Nicholas Redfern

circa 1665 - 1717

Nicholas was probably born in Abney around 1665, the second son of Robert and Anne ⁽¹⁾, his elder brother Dennis having been born in 1662 ⁽²⁾. His sister Hannah was born in 1669 ⁽³⁾, then another brother William in 1672 ⁽⁴⁾, before youngest sister Alice in 1676 ⁽⁵⁾.

He married Margaret Cooper on 29th April 1688 at St Peter's in Hope ⁽⁶⁾, and their first son William was born just under a year later ⁽⁷⁾, and then Robert in 1694 ⁽⁸⁾. His only daughter Anne was born in 1698 ⁽⁹⁾.

His mother having died in 1695 ⁽¹⁰⁾, he faced a double blow when his wife Margaret died in January 1699 ⁽¹¹⁾, then his father too just three months later ⁽¹²⁾.

Nicholas married for a second time in May 1706, to Hester Frost from Great Hucklow ⁽¹³⁾. They didn't have any children.

He died in February 1717 ⁽¹⁴⁾. Hester survived him by 18 years ⁽¹⁵⁾.

• William was born in Abney in 1689. He married Ellen Furness in 1714 and they iniatially settled in Eyam where they had five children - Margaret, Robert, Nicholas, Hannah and William. Sometime around 1724 they moved to Eyam, where they had three more children - Elizabeth, Joseph and Benjamin. William died in Eyam in 1761.
• Robert has his own page.
• Anne was born in Abney in 1698. She had an illegitimate daughter Hannah in 1725 - the father was William Barber. Nothing more is known of her

1. No document has been found which shows Nicholas to be the son of Robert and Anne, however it seems very likely.
   • The Hope Parish registers show that all but a couple of the Redfern baptisms, spanning hundreds of years, were of the children of people living in Abney - a very small settlement within the large parish of Hope. This strongly suggests that they were all related.
   • Using just the parish registers, it is fairly trivial to plot every Redfern from Abney into one of two groups - those descended from this Nicholas, and those descended from William Redfern.
   • Nicholas married first in 1688, was having children till his wife's death in 1699, and died in 1717. This strongly indicates a date of birth before 1670, probably in the 1660s.
   • There were two Redferns having children around the 1660s, Robert and his brother Dennis . They were both sons of the above mentioned William, almost certainly making Nicholas his grandson. (Their elder brother had also been named Nicholas)
   • Dennis had moved to Grindlow by the time he had his only known child baptised in Hope in 1666 - perhaps settling elsewhere as his elder brother Robert took over the family farm in Abney? (He could have had more children baptised at Tideswell, thats not out of the question for Grindlow, but Tideswell PRs are missing for the late 1660s). He died in 1672 - apparently back in Abney, but his wife and child disappear from the record.
   • Robert lived all his life in Abney having children baptised in 1662, 1669, 1672 and 1676 (a noticeable gap between 1662 and 1669 ?), and his son William, along with Nicholas, were the only Redfern men having children there in the next generation
   • Nicholas’s children were called William, Robert and Anne - a good match for them potentially being named after his grandfather, his father, and his mother. (Dennis's only known child was also called William)
   • The balance of probabilities surely places Nicholas as son of Robert, with a probable birth in the "gap" between 1662 and 1669.
2. See his father's page.
3. Parish Register of St Peter's, Hope includes the baptism entry:
   [May 1669] Hanna Redfearn fil: Rob: et Ann de Abney   xxx°
4. Parish Register of St Peter's, Hope includes the baptism entry:
   [September 1672] William Redfern fil: Robert et Ann de Abney     xxii°
5. Parish Register of St Peter's, Hope includes the baptism entry:
   [October 1676] Alice Redferne fil: Robert et Ann de Abney     i°
6. Parish Register of St Peter's, Hope includes the marriage entry:
   [1688] Nicolas Redfern et Margreta Cooper nupti erant   April 29
7. Parish Register of St Peter's, Hope includes the baptism entry:
   [1689] Willimus fils Nicol.. et Margreta Redfern de Abney baptizat April 21
8. Parish Register of St Peter's, Hope includes the baptism entry:
   [February 1694] Robt fil Nichol^s et Marga^t Redfern de Abney   11
9. Parish Register of St Peter's, Hope includes the baptism entry:
   [February 1698] Anna fil Nicolasi et Margareta Redfearn de Abney   6
10. Parish Register of St Peter's, Hope includes the burial entry:
    [March 1695] Anna Uxor Robert Redfern de Abney     3
11. Parish Register of St Peter's, Hope includes the burial entry:
    [January 1699] Margareta uoxor Nic: Redferne de Abney   15
12. Parish Register of St Peter's, Hope includes the burial entry:
    [April 1699] Rob: Redferne de Abney     20
13. Parish Register of St Peter's, Hope includes the marriage entry:
    [May 1706] Nicholaus Redfearn de Abney et Hestera Frost de Great Hucklow   23
14. Parish Register of St Peter's, Hope includes the burial entry:
    [February 1717] Nicolaus Redfearn de Abney   19
15. Parish Register of St Peter's, Hope includes the burial entry:
    [February 1735] Easter Redfern of Great Hucklow &nbap; 10