The Crittenden line in my tree starts with ELEANOR (Ellen) CRITTENDEN (b. 2 Sept 1949) who married FREDERICK CHARLES Piper (b. 1846)

FURTHER BACK

The generation further back from JOB CRITTENDEN seem to have moved around the Medway Towns quite a bit. JOB's parents were:

ROBERT CRITTENDEN (b. abt 1798 Chatham) and PHOEBE IVORY (b. abt 1803 Higham). They married 8 Dec 1822 in Upchurch, Kent (only a mile up the road to where I live now in Rainham). They had 5 known children inc. JOB:

JAMES (b. 1829 Stoke, Kent) (died 2 Apr 1911 Strood, Kent)

ALFRED (b. abt 1831 Shorne, Kent) (died 11 Mar 1916 Higham)

JOHN (b. abt 1834 Higham) (never married died 1866)

ELEANOR (b. abt 1836 Higham)

MARRIAGES OF ABOVE:

JAMES married ELIZABETH SARAH ROWE Dec 1864, London & had 5 known children

ALFRED married AMY (surname unknown) & children unknown

ELEANOR married JOHN BROOKER 6 Feb 1858 Higham (children unknown)

THE MID 1700's

This is when the Crittenden's lived in Chatham, Kent and all the baptisms took place in the parish church of St Mary's, Chatham (funnily enough where I was baptised!). This was the only parish church at the time in Chatham.

ROBERT CRITTENDEN's parents were SAMUEL CRITTENDEN and CATHERINE MACDONNEL who married 28 Mar 1796 in Frindsbury, Kent. They had 6 children inc. ROBERT:

MARY (b. abt 1796 Chatham)

JAMES (b. abt 1801 Chatham) (died 1857 Luton, Chatham)

JOHN (b. 21 May 1803 Chatham) - DIED IN AUSTRALIA (9 Oct 1858) (see page further down)

CATHERINE (b. abt 1806 Chatham)

SAMUEL (b. 7 Oct 1809 Chatham) - DIED IN AUSTRALIA (8 Jul 1893) (see page further down)

THE AUSTRALIAN LINK

JOHN CRITTENDEN emigrated in 1839 aboard the "ASIA" along with his wife SARAH PORTER & 7 of their 11 children. They departed from Plymouth,  Devon accompanied by JOHN's brother SAMUEL and his wife JEMIMA GASKIN & 6 of their 15 children. They arrived in Port Adelaide on 16 July 1839, and became one of the first families of Australia. It is very difficult to imagine travelling across the other side of the World in the 1830's, a decision that would not have been taken lightly.

Strangely enough, both JOHN & SAMUEL changed the spelling of their surname from CRITTENDENto CRETTENDEN upon arrival in Australia.

JOHN CRUTTENDEN died at a fairly young age & the following appeared in the local paper, the South Australian Register:

"Died on the 9th October 1858 at his residence Mount Lofty, in consequence of a fall from a horse, Mr John Crettenden, formerly of Chatham, Kent, England aged 54 yrs"

JOHN & SARAH's children:

JOHN (b. abt 1823 Chatham)

SARAH HESTER (b. abt 1825 Chatham)

ANN (b. abt 1827 Chatham)

EMILY ELIZABETH (b. abt 1828 Chatham)

SAMUEL (b. abt 1830 Chatham) (died 30 Mar 1905 Summertown, S. Australia)

MARY (b. abt 1832 Chatham)

CATHERINE (b. abt 1834 Chatham)

JAMES (b. 1837 Chatham)

WILLIAM JOHN (b. 4 Jul 1840 Adelaide, S. Australia) (died 1917 Australia)

ROBERT (b. abt 1845 Australia) (died 13 Nov 1845 Adelaide, S. Australia)

ELIZA NAYLER (b. 10 Aug 1846 Adelaide, S. Australia) (died 17 Sep 1849 Adelaide)

SAMUEL CRETTENDEN married JEMIMA GASKIN 25 Dec 1829 in St Margaret's Church, Rochester, Kent, UK. SAMUEL died 8 Jul 1893 in North Adelaide, S. Australia. JEMIMA died 28 Jun 1875 in North Adelaide, S. Australia.

As mentioned above they had 15 children in total. The most any part of my family has had to date. They were:

SAMUEL (b. 21 Dec 1836 Chatham, Kent) (died 1896)

ELIZA (b. abt 1837 Kent) (died 1848)

LOUISA (b. abt 1838 Kent) (died 22 Apr 1840)

ROBERT GEORGE (b. 18 Apr 1841 Thebarton, S. Australia)

EMMELINE (b. 25 Jul 1843 Thebarton, S. Australia) (died 1906)

LUCY ANN (b. 23 May 1845 Dry Creek, S. Australia) (died 1934)

JAMES HENRY (b. 17 Dec 1846 Dry Creek, S. Australia) (died 12 Dec 1930 Mile End, S. Australia)

ELIZA (b. 14 Jul 1848 Dry Creek, S. Australia) (died 19 Jul 1850)

ROSE (b. 16 Jun 1850 S. Australia)

MARY ANN (b. 4 Mar 1853 Gawler Plains, S. Australia)

JEMIMA LOUISE (b. 7 Sep 1854 Gawler Plains, S. Australia)

ALICE ELIZA (b. 7 Oct 1856 Gawler Plains, S. Australia)

I do have quite a lot of further information on the above & am in touch with descendants in Australia. Please contact me via my email address (see Home Page) for further details.

