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| Photo © David Kemp (cc-by-sa/2.0) St John & St Giles, Great Easton - north-west elevation Photo available for reuse under this Creative Commons licence. |
Richard Mason (b. ~1750) married Millicent Shelford at St John & St Giles, Great Easton, Essex, on 15 Feb 1791. The transcription of the record in "England, Essex Parish Registers, 1538-1997", which are apparently held at the Essex Record Office, lists that both of them had been Widowed. This couple became a pair of my 5th Great-Grandparents.
It appears that Richard Mason had previously married Elizabeth Patience, also at St John & St Giles, Great Easton, Essex, on 23 Dec 1774. Unsure whether this couple had any children and, nor can I find the death of Elizabeth.
Millicent Butcher (bap. 24 Oct 1756 at St Mary The Virgin, Tilty, Essex), daughter of William Butcher and Margaret Brown, had previously married John Shelford, also at St John & St Giles, Great Easton, Essex, on 19 Feb 1778. John Shelford and Millicent Butcher had four children: Elizabeth Shelford bap. 3 Jan 1779; John Shelford bap. 13 Feb 1780; William Shelford bap. 28 Jan 1781; and Millicent Shelford b. 29 Apr 1782 and bap. 12 May 1782. There is a burial of a John Shelford on 21 Oct 1782 at St Mary The Virgin, Great Bardfield, Essex, which appears to relate to this man.
Richard and Millicent Mason then also had four children:
- Elizabeth Millicent Mason b. 29 Sep 1791, bap. 9 Oct 1791
- Samuel Mason b. 2 Aug 1793, bap. 29 Sep 1793
- Mary Mason b. 31 Jan 1795, bap. 18 Mar 1795
- Sophia Mason b. 3 Dec 1796, bap. 1 Jan 1797
All four were baptised at St John & St Giles, Great Easton. At Ancestry, there are transcripts of the records of the baptisms of Elizabeth Millicent Mason and of Sophia Mason, which both list them taking place at this church. At FindMyPast the records for all four of John Shelford and Millicent Butcher's children, as well as all four of the children she had with Richard Mason, claim that they had been baptised at Emmanuel Church, Forest Gate. There's just a tiny problem with that, as the latter church (as well as being miles away), designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott (b. 1811), wasn't built until 1852, so it's more than a little unlikely to have been the venue for baptisms from 1779 until 1797. This is not the first time I've come across a whole batch of records claiming to have taken place in a yet-to-be-built church, so it's as well to check multiple sources and the church history to be absolutely sure.
Millicent Mason died, her age under-estimated as 63 (suggesting birth around 1760), was buried at St John & St Giles, Great Easton, on 20 Oct 1823.
Richard Mason, then said to have been aged 76 (born ~1750), died 3 years later and was buried at St John & St Giles, Great Easton, on 17 Oct 1826.
