When John Partridge was about 56 years old, in 1769, he inherited
a manor house from his cousin Joseph. Earlier
in his life, John wouldn’t have expected this inheritance as he had various
uncles and male cousins who should have inherited the property, and passed it
onto their heirs, had they had any that survived long enough.
John Partridge was born in Miserden, Gloucestershire, around
1713 and baptised in Miserden parish church on 18 November 1713. Miserden is a small picturesque village in the
Cotswolds. At the time in that parish, the Rector only recorded the bare
minimum amount of information, a name and a date, so John’s parents were not named. However, based on a process of elimination
using various Partridge family wills and a 1714 electoral roll, John’s father must
have been Nathaniel Partridge and, therefore, his mother was Nathaniel’s wife,
Ann Burrows.
Nathaniel Partridge was the sixth son of Henry Partridge of
Wishanger, so seemingly unlikely to inherit the family estate. However, three of the older brothers, Henry,
Robert and John, died without having children of their own. Thomas Partridge, the brother who inherited Wishanger
from father Henry, had one son who seems not to have survived childhood, so the
property was left to his brother Henry’s oldest son, Freeman. And yes, there were two (half) brothers both named
Henry. The two Henry’s can be clearly
distinguished in their father’s will. Freeman Partridge died relatively young and
without having a son, so Wishanger went to his younger brother Joseph. Their two other brothers, Thomas and John,
must have died young as they were not mentioned in Freeman’s will. Joseph did not marry, so Wishanger ultimately
passed onto his cousin John, my ancestor.
Joseph Partridge left his other property to his sister’s son, Partridge
Smith who married Freeman’s daughter Susanna.
Fortunately the family wills explain the various relationships in some
detail. As Joseph Partridge was only five
years older than John, even when John because Joseph’s heir, John may have
expected his son’s to inherit, rather than himself.
John Partridge had at least one sister, Rebecca, born about
1700; both are mentioned in their Uncle Thomas’ will of 1752 as siblings. John Partridge lost his father in 1717 when
he was about 4 years old. Nathaniel died
intestate (without a will), so there is no will to conveniently list family members.
John’s mother, Ann, seems to have re-married in 1719 to Andrew Soul. There may have been some half siblings but
without parent’s names in the Miserden parish register, I can’t be sure. Andrew Soul died in 1726, so John lost his
stepfather, as well as his father, while still a child.
On 19 February 1734/5*, John Partridge married Ann Moss (or Morse)
in Pitchcombe, Gloucestershire. John and
Ann had five children, Harry, Thomas (my ancestor), Ann, Sarah and John, all
baptised in Miserden parish church. Ann
died in 1768. John married his second
wife, Sarah Herberts, at Stonehouse on 25 May 1771.
In additional the manor of Wishanger, John owned other land
in the area around Miserden that he left to his children in his will
Wishanger is now a B&B and some pictures can be found
here (I couldn’t find any that I was sure were public domain to include in this
post). It belonged to the Partridge
family from the 1560’s until the early 1800s.
Notes on Lineage:
Me > Dad > Helen Francis Ruth Akeroyd > Florence Ruth Kirby >
Harriet Partridge > Thomas Partridge > Nathaniel Partridge > Thomas
Partridge > John Partridge
*Prior to 1752 in England, New Year's day was 25 March so it is conventional to write dates from 1 Jan to 24 Mar like this.
