Fantastic, thank you. what a fact, although 2 years of dropsy can't have been pleasant, what a story!
this all helps me with the next generation back.
the Dowse connection makes sense as his mother Eliz Gray was a widower when she married his father William Wake in 1767 in Long Sutton, Lincs. Her first husband was possibly Thomas Gray, married in 1764, Long Sutton, he was a grazier, and with whom she had Elizabeth and Rebekkah possibly twins. Whilst I've not been able to locate the death of Thomas Gray, can anyone help out here? It must have been before 1767.
Eliz Gray's maiden name was Dowse, hence when she married William Wake in 1767 and had Thomas Wake in 1770, he is known as Thomas John Dowse? I've not been able to find the date of death of this Eliz Gray, particularly as daughter also Eliz Gray.