William Blundell. 1700's. Meppershall

[mepsal]

Even though I'm a searcher in my spare time I can't find where William Blundell [alive in the 1760s] was buried.
He was fit and well in the 1730s and living in my house, running the family farm. By 1760 his brother John was writing in his diary that he was giving money to "my poor unhappy brother William". All the family are buried in Meppershall except William. I'd love to find him.
For "unhappy" I'm reading 'depressed' or mentally ill but that might be because I'm a psychologist. i can't think of any other reason why he would need support from a younger brother.
William had married Sarah HOBBS from Wymondley [a second marriage for her]. The Blundell family were quite well off, being successful and respected people. I just wish I could find my missing William.

[bedfordshire boy]

Welcome to Rootschat!

He married in 1730 in Wymondley Herts, and they appear to have had two children baptised in Meppershall in 1732 and 1736. The only Sarah to be buried in Meppershall was in 1734, but I can't see who she was. Could she have been William's wife and the daughter christened in 1736 was as a 2 year old? The parish register may shed light on this.

If that isn't her then neither of them appears to have been buried in Beds - could they have returned to Herts?

Regards

David

[mepsal]

Thanks, The Sarah was a daughter I think. Off hand I seem to remember that he had many losses including his step daughter.  No he isn't in Beds and I haven't found him in Herts yet. I wonder if after his losses he was put in a private nursing home somewhere, often these were no more than private houses run by a doctor.
William was one of the Parish Officers before all this so was fine then. For many years John referred to William as "my unhappy brother" and gave him money at Christmas and sometimes sent him a whole cheese or huge piece of beef. William wasn't around here then.
I have come to know this family very well because of the many documents that exist [including the diary of his brother]. I'm quite fond of them :-) It was not like them to have a member buried elsewhere. To 'lose' such an important village person is strange, for him to be referred to in the way he was is even stranger.
Thanks for your interest. If you need help with a Meppershall family maybe I can be of use. I know most of the village back to the 1600's and in some cases earlier.

[sdbadger]

Hello!

I'm just getting acquainted with the MEPPERSHALL family of the place in Bedfordshire.

Obviously, I need to do actual research but I'm finding that:

Joan MEPPERSHALL (1397-1466) was daughter of John De MEPPERSHALL and Katherine BROUGHTON.  (Dates and parents from trees; have not researched).

Joan married Henry GODFREY.  Their daughter, Ellen, married John SKIPWITH.

If all this is correct, Henry and Joan (Meppershall) GODFREY were 15th-g-grandparents of mine.

Love finding new lines to research and am very grateful to the researchers who came before!

I'll keep my eyes out for William BLUNDELL ... have seen the surname before....

Cheers!