Sixth Generation - Anthony Petyt          

Mary Petyt’s father, Anthony Petyt, was christened in Skipton on 6 September 1720 [1] . He was the eldest son of John and Mary Petyt, of Crookrise. His sister Alice arrived when he was about three years old, and his brother John, when he was seven [2] . Life was probably quite comfortable for Anthony Petyt as he was the son of a yeoman farmer.

Anthony Petyt was apprenticed at the age of thirteen to Thomas Petyt, Blacksmith in 1733. This may have been very useful training for his later career as a husbandman and farmer, shoeing horses on the farm. His sister Alice was apprenticed aged twelve to Mary Fell and their brother John was apprenticed to John Kendall, Butcher, in 1740 [3] . The apprenticeships were granted by Sylvester Petyt's Trust and indicates that Anthony and his siblings were descended from the Petyt's of Storithes.

Alice Petyt was the first to marry and leave home in 1754 when she married Joseph Spencer, roper, of Kildwick [10] . Alice and Anthony's brother John later married Sarah Petyt, daughter of William and Mary Petyt of Bolton Abbey in 1763 [11] . John and Mary moved to Snaygill and farmed there. John Petty also practiced as a butcher and this may have been part of his smallholding at Snaygill. John Sarah had their first daughter Mary in 1764 [12] . It would seem that John had had taken over the lands farmed by his great-grandfather Anthony Petyt [13] .

  Anthony’s father, John Petyt, was a yeoman farmer of Crookrise, near Thorlby, and for the land at Crookrise, he paid an annual rental of twenty-six pounds to the lord of Skipton Castle, the Sackville Earl of Thanet [4] . It is not clear what John Petyt would have farmed at Crookrise, perhaps sheep and cattle [5] . However, to be renting land for twenty-six pounds per annum implies that the land was fairy profitable. John Petyt must have been able to pay this rent and have money to spare.

 I have not at present, been able to locate where and when John Petyt was born or christened. However, it is highly probable that John was descended from Anthony Petyt of Caldray House or Cawder Hall Farm. Cawder Hall Farm is located near to Snaygill where Anthony Petyt’s brother John later farmed, and it is very probable that there is a connection. Certainly, this Calder House line is the only Petyt line in the Skipton area to favour the name Anthony, which appears in every generation.

John appears to have been the son or nephew of Anthony Petty of Skyraikes in the parish of Burnsall, only a few yards from Crookrise. Anthony married Isabel Bradford in 1678 and had one daughter Isabella in 1695 [14] . However, it is perfectly possible that Anthony and Isabella had other children yet to be identified. Anthony Petty lived to a ripe old age of seventy-one and was buried in 1725 when he is described as 'of Crookrise' [15] . This may mean that Anthony's family had inherited the farm from Anthony and his grandparents were residing with them. His wife Isabel was buried in 1742 and is described as 'of Snaygill' [16] . Isabel may have stayed with her younger son John on his farm in Snaygill area.

Anthony Petyt of Skyraikes was the eldest son of John Petty and Martha Airton of Cawder House in Skipton [17] . John's wife Martha Airton was born in Rhylstone and the family seem to have eventually moved from Skipton to Rhylstone, perhaps to farm lands in that area [18] . John was buried in 1700 outliving his wife Martha by two years [19] .

By the time Anthony Petty of Skyraikes was fifteen he had been joined by his four brothers John, Christopher, William and Thomas, and seen his only sister Mary buried aged only ten. His second eldest brother John does not appear to have married, but his third eldest brother Christopher Petty also moved to Burnsall Parish and had three children of whom only one son Christopher survived [20] . This Christopher probably had moved to Littondale by 1725. In that year he was given £5 by Sylvester Petyt's Trust [21] . Anthony and Christopher's brother William Petty was also given £5 in 1725 [22] . William married Judith and had a family of three daughters who all died in infancy [23] . William's wife Judith was buried in 1708 the wife of 'William Petty a poor pensioner' [24] . William Petty was buried in 1740 'a poor pensioner' [25] . William self-evidently had trouble making ends meet as he is also recorded as a staymaker and cordwainer on the birth of his daughters Martha and Mary in 1696 and 1701 respectively. Of Anthony's brother Thomas little else is known at present.

Anthony Petty of Skyraikes father John Petty was the eldest son of Anthony Pettie and Mary Jowett of Calder or Cawder House in Skipton [26] . This area is partially in Skipton Parish and partially in Kildwick Parish [27] . Anthony and his wife Mary had a family of eight children of whom four sons, John, Christopher, Richard and Anthony and two daughters Anne and Elinor survived childhood [28] . Anthony was buried in 1638 and his wife Mary was buried in 1669 [29] .

