William Couchman and Frances Fairall
my 4 x gt grandparents

William was baptized 12 September 1742 at Kemsing, Kent, son of Adam and Elizabeth Couchman.

His first marriage was to Mary LOVER 25 April 1762, at Kemsing and they had two children, Adam and Eve. I have not found Mary's death for certain, but KFHS fiche transcripts of Kemsing PRs record the burial of Mary COCKMAN on 29 December 1767, and on 02 September 1770 William married again, as a widower, to Frances FAIRALL at Kemsing.

I have found another marriage of William Couchman and Frances Fairall at Bodiam, Sussex in October 1788. is this just co-incidence (neither name is especially common) or was the 1770 marriage not valid or bigamous?

William was buried at Kemsing in March 1806.

Having found her mother's second marriage I am sure that Frances was the daughter of William Fairall and Mary Smith, baptized at Horsmonden 11 January 1743/4 and died at Kemsing in November 1805 aged 58.

I am aware that there was a Frances FAIRHALL baptized at South Malling (near Lewes in Sussex) in 1745. She had younger siblings born in Chatham and then the family moved back to Sussex by 1766. This Frances could have still been in Chatham in 1770 and Chatham to Kemsing is about the same distance as Horsmonden to Kemsing. Lewis to Kemsing though is considerably further. Others who are researching the Sussex Fairhall family think that it was this Frances who married William Couchman but I think not because:

• Frances Couchman was said to be 58 when she died - a specific age and not a round figure estimate. The South Malling Frances would have been 60 in 1805.
• The Sussex family's name is mostly spelled with an H, the Horsmonden registers and the Kemsing ones mostly spell it without the H though admittedly spelling was not standardised in the mid 18th century.
• Several of Frances' grandchildren, and at least one gt gt grand-daughter (my Grandma's sister born 70 years after Frances' death) were given second names of Fairall or Fearall. I think that the family glorified rather than villified the story of William Fairall.

Children of William and Mary: