In Table 1 it was noted that a whole family of closely spaced births attributed to a "Josiah Phethean of Dunham" was found on searching the parish records at Bowdon:

Joseph Phethean son of Josiah Phethean of Dunham bapt. 25 May 1713 Bowdon

Martha Phethean daughter of Josiah Phethean of Dunham bapt. 31 Jan 1716 Bowdon

Ann Phethean daughter of Josiah Phethean of Dunham bapt. 26 Jan 1717 Bowdon

Ann Phethean buried 28 Apr 1718 Bowdon

Josiah Phethean son of Josiah Phethean of Dunham bapt. 15 Oct 1719 Bowdon

It is unfortunate that at this time it was not normal to record the mothers name when a child was baptized unless the father was dead. Therefore we have no absolute means of confirming if Josiah and Martha were the parents. However, the occurrence of the names Martha and Josiah amongst the children of this family must be a significant indication of a family relationship, together with the fact that Dunham Massey was such a small hamlet at that time and the chance of two adults with the name Josiah Phethean living in the same place at the same time would be highly unlikely.

One may therefore assume with a high degree of certainty that this family is indeed the family of Josiah and Martha. One argument against such an explanation could be the relative ages of the parents - Josiah would have been about 42 and Martha 36 years old respectively when their first child was born. Although this may seem relatively old to start a family, from detailed analyses of the parish records from the early 18^th century it is evident that many parents were relatively old at the time of the birth of their first child. It is also worth noting that I have not been able to confirm the birth dates of either Josiah of Dunham or his wife Martha, as there are no records available at that time for Bowdon Parish and if they were not born in that parish then there is very little chance of tracking their births. It may be that the assumed ages of Josiah and Martha are inaccurate. In the early 1670's England was recovering from the turmoil of the Civil War and the restoration of Charles II to the throne and record keeping was somewhat erratic. I have searched the Bowdon parish records back to 1600 and can find no trace of any Phethean names before 1713.

It is possible to depict the family of Josiah of Dunham and Martha as in Figure 5 below:

Figure 5: The family of Josiah and Martha Phethean of Dunham

If we accept the evidence depicted in Figure 5 as being plausible, an immediate link can be seen amongst the three surviving children Joseph, Martha and Josiah and the similarly named brothers/sister depicted in Figure 4, namely Joseph of Dunham, Martha Dunstar (née Phethean) and Josiah of Enville. This arrangement gives more or less conclusive proof of a family link between Josiah of Dunham and the families depicted in Figure 4. If we combine the data in Figures 4 and 5 we can show the following family group in Figure 6 below:

Figure 6: The family of Josiah and Martha Phethean of Dunham (final version)

What became of Josiah of Breightmet?

The re-arrangement of the family of Josiah and Martha of Dunham leaves us back to the first section of this document where I suggested that the layout proposed by Florrie Phethean was based only on conjecture that Joseph, father of Sarah, Joseph, Josiah, John and Thomas was the son of Josiah and Martha of Dunham. It is evident that with the family group that we arrive at in Figure 6 that this is not so.

Joseph of Dunham's will (see Appendix I) states that he appoints his cousin Josiah of Breightmet as an executor of his estates. This is a very difficult scenario to follow if we are to go along with Florrie's hypothesis, as it is almost impossible to make Joseph of Dunham and Josiah of Breightmet true cousins. If we assume that the text in B.T. Barton's book has been correctly transcribed then the Joseph that he mentioned could well be a brother (possibly a younger brother) to Josiah of Dunham. This would support that assumption made from Joseph of Dunham's will that Josiah of Breightmet and Joseph of Dunham were cousins in the true sense.

Figure 7: The possible relationship between Joseph of Dunham and Josiah of Breightmet

The will of Josiah Phethean of Enville

The final document that has been acquired is copy of the will of Josiah of Enville proved on the 27^th April 1772 at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC). The PCC was one of the two highest courts of probate in the England, the other being at York (which covered the north-west and north of England). These courts had precedence over the regional church courts of probate. Normally only those who left a sizeable estate would have probate handled by such a court. I have researched the PCC indexes from 1500 to 1800 and Josiah of Enville is the only Phethean surname in the registers. Transcripts of all PCC wills are lodged with the Public Record Office at Kew.

The basic details of the will are summarised below (from the original copy which comprises two pages of A3 handwritten manuscript). Superscripted references refer to the Notes section after this document.

In the name of God Amen Josiah Phethean of Envil otherwise Enfield in the County of Staffordshire, Yeoman do hereby publish my full will and intentions as follows.

