Birth
John Paul was born in about 1784.
Marriage
On 7 November 1821, John married Sarah Bullen at Buckland Newton by banns. They both signed the register. The witnesses were Arabella Brett and Mary Bullen.
Sarah was a spinster; John was a widower of Holwell, Dorset.[1] Nothing is known about John’s earlier life.
Holwell, Dorset
John and Sarah lived at Holwell, Dorset, until at least January 1829.
Coker Hill Farm
By August 1830, John occupied Coker Hill Farm.
Two of his children were baptised at Hardington: William on 30 August 1830 and Sarah Bullen on 23 November 1832. The first entry describes John as a farmer of Coker Hill; the second describes him as a farmer of Hardington.
Three of his children were baptised at West Coker: James on 27 February 1835, Matthew on 6 February 1837, and Francis John on 7 September 1840.
John remained at Coker Hill Farm until 1842. In March 1842, it was advertised as available to let by tender for seven years. The advert described it as a corn, sheep and dairy farm of 135 acres, owned by Mrs Warry and “late in the occupation of Mr. John Paul.”[2]
Hardington
John appears to have moved to a farm in Hardington. His three-year-old son, Francis John, died at Hardington in June 1843, and his wife, Sarah, died at Hardington on 21 October 1843, aged 52. In April 1844, John was appointed as Hardington’s overseer, which suggests he occupied land.[3]
Crisis
What happened next is not clear, but John disappears from the records and his oldest child, Mary, who was only 17 when her mother died, stepped up to a key role in keeping the family together. In March 1851, she lived at Lyatts Farm, where she occupied 80 acres and employed one labourer and one boy. Living with her were her siblings, Jane, 11, Ann, 9, and Henry, 7. Her brother, Henry, 20, was a blacksmith’s apprentice at West Coker. Her brother, Matthew, 14, was in the Yeovil workhouse, where he died the following month.
References
[1] Misleadingly, the marriage register states that John was a widower of Holwell, Somerset.
[2] Dorset County Chronicle, 24 March 1842, p.1.
[3] Hardington jury lists; Dorset County Chronicle, 4 April 1844, p.4.
