Thomas Eachus

Notes:

In the Mid 16th Century a run of very cold winters and short growing seasons resulted in Food Shortages and Famine. In 1557 the Harvest failed for the third year in running, this followed what was reckoned to be the worst famine that century. As well as starvation, thousands died from an outbreak of Plaque, one observer noted that "The like whereof has never been Known before", to make matters worse prices rose sharply, and in the previous year grain had cost double what it did in 1553. This was a disaster for the 60% of the population who lived at subsistence level, wage earners had to spend 80 to 90 per cent of their income on food. At the same time the hugh cloth & woolen trade collapsed with exports down by 30%. Whilst there is no written evidence as how this situation effected the Eachus family, it is a fact that the only recorded reference to the Eachus family at this time is in 1566 when on the 3rd Day of May 1566 in Church Minshull, a child of Thomas Eachus was baptised named John. no other Eachus family members seem to have survived at this point.
Although no baptism has been found, Thomas is believed to be the father of John's Brother Peter. The marriage between Peter Eachus and Margaret Pownall took place on the 21st April 1594, again in Church Minshull. All the Eachus family members alive today are descended from Peter & Margaret.

see also John Eachus who was born abt 1500

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: May 1566, Church Minshull

Notes:

Peter was a farmer in Minshul Vernon. All the Eachus families found in the world, can be traced back to Peter and his marriage to Margaret Pownall. Although to date, his baptism has not been found, he is believed to be the son of Thomas Eachus (born abt 1532) [#5938], and the brother of Thomas's son John Eachus baptised 1566 at Church Minshull.
Thomas may have been the son of John Eachus (ships Captain) born abt 1500 in Cheshire, England and who sailed out of Red Bank, Chester.

Archive;
Printed List of Peter & Margarets Descendants (RG 1/11)
Photograph of Tapestry in Church Minshull Church. (MR4 1-2)

Time Line;
1559 Elizabeth Tudor, daughter of Ann Boleyn, Crowned Queen of England
1561 Silk Stockings are the latest craze
1563 Over 20,000 people die in Plaque epidemic
1564 Galileo born
1564 A new form of transport is introduced from the Netherlands: the horse-drawn coach.
1564 John Hawkins sets out on his second expedition to the new world.
1565 Queen Elizabeth warned of the dangers of the new religious Hardliners known as the Puritains.
1569 Peter Eachus Born in Minshull Vernon, Cheshire, England. (abt)
1570 Unrest in East Anglia resulting from the influx of foreigh workers.
1572 Population of England reaches five million
1577 Francis Drake sets out in the Pelican to sail around the World
1584 Sir Richard Grenville has established a colony on Roanoke Island, Virginia. This first Colony, with a hundred men. has built a fort and houses.
1585 A medicinal herb called tobacco whose dried leaves may be smoked in a clay pipe, brought back from Virginia.
1588 Defeat of the Spanish Armada
1589 Three woman hanged at Chelmsford Essex, for Witchcraft.
1594 William Shakespear, a poet & playwright, has been listed among the foremost poets of the day.
1594 Peter Eachus Married Margaret Pownall in a simple ceremony at St Bartholomews Parish Church, Church Minshull. surrounded by family and friends.

Peter married Margaret Pownall on 21 Apr 1594 in St Bartholomews, Church Minshull [Thursday],. Margaret was born about 1572 in (in/of) Cheshire, England; died in 1624; was buried on 12 Jun 1624 in Church Minshull, Cheshire, England [Wednesday]. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 22 Aug 1594, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull

John married Margaret Rylance on 17 Apr 1615 in St Bartholomews, Church Minshull. Margaret was born about 1595 in Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 10 Feb 1596, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull

Notes:

will dated 16th February 1671/2 leaving his effects to his children Ellen and Thomas
Will proved 29th August 1672 - Copy Held (FW 1/1)

Paid Poll Tax 1660 income ?5 per Anum tax due; 2 shillings & 1 shilling for his daughter
Paid Hearth Tax 1664 1 shilling

William`s Marriage does not appear in the Parish records of Cheshire, Staffordshire or Shropshire. the reason could be a Couple- Beggar. A Couple-Beggar was an itinerant priest who performed marriages irregulary i.e. without Banns or Licence. Hardwicks Marriage Act of 1754 legalised such marriages, but the officiating minister was declared a felon.

