Birth

 John, the second child of John and Eleanor Griffin, was born at Stockland, Devon, in about 1813.

Pendomer

John moved to Pendomer with his parents between 1827 and 1841.

Marriage

On 15 November 1841, at the Yeovil Registry Office, John married Edith Genge, the daughter of Richard and Edith Genge. Edith was eight years older than John.

John and Edith lived at Pendomer until at least 1847.

Hardington

By March 1851, John and his family had moved to Hardington Marsh.[1] According to the 1851 census, he was a farmer of one acre, but as so small an area would not support him and his family, he must have had another source of income.

Death

John died at South Petherton on 13 May 1855, aged about 42.

Edith’s later life

By 1859, Edith kept the New Inn at Chiselborough.

Running an inn would have been challenging for a widow, and for Edith to take it on at the age of 49 or 50 suggests both toughness of character and previous experience. Perhaps she and John ran a beer house at Hardington Marsh.

On 2 May 1860, Yeovil magistrates fined Edith £1 and costs for having defective weights and measures.[2]

She left the inn between April 1872 and August 1878.[3] Her later whereabouts are unknown.

Children

John and Edith had one son who died in infancy and three daughters.

References

[1] John’s daughter, Mary Ellen, born c 1842, is not recorded on the 1851 census.

[2] Bridgwater Mercury, 9 May 1860, p.8.

[3] Western Gazette, 5 April 1872, p.8; 6 September 1878, p.6.