By analysing the 1841 and 1851 censuses and working back through the parish registers, we have established that all the Emptages in England at that time were descended from one of just three Emptage lines: two in the Isle of Thanet and one in the Isle of Sheppey.
At the same time, there were Emptages and Emtages in Barbados who we believe to have been descendants of an Emptage from England.
So there are four major trees, each beginning in the mid 1700s, from which we believe all Emptages and Emtages in the world today are descended. Indeed, the results of our DNA Study, with samples taken from male descendants of all four trees, confirm this. We would love to be able to establish who our common ancestor was but this requires finding all the pages of the paper trail and, realistically, we know that this is unlikely. It won’t stop us looking however.
We also have a tree for the Emptages of Grimsby, who were descended from those on the Isle of Sheppey. In due course we will also have a tree for the Emtages of New Zealand, who are descended from those on Barbados.
Our trees on Ancestry.com are very carefully researched. Many people across the world, who are descended from the Emptages of Thanet or the Emptages of Sheppey and Grimsby have contributed their own research, all of which has been carefully checked.
They are private trees but if you can demonstrate that you are descended from any of the Emptages who appear on the 1841 or subsequent censuses, or are descended from Emptages or Emtages in other countries, Susan Morris will be happy to exchange information with you. You can contact her via email using the Contact details.
The trees shown on this website are, in effect, summaries of the Ancestry trees, and, in order to maintain individual privacy, do not show the most recent generations and identifying data.
In addition to the four main trees, all of which started in the mid 1700s, we have trees for Emptage branches which existed in the 1500s, 1600s and 1700s. We will add to these as our research progresses. Ideally we would like to fill in the gaps and link to the main trees but we are hampered by missing parish registers in St Nicholas at Wade in the early 1600s and the general lack of records during the time of the Civil War and Commonwealth (1642-1660).
Humphrey Emptage and Catherine Pearce/Pierce of the Isle of Thanet
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Humphrey Emptage married Catherine Pearce/Pierce in 1753 in Minster, Thanet. They had two sons and two daughters. We know little about the second son but Henry Emptage married Susannah le Brush in 1787, in Margate. They had twelve children. Three of Team Emptage are descended from Henry and Susannah.
When Catherine died, Humphrey married Rachel White, by whom he had two sons who died in infancy, and a further son and daughter. As yet, we have not determined any information about them other than their date of baptism.
We believe that Humphrey was baptised in 1733 in Minster, aged eight, so born c1725. Unfortunately, no parents were given in the register and, so far, we have not been able to identify them. However, we live in hope that our extended research will allow us to find his family and so allow us to connect the two branches in Thanet.
Henry Emptage and Ann Peal of the Isle of Thanet
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Henry Emptage and Ann Peal married in St Nicholas at Wade in 1763. They had five sons and three daughters. Five members of Team Emptage are descended from Henry and Ann Peal.
Henry was baptised in St Nicholas at Wade in 1737. His parents were John and Ann. We believe his grandparents were William Emptage and Jane Hobday, William’s second wife. We think that William was baptised in St Peter’s, Thanet (now Broadstairs) in 1654 and, through the parish registers and the wills, are in the process of establishing his ancestors. So we have included William Emptage and Jane Hobday on the tree.
William Emptage and Anne Fisher
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William married Anne Fisher in 1746, in Queenborough, Isle of Sheppey, Kent. They were the ancestors of all the Emptages in Sheppey from that date onwards and their great grandsons began the Grimsby branch of the Emptages. Two members of Team Emptage are descended from William and Ann.
James Emptage and Charlotte Messenger of Grimsby
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James was the grandson of William and Anne. He married Charlotte Messenger in 1816. He was a coastguard whose career took him to various stations around the country, meaning that their children were born in Sheppey, Sussex, Devon and Yorkshire. Two of his sons married two women from Grimsby and so began the Grimsby branch of the Emptage family.
John Emptage and Elizabeth Stafford of Barbados
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John Emptage married Elizabeth Stafford in 1764 in Barbados. Our current thinking is that John was born in London in 1725 but, as ever, the paper trail is proving elusive. Many of his descendants spelt the name without the p, and so the name Emtage came into being. The Emtages of New Zealand are descended from John and Elizabeth. One member of Team Emptage is descended from the Barbadian Emptages.
Earlier Emptages
We have an ongoing study to discover as much as possible about the earlier Emptages in Thanet, through studying the parish registers which go back to 1560 and the wills, which go back to 1489. There were branches at St Peters (now Broadstairs), St Lawrence (now Ramsgate), Minster, St John’s (now Margate) and St Nicholas at Wade.
With Henry having been baptised in St Nicholas at Wade in 1737 and then married Ann Peal there in 1763 it was originally thought that he was descended from that branch of the family but we now think that he was from St Peters.
However, there are two memorials in the church at St Nicholas at Wade, to the wives of Emptages, who, confusingly, were both named Joan (with various spellings) and so we have made a particular study of that branch. We have drawn up a tree/chart which we believe represents the family, according to our latest findings.
Richard Emptage and Joan Allyne of St Nicholas at Wade
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Richard Emptage and his wife, Jone (Joan) Allyne married in Margate in 1565. Richard died between 1567 and 1571, which was when Jone married John Sackett and, after he died, married Richard Knowler. Jone’s memorial is in the church.
Richard and Jone had two sons, Thomas and Edward, and two daughters, Alice and Martha.
From the order in which they were named in Richard’s will, we think that Thomas was the oldest son. Because many parish registers for St Nicholas at Wade are missing, it is not clear who Thomas married but we have made a reasoned supposition and included him, his wife and descendants on the tree.
Edward, married Joan Terry in Herne, in 1591. They had eight children, as noted on the memorial to Joan in the church. Five were named in the will of their grandfather, John Terry, in 1615 and so we think that the other three children probably died in infancy.
Edward junior was born c 1598. He became the vicar at Postling, a village about four miles inland of Hythe, about 22 miles from St Nicholas at Wade. With his first wife, Susanna, he had four sons and with his second wife, Amy Plummer, he had three sons and two daughters.
The tree identifies the Emptage family at St Nicholas at Wade and then goes on to chart the family at Postling and the surrounding area. The Emptages of St Nicholas at Wade article is here.
The Migration of Emptages from Thanet to Sheppey
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DNA testing has shown a genealogical connection between a descendant of the Emptages of Sheppey and the Henry and Ann Peal branch of the Emptages of Thanet. Although we are unlikely to be able to prove it via a paper trail, by studying the parish registers, we have developed an hypothesis on the migration from Thanet to Sheppey in the late 1660s, early 1700s. The article is here.
Humphrey Emptage and Mary Fell
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Humphrey married Mary Fell, in 1675, at the Devonshire House Society of Friends, without Bishopsgate, in the City of London. Humphrey was a malster, from Deal, in Kent. His son John was the joiner and cabinetmaker featured here, and his great grandson John was the young man who was convicted of felony at the Old Bailey. In addition, we believe that young John was the man who established the Emptages/Emtages of Barbados though, as ever, the paper trail is proving difficult to establish.
It also seems likely that Commodore George Emptage also had connections with Humphrey or his descendants as, when Elizabeth, the widow of Thomas, George’s father, was granted probate in 1741, one of the probate bondsmen was John Emptage, of St Mary Aldermay, London, cabinet maker. This connection is currently being investigated.
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