Hunnisett Family History

James Honeysett (1777 - 18??) of Warbleton

James, a son of John and Mary was baptised in Herstmonceux on 16 March 1777. He married Sarah Shorter (1779-1853?, daughter of Robert & Susannah of Burwash) in Burwash on 13 November 1800 not long after Sarah's illegitimate son had been baptised in Burwash:

It is not clear who Robert's father was as it does not appear that Sarah needed to apply to the parish of Burwash for support but he was certainly brought up as James' son and used the name Robert Honeysett for the rest of his life. James and Sarah probably had nine more children baptised, the first in Warbleton, perhaps where the family lived, and the rest at Heathfield Independent Church:

James probably died before 1841 when Sarah appears to have been living with her son Robert and his family at Brownings in Wartling. She was still with them at Tilley Road, Wartling, in 1851. Sarah probably died in 1853.

Of their children:

• Robert married Mary Simmonds in 1820 and lived in Wartling.
• Samuel married Frances Saunders in 1823. They and their children emigrated to the United States in about 1848. Photos of some of their descendants appear in the photo gallery.
• Susannah married Stephen Hook in Herstmonceux on 5 March 1830. In 1851 they were living in Warbleton with three children.
• During 1840 David lodged for a while at the house of James Pilbeam, publican of the Admiral Vernon in Burwash, who took him out of charity and sometimes sent him on errands. However on 24 October he bought tobacco and cheese from Thomas Stone, falsely pretending it was for James Pilbeam, against whose account it was to be charged. Several days later he tried to sell the tobacco on to John Parsons, another Burwash victualler, following which he was arrested, tried at the Lewes assizes the following February and sentenced to 4 months hard labour (ESRO QR/E 874B). He would have been in Lewes gaol when the 1841 census was taken. David was an unmarried agricultural labourer in Burwash in 1851 when his birthplace was given as Warbleton. In 1871 he was an inmate in the Ticehurst Union workhouse. He probably died in 1878.
• George does not appear in the 1841 census and is known to have emigrated to the US where he appears to have settled in Harmony township, just east of Janesville in Wisconsin. He joined the Republican Army and fought in the American Civil War (1861-1865).