The Tingey and Harwood families of Hertfordshire
The spelling of the surname Tingey has many variations - Tyngey, Tinger, Tingoe, to cite but a few
examples. A tingle was a small nail, the sort of nail that might be used to make shoes. So, Tingeys
were perhaps makers of these small nails.
I have traced my Wray/Ray line back to my greatx5 grandparents, Ann Tingey and John Ray, who
married at Bramfield, Herts in 1715. Because of the difficulties of tracing my Tingey ancestry back
further, instead of starting with my earliest known Tingey forefather and working forward, I’ll work
backwards, giving reasons for my suggestions.
Greatx6 grandparents: Henry and Ann (nee Ramsey) Tingey
Henry and Ann married at Bramfield on 3 October 1682. The couple produced ten known children, all
of whom were baptised at Bramfield.
Frustratingly, little is known about this family - where they lived or their occupations. The researcher
can’t be sure of when they died, although possibly Henry died in 1702 at Bramfield and perhaps Ann
lived with one of her children at Bengeo, Herts until passing away there two years later in 1704.
Now the search begins for Henry’s baptism and the identity of his parents, my ancestors. Henry
Tingey (and his alternative surnames) is a fairly uncommon name. According to the records of the
Family Search website, there were no Henry Tingeys baptised in England between 1640 and 1668
when we might expect ‘our’ Henry to have been baptised.
Searching for Henry Tingey’s roots
The Bramfield registers are searchable on-line and Henry Tingey’s baptism is not recorded in their
pages. In the mid-1600s, there were usually around four of five baptisms in the parish during each
year, but between November 1656 and January 1659, there is only one baptism noted there.
There is also an unusual space of a few inches in the register at this time - as though there were
details which were still to be entered. In addition, there were at least three hands entering details in
the late 1650s.
All of this points to the sort of disruption to record keeping which was common in England during this
time of the disruptive ‘Commonwealth’ period. Then there was a quick turnover of clerks and missing
entries which may have resulted in Henry’s baptism not being recorded.
Having said that, the only Tingey baptisms at Bramfield between 1620 and 1700 were of Henry and
Ann’s children. So, either Henry’s baptism was never recorded in this parish, or (far more likely) he
was baptised in another Hertfordshire parish.
So, now faced with no entries in the Bramfield register, we browse elsewhere for baptisms of Henry
Tingey in the rest of Hertfordshire around in 1657 +/- twenty years. There are a few other Tingey
baptisms recorded at this time in the county - specifically in the parishes of Aston, Hinxworth and
Benington, albeit to only three couples. This narrows the search field.
There is one couple, Henry and Mercy at Aston, who probably had seven children baptised between
1655 and 1670. None of these were christened ‘Henry’ as might be expected (since fathers often
named a son after themselves). Therefore, we might conclude this couple was ‘our’ Henry’s parents.
Perhaps there is a reason that a note of his baptism is missing from the Aston parish record.
An additional factor to favour an Aston connection is that it is a mere six miles from Bramfield.
It is likely that Henry was born at Aston, Herts. That his baptism was not noted there is probably
explained by what an examination of the Aston registers at this time reveals. There was usually an
average of nine baptisms and burials in this parish. Judging by varied handwriting of its the clerks,
there were five men recording these details.
There are also noticeable gaps in the record - six months between October 1658 and April 1659; only
three baptisms in the whole of 1661. There were significant gaps in the burial record during 1658 and
1659. This presents the same picture of inefficient record keeping as is shown at the neighbouring
parish of Bramfield - for probably the same reason - the effect of the English ‘Commonwealth.
For these reasons, I believe that the most likely candidates to be my greatx6 grandparents were
Henry and Mercy Tingey at Aston, Herts and will continue on that basis.
The Tingeys at Aston, Hertfordshire
The Tingeys presence at Aston is relatively easy to summarise. A Henry Tingsey married Mercy
Harwood at Aston in 1653.
Mercy had been born at Aston and she and Henry settled there.
Henry had seven children there - and one is implied. At least two of the children were buried at Aston.
Two problems arise from the records. There is no record of a Henry Tingsey being baptised in Aston. I
suggest that he was born and named after his father (just as Mercy Tingsey was named after her
mother in 1660). Therefore, Henry’s baptism is an omission and should be assumed. That is
reasonable but unfortunate.
The second difficulty is that the baptism record states that two children, Isaac and Sarah (baptised in
1668 and 1670) were the children of Henry and Mary (ie not Mercy). This is either an error, a mis-
spelling or Mercy, Henry’s wife had indeed died and Henry had re-married. A Mercy Tingey had been
buried at Aston in 1665, but she is described as the daughter of Henry. I believe that recording
Henry’s wife as Mary was an error because the burial of Henry’s wife, Mercy, is not recorded in the
register and nor is the remarriage of Henry to a Mary. Such mistakes are not unusual. Perhaps a
contributory factor is that the cleric at Aston changed in around May 1662 from John Burnage to
Marmaduke James. It was after 1662 that the possibly mistaken entries of Henry and Mary were
entered.
In summary, there were no mentions of Tingeys at Aston until Henry’s marriage to Mercy in 1653. The
last presence of a Tingey in the parish was of William and Mary whose children, William and Mary,
were baptised there in 1686 and 1688. Ann Tingo was married there in 1696.
Finally, the suggestion that many of the Tingey family went to Bramfield (including Henry) is that there
were probably five surviving children born to Henry and Mary by 1671. In addition to Henry, perhaps
two of them were buried at Bramfield - William in 1708 and Isaac in 1726. These facts make the
family move from Aston to Bramfield more likely
As for Henry’s (and my) roots, there were no Tingey baptisms in Hertfordshire in 1627 +/- 5 years.
Perhaps Henry moved from Bedfordshire, which had a Tingey presence in those years.
Note the change of handwriting and the baptism of Marmaduke’s daughter, Constance at Aston
on 28 May 1662
My Heywood/Hayward family at Aston, Hertfordshire
Lastly in this article, our attention turns to Mercy Harwood’s family. She married Henry Tingey at Aston
in 1653. The parish records have a motley selection of spellings: Heywood, Heyward, Haywood and
Harwood.
There is frustration when trying to piece together a family tree for the Harwoods. While the identity of
Mercy Harwood’s father appears to be clearly Adam, this is a relatively unusual Christian name and
the only baptism which fits the time line is of an Adam Harwood who was baptised at Cottered, Herts.
(around six miles from Aston) in 1804. His parents were Leonard and Isabella Harwood but there the
Harwood line ends because while recording Leonard’s baptism, no mention is made of his father.
Then in 1617, a Henry Heyward sired six children between 1617 and 1633 at Aston, but his origins are
impossible to find. No connection can be made with Adam Horwood. The only Heyward who features
at Aston in the Hearth Tax of 1663 is a John Heyward who may or may not be Henry’s son who was
baptised in at Aston in 1617.
Selected parish records re: Tingey
Baptism of Mercy Harwood at Aston, Herts. on 20 September 1637
Marriage of Henry Tingey to Mercy Harwood at Aston, Herts. on 1 November 1653
Burial of Henry Tingoe (sic) at Aston, Herts. on 30 August 1702
Baptism of Adam Harwood at Aston, Herts. on 18 April 1602
Marriage of Adam Harwood to Merfa (sic) Lawrence at Aston, Herts. on 7 October 1627 (Grtx8 G-pts)
Burial of Mercy Harwood at Aston, Herts. on 6 April 1653
