Edward Little's Genealogy
When looking for potential descendants of the Little family, we can quickly figure out that only his sister Margaret Ann had children of her own, and her descendants can be traced down to this day, but not an exclusively female or male line
Even when going back as far as the 17th century on his mother’s side, I still couldn’t find any leads
So I tried my chance on his father’s side, but since the only useful information about him online was his approximate date of birth, his date of death and some parts of his record as a purser and paymaster in the Royal Navy, I tried to find more clues at the National Archives
Once again, here is what I could make out of Edward’s family tree, with his parents and siblings,
What interested me this time were the names given to the children, many of them were named after members of Sarah’s family and I wondered if we could have some clues about any of Simon Little’s family members, especially when some of the names were given to more than one of their child (Cornelius, Margaret, John, Jane/Janet)
Their firstborn daughter is Elizabeth Jane, (Elizabeth being the name of Sarah’s mother and sister), could Simon’s mother have been named Jane ?
Their firstborn son is James Cornelius, (Cornelius being the name of Sarah’s father and brother), could Simon’s father have been named James ?
Simon’s date of birth is uncertain, given that his age seems to vary depending on the source:
From his burial certificate, he was 84 in 1852,
(birth estimated to be in 1768-1769)
From the 1836 Survey of age and services of Purser, he was 62 in 1834
(birth estimated to be in 1772-1773)
From the Census records, he was around 65 in 1841 & 80 in 1851
(birth estimated to be in 1771-1776) but we know that the ages on census records are often rounded up or down to a multiple of 5
Simon Little was a Purser & Paymaster in the Royal Navy from 1795 to 1843, he was the only Purser & Paymaster in the Royal Navy by that name at that time, one newspaper article mentions him being a clerk on the Audacious during the “Glorious First of June” (and also confirms him being Edward’s father)
Burial Register of St Helier Parish
ADM 6/193 The National Archives
Morning Herald 29 July 1852
ADM 36/11734, Audacious’ muster (01 Jan 1793 - 31 Oct 1793), the National Archives
With this, I tried to find any Simon Little that could match all these criteria and the only one I could find is this one: Simon Little, born or baptised on Dec 15th 1769 in Terrona, Dumfriesshire
This closely matches Edward Little’s father being 84 in July 1852 as stated in the burial record
But there is also some circumstantial evidence with the names of the family members, as on this record, Simon’s parent’s names are James and Jean (Jane), which matches my theory that our Simon could have named his firstborn daughter and son after his and his wife’s parents
This Simon’s brothers were named Archibald and John, and our Simon named one of his son Archibald John
And this Simon’s sisters were named Margaret and Janny, and our Simon named three of his daughters Jane Margaret, Margaret Ann and Louisa Janet
In trying to find more information on any Little family from Dumfriesshire, the results always mention the Little family Clan, which the Simon Little mentioned above was a part of
And the Little family being from Scotland could also explain why one of their child (Archibald John) was baptized in Scotland
I always wondered why Edward was the only one with a sole given name, was there a special meaning to it ? When reading about the Little Clan’s history, we can learn that “Edward” was the name of the founder of the Clan
The ancestry of Edward Little "of Meikle-dale", founder of the clan, can be traced back through Normandy and Norway to Ingiald Ill
https://electricscotland.com/webclans/htol/little2.htm
Another clue may also be the lack of information available about the Simon Little from Terrona, which could match with our Simon moving to England and joining the Navy in 1793, since no date of death seems to be listed
With the information on Wikitree and the clan website, Simon’s father, James, even seems to have been a descendant on the Lairds of Mickledale :
Monumental Inscription, Ewes Churchyard, Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, UK. Published in ‘The Ewes Valley - An Historical Miscellany’ by Brenda I Morrison & R Bruce McCartney, 2000, ISBN0951785818.
68) “Here lyes Thomas Little son to the Laird of Mickledale an honest gentleman and well beloved by all the country who dyed in April 27th 1665 his age 67. Here lyes Simon Little in Wrea son to the aforesaid Thomas Little who departed this life 23rd January 1716 aged 77. Also Simon Little In Terrona son to the above Simon Little in Wrea died February 8, 1757 aged 72 years. Also Margaret his spouse died 8th March 1787, 88. Here also lyes interred James Little in Terrona who departed this life April 7,1799 aged 58 years. And Jean his spouse of Pious Memory died March 1, 1808 aged 74 years. And Margaret their daughter who departed this life September 26, 1793 aged 21 years. Likewise their children John and Janet died in infancy. In memory of Archibald Little in Terrona died in Langholm 14th August 1850 aged 76 years. Erected to the memory of Simon Little tenant in Terrona who died September 1757 aged 72 years.”
https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Little-13729
And more information about the genealogy of the clan’s Lairds from the Clan Little website :
Another Simon Little, grandfather of David the last chief, was chief at the Union of the Crowns when Border warfare officially came to an end. Simon's son Thomas, and Thomas' son David, were the last Littles to be Lairds of Meikledale. David was given work as a groom at Windsor Castle. The chiefly line can be traced down to yet another Simon Little in Nittyholme, Canonbie in 1745 "the linear heir male of this family".
https://clanlittlesociety.org/clanhistory.php
However, the clan does not currently have a chief and no male line has been traced down to today
