Thursday 7 February 2008

The Cruses of Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire

David Cruse has kindly sent me details of another Cruse family which he has been working on. This Cruse line is from the small market town of Wootton Bassett in North Wiltshire The tree begins with Gabriel Cruse who married Alice Loader on 20th January 1615/6 in Wootton Bassett. They had one son, Gabriel, baptised rather hastily on 14th April 1616 just three months after their marriage, and four daughters, Elinor, Elizabeth, Anne and Avis. Gabriel junior married Catherine Helliar on 10th June 1634 in Mildenhall, Wiltshire. Gabriel and Catherine had two known sons, Francis, baptised on 26th March 1657, and William, baptised on 18th February 1665/6. Francis went on to marry and to produce three sons. The younger son, William, disappears from the Wootton Bassett records. It is possible that he is the William Cruse who was buried in Ogbourne St George in 1717, who is at the head of our large Berkshire tree, but a lot more research is presently needed to prove or disprove this hypothesis. The name Cruse makes its final appearance in the Wootton Bassett registers with the burial of 21-year-old William Cruse on 28th September 1805. There are a number of wills on the National Archives' Documents Online website which relate to this family which I hope to explore in due course. I would be interested to hear if anyone has any further information. Are there any living descendants out there?

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