7. Richard and Susanna Barnard of Essex

The Barnard surname is derived from the first name Bernard. Some of the Barnard family in England may have been French Huguenot Protestants; some of our family appear in non-conformist registers. The name is most common in eastern England, especially Essex, which is where our family were from. The Livermore surname probably comes from Livermere in Suffolk.

For the record, and with the usual cautions, my oldest direct ancestors we know about in this part of the family are: John Barnard (1702), Roberti Pasfield (1716), Thomas Livermore (1708), Mary Colse (1708), William Yalden (1708), Abraham Milbank (1641), Symon Brecknock (1608) and Anne Reeve (1650).

Richard Barnard was born in 1775 in Good Easter nr Chelmsford. The name 'Good Easter' does not refer to the Christian festival but to an old English word for sheep fold, the 'Good' referencing to the fold's female owner Godgyth. Chelmsford is a market town, which originally grew up around a Roman fort, and a medieval bridge. It was made a City in 2012. My photos are here.

Susanna Livermore was born in 1771 in Barnston, nr Dunmow.

Barnston church (credit)

They married in 1792 in Little Dunmow, and had thirteen children.

Little Dunmow church (credit)

 Woodham Walter's 'Village Design Statement' says "The late medieval period saw the building of a moated Manor House in Woodham Walter with an extensive deer park, which was to become the base for the powerful Fitzwalter family and the Ratcliffes, their female line descendants. By 1744, the estate had been sold and turned into farms by the Fytch family. One such farm, the Warren, was later to become the home of The Warren Golf Club." In between times, it was where Richard and Susanna started to bring up their family.

Woodham Walter church (credit)

Maldon is a market town on the Blackwater estuary, famous for its 'Saltmarsh coast' and Maldon Sea Salt. When it was the only town in Essex bar Colchester, it was overrun by the Vikings in the Battle of Maldon in 991. In 1956, it became the home of the first self-service Tesco. While our ancestors were living nearby, the Chelmer and Blackwater Navigation was constructed to run from a sea lock near Maldon to Chelmsford. Maldon was also a base for the precursors to Thames sailing barges. My photos of the town are here.

Later children were born in Great Burstead nr Billericay, or in Dagenham. Billericay has some pleasing Georgian properties which may have been familiar to our ancestors. Dagenham was laid out on a north-south axis to share the marshes by the river, the agricultural land in the centre and the woods and commons on the high ground in the north. It was protected from the Thames by defences built by Dutch engineers in the C17.

There is no census information on Richard, but Susanna was listed as a pauper in 1851, eight years after Richard's death. More encouragingly, all but two of the children survived into at least middle age, and there is no record of the other two dying in childhood.

Richard and Susanna's children were:

• 36.1.1 - Elias Barnard (1793)
• 36.1.2 - Nancy Barnard (1794)
• 36.1.3 - Maryann Barnard (1796)
• 36.1.4 - Richard Barnard (1797)
• 36.1.5 - Benjamin Barnard (1799)
• 36.1.6 - Jabez Barnard (1800)
• 36.1.7 - Mahala Barnard (1802)
• 36.1.8 - Betsy Barnard (1804)
• 36.1.9 - Abram Barnard (1806)
• 36.1.10 - Isaac Barnard (1807)
• 36.1.11 - Jacob Barnard (1809)
• 36.1.12 - John Barnard (1810)
• 36.1.13 - Lois Barnard (1813)

There is more on these individuals in Chapter 36.

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