2024-04-24

We’ve been looking at the parentage of John Dunmore who married Elizabeth Johnson in 1785 in Market Harborough. Our tree has a long line of paternal ancestors for John without any evidence or additional detail. Originally these names came from Barry’s research but the documents he passed to us have no citations or sources.

Dunmores of Stonton Wyville

Barry’s theory was that the Dunmores originated from Stonton Wyville, about ten miles north of Market Harborough. This is the tree he provided. Our John is marked with a red star.

This is the narrative he provides for the movements of the family:

Edward Dunmore (1753-1822) born and baptised at Stonton Wyville … married Barbara Coltman, from the village of Gumley, which is about 10 miles away to the west. Whether he went to her or she to him cannot be ascertained ,but as there are two young Coltmans living with the Dunmores in Stonton Wyville in 1841, it would seem likely that the Coltman family had migrated to Stonton Wyville .Edward and Barbara were married at Stonton Wyville in 1780.

Jonas moved to Goadby, north of Stonton Wyville where he marries Elizabeth and has five girls, Elizabeth, Ann, Frances, Sophia and Harriet ,but no boys.. John moves to Market Harborough to seek a new life in the town.

We have a number or problems with this scenario since can’t find any documentary evidence that our John Dunmore was connected with the Dunmores at Stonton Wyville

1. There is no baptism of a John Dunmore in Stonton Wyville on or around 1765. The parish is small and there are very few baptisms. This single page covers the period 1759 through 1772 and contains entries for William (10 Sep 1761) and Elizabeth (21 Feb 1765)
2. Edward died in 1766 (buried 31 May 1766¹ and probate was granted in 1766[^edwardprovbate1766] ). Therefore John could not have been born at a later date.
3. In his 1785 marriage to Elizabeth Johnson, John Dunmore is recorded as being of this parish, Market Harborough

Jonas did move to Goadby and marry Elizabeth. They had the following children, all in that Parish:

• John, 21 Jan 1785
• Elizabeth, 15 Mar 1787
• Ann, 27 Feb 1789
• Frances, 13 Feb 1791
• Sophia, 1 Sep 1793
• Harriet, 23 Jan 1797

John is missing from Barry’s research, but it’s easy to speculate that a simple slip such as writing John’s year of birth as 1765 instead of 1785 has caused John to be associated with the previous generation in error.

Jonas died in 1810 and the administration of his estate granted the sum of £1500 to Elizabeth Dunmmore of Goadby, Widow, John Dunmore of Goadby, [Grander?] and Joseph Digby of Marjet Harborough, Labourer².

The John mentioned here was almost certainly his eldest and only son born in 1785.

Their daughter Harriet died a spinster in 1840 and left an estate worth £450 to her mother Elizabeth, then a widow³.

The source of Jonas’ wealth came from his parents. His mother Mary left all her estate to him in 1793⁴

Alternate Candidates

Since the John Dunmore of Stonton Wyville appears to be a red herring we need to consider other candidates that could marry Elizabeth Johnson in 1785 in Market Harborough.

There is a family of Dunmores in Market Harborough at the time and they baptized three different Johns in the period but they can all be eliminated. The parents were Joseph and Mary Dunmore and their children named John are as follows:

• John, baptised 26 May 1763 - not a viable candidate since he was likely buried 5 Jun 1765
• John, baptised 31 Oct 1766
• John, baptised 18 Feb 1775 - not viable, likely buried 22 Feb 1775