John Mussett and Susanna Tracy

John Mussett and Susannah Tracy were married in Fordham, Essex, on 11 July 1734. They moved about from one parish to another, but in same area north-east of Colchester, which we can see based on where their children were baptised:

• Susannah, baptised on 10 Sep 1738 in Great Horkesley
• John, baptised on 5 Apr 1741 in West Bergholt
• Jane, baptised on 20 Mar 1742/3 in Fordham
• Rose, baptised on 3 Jan 1747/8 in Copford

John senior stayed in Fordham. There are some clues which might help us to identify his parents: Rose wife of John Mussett was buried in Fordham on 28 Apr 1743, and we might expect John to have named his daughter after his mother. Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to find a marriage for a John Mussett to a Rose – yet. You never know where people might turn up as more transcriptions become available. They could well have married in Suffolk.

There might be another daughter of John and Susannah called Rose, however, as there’s two burials in Fordham for Rose daughter of John Mussett: one on 18 March 1749/50 and another on 24 Sep 1754. The second is a few months after the death of John’s wife – she was buried in Fordham on 4 March 1754. It’s possible that the Rose baptised in Copford died in March 1749/50, then another daughter was born afterwards, also called Rose; it may even be the case that Susanna died of childbirth complications.

Interestingly, a Rose Mussett married Isaac Rigby in Copford, next door to Fordham, on 11 April 1732, which makes her a contemporary of John’s. Could it be the case that she is the daughter of John and Rose, and therefore a sister of John who married Susan?

Then on 16 Jun 1755, a John Mussett, widower, married Sarah Bigsby, a single woman “of West Bergholt, but resident in Fordham since 21 July 1754.” While it could be the John whose wife was Rose, it seems more likely to be the John whose wife was Susannah and had died the previous year. John and Sarah had a son called Thomas, who was born in about 1754, but was baptised in Fordham on 18 Sep 1763. Sarah died, and was buried in Fordham on 5 Aug 1771 as “Sarah wife of John Mussett”.

While I’ve been able to trace Susannah jnr, John jnr, and Jane to West Mersea, John senior and his son Thomas disappear. There’s no burials in Fordham for either John senior, or the John whose wife was Rose.

And to confuse things further, there are other John Mussetts around at the same time, in the same area.

Created: 15 Nov 2023