Archive
Poll & Hearth Tax returns (MC 2/12)

Family/Spouse: Ellen. Ellen was born about 1598 in (in/of) Cheshire, England; died in 1667; was buried in St Bartholomews, Church Minshull. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 4 Jul 1597, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull, Cheshire, England

Other Events:

• Baptism: 13 Jul 1602, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull

Other Events:

• Baptism: 21 Jul 1604, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull

Notes:

Inventory dated 17th May 1681 - Copy Held (FW 1/2)
Peter is the probable father of John Eachus . Although no record has been found.
Time Line:
1603 Elizabeth Tudor, Queen Of England Dies. James Stuart (King James IV of Scotland) crowned King at Westminster.
1603 30,000 Londoners die of Bubonic plaque.
1604 James Stuart named King of Great Britain, Ireland and France
1604 King James warns of the Dangers of Smoking, and has imposed a hugh duty on tobacco imports from the New World.
1606 Gunpowder Plot
1606 Union Flag to be adopted combining the crosses of St Andrew & St George to be adopted by both English & Scottish Shipping.
1608 Duel nationality is to be given to all Scots and Englishmen born after King James's accession to the throne of England.
1612 A new book telling the exotic crimes of the Pendle Witches published in Lancaster.

Baptism:
Copy Parish entry held (MR4-4)

Family/Spouse: Elizabeth. Elizabeth was born about 1610 in (in/of) Minshull Vernon, Cheshire, Eng; was buried on 19 Apr 1671 in Church Minshull. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 30 Mar 1606, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull Parish Church.

Notes:

Inventory dated 1681 _ Copy held (FW 1/3)

Addresses: 1636 Minshull Vernon

Family/Spouse: Eleanor. Eleanor was born about 1610 in (in/of) Minshull Vernon, Cheshire, England; was buried on 22 Jan 1669 in Church Minshull. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Robert married Alice Griffin on 23 Nov 1671 in Nantwich. Alice was born about 1625 in (in/of) Minshull Vernon, Cheshire, Eng; was buried on 22 Sep 1679 in Church Minshull. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 17 Jul 1608, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull

Family/Spouse: Unknown. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 21 Aug 1610, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull, Cheshire, England

Other Events:

• Baptism: 25 May 1612, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull

Other Events:

• Baptism: 6 Jan 1616, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull

Other Events:

• Baptism: 16 Apr 1662, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull

Other Events:

• Baptism: 25 Jan 1624, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull

Other Events:

• Baptism: 25 Mar 1627, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull

Notes:

Addresses: 1653/4 Minshull Vernon
Paid Poll Tax 1660 Income ?10 per Annum, Poll Tax 4 shillings

Archive;
Poll & Hearth Tax returns (MC 2/12)

Family/Spouse: Margaret Hall. Margaret (daughter of John Hall) was born about 1630 in (in/of) Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 30 Mar 1628, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull

Family/Spouse: Richard Bertiskle. Richard was born about 1628 in (in/of) Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

Abode 1670 Yatehouse, Middlewich
1660: paid Hearth Tax @ Ravenscroft Hall
John met his future wife Alice Hight while they were both servants at Ravenscroft, It was a 14th Century Moated Manor House, (Long since demolished)
Later they married and farmed at Kinnerton near Middlewich, Cheshire. There is little doubt that it was his son Robert Eachus who travelled to the Colonies in 1700 and founded the American Eachus Family.

