Simon Vertue

Lived in Manningtree, Essex - but married in Melton by license. As non-conformists they chose not to marry at their local church. See Sue Peggram’s notes at suepeggram.tribalpages.com/family-tree/suepeggram/2284/84/John-Vertue-Family

Baptised 23 Mar 1736, familysearch - also gives birth date.

John Vertue would have been 40 when John Constable was born in his birthplace. Attached pictures of East Bergholt by Constable.

“John Constable was born in East Bergholt, a village on the River Stour in Suffolk, to Golding and Ann Constable. His father was a wealthy corn merchant, owner of Flatford Mill in East Bergholt and, later, Dedham Mill. Golding Constable also owned his own small ship, The Telegraph, which he moored at Mistley on the Stour estuary and used to transport corn to London. Although Constable was his parents' second son, his older brother was mentally handicapped and so John was expected to succeed his father in the business, and after a brief period at a boarding school in Lavenham, he was enrolled in a day school in Dedham. Constable worked in the corn business after leaving school, but his younger brother Abram eventually took over the running of the mills.”

“...Constable adopted a routine of spending the winter in London and painting at East Bergholt in the summer. And in 1811 he first visited John Fisher and his family in Salisbury, a city whose Cathedral and surrounding landscape were to inspire some of his greatest paintings.

“From 1809 onwards, his childhood friendship with Maria Bicknell developed into a deep, mutual love. But their engagement in 1816 was opposed by Maria's grandfather, Dr Rhudde, Rector of East Bergholt, who considered the Constables his social inferiors and threatened Maria with disinheritance.

“...Constable painted several oil sketches of the view towards East Bergholt Rectory, showing the fields where he walked with his beloved Maria Bicknell. He painted this lively impression of the rising sun glowing over and through the fields from an upper floor window at the back of his family home. His response to the scene is expressed through energetic brushstrokes and the use of intense reds and greens - the expanded chromatic range that Constable was using in his oil sketches at this time.

“Constable's description of East Bergholt appeared in the letterpress to the second edition of Lucas-Constable mezzotints, English Landscape:

“East Bergholt, or as its Saxon derivation implies, 'Wooded Hill', is thus mentioned in 'The Beauties of England and Wales' … It is pleasantly situated in the most cultivated part of Suffolk, on a spot which overlooks the fertile valley of the Stour, which river divides that county on the south from Essex.

“The beauty of the surrounding scenery, the gentle declivities, the luxuriant meadow flats sprinkled with flocks and herds, and well cultivated uplands, the woods and rivers, the numerous scattered villages and churches, with farms and picturesque cottages, all impart to this particular spot an amenity and elegance hardly anywhere else to be found.”

http://hoocher.com/John_Constable/John_Constable.htm

Gravestone inscription at Woodbridge Church:

In memory of Sarah the wife of Jacob Sizer who departed this life November 27th 1821 and is buried in a vault opposite this stone. And of the said Jacob Sizer who died June 8th 1837 aged 64 years.

Also of Charles Vertue Lankester son of Thomas and Ann Lankester of Stowmarket who died 24th June 1837 aged 9 months.

Also of Ann widow of the above Jacob Sizer who died April 27th 1852 aged 69 years.

See http://www.woodbridgechurch.org.uk/Records/quay/q-graves-alpha.htm

Mentioned in the will of cousin William King Byles

Inscription suggests a second wife called Ann. This would appear to be Ann Cole with marriage on IGI in Hemley, Suffolk. Oddly, there is another marriage a few days later in Norwich, Norfolk - but with a younger Jacob Sizer and Ann Cole. Some more investigation needed to verify this.

Buried 15th June 1837.

Woodbridge Church inscriptions:

In memory of Sarah the wife of Jacob Sizer who departed this life November 27th 1821 and is buried in a vault opposite this stone. And of the said Jacob Sizer who died June 8th 1837 aged 64 years.

