Birth

John, the son of John and Betty Barrett, was born at Corscombe in about 1785.

Marriage

On 5 January 1807, John married Elizabeth Dawe at Melbury Bubb. She was the daughter of Thomas and Grace Clarke Dawe.

Melbury Osmond

John was a farmer at Melbury Osmond until at least 1816.

Marsh Farm, Hardington

John and his family lived at Marsh Farm, Hardington by 1832. John is listed on the voters’ lists from 1832 to 1847 as the occupier of land, including Marsh Farm. The 1843 tithe survey recorded John as the occupier of 99 acres owned by Lord Portman.

John’s grandson, Francis John Genge, the son of John’s daughter, Elizabeth, lived at Marsh Farm for much of his childhood.

The 1841 census shows a resident servant at the farm named Job Eastment, aged 16.

Inheritance

In 1836, Elizabeth inherited £50 from her father. Thomas Dawe. Her father also released her husband, John, from all debts due to him.[1]

Death of son

John and Elizabeth’s son, John, died in August 1838, aged 30.

Financial collapse

In about 1847, John passed the farm over to Elizabeth’s brother, Thomas Bodley Dawe, and by March 1851, John was a mere farm labourer. This evidence suggests a dramatic decline in John’s prosperity and status.

He had also lost his hearing as the 1851 census recorded him as deaf.

Deaths

John’s grandson, Francis, died in May 1852, aged 17.

John died in June 1854, aged 69. Elizabeth died in October 1858, aged 75.

Children

John and Elizabeth had two sons and two daughters.

References

[1] The will of Thomas Genge, dated 13 November 1834, proved in London on 9 April 1836.