Donkey Lane Community Orchard - The Guntrips

Sarah Gomme and John Guntrip married in St Andrews Church in Chinnor on 7th of December 1818. They were both in later life for a first marriage by the trends of the time. According to records, John was about 40 and Sarah 36. Sarah’s maiden name was spelled in several ways in the numerous records that we have found. It can be Gumm, Gomme, Gomm or Gom. To save confusion we will use Gomme in this piece. Guntrip also has alternative spelling with a double ‘p’ at the end and on Sarah’s death recording she is listed as ‘Lantrip’. The marriage was witnessed by Lucy Gomme and William Neal who were both able to sign their names. John and Sarah only “made their mark” which was not unusual for the time and seems the case for many marriage records. We have not yet found any children from this marriage.

Sarah was the daughter of Thomas Gomme and Mary Eustace, both of Chinnor. Their marriage was recorded in the Chinnor church records in 1773. The Gomme’s had many children, several of whom had died in infancy.

There were as many as 15 recorded births although at least two died in infancy and it seems from the parish records that they used the name again for the next child, which seemed quite common at the time. The two examples of this were Lucy born 1798 and died 1799, followed by another Lucy born in 1800. There was also a James born in 1791 and died in 1792 followed by another James born in 1793 who made it into adulthood as he was still present on the later census returns.

For example, the first Lucy’s birth 24th January 1788, death, June 15th, 1789, making her 17 months old.

This is the second Lucy’s birth record for 11th March 1800. This Lucy, who was a witness at Sarah and John’s wedding in 1818, went on to have a longish life marrying James Biggs 4 years later in 1822. They had 3 surviving daughters and a son. Read more...