John married Alice Hight on 11 Aug 1661 in Over Parish Church, by Licence. Alice was born about 1640 in (in/of) Ravenscroft, Middlewich, Cheshire. England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 24 Aug 1634, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull

Elizabeth married William Tyler on 29 Mar 1655 in Over. William (son of William Tyler and Unknown) was born in 1633 in Sandbach, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 27 Dec 1639, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull,

Notes:

John is the grandson of Peter Eachus (1570-1632) of Minshull Vernon, Cheshire, His Probable father is Peter to date, his baptism as yet to be found. He was a farmer and a piller of the community in which he lived. and in 1669 was made a constable.
Kinderton Court Book: 8th Oct 1669 John Darlington & John Echuse (sic) are made constables for the coming year.
He was the the Auther's great, great, great, great, great, great, grandfather.
John`s Marriages do not appear in the Parish records of Cheshire, Staffordshire or Shropshire. the reason could be a Couple- Beggar. A Couple-Beggar was an itinerant priest who performed marriages irregulary i.e. without Banns or Licence. Hardwicks Marriage Act of 1754 legalised such marriages, but the officiating minister was declared a felon.
Time Line:
John was born into a world that was to face many changes. The King, Charles the First was imposing many unpopular Taxes, including Custom Duties, tonnage and poundage and the increased fines on Catholics were raising very large sums. The split between County and court was steadily widening. add to that two very poor harvests in 1629 and 1630, which saw bread prices soar, leaving most of the population in poverty, and the country in social unrest. On May 29th 1630 King Charles I and his queen had a son, who would become Charles II.
In the June of 1630 a fleet of 11 ships carrying over a thousand puritans arrived in Massachusetts Bay to establish a colony in the area. The new colonists led by John Winthrop intended to find Religious freedom, in the new world. In 1700 a close descendant of John's, Robert Eachus would follow them, to start a new Eachus dynasty in the "New World"
To give some idea of crime and punishment in those days, it was reported that one Alexander Leighton, a Presbyterian preacher wrote a pamphlet called "Sion's Plea against the Prelacy" in which he called the Bishops "caterpillers, Moths and Cankerworms"
The Court of the Star Chamber found him guilty of attacking the Bishops and sentenced him to be Defrocked, fined ?10,000 and jailed for life. While he was in jail he was whipped at the pillory, had his ears cut off, his nose slit and was branded on both cheeks with "SS" (Sower of sedition). Is it any wonder that just 12 years later England was fighting a civil war.

Before the middle of the 18th century there was no formal spelling of the English Lanquage, and most people who could read and write, wrote sounds, so you find the name Eachus written in Various ways such as Eachuse, Eachewes or Eachouse, all clearly spoken as Eachus

Family/Spouse: Ellen. Ellen was born about 1635 in (in/of) Middlewich. Cheshire, England; died in 1676 in Middlewich, Cheshire; was buried on 2 Feb 1676 in Middlewich Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Family/Spouse: Anne. Anne was born about 1635 in (in/of) Middlewich. Cheshire, England; died in 1679; was buried on 4 Mar 1679 in Middlewich, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 27 May 1638, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull

Notes:

In 1660 Richard was a Servant to Sir Willoughby Aston, Baronet. He is listed as paying Poll Tax that year.
Archive:
Poll & Hearth Tax returns (MC 2/12)

Family/Spouse: Alice. Alice was born about 1640; died in 1679 in Minshull, Cheshire, England; was buried on 22 Sep 1679 in St Bartholomews, Church Minshull, Cheshire. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Richard married Amy Stockton on 29 Dec 1705 in Acton, Cheshire, England. Amy (daughter of William Stockton) was born in 1666 in (in/of) Acton, Cheshire, England. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events:

• Baptism: 20 Feb 1636, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull

Other Events:

• Baptism: 20 Feb 1636, St Bartholomews, Church Minshull

Other Events:

• Baptism: 26 Nov 1637, Acton

Other Events:

• Baptism: 12 Jan 1640, Acton