Person:Mary Unknown (5707)

Mary's origins and maiden name are unknown. Her first sighting is the baptism of her first child on 24th May 1812 at Letchworth in Hertfordshire, when she was apparently already married to George Parsons. One possibility is that they were the Mary Hopkins and George Parsons who married on 6th June 1812 at St George Hanover Square in the western suburbs of London. This marriage is a couple of weeks after the baptism of their first child, but perhaps they felt it necessary to go somewhere anonymous to marry having not done so before their daughter's birth. However, there were clearly other couples called George and Mary Parsons having children in the London area around this time as well, making it hard to be sure.

Mary and George had six children together between 1812 and 1822, with the first four baptised at Letchworth in the north of Hertfordshire, before moving about fifteen miles south to Kimpton, where the youngest two children were baptised. The family appears to have settled at Gustard Wood, which straddles the border between Kimpton and the neighbouring parish of Wheathampstead.

Mary died aged 61 and was buried on 3rd January 1841 at Wheathampstead. George outlived her by seventeen years.

1.   Deaths index, in General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration. (London: General Register Office).

   d. Mary PARSONS, March Quarter 1841, St Albans Registration District, Volume 6, page 319, aged 61 [1779/80]

2. ↑ ^2.0 2.1 Burials register, in Church of England. Wheathampstead Parish Registers. (Hertford: Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Wheathampstead in the County of Hertford in the Year 1841
   No.	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   841	Mary Parsons	Gustard Wood	Jan[uar]y 3d 1841	61 years	[illegible]