The examination of william bacon
now residing in the parish of Spaxton in the
county aforesaid miller concerning his last legal plaice of settlement
taken on oath before James Barnard and alexander Popham Esquire two of
his majesties justices of the Peace in and for the said county
this eighteenth day of december 1784 who on his oath saith that he was
borne in the Parish of Sampeford Brett in the county af(oresai)d that
when he was about the afe of ffifteen he hired himself for one year with
John Jenkins of the parish of saint decumans in the county af(oresai)d
at fifty shillings a year that he lived out the year with his s(ai)d
master in Saint Decumans and rec(eive)d his wages that when he was about
the age of eighteen or nineteen years he wasa taken up for a Bastard
child and as he has heard was carried to Stogumber Church in the county
af(oresai)d by the officers of Stogumber af(oresai)d and married to Mary
Gadd as he has been told but being very high in Liquor he does not know
whether he was married or not since which time he have rented no
tenement or done any act to gain asettlment till about four years since
when he took
a set of mills within
the parish of Spaxton af(oresai)d of Richard Hidner of Spaxton for
eight years at sixteen guineas a year and that he as lived in and
occupied ye s(ai)d mills for four years and upwards and that he now
occupyes and lives in the said mills
sworn etc
copy of the register of the parish of Stogumber
taken Jan 7th 1785
1757 Sept 23 Robert son of Mary Bacon (Base Child)
Robert Jones reputed father
1759
April 6th Richard the Base Child of Mary Bacon
1761
March 23 Thomas the base child of Mary Bacon
1762
Augst 1 John son of Mary Bacon Robert Jones
reputed father
1764
March 24
Mary Daughter of Mary Bacon Robert
Jones reputed Father her Husband having
been absent several years
1765
June 16 Ann
Daughter of Mary wife of Thomas
Bacon (Robert Jones reputed father/ her Husband
having been absent several years.
1767
May 3 Robert Son of Mary Wife of Thomas Bacon
Married in the year 1748
Sept 23 Wm Bacon of St Decumans and Mary Gadd
of Stogumber
The above is a copy of th Register of Marriages at
Stogumber
John White Curate
January 10 1785
The Inhabitants of Spaxton - appelants
and
The inhabitants of Stogumber - respondents
Touching the last legal settlement of William Bacon,
Mary his wife and Mary, Robert, Jane, and Samuel their children
Case: It seem that the pauper William Bacon was born in
the parish of Sampford Brett in this county and when he was of the age
of Fifteen he hired himself for one year at Saint Decumans also in the
County at fifty shillings a year, that he lived out the year with his
Master in Saint Decumans and received his wages and afterwards went into
the parish of Stogumber and worked as a labourer til he was eighteen or
nineteenyears when he was taken up for a Bastard Child which Mary his
now wife then went with by the parish officers of Stogumber, and the
pauper then thought proper to marry her which marriage was solomized
in the Church of Stogumber Sept 23rd 1748 by licence and the
pauper immediately after he was married went away from his wife and
worked in Bridgwater and she remained at Stogumber, and shortly was
delivered of the child she went with at teh time of Marriage which was
baptised at Stogumber the 26th December following by the name of
Betty as Daughter of William and Mary Bacon - Mary the wife being
destitute of her Husband the pauper went and cohabited with Robert Jones
in Stogumber a Labourer - The pauper (illegible) Bridgwater went at a
place called Durleigh and cohabited with a women by whom he had
several children. Since the cohabitaion of Mary the wife of Robert Jones
she has had ten children, the names and times of their Baptism are to be
seen in the copy of teh Reigster, but all of them except the four
mentioned in the order of removal are grown up and provided for
themselves. About Five Years ago the pauper removed from Durleigh with
this woman and the children to Spaxton where he took a sett of Grist
Mills for Eight Years of Richard Kidner at Sixteen Guineas a Year and
has lived in the Mills four Years and upwards and now occupys the same,
at which place he has undoubtedly gained a settlement Mary the Daughter
of pauper aged abotu twenty being big with Child was the reason of the
parish Officers of Stogumber applying for an order of removal which its
imagined was a sufficient reason not to suffer her to have
Child in the parish which wold have been a Bastard, and the
pauper on 20th Dec last came to Stogumber to sell Mary his wife and the
four Children whom he acknowledged to be his, and asked five shillings for them, when Jones accepted them in the price, this
happened the day the order was made and consequently it si to be
understood this transaction was on account of the Removal and to prevent
them if he /the pauper/
could from being sent home to Spaxton, but however it leads to show that
the children belogn to him - The parish Officersof Stogumber have a
Notice from the parish offficers of Spaxton to produce a Certificate
which they say was given some years ago by Saint Decumans acknowledging
the pauper Mary his wife and childrfen tobelong there where he lived for
a year, but no such Certificate can be found or Entry of the same, and
why this notice was given because they say that when a Certificate Man
and his family came into any parish, such parish have no right to remove
them before they are actually chargeable, but the Daughter beingvery big
with Child is a sufficient reason for scuh removal - They mean to try to
quash the order.
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