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Nathaniel GOTHAM
1757 - 1834 (~ 77 years)
Has 12 ancestors and 51 descendants in this family tree.
Set As Default Person 
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Name Nathaniel GOTHAM Relationship 
with Teresa Ann GOATHAM Baptised 30 Jan 1757 St. James’ Church, West Teignmouth, Devon, England 
- From PR entry (image on FMP, viewed 5 Sep 2014)
"Nathaniel Son of Thomas & Patience Gotham" - under heading 'Baptized 1757'
(BTs show the same - image on FamilySearch)
Was Nathaniel the son of Thomas and Martha?
With enough records surviving from this period, and having looked fairly thorougly at several indexes and some BT images where PRs are missing, I am pretty sure there was no such couple as Thomas and Patience. Unfortunately, though, there are two couples who half fit the bill - Timothy and Patience, of Wolborough and Thomas and Martha, of West Teignmouth.
Clearly the West Teignmouth couple appear at first glance to be the most likely but the situation is more complicated.
Evidence
For both
The previous known baptism of a child of both couples before 1757 was in 1755, the next for both was in 1759. Clearly either could have had a child baptised in 1757.
For Timothy and Patience (including against Thomas and Nathaniel)
1. Their son William clearly settled in West Teignmouth so they may have had links with that parish. Given that I don't know Timothy's occupation he may have been a mariner or boatman on the Teign estuary and decided Teignmouth might be a better place to live, or Patience could have gone there for the birth.
(this means they can't be ruled out rather than it is more likely to be them)
2. Thomas and Martha had already given the name Nathaniel to another son, by this time giving the same name to 2 children was rare unless the earlier had died, and no burial record has been found. However, this argument is weakened by the fact that three other children of Thomas and Martha 'disappear' with no known burial or other reference to them - it suggests that maybe the burial register was not being well kept at this period.
For Thomas and Martha (including against Timothy and Patience)
1. Although Timothy and Patience could have had a child baptised in West Teignmouth it is far more likely that a child baptised there would be a child of Thomas and Martha.
2. Clearly errors are made with names in PRs, sometimes with no obvious reason but it is possible to see why Patience might be entered instead of Martha: a 'pet' form of both is Patty [1] (Patty from Patience is obvious, from Martha less so, but it follows a M to P pattern found with e.g. Polly for Mary and Peggy for Margaret). If Martha was known as Patty, then the priest or whoever recorded her name might have wrongly imagined the formal version was Patience.
3. There is only evidence for one Nathaniel marrying and having a family in West Teignmouth. Wills make it clear he was the son of Thomas and Martha.
If both Nathaniels survived to adulthood it suggests the other Nathaniel moved away or possibly died at sea. It would seem the burial of a Nathaniel in 1834 was most likely of the one who had a family in West Teignmouth.
However, the age of the Nathaniel buried in 1834, while not accurate for either, was close based on the birth date of this Nathaniel, given as 75 when he would have been 77, but rather more out if the burial was the other Nathaniel, who would have been 81.
The arguments above seem to point strongly to it being much more likely that Nathaniel born 1757 was the son of Thomas and Martha, and hence I show him as such here as such. In any case, it is clear from wills that the Nathaniel who married Elizabeth Whidborne WAS the son of Thomas and Martha.
[1] Withycombe, E. G. 'The Oxford Dictionary of Christian Names' (3rd edn., 1977)
Gender Male Residence Dec 1799 Teignmouth, Devon, England His home up for sale - His home was one of a group of five "messuages, or dwelling-houses" up for sale. An advert in the Sherborne Mercury named him as one of the occupants.
Occupation Mariner - Shown as a mariner in his marriage record.
From about 1789 Nathaniel was master (Captain) of the 83 ton ship 'Jenny', owned by his father. The 'Jenny' was a square sterned brigantine, built in Workington in 1783.
This ship appears to have gone to Newfoundland on more than one occasion, but also been involved in what I think was probably coastal traffic, transporting coal.
I plan to do more research here, both following up on the references and learning more about the context.
(Sources:
Mainly from references in the Keith Matthews Name Files (Gotham file, p.10 and 11);
description of the ship from the DHC (Devon Record Office) online catalogue, entry for Port of Exeter Register of Shipping, 1786-1811.)
Died - Died after 1798 as his last child (known of) was born in 1799.If, as I think probable, the other Nathaniel (baptised in 1753) was his brother and died in infancy then there are a number of records that can only refer to this Nathaniel after 1799, and the following burial can only be his.
Buried 9 Dec 1834 St. James’ Church, West Teignmouth, Devon, England - From PR entry on FMP
Age given as 75
Siblings3 brothers and 3 sisters Patriarch & Matriarch 
Andrew GOTHAM, b. Est 1585, (probably), Abbotskerswell, Devon, England, bur. 10 Mar 1673/74, St. Mary the Virgin Church, Wolborough, Devon, England (Age ~ 89 years) (3 x Great Grandfather) 
Martha HOOPER, bap. 25 Sep 1690, St. John the Baptist Church, Bishopsteignton, Devon, England, bur. 27 Mar 1754, St. James’ Church, West Teignmouth, Devon, England (Age ~ 63 years) (Grandmother) Person ID I300116 All | All in the Goatham / Gotham One-Name Study , All subjects of the Goatham / Gotham One-Name Study Last Modified 8 Sep 2024
Father Thomas GOTHAM, bap. 1 May 1726, St. James’ Church, West Teignmouth, Devon, England , bur. 1 Jun 1803, St. James’ Church, West Teignmouth, Devon, England (Age ~ 77 years) Mother Martha HARRIS, bap. 12 Apr 1728, St. James’ Church, West Teignmouth, Devon, England , bur. 17 Nov 1792, St. James’ Church, West Teignmouth, Devon, England (Age ~ 64 years) Married 21 Jan 1753 St. Michael the Archangel’s Church, East Teignmouth, Devon, England - From BTs for East Teignmouth (image on FamilySearch).
