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Hi, thank you. Yes, I have trawled the OPC quite extensively. I did find Christopher listed as one of five who were eleigible for jury duty in Bury Blunsdon in 1771 (no idea what made someone eligible, but it may be useful to look into that one).

I asked a question about Christopher Ricketts, born about 1749, a few days ago and feel like this question can be developed a little now. Best guess for Christopher is that the records from that period are incomplete as there are no records for a Christopher being born at all. His marriage, the baptism of his eight children and his burial all provide strong evidence that he actually existed.

This question is about Stephen Ricketts, born ~1751 and married/buried in Castle Eaton. This is just 5 miles away from Broad Blunsdon where Christopher lived, so there is a good likelihood that they were related.

Stephen is on dozens of trees on the internet, as the son of Henry Ricketts and Joan Poulton. I haven't been able to find a source for his baptism, even though some trees state that it was the 15 Oct 1751 without sourcing it. Again, Stephen definitely existed as inter alia his son wrote an autobiography in which his parents are listed as Stephen and Mary Bavis in the endnotes. He also said that he was descended from the Poultons of Broadleaze on his fathers side, so it certainly seems very believable, if not provable.

I wonder if Stephen and Christopher may in fact have been brothers, or if maybe their fathers were brothers. Stephen's alleged father appears to have come from Kempsford, very close to both Broad Blunsdon and Castle Eaton but just over the border in Gloucestershire.

I have managed to trace two people who are potentially Stephen's decscendents in the hope of them taking Y-DNA tests, which should either disprove the theory or show that it is worthy of further investigation, but that is on the horizon for now. In any case, some sort of documentary evidence would be required.

Stephen Ricketts: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/111930837/family?cfpid=250091803259

Christopher Ricketts: https://www.ancestry.co.uk/family-tree/tree/4793792/family?cfpid=7017981075

Any insights from anyone please? I feel that I have exhausted my capabilities (and my reserves) with this.

Thank you,
Henry

Thank you very much for that. There are Ricketts events in Broad Blunsdon going further back in time, which suggests that the family was there when Christopher was born (not conclusive, obviously, but it increases the likelihood) so missing records could well be the explanation.

The Ricketts name has been reasonably well studied using Y-chromosome DNA testing, and the West Knoyle branch appears to be unrelated to my branch, at least within the surname era. Of course that could be for more than one reason, but at least in the case of my line we have genetic surname matches going back multiple centuries.

The details you found for Mary Speck match up with what I've found for her as well, which is reassuring.