Vital Statistics
John Pinson: 1782 – 1849: GRO0506 (Agricultural Labourer, Lustleigh and Ilsington, Devon)
Mary Follett: 1782 – 1859
Married: 1808: Hennock, Devon
Children by Mary Follett:
Ann Pinson: 1809 – 1862
William Pinsent: 1811 – 1879 (Married 1) Sarah Eales, 1832, Stoke Damerel, Devon; 2) Harriet Morgan, 1840, Dursley, Gloucestershire (?))
Elizabeth Pinson: 1814 – xxxx (Married James Hext, Ilsington, Devon, 1835)
John Pinsent: 1817 – 1819
Joseph Pinson: 1819 – 1881 (Married Elizabeth Snell, 1843, Ilsington, Devon)
Sarah Pinson: 1821 – 1886 (Married John Horwills, 1846, Newton Abbot)
John Pinsent: 1823 – 1902 (Married Elizabeth Loveys, 1850, Bovey Tracey, Devon)
James Pinsent: 1825 – 1886 (Married Elizabeth Ann Unknown, xxxx, xxxx)
Samuel Pinson: 1828 – 1833
Thomas Pinson: 1830 – 1832
Family Branch: Bristol
PinsentID: GRO0506
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John Pinson was the third son of Richard Pinson by his wife Elizabeth (née Gregory). He was born in Lustleigh, where his father was an “agricultural labourer” in 1782. Richard and Elizabeth had ten children (six boys and four girls). Five of the boys and three of the girls were apprenticed out in their youth; however, only two of the boys (John Pinson and Abraham Pinson) and two of the girls (Mary and Loyalty) can be shown to have married.
John Pinson was apprenticed to a local farmer, Mr. Thomas Avery, to work at “Higher Combe” farm on Mapstone Hill above the Wray brook in 1791. He would have been eight or nine years old at the time (Lustleigh Apprenticeship Records: Devon Records Office). It seems to have been normal practice for young children of both sexes to be apprenticed out in those days, and several of John’s brothers and sisters were allocated out in a similar manner. Local farmers were expected to take them – sometimes at the insistence of the Parish “Guardians”. John was fortunate. His parents lived at “Mapstone” and he was close to home. The children served their masters for seven years or longer, according to a the terms of an agreed contract.
After serving his time, John Pinson moved to Kingsteignton to work in a mill and he claimed to be a “miller” when he married Mary Follett, in Hennock in October 1808. He had had some education and he signed the register “John Pinsent,” which shows that he had adopted the spelling used by the local landowner, Charles Pinsent at Pitt Farm. His wife Mary (née Follett) signed “by mark”. From here on in, most of the English family became “Pinsents.” However, some of John’s Australian descendants held onto the “Pinson” spelling.
John and Mary had their first child Ann Pinsent in Hennock, but they soon moved to the nearby parish of Ilsington and they had the remainder of their family (another nine children) there. They were born between 1809 and 1832. Perhaps surprisingly, they only lost three of them young; the others seem to have grown to maturity and married.
The 1841 Census shows that John was an “agricultural labourer” living with his wife at “Birchanger Vale” in Ilsington. By then, they were both were over sixty and their children had all left home. They had either married or they were still apprenticed out. John died at nearby “Bagtor Vale” in 1849. When the next census was taken, in 1851, Mary was a “widow and pauper” lodging with John Heath, a “labourer,” and his family on Fore Street in Bovey Tracey. Eventually, though, she she seems to have moved in with her third-youngest (surviving) son, John Pinsent. She was living with him at “Bridge Cottage” in Bovey Tracey when she died in 1859.
John and Mary (née Follett’s) eldest son, William Pinsent seems to have married twice. He probably had an early marriage to Sarah Eales in Plymouth in 1832 and, through her, became the progenitor of the AUSTRALIA branch of the family (see elsewhere). He definitely married Harriet Morgan – around 1840 – and built up the BRISTOL branch through her. William Pinsent’s life and times are discussed elsewhere.
John and Mary’s second son, John Pinsent, died young; however, their third, Joseph Pinson married Elizabeth Snell in Ilsington in 1843. They started their family in Devon but emigrated to Australia in 1850 and had a large family there. Joseph and Elizabeth went by the name “Pinson” and they established a major sub-branch of the family utilizing the name. Clearly, it had not completely dropped out of usage. Joseph’s life is also discussed elsewhere.
Another son called John Pinsent stayed closer to home. He married Elizabeth Loveys in Bovey Tracey in 1850. John and Mary’s fifth son, James Pinsent also stayed on in Devon. He married a girl called Elizabeth Ann (surname unknown); however, I am not sure when or where. Their lives are described elsewhere.
As for their daughters, Elizabeth was apprenticed to a Highweek farmer in 1824 – at the age of ten. She seems to have returned to Ilsington and married James Hext, of Pinchaford in 1835. Her younger sister, Sarah, married John Horwills, a “domestic servant” in 1846. It was a chapel service held in Newton Abbot, which reminds us that, although the family was nominally Anglican, it had a streak of non-conformity in it that can also be seen in the life of her uncle Abraham. The third and eldest of the three sisters, Ann, seems to have remained unmarried. She died in Ilsington in 1862.
The “Poor Laws” in place in the early 1800s decreed that (with some exceptions) the needs of the needy were to be met by his or her parish of birth. Needless to say, some ratepayers were reluctant to support their own poor, let alone outsiders and they kept an eye open for suspect recipients. The parish elders appointed “Guardians” who held “Settlement Examinations” to see if a potential claimant was eligible and if not they were quite happy to ship them back to their “home” parish. In 1835, the Chudleigh “Guardians” held an examination to see if they were responsible for John and Mary’s eldest daughter, Ann Pinsent. They found that she was born in Ilsington and had been apprenticed to Mr. Read Palk in that parish when she was twelve years old. Five or six years later, she ran away and agreed to work for a Mr. Beal of Shaldon in St. Nicholas Parish near Exeter. She stayed with him for ten months and then moved back to Ilsington for a few more. Apparently, she then drifted around for a while and eventually landed up in Christow (sic). Presumably she them moved to Chudleigh (Chudleigh Settlement Examination: Exeter City Record Office). Ann would have been around twenty-six years old at the time of the examination. She never married. She died in Chudleigh in 1862 and her sister Elizabeth, registered her death – signing the register “by mark”.
Family Tree
GRANDPARENTS
Grandfather: Unknown: xxxx – xxxx
Grandmother: Unknown: xxxx – xxxx
PARENTS
Father: Richard Pinson: 1745 – 1825
Mother: Elizabeth Gregory: 1748 – 1837
MALE SIBLINGS (BROTHERS)
Thomas Pinson: 1776 – xxxx
Richard Pinson: 1778 – 1868
John Pinson: 1782 – 1849
William Pinson: 1784 – xxxx
Joseph Pinson: 1788 – xxxx
Abraham Pinson: 1787 – 1871
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