"Jan:[?*] 21th. Thomas Gotham & Martha Harris" - under sub-heading "Married" and on sheet headed: "24 May 1753
A Copy of the Register of Baptismes Burials & Marriages of East Teignmo from Lady day 1752 to Xmas 1753"
This heading is clearly wrong, it implies there are 21 months worth of entries, but comparing the baptisms with those in the PRs there are clearly less than year's worth. Also, a transcript cannot have been made in May 1753 of entries to Dec 1753! This suggests the transcription covers 25 March 1752 to 25 Dec 1752. However ...
* - I think the month given is "Jan:" but it could be "Jun:". If January, is it 1752 or 1753? The BTs for both 1751 and 1753 appear not to survive, so it is not possible to tell exactly when they begin and end. I suspect the BTs end a few days later than claimed in the heading, rather than starting a few months earlier and that the marriage was in 1753.
The PRs appear to be not well kept around this time. It appears that for the baptism of their son Thomas to be recorded later in 1753 a later entry had to be scrubbed out, Thomas's entered and then the later one re-written below. Worse, while the baptisms on the BT sheet with Thomas and Martha's marriage has baptisms for April to Aug 1752 matching those in the PR, in the PR there are none recorded after Aug in 1752, but there are several more in the BTs for that year, that do not appear in the PRs, not for 1751, 1752 or 1753. This might suggest that poor keeping fo the register had simply led to Thomas and Martha's marriage being accidentally omitted, but curiously there are actually entries for both 1752 and 1753: "None - Married 1752" and "None - Married 1753". It appears that the heading was first entered and later 'none' written alongside. I guess it the 'none' was added at the end of the year it would be easy to forget that over 11 months before there had been a wedding at the church. Alternatively, sometimes those who went into Exeter to get a marriage licence often married in the city. Sometimes the marriage of a couple was recorded in their home parish, with or without a note giving the venue, and that could be what happened here, though at the time of writing many Exeter Diocese marriage licences have been indexed and none found for Thomas and Martha (but the index does contain many transcription errors).
n.b. PRs show John and Mary as the children of a Thomas and Mary Gotham - I am guessing Mary should be Martha. The absence of evidence of a Thomas and Mary in Teignmouth at this time, and the gap between the children of Thomas and Martha if they weren't theirs (i.e. no children between 1753 and 1759 and 1759 and 1763), point to John and Mary being the children of Thomas and Martha.
Since there were children of a Thomas and Martha baptised both before and after John and Mary's baptisms, it looks as though Thomas had not remarried to a Mary.
They might have married by licence and married in Exeter; quite a few people chose to get married, there because they went there to get a marriage licence, although the choice of where to have a meal following the ceremony could also influence the location.
It is clear that Martha's maiden name was Harris, not only because suggested as the name was given as a middle name to a grandson (combined with Nathaniel, i.e. if I am right it appears Nathaniel was naming a child after his grandfather or uncle) but Harris was also given as a middle name to a child of Nathaniel's daughter Elizabeth and a connection is suggested by Thomas Gotham being a witness at the marriage of Nathaniel Harris, his brother in law, in 1761, but most conclusively because this same Nathaniel Harris named Nathaniel Gotham as his nephew in his will.
Sadly it seems probable that 5 of their 8 children died in infancy or childhood, although the burial of only one of these has been discovered. Another died aged about 21, leaving just two to marry. Only these last 3 are mentioned in the will of their uncle, Nathaniel Harris, suggesting the 4 with no known burial had not simply moved away.
The two who married, a brother and sister married Whidborne sister and brother!
Family ID F300039 Family Group Page | Family Chart
Family Elizabeth WHIDBORNE, b. 2 Mar 1768, bur. 2 Aug 1824, St. James’ Church, West Teignmouth, Devon, England (Age ~ 56 years) Marriage License 7 Feb 1791 Allegation - From licence allegation (image on FamilySearch, viewed 3 Apr 2018)
Married 28 Feb 1791 St. Gregory the Great’s Church, Dawlish, Devon, England [1] Children6 children Last Modified 14 Aug 2023 Family ID F300038 Family Group Page | Family Chart
- From PR entry (image on FMP, viewed 5 Sep 2014)
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Sources - [S339] Devon Parish Registers - Dawlish, St. Gregory the Great (Dawlish, Devon, England), (brightsolid online publishing limited. FindMyPast. findmypast.co.uk : 2014.), Marriage of Nathaniel GOTHAM to Elizabeth WHIDBORNE; accessed 6 Sep 2014 (Reliability: 3).
"No 65 Nathaniel Gotham of the Parish of West Teignmouth
Mariner & Elizabeth Whidborne of this Parish Spinster were
Married in this Church by Licence
this twenty eighth Day of February in the Year One thousand seven Hundred
and ninety one By me William Short Junr
This Marriage was solemnized between us Nathaniel Gotham, Elizabeth Whidborne
In the Presence of Rid Whidborne, Joanna Whidborne"
(on page 17, under heading '[The Year 1791]')
- [S339] Devon Parish Registers - Dawlish, St. Gregory the Great (Dawlish, Devon, England), (brightsolid online publishing limited. FindMyPast. findmypast.co.uk : 2014.), Marriage of Nathaniel GOTHAM to Elizabeth WHIDBORNE; accessed 6 Sep 2014 (Reliability: 3).