| Notes |
- http://thurgartonhistory.co.uk/2010/12/the-featherstones-of-thurgarton/?fbclid=IwAR1jiVhpQeR6Z7BFKaiKZeYyWdKv0yolJrOeFW71OUTCRpfLD1LmDGBTNXI
The next entry for a Featherstone in the parish records is that of 9 July 1727 - the baptism of Henry base son of Mary Featherston.
Illegitimacy was not uncommon and most cases were recorded in the stark words ‘ base born’. Besides questions of morality the main concern for the parish authorities was financial - who would support the single mother and child? In 1727 the responsibility rested on the parish and each villager paid into a local parish fund for the support of needy parishioners - the parish Poor Rate. The identity of the child’s father would have been vigorously pursued by the parish officers especially the Overseer of the Poor. If single the man was often ‘persuaded’ to marry and provide for the new family - to the relief of both the village’s moral majority but more importantly to the parish rates.
The church wardens’ records of 1727 mention one Joseph Hall as the child’s father but no marriage took place . Three years later Mary married Richard Stubbins - 1730, 2nd March marriage between Richard Stubbins and Mary Fetherstone. Richard and Mary lived on Beck Street in the cottage that is now called Appletree Cottage; he paid £3-18-10 per year in rent for his house and two acres of land.
They had six children of which only three survived. In 1733, 1734 and 1737 Mary gave birth to a daughter; each one was baptised with the name Elizabeth but none survived beyond infancy. Estimates of infant mortality in the 18th century for England vary somewhat - about 1 in 3 children died before reaching the age of 1 year. The repeated use of the same Christian name, as seen with Elizabeth in the Featherstone family above, was quite a common practice. At the same period the Hart family of Old Farm, Thurgarton had three daughters each christened Anne of which only one survived- the Harts were yeoman farmers but wealth evidently did not protect against the loss of a newborn child.
Richard Stubbins died in 1760 and Mary in 1770.
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