At Odcombe Somerset

[keithj]

Hello, flight of fancy time.....

I'm looking for information regarding 3 people with entries in the Odcombe PRs.

Somewhere/somewhen Revd James Richards married Margaret <surname unknown>. He became the Rector at Odcombe and died in 1759 at Odcombe. He was buried in the church chancel.

I'm looking for information on the marriage and where they may have come from.

Margaret then remarried (1760 at Odcombe) to John Donne. They had two children I can find, Margaret (1761) and Elizabeth (1765). She died in 1780 and was buried with her first husband James Richards in the church chancel.

I'm looking for any information on John Donne, as his daughter Elizabeth married James Baker of the Baker family of Chiselborough/Ilton etc.

Thank you all most kindly,
Keith Jeffery

[djm297]

Hi

There is a John Donne baptised at Wast Chinnock-nearby- on 9 April 1739-son of John and Grace.
Also a John Donne is buried at Oddcombe on 27 Oct 1757.

I can not find a marriage for John & Grace-but there are quite a few Donnes in that area of Somerset...I'll have a quick look at Dorset records as they are "on the border"!

djm297

[keithj]

Thanks for that,

Here is the text in the PR for the burial of Margaret Donn....

Octor 13 (1780) Mrs Margaret ye wife of Mr Jno Donn she was ye relicks of ye late Revd James Richards Rector of ye Parish; she was buried in Chancel, her corps was laid down upon her former Husband; you go over their feet as you go into the Ile.

Um, I'd say that, along with the unusual entry, that John was still alive in 1780...:-)

The problem with Odcombe as I see it is that sizeable chunks of the PRs seem to be missing.

Ah well,
Keith

Hi

There is a John Donne baptised at Wast Chinnock-nearby- on 9 April 1739-son of John and Grace.
Also a John Donne is buried at Oddcombe on 27 Oct 1757.

I can not find a marriage for John & Grace-but there are quite a few Donnes in that area of Somerset...I'll have a quick look at Dorset records as they are "on the border"!

djm297

[djm297]

Hi

I had wondered if the 1757 burial might be that of John married to Grace-so possible father of the John in question.

Also in Oddcombe is the burial of John Donn on 10 April 1805, Age 65...therefore born in 1740ish.

djm297

[arthurk]

Somewhere/somewhen Revd James Richards married Margaret <surname unknown>. He became the Rector at Odcombe and died in 1759 at Odcombe. He was buried in the church chancel.

I'm looking for information on the marriage and where they may have come from.

James appears in the Clergy Database at http://theclergydatabase.org.uk/ - free site, no registration required.

I'd recommend you to look for yourself, but briefly, it says he was son of a John of St Margaret's Westminster (you can work out his approximate year of birth too), and an alumnus of Christ Church, Oxford. He was ordained priest in Oxford in 1734, but the only church appointment mentioned is at Odcombe, from 1744. As well as church records, the entry mentions Foster's Alumni Oxonienses, the standard reference work; it's available at Ancestry or the Internet Archive.

A few weeks ago there was a query here about someone who might have had a similar career path. In that case it appeared that he had been ordained and then appointed a fellow of his college (Balliol). Fellows weren't supposed to marry, I believe, though some of them did so on the quiet. It seemed likely that the Balliol chap married in Woodstock, a few miles from Oxford, and subsequently there were some likely baptisms of children in Oxford city parishes.

So it might be worth exploring whether James Richards married around 1734-44 in the Oxford area, and if he had any children there. It would also definitely be worth looking to see what records are available for Christ Church alumni/fellows.

[keithj]

Thank you so much for the pointers and information.

I didn't know about the C of E database, so that's great.

For anyone who's interested.

Margaret is Margaret Bean. She was the daughter of the Revd Reginald Bean, Rector of North Perrott, Somerset.

She married James Richards on 21/11/1749 at North Perrott, Somerset.

James Richards has the following entry in the Oxford University Records:
James Richards son John of St Margaret's, Westminster gent. Matric Christ Church College 25 June 1728 aged 18. B.A. 1732 M.A. 18 Mar 1734/35.

The only baptism I can find is: (This is not confirmed)
22 Aug 1709 James son John & Rose Richards of Rate (or Ratc:): Marr at St Dunstan & All Saints Stepney.

I have no idea what the Rate:Marr means. I've figured that the Rate bit is an abbreviation for the place they come from, while Marr is an abbreviation for the father's occupation.

Again, thanks kindly.
Keith

Somewhere/somewhen Revd James Richards married Margaret <surname unknown>. He became the Rector at Odcombe and died in 1759 at Odcombe. He was buried in the church chancel.

I'm looking for information on the marriage and where they may have come from.

James appears in the Clergy Database at http://theclergydatabase.org.uk/ - free site, no registration required.

I'd recommend you to look for yourself, but briefly, it says he was son of a John of St Margaret's Westminster (you can work out his approximate year of birth too), and an alumnus of Christ Church, Oxford. He was ordained priest in Oxford in 1734, but the only church appointment mentioned is at Odcombe, from 1744. As well as church records, the entry mentions Foster's Alumni Oxonienses, the standard reference work; it's available at Ancestry or the Internet Archive.

A few weeks ago there was a query here about someone who might have had a similar career path. In that case it appeared that he had been ordained and then appointed a fellow of his college (Balliol). Fellows weren't supposed to marry, I believe, though some of them did so on the quiet. It seemed likely that the Balliol chap married in Woodstock, a few miles from Oxford, and subsequently there were some likely baptisms of children in Oxford city parishes.

So it might be worth exploring whether James Richards married around 1734-44 in the Oxford area, and if he had any children there. It would also definitely be worth looking to see what records are available for Christ Church alumni/fellows.

[djm297]

Ratc=Ratcliffe, and Marr = Mariner according to London East End & Dockland baptisms on FindMyPast.

djm297

[arthurk]

A mariner from Ratcliffe doesn't really seem consistent with a gentleman from Westminster.

If you have access to FindMyPast, you can see a possible baptism at St Margaret's Westminster in March 1709/10, which names both his parents.

Did you follow up Christ Church at all? Their archives site is at https://www.chch.ox.ac.uk/library-and-archives/archives and the page on Archive Collections includes the invitation "Please feel free to ring or e-mail to ask any questions about the content of the archive."