Martha Briggs was born to Robert Briggs Merchant of St. Paul's Churchyard London.
Before 1659 Richard Spencer [aged 54] and Martha Briggs were married.
In 1659 [her daughter] Martha Spencer was born to [her husband] Richard Spencer [aged 54] and Martha Briggs. She married 24th February 1680 John The Younger Evelyn, son of John Evelyn and Mary Browne, and had issue.
On 10th October 1668 [her husband] Richard Spencer [aged 63] died.
On or after 10th October 1668 John Stonhouse 2nd Baronet [aged 29] and Martha Briggs were married. The license was dated 10th October 1668.
Around 1672 [her son] John Stonhouse 3rd Baronet was born to [her husband] John Stonhouse 2nd Baronet [aged 33] and Martha Briggs. He married (1) before 28th August 1697 Mary Mellish and had issue (2) in or before 1705 Penelope Dashwood, daughter of Robert Dashwood 1st Baronet and Penelope Chamberlayne Lady Dashwood, and had issue.
John Evelyn's Diary. 27th November 1679. I went to see Sir John Stonehouse [aged 40], with whom I was treating a marriage between my son [aged 59] and his daughter-in-law [aged 20] [Note. Means step-daughter. Martha Spencer was the daughter of Martha Briggs who re-married John Stonhouse 2nd Baronet after her first husband Richard Spencer died in 1668].
John Evelyn's Diary. 30th December 1679. I went to meet [her husband] Sir John Stonehouse [aged 40], and give him a particular of the settlement on my son [aged 59], who now made his addresses to the young lady [aged 20] his daughter-in-law [Note. Step-daughter], daughter of Lady Stonehouse.
John Evelyn's Diary. 21st February 1680. Shrove-Tuesday. My [her future son-in-law] son [aged 25] was married to Mrs. Martha Spencer [aged 21], daughter to my Lady Stonehouse by a former gentleman, at St. Andrew's [Map], Holborn, by our Vicar, borrowing the church of Dr. Stillingfleet [aged 44], Dean of St. Paul's, the present incumbent. We afterward dined at a house in Holborn; and, after the solemnity and dancing was done, they were bedded at Sir John Stonehouse's [aged 41] lodgings in Bow Street, Convent Garden.
This is a translation of the 'Memoires of Jacques du Clercq', published in 1823 in two volumes, edited by Frederic, Baron de Reissenberg. In his introduction Reissenberg writes: 'Jacques du Clercq tells us that he was born in 1424, and that he was a licentiate in law and a counsellor to Philip the Good, Duke of Burgundy, in the castellany of Douai, Lille, and Orchies. It appears that he established his residence at Arras. In 1446, he married the daughter of Baldwin de la Lacherie, a gentleman who lived in Lille. We read in the fifth book of his Memoirs that his father, also named Jacques du Clercq, had married a lady of the Le Camelin family, from Compiègne. His ancestors, always attached to the counts of Flanders, had constantly served them, whether in their councils or in their armies.' The Memoires cover a period of nineteen years beginning in in 1448, ending in in 1467. It appears that the author had intended to extend the Memoirs beyond that date; no doubt illness or death prevented him from carrying out this plan. As Reissenberg writes the 'merit of this work lies in the simplicity of its narrative, in its tone of good faith, and in a certain air of frankness which naturally wins the reader’s confidence.' Du Clercq ranges from events of national and international importance, including events of the Wars of the Roses in England, to simple, everyday local events such as marriages, robberies, murders, trials and deaths, including that of his own father in Book 5; one of his last entries.
Available at Amazon in eBook and Paperback format.
In 1700 [her husband] John Stonhouse 2nd Baronet [aged 61] died. His son John [aged 28] succeeded 3rd Baronet Stonhouse of Radley.