Introduction

Roger Purchase lived primarily at Hardington, where he worked as a farm labourer. He lost his first wife after just seven years of marriage and remarried three years later. After his second marriage to Susannah Guppy of North Perrott, he spent several years living in her home parish. Following Susannah’s death in 1845, he became a pauper.

Birth

Roger was born at Hardington in about 1776, the eighth child of ten children born to Roger and Elizabeth Purchase.

First marriage

On 18 June 1797, Roger married Elizabeth Spicer at Hardington. Roger was about 21 years old, and Elizabeth was probably of a similar age. Both signed the marriage register with a mark. Roger’s older brother, Benjamin, was one of the witnesses to the marriage.

Roger and Elizabeth had one daughter, Sarah, born on 14 December 1799.

Elizabeth died in January 1804; her age is not recorded in the Hardington burial register.

Second marriage

On 28 September 1807, Roger married Susannah Guppy at North Perrott. At that time, Roger was about 31 years old, while Susannah was around 33. They both signed the marriage register with a mark.

North Perrott

Roger and Susan had three children at North Perrott: Robert, born on 22 October 1807; Mary, born on 6 July 1809; and Robert, born on 19 April 1812.

Return to Hardington

By June 1841, Roger and Susan had returned to Hardington. The 1843 tithe survey shows Roger as the occupier of a house at Hardington Marsh, owned by Thomas Mudford (number 688), as well as a small plot owned by Lord Ilchester (number 686) and an allotment in Cold Harbour (475).

The 1841 census recorded Roger and Susannah living at Hardington Marsh with three others, who were probably lodgers: Sarah Eastment, aged 50; her eighteen-year-old illegitimate son, John, a labourer; and John Dungey, aged 35, a mason. Roger himself was also a labourer.

Susannah’s death

Susannah died in April 1845 at the age of 71.

Pauper

By March 1851, Roger was a pauper, lodging in the High Street with fellow paupers John and Betsy Slade.

Death

Roger died in January 1855 at the age of 80.

Children

Roger and Elizabeth had one child, Sarah, who married George Richards, a labourer, at Chedington in 1845. She resided at Chedington and Allington and died in 1870.

Roger and Susannah had three children:

1807- Robert (married Ruth Taylor at Hardington in 1832; resided at Hardington where he worked primarily as a farm labourer; died in the Yeovil workhouse in 1864);

1809- Mary (married Joseph Hamblin, a journeyman carpenter, in 1839; resided at Bridgwater and Stoford; Joseph died in 1850; married John Woolmington, a farm labourer, in 1859; died in 1874);

1812- Edward (married Caroline Green at Barwick in 1839; after a brief spell as a grocer at Stoford, he became a coachman, working at Yeovil, Upwey and Radipole; died in 1879).