Person:Matthias Spry (3)

Matthias Spry was baptised on 16th February 1777 at Bere Ferrers in Devon, son of Matthias and Elizabeth Spry. In 1806, aged 29, he married Mary Drake, who was about 23 and also from Bere Ferrers. Between 1807 and 1816 Matthias and Mary had six children baptised at Bere Ferrers, although their third child died as a baby.

Matthias worked as a husbandman and the family lived at Beer Town, which was how Bere Ferrers village was often described at the time.

Matthias was buried on 25th January 1819 at Bere Ferrers, aged about 42. Mary was left with five children aged between twelve and two to look after. She outlived Matthias by 53 years.

1. ↑ Church of England. Parish Registers of Bere Ferrers. (Exeter: Devon Heritage Services).

   1777 / Feb[ruary] 16 / Matthias son of Matthias & Elizabeth Spry

   This baptism has been linked to the Matthias Spry who married Mary Drake in 1806 on the basis that it is at about the right time to match the age quoted at Matthias's burial in 1819 and in the same parish in which all his sightings as an adult occur. Moreover, no evidence has been found to suggest that the Matthias baptised in 1777 died young or married anyone else.

2. ↑ Burials register, in Church of England. Parish Registers of Bere Ferrers. (Exeter: Devon Heritage Services).

   BURIALS in the Parish of Beer Ferris n[ea]r Tavistock in the County of Devon in the Year 1819
   No.	Name	Abode	When buried	Age	By whom the Ceremony was performed
   207	Matthias Spry	Beer Town	Jan[ua]ry 25th	42 [1776/7]	Rd. Reed