The Many Williams and Marys
We know from Henry’s statement that his parents were William and Mary Jennings. Therefore, beginning with Henry’s birth in July of 1642, we assume:
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- Like most tradespeople of his time, William was twenty-one or older at the time of his marriage.
- He was married by the fall of 1641.
- William was a tailor. There are no records of Henry or Isaac apprenticing as tailors, but both were tailors at their marriages.
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Searching records in Middlesex, London, Southwark, and Stepney, several William and Mary Jennings emerge from marriage and christening records.
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- Mary Messenger and William Jennings married at Saint Mary Mounthaw or Mounthaut on 6 October 1631
- Mary and William Jennings of Wapping Wall in Saint Dunstan and All Saints parish presumably married before 1634.
- Mary Prower and William Jennings married at Saint Olaves Southwark on 20 March 1639
- Mary Woodley and William Jennings, Tailor, married at Saint Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney on 1 November 1641.
- The 1642 christening records of twins Henry and Robert, and later Issac, identify William and Mary Jennings as their parents.
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William Jennings of Clerkenwell and Mary Messenger of Holborn were ages 41 and 40 respectively at the time of their first marriage.
William and Mary of Saint Olaves in Southwark lived in the same parish following their marriage. They christened all three daughters in the same Parish, including Mary on 6 February 1641, Anne on 7 January 1643, and Frances on 8 March 1645.
William and Mary Jennings of Wapping Wall, in Saint Dunstan and All Saints Parish, christened Hannah on 17 April 1635 and Abraham Jennings on 20 March 1639.
The parents of Henry, William, and Mary Jennings in St. Clement Danes christened Henry on 29 September 1642, his twin brother Robert on 30 October 1642, and a brother Isaac christened in the same parish on 15 August 1647.
Of the three recorded marriages, the marriage of Mary Arnold Woodley and William Jennings is the only one connected to Saint Clement Danes.
Before marrying William, Mary Arnold married Thomas Woodley on 3 March 1635 in Saint Gregory near Saint Paul’s Cathedral. Mary arrived and was christened on 6 November 1636 in All Hallows London Wall, Alice joined the family and was christened in Saint Clement Danes on 17 January 1637, followed by Martha on 06 October 1639 in the same Parish.
Ten months after Martha’s christening, Thomas’s burial was recorded in Saint Clement Danes on 08 June 1640. Martha followed her father in death and was buried on 15 February 1641 and recorded on the Saint Clement Danes burial register.
Mary Arnold Woodley’s marriage to William Jennings of Stepney on 1 November 1641 followed by the timing of Henry and Robert’s birth in July and christenings in Saint Clement Danes that fall indicates a probable relationship.
Additionally, in Henry’s Letter to Isaac, he gives his regards to his sisters Clarabut (Clarabel) Ale, and Mary Heilder supports a probable conclusion that Mary Arnold Woodley and William Jennings of Stepney are the parents of Henry, Robert, and Isaac.
Historical Context
William and Mary were born around the time that the first pilgrims left for the new world on the Mayflower. King James I of the House of Stuart was ruling. The Bishop’s Wars were triggering events that would later spill into the three English civil wars and the Cromwellian rule of Republic.