The Freeman family

There are at least two instances of the Freeman family in my tree, and tantalisingly, they are both within the city of Ely in Cambridgeshire, England during the 18th and 19th century.

Their simultaneous existence in this small city makes it inevitable that they are the same family, they even baptise their children in the same church for a while, but research has yet to provide enough evidence to link them up.

Inevitably, their descendants of these two branches would be my ancestors, and eventually marry together several generations later, through the marriage of my 2x Great Grandparents Edward Moden (a son of a Freeman daughter), and his wife Mary Ann Cross (the great-granddaughter of a Freeman daughter).

The Freeman/Cross family in Ely

My earliest connection to the Freeman family comes via my 8x Great Grandmother, Sarah Freeman who was the first wife of Philip Cross.

Sarah was one of the six daughters of Edward Freeman and his wife Mary Goodenough of Ely.

Sadly, just a few years into her marriage to Philip, and a few children who failed to survive infancy, Sarah died aged just 27 years. Her youngest son died just weeks beforehand.

It's as yet unclear who Edward's parents may have been but the date and proximity of him to my other branch, makes it almost certain that these two family branches are connected together.

The Freeman/Moden family in Witchford and Coveney

My most recent connection to the Freeman family is through my 3x Great Grandmother, Mary Ann Freeman, the oldest of the children of John Freeman and his wife Mary Grey.

After 1838, but before 1844, John's work as a labourer led him and Mary to take their family a few miles west from Ely, and set up home at Coldmoor Farm out in flat rich fens near to Witchford. Within a few years, the family have moved north-west to the village of Coveney, where they set up home and joined other members of their family.

Eventually this branch would establish a sizeable farm in Coveney, and my line of ancestors would return to Ely, albeit via my widowed 3x Great Grandmother Mary Ann's second marriage to David Seymour.

Freeman family connections

The Freeman family are linked to a number of my ancestral families including: