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Great Saling, Essex Co., England
By Linus Joseph Dewald Jr., Editor
Fall 2001 and Revised 16 Sep 2009
Great Saling in Essex Co., England, might be the birthplace of William Prentis, a probable ancestor of Valentine Prentice who emigrated from Chelmsford, England to America in 1631. William's place of birth is unclear. He may have been born in Great Saling, or at least lived there for a time, because the Vicar at Great Saling there witnessed William's 1574 Will.
William's son, John Prentis, is said to have been b. c. 1540 in "Old Salinge." John then married Elizabeth, (surname unknown), and they lived in Shalford, Essex County, where Shalford church records reflect the birth of several of their children.
In looking at the map of Shalford , we note that both Shalford and Great Bardfield lie only about 3-4 miles north of Great Saling.
Tony Buchner's email of Sunday, 17 Jun 2001 has provided additional information which sheds some light on the problem. His email reads, in part,as follows:
"I understand the Mormons have filmed the Bishop's Transcripts for Great Saling from 1629 - 1640 and Parish Registers back to 1715. Parish registers much before 1550 seem to be pretty rare everywhere. (Note: we would add that the professional genealogist retained at Chelmsford to research Valentine Prentice's ancestry tells us that the present location of church records for Great Saling is unknown and may even not exist any longer.)
I'm fairly certain that Old Saling is the same as Bardfield Saling.
[Part of the problem is] that the Bardfield Saling church was out of commission (being used as a stable) in the earlier part of the 1700s. People apparently went to either Great Bardfield or Great Saling for christenings and marriages. There are next to no entries for Savill at Great Bardfield. As Great Saling is only a bit over a mile from Bardfield Saling, that seemed like the most likely place anyway. [The name may also be] spelled Savile and Saywell etc.).
Audrey Pond , a resident of that place, was found guilty of bewitching one of my Cutt ancestors there See http://www.hulford.co.uk/years.html as described in the church history booklet for Bardfield Saling."
If you have any information about the Great Saling, Old Saling, Bardfield Saling or Great Bardfield, please contact us at the Prentice Newsletter and please include the title and date of this article.
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