Person:John Stocker (10)

John Stocker's origins have yet to be established. His first confirmed sighting is in 1752, when he and his wife Mary had daughter, Ann, baptised at Oving in Sussex. There appear to have been at least three couples called John Stocker and Mary who married around that time, although judging by the sequence of baptisms it would appear that only one of those three couples went on to have children locally.

John and Mary had eleven children baptised between 1752 and 1767, the first nine at Oving and the last two at neighbouring South Bersted.

Mary died in 1781. John survived her by nearly seven years. He died in 1788, being buried at South Bersted on 22nd January 1788. He was described as a yeoman.

1. ↑ Church of England. Parish Church of South Bersted (Sussex). Parish registers of South Bersted, 1564-1904. (Chichester: West Sussex County Council).

   [1765] John Stocker 13th Sept[embe]r Buried
   1788 / Jan[ua]ry 22 / John Stocker (Yeoman)

   Two John Stocker burials at South Bersted – as John’s youngest children were not baptised until 1767 it is assumed that he is highly likely to be the man buried in 1788.