In April 1861, John Robert Dowell was a journeyman blacksmith living at Hardington Marsh.

Childhood

John was born at Toller Porcorum in about 1816. He was the oldest child of John Dowell, the village schoolmaster.

Marriage

On 19 February 1846, at Closworth, John married Caroline Patten, a servant working in the parish. Caroline, the daughter of John Patten, a gamekeeper, was born at Pendomer, and her parents lived for a few years at Hardington.

Life at Closworth, Chilfrome and East Chelborough

At the time of his marriage and for a year or two afterwards, John lived at Closworth, where he probably worked as a journeyman blacksmith. However, both the marriage and baptism registers describe him as a labourer.

By June 1849, John was a blacksmith at Chilfrome, where his brother, George, was a dairyman.

In 1851 and 1852, John was a blacksmith at East Chelborough.

Life at Hardington

By June 1855, John and his family were at Hardington, living at the Marsh in a house owned by Michael Mudford. When John’s daughter, Mary Ann Charlotte Dowell, was baptised at Hardington on 9 October 1859, John gave his occupation as “Engine Driver”, which probably meant operator of an agricultural traction engine.

Death

In April 1871, John was a blacksmith at Wraxall. He died in 1875, aged 59, probably at Wraxall or nearby.

Caroline’s later life

By April 1881, all of John’s children had left home, and Caroline, his widow, was a laundress at Frome St Quentin, sharing her home with a lodger named John Miles. He was a carter from Evershot, twenty-one years younger than her.

John and Caroline were married in the second quarter of 1881. By April 1891, they had moved to Mudford, where John worked as a cowman on a farm. Caroline died at the Dairy House, Upper Mudford, in January 1903 at the age of 81.