Person:John Hornet (3)

John Hornet was baptised on 22nd February 1767 at Welwyn in Hertfordshire, son of Mary Hornet, formerly Mailes, and her husband George Hornet, a labourer.

John was married on 1st November 1791, aged 24, to a Mary Wingrove. They married at Kimpton, about four miles west of Welwyn. They had five children altogether between 1792 and 1806 - the eldest two baptised at Kimpton and the younger three baptised at neighbouring Wheathampstead.

John died in 1806, being buried on 16th September 1806 at Kimpton. He was 39. Mary was left with five children ranging in age from about 14 down to just five months old. John's burial records that he had lived at Gustard Wood, a hamlet which straddles the boundary between Wheathampstead and Kimpton parishes.

Mary outlived John by over 40 years - she appears in the 1841 census living at Great Cutts in Wheathampstead with some of John's sister's children. John's parents also both survived him.

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

   Baptisms in the year 1767
   Hornet, John the Son of George Hornet (Labourer) and Mary his Wife - Febr[uary] 22d

   This baptism has been identified on the basis that Welwyn is close to Kimpton where John married, and this John had a sister Elizabeth whose children were living with John's widow in the 1841 census. Also, this John's sister Catherine married a Nathaniel Haggar, who was one of the witnesses to John's marriage. The age at burial appears to be seven years out, but this is not unusual. A 1767 baptism makes him 24 when he married, which would be more typical for the time than the early 30s suggested by the age quoted at his burial.

2. ↑ Church of England. Kimpton Parish Registers.

   Burials 1806
   Sep[tembe]r 16 John Hornett from Gustard Wood aged 46 years [1759/60]