6^th Great Grandfather - FFFFMFMF¹

John Stratton was the father of Mary Stratton, my fifth great grandmother who married John Jefferis Couch in 1740. I have not been able to find out a lot about the Strattons. It appears that they were a non-conformist family, and there is not as good coverage of non-conformist records on Ancestry.com.

Although the register is not clear, I think John married Mary Connick on 2^nd May 1717 at Temple Church in Bristol. His wife was certainly called Mary, as she is referenced in the marriage of their son Hugh², and her last name was also Connick as John is referenced in Mary’s father’s will³, as Hugh’s son-in-law.

While I have not been able to find baptism records for any children, apparently John and Mary had at least 4 children. My 5^th great grandmother Mary was born about 1718. In her grandson’s journal, he claims she was 84 years old when she died but if the marriage record is correct the earliest she could have been born was late 1717.

Next was Hugh, who was also born about 1718, as his burial entry says he was 77 years old at the time of his death in 1795⁴. Hugh was apparently the favourite grandchild of his maternal grandfather Hugh Connick, as he received the bulk of his grandfather’s estate when his grandfather died, even taking preference over his grandfather’s surviving sons Interestingly, a significant portion of the estate Hugh inherited was the Malthouse called “The Strattons” which my Nurse ancestor’s later acquired. Robert Nurse, when he first moved to Hanham from Compton Dando initially rented or leased the Malthouse from Hugh, the first reference being in the Land tax Assessment of 1780 when Robert is listed as the occupier and Hugh as the owner responsible for the Land Tax⁵.

In addition to Hugh, his grandfather’s will mentions two other grandchildren, Hugh’s younger brothers, John and Cornelius. I have found further evidence of John, for example his burial on 23 October 1769⁶, and the baptism of his children, Elizabeth on 1^st June 1761⁷, Mary on 27^th October 1765⁸ and Esther on 9^th April 1769⁹. However, I have found no definitive information on Cornelius, other than the reference in his grandfather’s will.

There is a burial reference to a Cornelius Stratton of Hanham, son of John who was buried in 1727, so there might have been an earlier son, who died before the later Cornelius was born.

John Stratton died in 1754 and was buried in the Bitton Workhouse on 30^th May 1754¹⁰. His wife Mary died in 1756, and was buried at the Workhouse in St Philip and St Jacob parish on 1^st August 1756¹¹. Apparently John died Intestate.

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