Person:Mary Roe (19)

Mary Roe's origins have yet to be established. Her first sighting is on 6th October 1734 when she was married to a carpenter named Joseph Puddephatt at the White Horse Inn in the 'Liberty of the Fleet' in the City of London - an area where irregular marriages were allowed. Mary was a spinster of Caddington, whilst Joseph was also described as being from Caddington. Caddington parish is about 34 miles north-west of London. At that time (and until 1897) it straddled the counties of Hertfordshire and Bedfordshire; the parish church was in Bedfordshire but two thirds of the parish was in Hertfordshire. The Hertfordshire section of the parish included part of the village of Markyate on the Watling Street, then an important stage coach route from London to the north-west, so getting from Caddington to London would have been relatively straightforward.

Mary and Joseph returned to Caddington after their marriage; between 1735 and 1754 there are seven children baptised to the couple at Caddington. Mary and Joseph's children's baptisms are almost the first appearance of any Puddephatts in the Caddington registers - the only earlier Puddephatt was a marriage of an Ann Putefote and Edward Taylor in 1712, suggesting that Joseph had moved to Caddington from elsewhere.

Of Mary and Joseph's seven children, their daughter Ann died at the age of fifteen in 1755. Their sons Jeremiah and John both stayed in Caddington and had families there. The other children, Mary, Elizabeth, Samuel and Susan, do not appear in the Caddington registers again after their baptisms.

Mary's son Jeremiah was married at Caddington in 1765 to Ann Puttman with whom he had six children between 1769 and 1780, who are Joseph and Mary's first known grandchildren. Jeremiah worked as a carpenter, following Joseph's trade, and lived in Markyate.

Mary's son John married Elizabeth Briden. John and Elizabeth had banns read at Caddington in 1775, but then did not marry until 1778, when they were married at Kimpton, a few miles east of Caddington. John and Elizabeth returned to Caddington after their marriage and would go on to have seven children together there.

Joseph was buried at Caddington on 22nd October 1780. His burial record does not say how old he was, but he and Mary had been married for 46 years. Mary outlived him by four years and was buried at Caddington on 23rd December 1784.

1. ↑ Bedfordshire Family History Society. Caddington Parish Register Transcript 1538-1812. (Bedford).

   bur. 23 Dec 1784: Mary PUDDIPHAT p. woman

   Needs to be confirmed at Bedfordshire Archives.