Little is known of John's brother Christopher, but his youngest brother Anthony moved to Shelf in Coley Parish [30] . John's brother Richard Petty married Anna Brigg in Kildwick Parish in 1659 [31] . They had one son Christopher Petty [32] . Richard was buried in 1673, described as a carpenter of Sutton [33] . Richard's only son Christopher Petty moved to Kildwick and married Mary Smith in 1687. Christopher and Mary had one daughter Mary in 1688 who only survived three months [34] . Mary Petty nee Smith passed away in September 1689 probably as a result of complications from childbirth [35] . Richard moved to Sutton in Craven and then married secondly Jane Craven in 1692 in Kildwick [36] . They had a family of three children, Ellen, Thomas and Richard [37] . Jane passed away in January 1706 and was buried in Kildwick [38] . Richard Petty had three young children and re-married for a third time to Maudlanda Boothman in 1709 [39] . Richard and Maudlanda had a daughter Mary in 1710 [40] . Mary Petty was a beneficiary of Sylvester Petyt's Charity in 1725 and was given £7 to be put out as an apprentice [41] . Richard passed away in 1734 and was buried in Kildwick [42] .

Richard Petty of Sutton's son Richard married Maria Sharpe in Kildwick and they had a son Anthony Petty in 1716 [43] . Anthony Petty was apprenticed to James Emmott, weaver, in 1731 in Skipton at the age of fifteen [44] . In 1741 Anthony married Mary Lund in Kildwick and they had a family of ten children [45] . Anthony was a weaver on his marriage in 1741, but seems to have supplemented his income as a grocer and innkeeper as well.

            Richard Petty of Sutton's brother Thomas Petty, son of Christopher Petty and Jane Craven married Sarah Hodson in Bolton Abbey in 1733 [46] . Thomas and Sarah appear to have moved to Storithes and had a family of three sons, Thomas, Christopher and John [47] . Both Thomas and Christopher were apprenticed by Sylvester Petyt's trust [48] . Christopher Petty of Storithes, linen maker, married Sarah Pickersgill, daughter of Thomas Pickersgill of Barden, clogger, and they had one daughter Jane in 1768 [49] . Jane Petty married John Moon of Storithes, linen weaver. John Moon was the great-grandson of another line of Petty's his mother Margaret Petty being the granddaughter of Richard Petty and Alice Lowcocke.

            A Richard Petty and Alice Lowcocke married in Skipton in 1682 and had a family of two sons, Christopher and Joseph, and a daughter Eme [50] . Richard Petty of Storithes was aged seventy in 1725 and benefited from Sylvester Petyt's Trust [51] . Richard's son Joseph Petty was a farmer and cordwainer of Storithes and married Anne Thompson. In 1727 Joseph Petty took an apprentice as part of Sylvester Petyt's Trust [52] . Joseph and Anne had three sons, Joseph, Thomas and Richard and two daughters, Margaret and Eleanor [54] . All three sons were apprenticed as part of the Petyt Trust [55] .Of the daughters, Eleanor married William Croft and Margaret married James Moon of Storithes, whose son John Moon married Jane Petty. Richard Petty and Alice Lowcocke's eldest son Christopher married Catherine Carr in Gargrave in 1727 and had a family of three sons John, Christopher, Peter and two daughters, Ellen and Judith [56] . Although their son John later became a dancing master, he too was apprenticed by the Petyt Trust in 1741 and 1742 [57] .

John Petty son of Anthony Petty of Calder House certainly had a large family extended family in the Craven area. His father Anthony was probably the youngest son of Christopher Petty of Storithes. Anthony had at least two older brothers, William and Christopher. His brother Christopher married Elizabeth Birkbeck of Orton Hall in Westmorland and moved his family there. Anthony's eldest brother William Petyt moved from Storithes to the Red Lion in Skipton by the 1650s and his two sons William and Sylvester Petyt of Skipton were eminent lawyers in London [58] . John's eldest son Anthony Petty farmed at Skyraikes. Anthony's son John of Crookrise's eldest son was also called Anthony.

            Anthony Petyt followed in his father’s footsteps and continued to farm Crookrise, and his brother John Petyt also farmed at Snaygill, near Skipton. These lands at Snaygill may also have been rented from the lords of Skipton Castle. Anthony appears to have increased his landholdings in the Bolton Abbey area of Deerstones [6] . He may have been able to extend his landholdings through his marriage to Mary Heelis daughter of Edward Heelis and Leah Catterson. Anthony was nearly forty when he married twenty-two year old Mary, and it would appear that this was not a love match. They married on 30 November 1759 in Skipton Parish Church [7] .  Of the seven children that Mary Heelis bore to Anthony Petyt, only three daughters survived.

Anthony lost his wife Mary on 15 November 1790, when she was aged fifty-three. Anthony Petyt died on 1 March 1814, aged ninety-three, and was buried in Holy Trinity Church, Skipton, in the same plot as his wife Mary Petyt nee Heelis ^[8] . The Petyts seemed to live quite long lives, Anthony’s brother John Petyt of Snaygill also died at the age of 93 in 1819 ^{[9] .}