henley (1806-86) married Charlotte SEBBEDGE (1807-84) in 1827. They had 10 children but four died young. Marriages are only known for three of the others. Charles (1827-?) married Mary PULLEN in 1858, they had two children and moved to Hurstpierpoint. Sarah (1838-?) married Thomas CARN and had seven children at Fittleworth. Joseph (1842-?) married Mary Ann EMMETT at Rustington in 1866. They had nine children at Coates, Egdean and Upper Beeding.
Joseph Henley (1817-87) did not have any children despite marrying twice; Eliza MITCHELL (1818-67) and Harriet WHITTINGTON (née HEDGER) (1820-1905).
Benjamin Henley (1819-?) married Charlotte WADEY at Pulborough in 1844. They moved to Oving where they had eight children.
John Henley (1821-88) married Eliza SMITH (1822-46) in 1841. They had two sons, James and John. James (1842-?) also married twice, he had five children with his first wife Ellen and at least one with his second wife Emily. John junior (1845-?) married Ellen LOVE (1844-?) in 1870. They had Ellen followed by twins, Eliza and Mary, who both died. The survivors then moved to Littlehampton. John senior married again in 1848. His second wife was Eliza WADEY (1820-?), they had seven children. They appear to have attempted to give all the children names beginning with 'J' but ran out of ideas for the sixth. They had Jeffrey, Jemima, Jane, Julia, Joseph, George and Eliza. Jeffrey (1849-?) married his wife Elizabeth HABBIN in 1874 after she had their first child. They then moved to Stopham where they had another daughter. Jemima (1850-?) married James LOVE (1833-?) at Littlehampton in 1871. James Love was the older brother of Ellen above, this means that Jemima married the brother-in-law of her half brother's wife.

Joseph Henley (1776-1855) was the third child of Thomas Henley (1746?-1814) and Sarah BETTESWORTH (1749-1815). Thomas and Sarah married at Tillington in 1771 and had six children there between 1771 and 1782. They then appear to have left the area before reappearing at Petworth where they had George in 1791. Marriages are not known for any of their other sons, James (1771-?), John (1782-?) and George. One of their daughters, Mary (1774-?), married William STEVENS in 1795, he may have been related to Joseph's wife Ann.

The origins of Thomas Henley (1746?-1814) are not known for certain. He used very similar names for his children to those used by Henl(e)y families at Midhurst but there is no suitable baptism for him there. The closest Thomas age-wise at Midhurst is known to have had his own family there.

It seems quite likely that my Thomas was the son of James Henley and Ann/Nan (née CHITTY). They married at Chichester in 1730 then had children at Sutton and Petworth. Thomas's age at burial indicates that he was born in about 1746 and there is a corresponding gap in the children of James and Ann. Thomas named his first child James, his next two children were named Mary and Joseph. Mary and Joseph are the names of the children either side of the gap in the family of James and Ann. I couldn't ask for a better pattern of names!

Another possible search angle is to investigate the origins of a Joseph Henley who lived at Coldwaltham. Joseph is not a very common first name but it occurs in most of my Henley families. Unfortunately the Coldwaltham Joseph Henley died before 1851 so there is no clue as to his birthplace.

Due to searching for Thomas Henley's origins I have a lot of information about various other Henl(e)ys in the area around Petworth. Please contact me if you would like to know more. Despite all that I have collected I have found no clues for the origin of James Henley.
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