EVEN FURTHER BACK (in the UK)

SAMUEL Crittenden (to clarify was born abt 1768 in Chatham, Kent, UK) (died 1854).

His parents were JAMES CRITTENDEN & ANN MILLINER who married 9 Oct 1764 in St Mary's Church, Chatham. They had 4 other known children apart from SAMUEL:

ELIZABETH (b. abt 1765 Chatham)

THOMAS (b. abt 1767 Chatham)

ROBERT (b. abt 1770 Chatham)

GEORGE (b. abt 1773 Chatham)

This part of the family is work in progress as I have yet to find any of their marriages. Unfortunately some of the parish registers have been difficult to read due to damage.

BEGINNING OF THE 18TH CENTURY

There are 2 more generations further back to list. My 7 x Great Grandparents & 8 x Great Grandparents.

JAMES CRITTENDEN (above) who married ANN MILLINER his parents were another JAMES CRITTENDEN (b abt 1716) who actually married twice:

Firstly an unknown person. He was listed as a "Widower" when marrying his second wife, ELIZABETH SMITH 15 Oct 1745. I have a suggestion that this JAMES was the one in fact to have married ANN MILLINER, this has not been proved, but the ages of the children seem to fit.

JAMES CRITTENDEN & ELIZABETH SMITH had 7 children inc. JAMES:

CATHERINE (b. abt 1746 Chatham)

WILLIAM (b. abt 1750 Chatham) (d. Jun 1756 Chatham)

THOMAS (b. abt 1754 Chatham) (d. May 1762 Chatham)

MARY (b. abt 1756 Chatham)

JOHN (b. abt 1759 Chatham) (d. Dec 1831 Chatham)

WILLIAM (b. abt 1761 Chatham)

I do not have any of the marriage details for the above.

MY 8TH GREAT GRANDPARENTS

The Crittenden line ends with WILLIAM CRITTENDEN.

The first reference to the name appears in Maidstone, Kent to a WILLIAM CROYTENDEN c.1451. A Kent & Sussex name from a lost place Cruttenden, nr Headcorn, Kent. The Maidstone Museum has a Will for a WILLIAM CROYTENDEN of Brenchley, Maidstone 1510 Book 12 page 219.

My WILLIAM was born abt 1675 in Chatham, Kent (died 13 May 1731 & buried 18 Jun 1731). He marries ANN ELLIOT 26 Dec 1699 in Chatham. They have 9 known children inc. JAMES:

WILLIAM (b. abt 1702 Chatham) (d. Jun 1766 Chatham)

JOHN (b. abt 1704 Chatham) (d. Apr 1706 Chatham)

THOMAS (b. abt 1708 Chatham) (d. Nov 1793 Chatham)

SAMUEL (b. abt 1710 Chatham) (d. before 1735 Chatham)

ANN (b. abt 1712 Chatham)

ELIZABETH (b. abt 1714 Chatham)

DAVID (unknown birth/baptism date) (d. Nov 1721 Chatham)

WILLIAM then marries ELIZABETH SANDERS 26 Dec 1728, after ANN ELLIOT dies 13 Oct 1727 (didn't wait long did he?). They did not have any known children.

MARRIAGE DETAILS OF ABOVE CHILDREN

WILLIAM married ANN SAYWELL 18 May 1725 St Mary's Church, Chatham, & they had 2 known children - CHARLES b. abt 1726 & MARY b. abt 1728 both in Chatham.

JOHN married MARY WARD 27 Dec 1730 St Mary's Church, Chatham & only one child known SARAH b. abt 1738 in Rochester, Kent.

THOMAS married ANN AMBROSE 8 Oct 1735 St Mary's Church, Chatham & they had 2 known children - DANIEL b. abt 1736 & ELIZABETH b. abt 1738 both in Chatham.

SAMUEL married MARY HODGE St Nicholas, Rochester (date unknown) & they had 1 known child - ANN b. abt 1733 in Chatham.

ANN married GEORGE GILES 20 Aug 1737 St Mary's Church, Chatham & they had 2 known children - SARAH b. abt 1744 & WILLIAM b. abt 1746 both in Chatham.

The marriages for ELIZABETH & DAVID are unknown at this time.

NOTES:

Whilst I was at MALSC I checked thoroughly the parish registers for St Mary's, Chatham. WILLIAM (b. abt 1675) is the first Crittenden listed in this parish. I have been unable to find where WILLIAM was baptised. There are no Crittenden's listed in the parish church before 1675.

There is an additional child listed - ROSANNA who married THOMAS MORTON 7 Oct 1735 in St Mary's Church, Chatham. She could possibly be another child from WILLIAM & ANN.

Any additions to the Crittenden line would be gratefully received.