NICHOLAS SYMONS The Second.
(1614 - 1682)
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Born in 1614 in Weedon, Bucks,
England.
Christened at Hardwick on
24th October 1614
Died 5th December, 1682; buried at
Hardwicke on 9th
December, 1682.
Nicholas married Francisca Collett on 3rd
June 1644, at Ivinghoe, Bucks, England.
In a second marriage around 1657,
Nicholas married Sarah , however no record of any children from this
marriage has been located.
Nicholas and Francisca had 1 daughter and 3
sons:
 |
Mary, Born 1645, married John
Raynor at Stoke Mandeville on 1st
May 1672;
| |
|
Edmund, Born 1647 (Christened at
Hardwick Parish on 11th April, 1647), married
Ruth Croft at Hardwick on 2th May 1681
and died 5th November 1711 (7
children); |
|
Michael, Born 1650, married
Phebe Howe at Fleet Marston on 22nd April 1685, and died
in 1736 in Swanbourne (2 children); |
|
John,
Born 1653 (Christened at Hardwick Parish,
17th May 1653), married Sarah Goldney at
Hardwick church on 3th May 1682, and died in 1733. |
As
was the case with his father, the second Nicholas entered into a
period which saw yet a further improving family fortune. During his
lifetime, the old farmhouse at "Loves" was replaced by a
substantial structure which still stands
today.
Just
before Nicholas' 11th birthday, his mother died, and two
months later, his grandmother Isabel, also passed away. His
three elder sisters ensured that there was no lack of womenfolk to
direct him in the right paths.
It would
seem that Nicholas's first marriage to Francisca Collett may have
been a wartime romance. They were married in 1644 in the village of
Ivinghoe, which was a mustering point for the parliamentary
forces during that civil war period.
In the same year, Nicholas purchased
some freehold property in Hardwicke for the sum of £60, and with
Frances lived there, rather than at Weedon.
Frances bore him three sons and a
daughter, before her untimely death which left the young family
motherless. A second marriage to Sarah ensured that there was a
mother to care for the young family. The eldest son, named Edmund,
inherited the "Loves" farmstead. The second, named Michael,
left Weedon for a prosperous life elsewhere (Michael and his son
broke the earlier family records for longevity of
age).
The third
son, named John, was a tornado of energy. As the third son in a
family, he had little to inherit from his father. His step-mother,
however, favoured him, and a prudent marriage ensured that he did
not sink into pauperdom, as had been experienced by some of the
junior descendants of the first Nicholas.
The
second Nicholas made a will in which he left various articles of
furniture to his eldest son. Some of these articles never left the
house, but were passed on generation by generation, until the
Seamons' descendants finally left the "Loves" homestead
around 1877.
Nicholas
did not achieve a great age as some of his descendants had done,
passing away at the age of 68.
