Person:John Males (4)

John Males was born on 12th February 1754 and baptised five days later at Cottered in Hertfordshire, son of Mary Males, formerly Dearman, and her husband John Males, a yeoman farmer.

When John was still quite young the family moved about nine miles south-west to Codicote, where they were living by the early 1760s when John's older siblings started marrying there. John was married at Codicote on 10th December 1772 to Elizabeth Pearce. They went on to have a daughter called Mary baptised at Codicote in 1774. John's parents returned to the Cottered area around 1774, taking a lease of Shaw Green Farm in the neighbouring parish of Rushden in that year.

It is not entirely clear what happened to John and Elizabeth after 1774. There was a Sarah Males baptised in Codicote in 1790 who was described as the daughter of John and Elizabeth, although given the sixteen year gap it is far from certain that this is the same couple. No burial has been found for Elizabeth.

John's father died in 1793 at Rushden, and his mother died there in 1807. John's mother's will, written in September 1806 names him as one of the beneficiaries, indicating that he was still alive at this time.

There was a John Males buried at Codicote on 14th March 1821 which may well be him. He was said to be 73 years old, whereas the John born at Cottered in 1754 would only have been 67, although a margin of error of six years is not unusual for the period. If this is him, he had been living in the Rabley Heath area of Codicote before his death.

1. ↑ ^1.0 1.1 Church of England. Parish Church of Cottered. Parish registers, 1558-1977. (Hertford: Security Microfilms, 1975-1989).

   Baptized at Cottered / 1754 / Mailes / John Son of John Mailes Farmer & Mary his wife (born Feb[ruary] 12]) Feb[ruary] 17

2. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. Codicote Parish Registers, 1559-1929. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Codicote in the County of Hertford in the Year 1821
   No.	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   97	John Males	Robley Heath Codicote	March 14	73 years [1747/8]	T.J. Jaumard