Pearson, Christopher, of Ullock in Dean (-1583)

The only known source for Christopher Pearson is his probate inventory of 1583.

The cover of the probate described him as a ‘Millar’ [= miller].

This raises a slight complication in that there were two Pearson families who used the forename ‘Christopher’ - in Branthwaite and in Ullock, both of which villages had mills.

It is clear, however, that this Christopher is from Ullock - at least two of the men who prized the probate inventory (Oswald Woodhall and Thomas Paylle) are identifiable as from the area.

In the 1841 Census, the mill was part of the same property as the farm, and this would appear to be the case in 1583 too. Christopher’s inventory lists many more animals than would be required for milling (the four oxen and two horses would have done the job), but entirely appropriate for a 42-acre farm. There were 20 hogs and 76 sheep.

By comparison, a recent BBC programme about a 40-acre farm rearing traditional breeds mentioned a figure of 120 pigs.

So Christopher ran a farm that John Pearson (-1599) inherited. How does that inheritance work?

The clue comes in Christopher’s debts. He owed a total of around £28, as against an inventory total of about £38. That seems like quite a high level of debt to assets until you drill the figures down.

The significant debt was a single one of £8 9s 2d, owed to Thomas, William and James Fox. All suddenly becomes clear.

The Dean register records that Christopher Pearson married Jane Fox in 1561. So this was a family debt of some kind.

A little further thought and you realise that John Pearson (-1599) couldn’t have been the child of this couple as he himself married in 1569, and he certainly needed to be older than eight to do that.

The answer lies in the practice of listing inheritances owed to stepchildren within the inventory - another example can be found in the inventory of Leonard Stanwix.

What’s happened here is that Christopher Pearson has married a widow with an existing family, and Thomas, William and Jane are his stepchildren. Christopher, then, can clearly be judged to have been a widower in 1561 - John Pearson was the child of a first wife.