Nat Gould

Elizabeth Grindon 1723-1790

Elizabeth Grindon was probably born in 1722/23 at Warslow in Staffordshire, the daughter of William Grindon and his wife Sarah (maiden surname unknown). She was baptised at Alstonefield in Staffordshire on 7 February 1722/23.

On 23 January 1741/2 she was married at Alstonefield to William Gould 1704-1757 as his second wife. He was born in 1704 at Pilsbury Grange near Hartington in Derbyshire, the son of William Gould 1677-1772 and his wife née Anne Morewood, and baptised at Hartington on 31 August 1704.

Their children, all under age when their father died, were:

Richard Gould 1742-1809. He married first Anne Sterndale known as Nancy Sterndale, by whom he had two daughters, and secondly Rebecca Salt.
Elizabeth Gould. Born 1744.
Hannah Gould. Born 1746.
Thomas Gould. Born 1748. He married Sarah Davenport and had seven children.
Sarah Gould. Born 1750.
Anne Gould. Born 1751.
John Gould.
Joseph Gould 1757-1819. He married Mary Chadwick and had a son John Gould 1793-1872.

Their father William Gould died on 26 August 1757 and was buried at Alstonefield on 28 August 1757, aged only 53 years old.

His Will was drawn up just six days before he died. It may therefore have been drafted hastily. He signed it with a flourish, but in an uneven hand.

When William Gould died he left Elizabeth Gould née Grindon as a widow with her eight children, all young. Richard (the eldest) was thirteen, and Joseph (the youngest) was only a few months old. Her husband had also had three surviving children by his first wife, of whom William was 19 years old and his two sisters were aged 28 and 22, the elder being already married.

As regards the family of Elizabeth Gould née Grindon, William Gould bequeathed to her eldest son Richard the property in Warslow he had purchased from the late William Gould of Westwood, and Richard had to pay £400 in total to the younger children. When he came of age, Richard was also to have the Alstonefield tithes (yielding a valuable income) and the tenancy of Brownhill, both rented from the Harpur-Crewes. In the meantime they were to be held by his widowed mother, who also received an annuity of £6. When Richard came of age and took over Brownhill, she was to have Shawmoor Yate farm and a tenement. After her decease, Shawmoor Yate was to pass to her second son Thomas and the tenement to her third son John Gould. No property was reserved as the inheritance of the youngest son Joseph Gould. Thomas, John and Joseph Gould were each to receive £100 when they came of age, plus £50 each paid to the executors to put them to a trade. Legacies of £100 each were bequeathed to his daughters Elizabeth, Hannah, Sarah and Anne Gould, also to be paid when they came of age.

Their half-brother William was to have the rest of the substantial property belonging to his father. Out of his inheritance of property at Staden he was to pay his married elder sister Mary Salt £100, while the younger (then unmarried) sister Rebecca Gould was to receive £300, a bed and a large pewter dish. The testator’s brothers Richard Gould and Thomas Gould were appointed executors, as was his young son Richard. The Will was witnessed by William Grindon (perhaps the widow’s father), Samuel Slack and John Green, and proved on 27 October 1757.

Elizabeth Gould née Grindon died on 26 June 1790 at Shawmoor Yate aged 66 years. She was buried in Alstonefield churchyard, where there is a memorial gravestone inscribed to her memory and that of her husband.