The earliest Sillitoe recorded found so far in the records of the three Sudbury churches is "Robart SILLYTOO" from Colchester, Essex, who married Mary COOKE in 1688. It is quite possible that the Colchester connection links back to the second "Shillito" family from Ypres, Flanders, residents of Colchester, mentioned as "a family tradition" in the Shillito ancestry. To date, 600 records of SILLITOEs and spouses have been accumulated from 1600s -1900s.
It is clear there were families with variations of the name (including Silleto, Shillitoe, Sellittoe, Scillitoe) in the small area bounded by Colchester and Earls Colne, Essex, and Sudbury on the Essex/Suffolk borders - the "Sudbury/Essex Circle". A speculative link with my own Sudbury Sillitoe ancestry begins with an Edward SILLITOE, born about 1650, probably at Earls Colne. Edward married a Susannah, who died of smallpox and was buried in Sudbury 1729. Possible children include Hannah, mother of "base born" Phillippa (born/died 1713); Mary who married William HAWARD, in Sudbury, 1710; Elizabeth who married Francis LITTLEWOOD, 1711. Definite children were Edward, baptised Sudbury, 1695; John (1703 - 1705); and Francis born 1714 Sudbury.
Edward son of Edward and Susanna married a Margaret who was buried in Sudbury 1749. Their children, all baptised in Sudbury, were James (1715-1798), who married
Milliscent BRUNWIN, 1738; John (1718-1719); Margaret (1721-), mother of "base born" John (born/died 1745); Sarah 1723-?); Edward (1724-1788?) who married (1) Hannah GAGE (1748) and (2) Hannah HIBBLE (1750); Elizabeth (1726-1730); Susanna (1729-1760); Elizabeth (1731-1737); Sarah (1733-?) who married Richard ARGENT; and Mary (1733-1735).
The family of James SILLITOE and Milliscent BRUNWIN were probably weavers and may have moved around the Sudbury "Circle". Children born in Sudbury include Milliscent (1739-1743); James (1742-1789) whose own children may have been born
in Castle Hedingham, Essex; Milliscent (1745-?) and Samuel (1752-1803). A speculative son was John, who could be my GGGG Grandfather (about 1746-1801). He could be the John son of James mentioned in the Will of Elizabeth Sillitoe (nee Osborn).
Securing a link with the above rests on which John SILLITOE was the father of my GGG Grandfather,William. Two Johns (probably cousins) married within a year of each other (1766/67). Each witnessed the wedding of the other. Both were single and married an Elizabeth - BRACKETT and OSBORN, of Ballingdon - and except in a few instances where the BRACKETT maiden name or abode Ballingdon is mentioned, baptism records only give child of "John and Elizabeth SILLITOE". The Will of widow Elizabeth SILLITOE (died 1801), makes no mention of children and the bequest to John son of James is surmised to refer to to the Sudbury branch of the family.
Children who could belong to either parents include John (1767-1779); Elizabeth (1768-); James (1770-1823) who married Elizabeth DAVIS; William (1771-1845); Joseph (1773-1815); Thomas (1774-1858); Milliscent (1776-); Martha (1777-); Sarah (1778-1857); John (1779-1779); John (1780-1782); Mary (1780-1780); John (1781-1790); and Isaac (1783-1793). The entry for Isaac mentions the beginning of a tax on baptisms just before his own in 1783. Jonathan (1786-1824) and Charles (1791-1834) were definitely from the SILLITOE/BRACKETT union.
My definite GGG Grandfather, William (1771-1845), a carpenter, married Elizabeth FROST (1791) and had the following children surviving to adulthood: William (1795-1841);Sarah (1797-); Eliza (1799-1799); Francis (1800-1849); Milliscent (1805-1838); and James (1807-1879).
Other Sudbury "relatives" from the period:
John SILLITOE married Jane REEVES (1713).
Samuel SILLITOE (1752-1803) married (1) Phebe EMMINS (1771), and (2) Mary NEVELL (1789).
Edward SILLITOE and first spouse Hannah GAGE had son Edward (1749-1798?) who
married Elizabeth BONNEY. Children include Elizabeth (1770-1770) Sarah (1771-); Elizabeth (1774-1775); Elizabeth (1776-) married John ANGIER (1792).
Edward SILLITOE and second spouse Hannah HIBBLE's children included Samuel (1751-1759); William (1752-1752); William (1755-?); Phillis (1759-1759). Many adults and children died of smallpox during a local epidemic in this period.
A "PETTER SILLITON" married Susanna BREWSTER (1685).