Firstly I desire that all my debts be fully paid and discharged with all my funeral expenses….I give to the Right Honourable Lady Dorothy Grey ¹ the sum of twenty pounds to and for the use of the school that was started by the said Lady..
I give my Godson Josiah Cook the sum of five pounds. The sum of ten pounds I give to William Brindley nephew to my late wife ². I give to Mr. Francis Corne ³ now Steward to the Earl of Stamford the sum of five guineas. My desire is that these above mentioned legacies may be paid in twelve months after my decease.
I give to Mr William Collis and to Dorothy his wife and to Mrs Sarah Lye and to Mrs Martha Burwood one guinea each for a Ring. I give my sister Martha Dunstar the sum of fifty shillings ⁴ a year for the term of her natural life to be paid to her half yearly the first payment to be made on the first twenty-fourth day of June or the twenty-fifth day of December after my decease.

I give to my wife Mary Phethean whose name was ????? ⁵ the sum of forty pounds a year for the term of her natural life to be paid quarterly ....

I likewise give to my said wife Mary Phethean the use of all my household goods of every sort and kind whatever during the term of her natural life provided that she keeps herself in my name and unmarried. If she marries I give my said wife Mary Phethean only fifteen pounds a year to be paid half-yearly, the first payment to be made on the first of the said days that shall happen after her marriage with any person after my decease and the whole of my household goods to my brother Joseph Phethean ⁶ at the time of my said wife's marriage or at the time of her death as my said brother's sole property to him and his heirs or his or their sole property.

I desire to have a decent burial which I leave to the discretion of my Executors.

I give to my brother Joseph Phethean my Estate at Whittington ⁷. I give to my brother Joseph Phethean my Estate at Timperly ⁸ and all my personality except before accepted to pay all my debts and funeral expenses and all my legacies and annuities before mentioned out of the income of my Estates before mentioned provided my lease or lease holds so long good for payment to be made by my said brother Joseph Phethean or his executors or heirs or assigns after his decease provided I have no child or children born or begotten by my now said wife Mary Phethean. If there is a child or children then every above mentioned legacy and annuity is to be void except the twenty pounds to Lady Dorothy Grey and five guineas to Mr Francis Corne which I desire may be given. If there is only one child I give the whole of my estates and personality to that child. If children I give the whole to them share and share alike after paying my last mentioned legacies to Lady Dorothy Grey and to Mr Francis Corne and serving to my said wife Mary Phethean the annuity and household furniture to her certain use as above mentioned in this my Will and all my debts and funeral expenses to be paid out of my property without any exposure of my said wife Mary Phethean and I herby constitute and appoint my said brother Joseph Phethean and my said wife Mary Phethean and Mr Francis Corne my executors of this my last Will and Testament and herby revoking all former and other wills by me made ….

signed Josiah Phethean and dated the twenty second day of November in the year of our Lord, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Sixty Nine in the presence of us who have subscribed our names as witnesses in his presence. signed by Elizabeth Barrow, William Brisco and Edward Newman.

Codicil to the above will:

The twenty second day of February, One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy One…. I give and bequeath unto my wife Mary Phethean the sum of forty pounds over and above the annuity of forty pounds ⁹ per year left to my said wife Mary Phethean in my will and in a deed made before marriage….

Signed sealed and published by the above name Josiah Phethean as part of the Last Will and Testament in the presence of Ann Mullord (?), William Brisco and Edward Newman.

Proving of the will:

This Will was proved in London with a codicil the twenty seventh day of April in the year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Seventy Two before the Right Worshipful George Day Doctor of Laws, Commissary of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury lawfully constituted by the oath of Joseph Phethean the brother of the deceased and one of the executors named in the said Will to whom administration was granted of all and singular the goods chattels and credits of the said deceased having first sworn by commission duly to administer power reserved of making the like grant to Mary Phethean widow the relict of the said deceased and Francis Corne the other executor named in the said will when they or either of them shall apply for the same.

Notes from the above manuscript:

1. Lady Dorothy Grey was some relation to the Earl of Stamford. There was a Dorothy Grey, wife of the 3 ^rd Earl, but she died 24 Jun 1768, which was before this will was written. I can't find any other Dorothy in the Grey family history.

2. This seems to imply that Josiah had been married before and that his first wife had died. I have not been able to find any evidence of this first marriage either at Enville or Bowdon. Josiah's marriage licence states "bachelor" rather than widower - but we know that these documents do not always reflect the whole truth.

3. Francis Corne was signatory to the marriage licence between Josiah and Mary.

4. This is confirmed in Joseph of Dunham's will detailed in Appendix I

5. The name is indecipherable but does this imply that Mary (Cotton) had married before as well? The marriage licence describes her as "spinster". This could, of course be a completely different phrase. See Figure 8 below.

6. Joseph of Dunham.

7. Whittington in Staffordshire - about 5km SE of Enville, near Stourbridge.

8. Timperley, Cheshire - village adjacent to Bowdon.

9. £40 is worth about £3500 at present day rate

 

 

Figure 8: Extract from the will of Josiah of Enville with the indecipherable key word indicated