John Watkins and Mary Barrett lived in Bristol in the UK. They were my 4th great-grandparents.
John was born in Bristol in 1769. Mary was born in 1770, also in Bristol. It is likely that both families had lived in the Somerset and Gloucestershire area for many generations. Working class people did not move very much before the industrial revolution! John and Mary were both baptised at St George, Bristol and that is also where they were married in 1791. Mary was 20 and John was 21.
John and Mary had three children born between 1791 and 1795. Ann was born in 1791, Thomas in 1793 and John in 1795. All were baptised at St George Bristol.
The eldest child, Ann, died in March 1797 aged five. Only four months later Mary also died. She was only 26. John was left a widower with two small boys aged one and four. It is possible that he remarried, but there is not enough evidence to be sure (there were several people named John Watkins in Bristol at the time).
John died in 1807 aged 38. The two remaining children were orphaned, but at 11 and 14 they were both probably already working, so may have been able to look after themselves. One or both of their mother's parents were still living in Bristol, so they boys may have had a home there.
The eldest boy, Thomas worked as a carter in Bristol until 1814 when he was arrested and charged with stealing a horse. He was convicted of the charge and sentenced to death, but the sentence was later commuted to transportation to New South Wales for life. Thomas' story will feature in a future post.
The youngest child John Jr worked as a labourer, carrier, fish trader and fruiterer. He lived in Calne, Wiltshire where he raised a family of five children with his common-law wife, Elizabeth Gee.
John and Mary Watkins were baptised, married and buried in the St George parish in Bristol, but none of their descendants remained in the area.
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