The Canterbury and Long Point Carltons Genealogy

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CHAPTER 8

JOHN (II) CARLTON (THE CHURCHWARDEN)

AND SUSANNA WHITE

1709 - 1806

PHOTOGRAPH of John's signature from the Tilmanstone Parish Register in 1778

- Thomas Gray (1750)

Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard

John was baptised on March 27, 1709 in Tilmanstone. He was a cordwainer as his father had been. He married Susanna White on January 16, 1734 in Tilmanstone. Susan was baptised February 1, 1713, the second daughter of John and Margaret White. Both he and Susan were born during the reign of Queen Anne and they lived through the reigns of George I, II and III, including the time of the American war for independence. When John was 30 England entered a period of wars; against Spain in 1739, with France during 1744-1748 and the seven year war with France from 1756 -1763.

John served as Churchwarden, an office which seems to have changed annually at Michaelmas (September 29th), for the Church of St. Andrew's, which is Tilmanstone Parish. The office of Churchwarden involved recording the functioning of the village as well as the Church of England in Tilmanstone Parish, which included the area surrounding the village. John was Churchwarden for six years, from 1766-1768, 1776- 1779 and 1786-1787. Many of the parish records used for this history during that period were signed by John Carlton. On September 14, 1752 the new style Gregorian calendar went into use, eliminating 11 days from the year (the day before September 14th was September 2nd.) This made all previous dates 11 days older, for example, John's baptismal date of March 27th by the old calendar became April 7th by the new.

In these years the eating habits of the English were slowly changing as new and different food items became available. When John was young, the common fare for a labourer's meal was bread, cheese, roast meat or fish and ale. By the time he married Susanna, boiled or roasted potatoes with butter had become common, although in some areas potato soup was regarded as thin fare fit only for hogs. By the 1720s tea was rapidly replacing ale and beer as the most popular English drink and during the middle of the century it became established in its present tradition. Asparagus and spinach, imported from foreign lands, were becoming recognized as valuable dietary supplements. Watermelon with sugar, ginger, pepper or salt came to be a favorite desert because of its coolness throughout the summer. When John was a boy lemons, limes and especially oranges first became available to persons of modest means such as the Carltons. Imagine how the flavor of his first orange must have tasted as if it came from another world! However, the most famous of all the new foods were the new varieties of strawberries, for which England has become world renowned. No doubt John, his children and grandchildren appreciated fine strawberries every bit as much as today's Carltons do. By 1750 glazed earthenware began to replace the traditional pewter and wooden utensils for daily tableware. And finally, for the first time in history, sugar became cheap enough to be used as a common additive to drinks and deserts.

A major historical event that occurred in England during John and Susanna's lifetime was the preaching of Methodism by the Anglican John Wesley between 1738 and 1791. Because Wesley spent much of his time teaching his "new revelation" within the Anglican Church, especially in villages, it is not impossible that John Carlton met John Wesley.

Because of the increasing variety of imported goods arriving in Britain, John and Susan also witnessed a major change in clothing during their lifetimes. Much of the change was brought on by the decreased cost of cotton from the colonies with woolen goods decreasing in popularity. In the early 1700s brilliant cloth in scarlet, gold, black, red or blue was popular, resulting in a populace as brightly colored as their ancestors from the 1200s. By the middle of the century the most fashionable colors for mens suits were claret and light blue. Cotton patterns, muslin and chintz were replacing woolen, silk, satin and velvet styles. By 1800 simpler colors and styles were popular and class distinction by clothing had almost disappeared from the public scene.

Susanna was buried in Tilmanstone on September 27th, 1754. We surmise that John and Susanna may have been the first people to live in the house known as St. Mary's Grove Cottage. The cottage is believed to have been built about this time and the Carltons were known to be living on the site about this time. The cottage is located immediately across the road from the north (rear) steps leading down from the churchyard. We do know that John purchased land of both North and South Court from the Stokes family in 1753 and held both until at least 1765. He continued to hold land of North Court through 1789. This information comes from one of the North Court and South Court Manor Court Rolls held in the Library of Lambeth Palace (Portions of the North Court and South Court Manor Court Rolls were published in the 1920-1922 East Kent Records of the Kent Archaeological Society, pp. 186-187). The Roll indicates that in 1753 John Carlton was presented for entering lands by purchase from the Stokes'. (Robert and John Stokes' family had held a messuage in Tilmanstone Street and lands of South Court for a generation prior to 1682.) John Carlton paid at North Court 7d. and a half a hen and at South Court 11d. and half a hen till 1765. In 1789 he paid at North Court 7d. and half a hen. Because our only knowledge of these Court Rolls comes from the published Kent Archaeological Society transcription of 1922, and because the record had not yet been seen by us, we have no further knowledge of the exact location of the lands upon which John was paying fines. It is possible that additional information could be contained in the original documents that would specify the location of these lands, and possibly clarify when our family occupied St. Mary's Cottage and/or St. Mary's Grove Cottage (It is not impossible that the Stokes family is the same as the Stookes family with which Stephen and Mary Carleton had been so close during their years in Canterbury between 1598 and 1630. The Carlton and Stookes/Stokes families could have maintained close relations for the 150 years from 1598-1604, when Stephen Carleton of Ashe married Mary Stookes, through their great great grandson John Carlton's purchase of these lands in Tilmanstone in 1753).

John was 66 years old when the war with the American colonies began in 1775 and he died while England was involved in the Napoleonic wars that were to have such a great impact on his descendants. John without doubt did much to establish the family holdings in Tilmanstone. He left "a Dwelling house Barn Garden Hop Ground Arable Land . . . containing by Estimation Three Acres more or less" to his sons John and Edward in his will of 1796. Since Bob Hollingsbee, the Tilmanstone village historian in 1982, was able to verify that Carltons had owned/occupied St. Mary's Cottage and we have record of its ownership in 1838 [Both the 1816 Harrison Estate map of Tilmanstone and the 1838 Tilmanstone Tithe Map (plot 114) indicate Carlton residency at St. Mary's Grove and St. Mary's Cottage], we believe that the house mentioned in John's will is probably St. Mary's Cottage.

John was buried at Tilmanstone on August 24th, 1806. He had lived 97 years, an incredible age for his time, and had both great grandsons and great granddaughters living in the area. If John had a memorial stone in the St. Andrew's churchyard, it has not survived. In 1987 the memorials of many of the men he knew, especially the Woods, were still legible, although in varying states of repair. However a complete search of the existing memorials was done in the early 1980s by Anthony Belsey, uncovering, deciphering, and even unearthing fallen stones, and none was discovered for John or Susanna or any other Carltons. John and Susanna had six children, all of whom lived: