Person:Mary Males (3)

Mary Males was born on 7th August 1741 and baptised later that month at Cottered in Hertfordshire. She was the daughter of Mary Males, formerly Dearman, and her husband John Males, a farmer. Young Mary appears to have been the couple's second child, and they went on to have several more children at Cottered until the late 1750s.

By 1762, Mary had moved about nine miles south-west of Cottered to the parish of Codicote. It seems likely that the whole family had moved there, as several of Mary's siblings married or settled in the Codicote area, whilst her father was later described as a yeoman of Codicote. On 23rd November 1762, aged 21, Mary married a labourer called George Hornet at Codicote.

Mary and George went on to have eleven children together between 1763 and 1785. Their first child was baptised at Codicote, after which they moved to the neighbouring parish of Welwyn, where the other ten children were baptised. Three of the children died young. Mary and George appear to have lived in Welwyn for the rest of their lives.

Mary's parents returned to northern Hertfordshire in 1774 - her father took a lease that year of Shaw Green Farm at Rushden, not far from Cottered. Mary's father died there in 1793, and her mother died in 1807. Mary was one of the beneficiaries of her mother's will.

Mary saw at least 34 grandchildren born in her lifetime, with her first known grandchild born in 1788, when Mary was 46 years old.

George died in 1812, aged 73. Mary outlived him by thirteen years. She died at the age of 84, and was buried at Welwyn on 12th December 1825.

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

   Baptized at Cottered / 1741 / Mailes / Mary Daug[hte]r of John Mailes Jun[io]r (Farmer) & Mary his wife (born Aug[us]t 7) Aug[ust] 24

   This baptism has been linked to the Mary who married George Hornet on the basis of the will of Mary Males of Rushden who died in 1807. This will refers to her daughter Mary wife of George Hornet, and refers to other children which correspond to the sequence of children of John and Mary Males / Mailes baptised at Cottered between the 1730s and 1750s.

2. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. Welwyn Parish Registers, 1558-1939. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Welwyn in the County of Hertford in the Year 1825
   No.	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   278	Mary Hornet	Welwyn	1825 12th December	Years 90	J.S. Bawks Curate