Events
Date of Birth: unknown.
Place of Birth: unknown.
(possible) Date of Death: The night of 5 October 1630.
(possible) Place of Death: The Royal Exchange, London.
(possible) Date of Burial: 6 October 1630.
(possible) Place of Burial: St Michael Cornhill, London.
The death and burial are recorded in the parish register. Haykin (ODNB) states that both of William Kiffin’s parents died in 1625, but I think this is based ultimately on a statement in William Kiffin’s memoirs that the London plague of 1625 “swept away” his “relations”, which I think leaves open the possibility that his father survived to 1630. (In Orme’s version of the memoirs, William later states that he was left “in the hands of such friends as remained alive”, but Ivemey gives this passage as “such relations as remained alive”. In any case, “friend” could mean “relation” in the period.) Edward’s wife definitely died in 1625.
Relationships
Father: unknown.
Mother: unknown.
Honneyman states that Edward or his family came from Conwy, Denbighshire, Wales, but without giving evidence.
Spouse: Margaret Catcher. Married 21 July 1603 in Datchet, Buckinghamshire.
I haven’t checked the register yet to verify this. It makes sense that Edward and Margaret would be in the countryside to avoid the bubonic plague raging through London in July 1603.
Children:
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)
Edward Kiffin (baptized 10 May 1609 in St Margaret, Westminster)
Henry Kiffin (baptized 19 April 1612 in St Martin Pomeroy, London)
John Kiffin (buried 18 August 1619 at St Mary at Finchley.)
William Kiffin (baptized 22 July 1616 in St Mary at Finchley, Middlesex - buried 29 December 1701 in Bunhill Fields) married (1) Hannah; married (2) Sarah Davart.
Evidence
from the St Martin Pomeroy parish register:
Henry Kiffin the sonne of Edward Kiffin was baptized the 19th of Aprill 1612
from the calendar to the Middlesex sessions rolls:
1615:
William Wheatelie of Westminster and Edward Kiffen of Finchley for Henry Frier [Fryar] of Westminster, blacksmith, who was taken selling melted silver.
1616:
[blank] Kiffen of [Finchley], gentleman, for not amending the highways with [his] labourers, 1 day.
from the St Mary at Finchley parish register:
1616
William Kiffin fil Edward Kiffin of water street July 22
1619
John the sonne of Edward Keffen August 18
from the St Bride Fleet Street parish register:
1625 August
Margaret wyef to Edwarde Kyffin the – 22
from the St Michael Cornhill parish register:
1630
October
Edward Kiffin. 6. The 6. was buried Edward Kiffin who died on the Exchange the night before.
References
County of Middlesex. Calendar to the Sessions Records: New Series, v. 3, 1615-16 (William le Hardy ed.) (London, 1937). v. 4 1616-18 (London, 1941).
Honneyman, David J. “Ellis Hookes” in Quaker History v. 72 no. 1 (1983) pp. 43-54.
Ivimey, Joseph. The Life of Mr. William Kiffin, upwards of sixty years pastor of the Baptist church, Devonshire Square, London, From 1639 to 1701; and one of the five aldermen apointed by James II, in the year 1687, when the popish and despotic monarch disfranchised the City of London. (1833).
https://archive.org/details/per_early-baptist_the-life-of-willian-kiff_jos-iviney_1833
Kiffin, William. Certaine observations vpon Hosea the second the 7. & 8. verses As they were delivered at a friends house who had broken his legg, for which meeting the author was committed to the White-Lyon by Sir Thomas Mallet late judge of assize for the county where he remaineth prisioner of Iesvs Christ. (1642)
https://ota.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repository/xmlui/handle/20.500.12024/A47349
Parish registers of St Bride Fleet Street. Digital images on Ancestry.com.
Parish registers of St Martin Pomeroy. Digital images on Ancestry.com.
Parish registers of St Mary at Finchley. Digital images on Ancestry.com.
Parish registers of St Michael Cornhill. Digital images on Ancestry.com.