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Gotts Surname Family History
John 556 of Cawston & Aldermaston
John 556 was born about 1757, but the location is unknown. He married Anne 557 Vout in Cawston, Norfolk, in 1779.
We know he was living in Cawston at the time of his marriage as we have the sale of the house he was living in advertised in the Norfolk Chronicle 31 July 1776:
John was an excise officer and was moved around a lot. See below for more details. The first excise record of him is in Watford, being appointed as an Assistant.
Their children were:
- John 2919 b 1780 Cawston , Norfolk
- George 2935 b 1782 Cawston
- Martha 629 b & d 1784 Aldermaston, Berkshire
- Samuel 554 b 1785 Aldermaston (see Bushey tree, was #029)
- Anne 628 b 1787 Aldermaston
- William 630 b 1791 Aldermaston:
John’s wife Anne 557 died in 1800 in Watford, Hertfordshire where they were living, and in 1803 John, aged 46, married Sarah Buckmaster in Rickmansworth, about 5 miles away. They did not have any children, and then Sarah 3932 died in Hertford in 1828.
In 1828 John married another Anne, Anne Clarke in Hertford, when he was 71.
Anne 3933 died at Waltham Abbey in 1847, followed by John at the age of 92.
Question: Where did John come from? Presumably he was literate and numerate in order to join the Excise.
Thanks to Geoff Gilbert for the details of all the marriages of John 556
Memories from Amelia Woodford (aunt of Hugh Woodford):
"John Gott was my great grandfather and lived at Waltham Abbey. My grandfather Samuel used to visit him occasionally. The family name is GOTT not GOTTS. My mother told me that her father used to get merchandise from London and the people he dealt with would persist in addressing him as Gotts. At last he added an 's' to his name with a hyphen Gott-s, but afterwards the hyphen was dropped. (Later found not to be true- IG)
My great grandfather John Gott was in a government position in excise. He was a healthy man and started to build a piano when he was 90 years old, but he let a piece of timber fall on one of his feet and crushed it and that was the end of his piano building. He lived two years after that and died at 92 years. He had 4 sons, Samuel, John, William and George. John was in the excise too."
071 - John 556 Gotts of Cawston and Aldermaston
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