Also of Charles Vertue Lankester son of Thomas and Ann Lankester of Stowmarket who died 24th June 1837 aged 9 months.

Also of Ann widow of the above Jacob Sizer who died April 27th 1852 aged 69 years.

See http://www.woodbridgechurch.org.uk/Records/quay/q-graves-alpha.htm

Jacob was a coachmaker according to the 1811 will of William King Byles (see attached images)

See also tree at Also, see tree at http://awt.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=cyanda1&id=I2514&ti=5538

Source IGI

Independent baptism record image found on FMP

John was a painter and died from inflammation of the lungs. See death certificate at: http://suepeggram.tribalpages.com/tribe/browse?userid=suepeggram&view=26&ver=2702&id=3008155

His son’s baptism record shows that he was living at White Chapel Road, Lambeth in 1827 and confirms he was a painter.

John Ralph and his brother William both married on the same day in 1821, witnessing each others weddings. See attached marriage record. Joanna was a widow.

"William was indicted for stealing on the 30th October, 1841 one telescope, value three shillings, the goods of George Baker to which he pleaded guilty. So, on the 29th November 1841, William was sentenced to 7 days in jail for larceny at the Central Criminal Court of Middlesex, he was 43." - http://suepeggram.tribalpages.com

Source - family tree at http://awt.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=DESC&db=cyanda1&id=I11033&ti=5538, not found on IGI/FamilySearch.org

Source IGI

Source - family tree at http://awt.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=DESC&db=cyanda1&id=I11033&ti=5538, not found on IGI/FamilySearch.org

Woodbridge Church inscriptions:

In the adjopining vault are deposited the remains of Simon Vertue, who died March 16th 1860, aged 87 years.

Also those of Ann, his beloved wife who died Nov 29th 1852, aged 79 years.

See http://www.woodbridgechurch.org.uk/Records/quay/q-graves-alpha.htm

Source IGI and family tree at http://awt.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=DESC&db=cyanda1&id=I11033&ti=5538, not found on IGI/FamilySearch.org

Married Thomas Lankester - see Ipswich Record (?).. checkout online (requires Oxfordshire libraries membership), 1835. Also see attached Piggott’s marriage record.

Record for Thomas’s baptism 9th Aug 1810 Ipswich Street Independent, Stowmarket, Suffolk on IGI.

Father Joseph, mother Rebecca. Possible matching marriage for them on IGI 11 Oct 1797, Stowmarket - her surname Webb

Various Joseph Lankesters in Suffolk before then

Record on IGI of baptism of William Shephard Wallace, 29 June 1818, Independent Or Congregation Of Protestant Dissenteca, Castle Hedingham, Essex, England. Father Nathan Wallace

Baptised 16th Feb 1837, Ipswich Street Independent, Stowmarket, Suffolk - see IGI.

Memorial inscription:

In memory of Sarah the wife of Jacob Sizer who departed this life November 27th 1821 and is buried in a vault opposite this stone. And of the said Jacob Sizer who died June 8th 1837 aged 64 years.

Also of Charles Vertue Lankester son of Thomas and Ann Lankester of Stowmarket who died 24th June 1837 aged 9 months.

Also of Ann widow of the above Jacob Sizer who died April 27th 1852 aged 69 years.

See http://www.woodbridgechurch.org.uk/Records/quay/q-graves-alpha.htm

Married John Greenwell Sherwin 1869 Halstead, Essex

Source IGI and family tree at http://awt.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=DESC&db=cyanda1&id=I11033&ti=5538, not found on IGI/FamilySearch.org

Baptism in non-conformist records, found on FMP

IGI has baptism 25 Oct 1812. Ipswich Street Independent, Stowmarket, Suffolk, England.

Lankester Webb was responsible for financing the local school at Combs in Suffolk - and was one of the major landowners of the area

Married in 1861 to Edward Henry Prentice

Joseph was a farmer and landowner according to the attached Kelly’s directory clipping