THE ENGLISH CONNECTION

The reputed founder of the family, Ranulphus de Mesnilwarin came to England in the train of William the Conqueror in 1066 and early references to the name can be found as far back as 1273. trace our heritage back this far is impossible due to no documented evidence. Only the Royal Family or the English Aristocracy would have such documentation. Our ancestry has been traced back to the mid 17th Century to Thomas Manwaring who was born around 1650 and who married Susanna Peters circa 1672 but even this line of descendency is flawed in some areas and needs to be looked at more closely in the future to determine beyond doubt that it is true.

The following Pedigree Charts were produced from all the information available at the time of publication of this book but it should be noted that some of the connections, although the most logical are presumed and are not proven beyond doubt.

To better explain the difficulty in determining the Manwaring ancestry in England in the 17th and 18th centuries the following is an extract from a letter received from an English Cousin, Alison Bagnall (nee Manwaring) who is at the present time working on a book detailing the Manwaring Family in the various Counties of England.

"I appreciate that for yourself, not having visited the area where our ancestors came from and not having access to parish registers from other villages, it must be difficult to imagine the 'global' picture during the 1700 and 1800's. By the mid 1700's there are Manwarings to be found in nearly every village in the Weald of Kent, the name is sometimes spelt slightly differently but they are there dating back to the 1500's.

Those who were agricultural workers did move around the villages, often staying with relations. Death was always present and this can cause problems as men with children tended to remarry quickly if their wives died. It was unusual for men in their mid twenties not to be married, the life expectancy was fairly low. Occasionally I have found children living with Uncles and Aunts presumably because their parents had died or could no longer support them. It is also useful to appreciate that all the villages that Manwaring's lived in were very close to each other and moving between villages was common place.

Some of the Manwaring families were tenant farmers and others were agricultural workers. They all seemed to look out for their family members, the families must have been very tight-knit, and they would often help each other by renting cottages on their land to relations or even employing them. There were even cases of marriages between the Manwaring families so you can perhaps begin to see the difficulty in imagining that the ancestors we are trying to trace are out there on their own. Unfortunately there were hundreds of them, and I am sure that I have not found out where they all lived and who they all married and fathered by any means, there is still a lot to find!"

It was originally thought that our family descended from Henry Manwaring / Sarah Bold  through Henry Manwaring / Mary Morgan and then William Manwaring / Sarah Crampton  but this has been proven false and our ancestry as best as we can determine at this time is listed below but has get to be proven beyond doubt - 

William Manwaring / Sarah Judge

Married 23.2.1829

Married 29.1.1806

Thomas Manwaring / Martha Springate

Married 8.8.1781

William Manwaring / Mary Cheeseman

Married 1747

William Manwaring / Susanna Breach

Married 1721

Thomas Manwaring / Susanna Peters (Chart M)

Married circa 1672