William Beddoes of Much Wenlock
I am keen to hear from anyone who can add to what I know of William Beddoes of Madeley & Much Wenlock. He has many descendants in the USA and I have much on his family there and in the UK. This is what I have so far on William himself:-
WILLIAM BEDDOES
of Madeley & Much Wenlock. born: 22nd May 1784 at West Mydelle, Shropshire [IGI-Afile] - this is likely to be incorrect as he would then have been aged 13 when his first child was born (unusually young even for those times, but certainly not impossible). The family group recorded in the IGI's Ancestral File database appears rather confused in relation with this family, linking people who were clearly not part of this branch. The American branch of this family (see descendants below) believe that William was from Stephens [ES] - as it happens there is a place (found on an Ordnance Survey map) called STEVENSHILL c.1.5 kilometres south of the village of Cound and c.3 kilometres west of Cressage and c.9 kiilometres north west of Much Wenlock; one can see a building on the map on the edge of the hill and a few farms around it, including Moreton Farm - perhaps a 1:25:000 map would have given more farm names, including one called Stephens (it is interesting how family folk memory keeps alive faint memories from quite distant years). William married Susannah Hodgkiss. The parish register records that William Beddoes of Madeley Parish married Susannah Hodgkiss of Madeley Parish on 23rd February 1797 at Dawley Magna, Shropshire. Witnesses are recorded as: William Hodgkiss and John Felton. On that same day, John Bourne married Susannah Evans, both of Madeley Parish, at Madeley. The register records that witnesses were: Susannah Beddowes (just married) and William Hodgkiss [PR]. Susannah appears to have died in 1813; the parish registers [BT] record that Susannah Beddoes [of] Much Wenlock [aged] 46 was buried there on 2nd November 1813. It is quite possible that she is the same person as Susannah Hotchkiss who is recorded as ch: 11th February 1770 at Much Wenlock, the daughter of William & Susannah Hotchkiss [IGI], despite the slight difference in spelling of the surname.