John Chedzoy

DIRECT LINE, gen-6. The 1851 census (Stoke St Gregory; TNA HO107/1922, folio 330, page 8) records him as John Chidgey, HEAD, aged 53, born about 1798 at Stoke St Gregory, with wife Ann (52) and children George (6), Daniel (19), Edmund (17), Dina (12) and Harriett (10). Ancestry record This CONFIRMS he was born about 1798, which resolves the old contradiction: he married Ann in 1821 at about 23 (not 12), and he is NOT the John baptised at Stoke St Gregory in 1809 (that John was Issachar #30's infant son, a different person). CONSEQUENCE (needs review before a tree change): the recorded parent link Issachar Chedzoy (#30) -> John #28 is therefore WRONG and should be removed. John #28's true parents are not yet known (a John Chedzoy born about 1798 at Stoke St Gregory, in the parish register gap). Until they are found by record, the descent ABOVE John #28 (up through Issachar, Levi #45, to the apex Robert) is UNPROVEN. Death registered Jan-Mar 1868, Taunton registration district (which covers Stoke St Gregory), Somerset, as John Chedzoy aged ~72 (b.~1796). Source: England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index 1837-1915 (GRO; Ancestry collection 8914), retrieved 11 Jun 2026. Resolves the long-standing open death; consistent with his 1851 census age (b.~1798). DESCENT STATUS (proven vs inferred) -- for fellow researchers. The direct male line is DOCUMENTED from Chris down to John #28 (b.1798): John #28 -> John (gen-7, b.1836) -> John James (b.1861, Islington) -> Harry (b.1896) -> Ronald (b.1932) -> Chris, evidenced by the 1841-1911 censuses, civil registration (births/marriages/deaths), and the 1861 St Mary Islington marriage that records gen-7 John.s father as "John Chedgzoy" (Ancestry coll. 1623). ABOVE John #28 the line is NOT proven: his own baptism is lost in the Stoke St Gregory register gap of the late 1790s, so no surviving record names his father. The previously-recorded father Issachar #30 is DISPROVEN (the 1851 census shows John #28 b.1798, not the John baptised to Issachar in 1809). The best-supported candidate is John Chedgzoy b.1776 (a son of Levi #45 + Ann Pearce) -- on grounds of age, the naming pattern (John #28 named a son John), and the 1841 census in which their two households were the only Chedzoys at Stoke St Gregory. If correct, John #28 is a grandson of Levi #45 and the descent to the apex Robert (#1746) is intact -- but this is an INFERENCE, blocked by the register gap, and can only be CONFIRMED by Y-DNA. Bottom line: documented to 1798; the apex connection is well-evidenced but rests on one step that no record can prove. [reviewed 12 Jun 2026] [merged from duplicate #1933] Added from WikiTree Chedgzoy-16 (WikiTree profile). Retrieved 8 Jun 2026. Not yet linked into the tree. APEX BREAKTHROUGH (FamilySearch, 16 Jun 2026). John's own baptism has been found: John Chedzoy, baptised 14 January 1798 at ALLER, Somerset, recorded with a single parent, "Mary Chedzoy", and NO father (England, Somerset, Church Records 1501-1999; Aller register ref ALF 2/1/4, Somerset Archives). Identity is secure: the 1861 census gives him as born c.1797 at Aller; the 1851 census shows this John at Stoke St Gregory with wife Ann and children Daniel, Edmund, Dinah, Harriett and George; he was buried at SSG on 23 Feb 1868. SIGNIFICANCE: both the child and his only-named parent carry the surname Chedzoy, the hallmark of an illegitimate child taking its unmarried mother's surname. So John's Chedzoy descent runs through his MOTHER, Mary Chedzoy of Aller, and his father is unrecorded. This DISPROVES the database's current Issacher #30 -> John #28 father link, and is not consistent with Sue Froud's "son of Issacher" theory or the earlier John-1776 x Ann Gait theory either. HYPOTHESIS to test (NOT asserted): Mary Chedzoy, daughter of Levi Chedzoy (1737) and Ann Pearce, baptised SSG 15 Apr 1764 (#1662), whose later life was previously unknown, would have been about 33 in 1797 -- a candidate for John's mother, which would keep the descent within Levi's line but via a daughter, illegitimately. Unconfirmed. TO DO (pending review): the Issacher #30 father link should be removed/replaced pending review; view the original Aller register image (on findmypast) to confirm no father is named and to read the mother's abode/parentage; search Aller and SSG for the right Mary Chedzoy. The apex remains undecided. [2026-06-25 FamilySearch CONFIRMED - apex] Baptism 14 Jan 1798, Aller (Somerset Archives ALF 2/1/4; FamilySearch ark:/61903/1:1:6D9X-P476): parent recorded as ONLY 'Mary Chedzoy' - NO father = illegitimate. Corroborated by 1861 census giving his birthplace as Aller, Somersetshire (b.1797). This CONFIRMS the apex-break on a free source: John #28's father is NOT Issacher #30; his Chedzoy descent runs through his MOTHER, Mary Chedzoy. The #30 FatherId link is therefore wrong - to be replaced once Mary is identified (pending a decision on the apex). [2026-06-25] PROBABLE MOTHER identified = Mary Chedgzoy #1662 (bapt 15 Apr 1764 SSG, dau of Levi #45 + Ann #1758; never married; died 1843). FamilySearch corroborates her: unmarried Mary Chedzoy b.