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Notes concerning John Mudford (born about 1710 and died 1782 in West Chinnock)

There is no record of this John Mudford being born, but there is circumstantial evidence which is described below.

For this this purpose we will be dealing with three John Mudford, so they will be numbered in sequence, e.g. John(1) Mudford, John(2) Mudford and John(3) Mudford.

The evidence we have is show below.

The West Chinnock Registers have the following information for John(1) Mudford

John, son of Thomas and Jane Mudford was baptised on 28th January 1687.

John Mudford was buried 28th October 1753

This John(1) Mudford and Mary ? had the following child:

Thomas, son of John and Mary Mudford was baptised on 15th July 1716.

Thomas Mudford was buried 11th June 1732.

(It is unclear whether the burial refers to this Thomas Mudford or to his grandfather who would have been 69 years old at the time).

We are postulating that there is also a son, John(2) Mudford, born in about 1710, who is the son of John(1) Mudford and Mary..

(It is emphasised that we have not found a baptism record for John(2). However, there is very good circumstantial evidence for the belief that he existed.

A John Mudford and Elizabeth had 11 children, from Thomas in 1733 to Robert in 1751, including John(3) born in 1740. Other people have assumed that the father, John, is John(1), who at the birth of the last child would have been 64. We think that the father is actually John(2).

Going onto John(3) Mudford, we find that he married Mary ? and had James in 1765.

James, son of John and Mary Mudford was baptised on February 17 1765.

Then Mary died and the entry below appears in the Burial register.

Mary, wife of John Mudford buried 25th September 1768.

Further there is a tombstone in West Chinnock churchyard that reads:

Here Lyeth the body of Mary

The wife of John Mudford

junr, who died September ye 14th 1768

aged 28

John (3) Mudford then marries Martha Lane in 1772

John Mudford and Martha Lane were married by Banns on June 15th 1772.

Both signed with an X

Witnesses were Thos Ford and George Lane.

They had children through to 1783.

Now, what are the reasons for believing that there is a John(2) Mudford?

Firstly the above tombstone states “wife of John Mudford Junior” which implies that there is an elder John Mudford. This can not be John(1) Mudford since he died in 1753, so there must be another John Mudford, namely John(2).

Secondly, the Burial register for West Chinnock has the entries:

Elizabeth, wife of John Mudford, buried 14th April 1774.

John Mudford buried 9th June 1782

This implies that the above Elizabeth was the wife of a living John Mudford, not the widow of John(1) Mudford who died 20 years earlier. It would be very rare to see such an entry applying to a widow.

This suggests that she is the wife of John(2) Mudford for the following reasons.

The Elizabeth Mudford who died in 1774 is not the wife of John(1) since he died 20 years earlier. She is not the wife of John(3) Mudford since he married Martha Lane in 1772 and had children with her through to 1783.

The John Mudford who died in 1782 is not John(3) Mudford since he was married to Martha Lane and having children with her until 1783.

Thus the only person that Elizabeth could have been married to is John(2), who died soon after her in 1782.

Thirdly, John(1) was 64 years old when he was having his last child, which is possible, but unlikely.

The most reasonable conclusion is that John(2) exists. He would be the right age when marrying, having children, and when dying.

Thus on balance we believe that John(2) was the father of the 11 children.

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