RESULTS
Searched the Great Gransden parish registers, page by page, between 1538 (when the registers begin) and 1600 for the Seeley surname. No hint of a Robert Seeley or Martin Seeley was located—no marriages or burials for these men, and no christening or burial records for their children within the searched years. Robert and Martin Seeley are probably not the children of William and Elizabeth Seeley as seen in FamilySearch Family Tree.
Checked The visitation of the County of Huntingdon 1684 for the Seeley, Michell, Burr, and Prett/Pratt surnames. Located a John Michell, but he lived a century later than the ancestral Elizabeth Michell.
Checked James Ambrose Raftis’s Early Huntingdonshire lay subsidy rolls, but learned that these lay subsidy rolls were dated in the 1300s—too early to be of much use for the generations currently being researched. No Seeleys were found in these rolls.
Searched Walter C. Metcalfe’s The visitations of Essex by Hawley, 1552; Hervey, 1558; Cooke, 1570; Raven, 1612; and Owen and Lilly, 1634, specifically for the Burr surname, but also for the Seeley surname. Found no mention of the Elizabeth Burr who supposedly married William Seeley.
Searched the Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire Archives online catalog for the Seeley, Burr, Prett/Pratt, and Michell surnames. All Seeley, Burr, and Pratt/Prett of Hilton entries were too recent. Two deeds of grant for land in Great Gransden were located that mentioned adult Michell men in 1520 and 1539. They were Robert Michell and John Michell. Both men apparently lived in Great Gransden about the time Elizabeth Michell was born (1539). A search of the Great Gransden parish registers did not produce a burial record for either man between 1538 and 1581. However, a possible brother of Elizabeth was identified: Thomas Michell who married first Agnes Underwood, and after her death Beatrice Guttridge.
Did not locate the supposed 1566 birth of Grace Prett in Hilton—the date and location found on FamilySearch Family Tree. Neither was the supposed burial of her father Robert found in Hilton. Instead, the burial that occurred on the date when Robert Prett was supposedly buried actually belong to “mother Marshall.” Did not find any proof in 16th-century Hilton church records that a Prett or Pratt family actually lived there.
Located the 1540 will of Richard Prett of Hilton. Richard’s will listed two sons (one of whom was Robert) and a brother, any one of which might have been Grace Prett’s father or grandfather. However, as previously stated, no Prett entries were located in Hilton’s 16th-century church records.
Found the 1569 burial of Richard Burr, the supposed father of Elizabeth Burr, in Great Canfield, Essex. Two sources contained an abstract of his will. The will named several sons and two daughters, but no daughter named Elizabeth. Therefore, the Elizabeth Burr who married William Seeley (if her maiden name was actually Burr) was not the daughter of the Richard Burr of Great Canfield who died in 1569, as seen in FamilySearch Family Tree. Elizabeth’s birth information should be removed and she needs to be unlinked from her parents as they are incorrect.
Searched the 1575 and 1619 visitation of Cambridgeshire but did not find Seeley, Prett, or Burr entries in it.
RECOMMENDATIONS
Consider removing Robert and Martin as sons of William Seeley and Elizabeth Burr in FamilySearch Family Tree. No information was found in the Great Gransden church records to prove William and Elizabeth Seeley had sons of those names.
Consider one of two actions regarding Grace Prett’s birth information and parentage, as described in this report. Since no validation was found regarding Grace’s birth date, birth place, or parentage, either this information should be removed from FamilySearch Family Tree or else a discussion needs to be created on her Family Tree page regarding the absence of corroborating information to support the questionable data.
Remove the source citations from Grace Prett’s possible father Robert Prett that pertain to another Robert Prett/Pratt who lived in Massachusetts in the 17th century. Clearly, someone has merged two different men.
Consider removing Thomas Seeley and Dorothy as the parents of William Seeley. No information was found in probate or visitation records to suggest Thomas and Dorothy were William’s parents.