~1764 in 1841 SSG census + burial SSG 2 Jul 1843 (b.1766). Best-fit of the few Marys of childbearing age in 1798. So the line runs Levi #45 -> Mary #1662 -> John #28 (illegitimate), NOT via Issacher #30. RECOMMEND: remove false father link #30, set Mary #1662 as (probable) mother. Awaiting review. [2026-06-25 FamilySearch] 1841 census household (Woodhill, SSG): John 40 + Ann 40 + Eliza 10, Daniel 9, Edmund 7, John 5 (=#2057), Dinah 1. NB Mary #1662 (his probable mother) NOT co-resident - so her maternity stays probable (circumstantial), not yet proven by co-residence. [2026-06-25 FamilySearch] MOTHER - serial-unmarried-mother hypothesis (and a CAUTION). A search for base-born Chedzoy children (parent indexed as 'Mary Chedzoy', no father) finds a CLUSTER at MARK, Somerset: Richard (bapt 17 Jul 1791), James (29 Sep 1793, buried Mark 1795), Ann & Elizabeth (both 25 Apr 1797). John #28 follows at ALLER (14 Jan 1798). The surname is rare and an unmarried Mary Chedzoy is itself unusual, so these are plausibly ONE woman (Mark->Aller ~15mi) = John's mother, making Richard/James/Ann/Elizabeth his older half-siblings. IMPORTANT: this means John's mother need NOT be Mary #1662 of SSG (the inherited-GEDCOM guess). That ID is now only ONE of >=2 candidates and is WEAKENED (also note: 'Levi + Mary' had a large SSG family 1795-1810, i.e. Levi's WIFE was a Mary; a daughter Mary b.1764 bearing John at ~33 is possible but unproven). HONEST STATUS: John = illegitimate son of an unmarried Mary Chedzoy (CONFIRMED); WHICH Mary, and her own parentage, REMAIN OPEN. || [2026-06-25 APEX HONEST RESET] Cleared the DISPROVEN parents: father Issacher #30 (John was illegitimate - Aller 1798 baptism names ONLY mother Mary Chedzoy, no father; Issacher's own children cluster 1809-11 so he cannot father a man b.1798) and 'mother' Charlotte Bainsham #1743 (she was Issacher's WIFE, never John's mother). John #28 is now the honest TOP of the PROVEN direct line. The climb to the apex (Mary #1662 -> Levi #45 -> Walter #31 -> Walter #32 -> Robert #1746) is preserved ONLY as a tentative ProbableParentId hypothesis via candidate mother Mary #1662 (Levi #45's spinster daughter) = the family-tradition route, NOT proven; competing candidate = the unmarried 'Mark Mary'. Confirming needs an offline Somerset bastardy/settlement record. Inherited from Sue Froud's flagged-unfinished work. [2026-06-27 SHC SETTLEMENT & BASTARDY INDEX - searched in browser] The "Mark Mary" candidate is now a DOCUMENTED person. The family indexes under the spelling CHEDZEY. An unmarried Mary Chedzey of MARK appears with: Bastardy Order 1793 (ref D/P/mk/13/5/2, p.21) and Indemnity Bond 1799 (ref D/P/mk/13/5/1, p.21), both naming the putative father as Richard Pewtner/Putener of Burnham (cross-indexed under his surname too). Both are Mark parish Overseer-of-the-Poor bastardy bundles, [On microfiche] at the Somerset Heritage Centre (orderable as copies; not online). This corroborates the base-born Mark cluster (Richard 1791, James 1793, Ann/Elizabeth 1797) and places a real unmarried Mary Chedzey at Mark across 1793-1799 - John's Aller-1798 window. CAVEAT: Pewtner is named as father of her MARK children; John was baptised at ALLER (Jan 1798), so John's father is NOT established by this and stays unknown. NEGATIVE FINDINGS: the index has NO unmarried Mary Chedzey at Stoke St Gregory, and a Parish=Aller filter (41 entries) shows NO Chedzey/Chedzoy/Chidgey and nothing in 1797-98 - so Aller's surviving poor-law papers hold no bastardy record for John's birth, and Mary #1662 (SSG) has no poor-law corroboration. NEXT (decisive): order the Mark microfiche - the 1799 Indemnity Bond (D/P/mk/13/5/1) should state Mary Chedzey's settlement/origin parish, identifying her branch (Mark-family vs SSG/Levi) and effectively settling the apex. SIDE FIND (apex spine): 'CHEDZEY, Issacher son of Walter, Stoke St Gregory, Indemnity Certificate 1744' (D/P/don/13/3/11). See research/john28-parents-recon.md.