Person:Mary Coulson (9)

Mary Coulson was baptised on 23rd October 1734 at Watton at Stone in Hertfordshire. She was the daughter of Thomas and Lucy Coulson.

On 19th September 1754, when she was nineteen years old, Mary married Benjamin Hornet, who was from the nearby parish of Shephall. They married in Watton and had their first daughter baptised there less than two months later. They then moved to live in Shephall for the next few years, having eight children baptised there between 1756 and 1766. They then moved to the neighbouring parish of Knebworth where they had a son baptised in 1769, before moving again to the nearby small town of Stevenage, where their youngest two children were baptised in 1773 and 1775. Some of the children's baptism records describe Benjamin as a labourer.

They later returned to Knebworth, where Benjamin died in 1790, aged sixty. After his death, Mary returned to Stevenage, where she died at the age of 64, being buried at Stevenage on 25th November 1798.

1. ↑ Church of England. Parish Registers of Watton, 1560-1928. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   1734 / Oct[ober] 23 Mary the daughter of Thomas & Lucy Coulson was baptised

   This baptism has been linked to the Mary Coulson who married Benjamin Hornet on the basis that:
   1. It is in the same parish in which they married;
   2. It is close to the time implied by the age given on her burial;
   3. One of the witnesses to her marriage was a Thomas Coulson, same as the father on this baptism; and
   4. Mary and Benjamin's second daughter was given the (relatively uncommon for the time) name Lucy, which is the same name as the mother on this baptism.

2. ↑ Church of England. Stevenage Parish registers, 1538-1928. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   Buried 1798 / November 25th / Mary Hornet, 66 [1731/2] / Widow