1770
Born
1770
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research notebook.
Thomas Padget
1770 – 1857
✓ Validated against records · 2026-07-08
Thomas Padget stands at the head of this line — as far up as the record yet reaches. He appears first on 9 June 1792, marrying Mary Aspland at Littleport by licence; the licence, in Mum's reading of it, made him twenty-two, a labourer and a bachelor, and the bondsman was William Apsland of Littleport — the bride's own family standing surety. Mary herself is in the register as an infant: baptised at Littleport in July 1770, daughter of William and Elizabeth Aspland. Where Thomas was born the record does not say. He told the 1851 census Littleport, but no baptism for him exists there — the transcripts and the transcript films have been searched either side of 1770, and the leaves for 1769–1771 read page by page. The one Padget christening at Littleport in his birth-window is a John, son of John and Mary Pagett, in December 1770: possibly a brother, possibly nothing — a candidate family, not a finding.
Nine children were baptised to Thomas and Mary at Littleport between 1793 and 1817: John the eldest, then Hannah, William, James, Mary, Sarah — dead at two months — the twins Martha and Mary in 1813, of whom Martha died at two, and last Matthew in 1817, when Mary was in her later forties. It is a fen labourer's family register, the burials in among the baptisms.
They ended as they had lived, on the parish. In 1841 they were at Sandhill, Littleport — a Barber for a neighbour, the year before their granddaughter Hannah married into that family — and in 1851, both eighty-one, the census enters them together as paupers, with their widowed son Matthew and a six-year-old granddaughter in the house. Mary was buried at Littleport on 28 October 1856; Thomas followed on 18 February 1857 — eighty-seven by Mum's reading of the register, eighty-eight by the transcribers'. Above him the record, for now, stops; below him his son John, and John's daughters Susanna and Hannah, carry the name into the Crabbs and the Barbers.
Composed from validated records · 2026-07-08
- Birth
- 1770
- Marriage
- June 9th 1792 to Mary Aspland in Littleport
- Burial
- February 18th 1857 aged 87 years
- Children
- John Padget baptised March 31st 1793, Littleport Hannah Padget baptised December 31st 1800, Littleport William Padget baptised April 22nd 1806, Littleport James born 1807, Littleport Mary Padget baptised January 21st 1810, Littleport Sarah Padget baptised November 17th 1811 Littleport burial January 3rd 1812 Martha and Mary Padget baptised January 17th 1813, Littleport, Martha died 1815 Matthew born 1817, Littleport
- 1792
- June 9th marries Mary Apsland in Littleport by Licence The licence states that Thomas was aged 22, was a labourer and a bachelor. Mary's age was not recorded or what her state was. The bondsman was William Apsland of Littleport.
- 1812
- Death of daughter Sarah, aged 2 months
- 1815
- Death of Martha aged 2 years
- 1841 c
- Living in Littleport Thomas Padget, age 70, born Cambridgeshire Mary Padget, age 70 born Cambridgeshire Matthew Padget, born Cambridgeshire Address: Sandhill, Littleport (neighbour to Wenham Barber) Occupation: All Agricultural Labourers
- 1851c
- Living in Littleport Thomas Padget, Head, age 81, born Littleport Mary Padget, wife, age 81, born Littleport Matthew Padget, son, widower, age 34, Ag. Labourer Naomi Padget, granddaughter aged 6 Address: Sandhill Occupation: Thomas and Mary, Paupers (Ag. Labourers)
- 1856
- Death of Mary aged 86, burial October 28th, Littleport
- 1857
- Death of Thomas aged 87
In your grandmother’s words · from her notebook
Family
Marriage
Children
Life
Confirmed — anchored to a recordEstimated — inferred
1770
Mary Aspland baptised at Littleport — William and Elizabeth's daughter
1770 at Littleport, Cambridgeshire
Mary Aspland daug. of Willm. & Elis.th ——— [July] 2[2?] [1770]. (Between Mary Willingham, daug. of Willm. & Sarah, July 1, and Mary Walker, daug. of Willm. & Sarah, 26.)— Mary Aspland's baptism — Littleport, July 1770
Read at the image record Evidence
Confirmed against the original record, read at the image:
- Mary Aspland's baptism — Littleport, July 1770 — England, Cambridgeshire Bishop's Transcripts, 1538-1983 — Littleport composite volume, image 372 of 872, the '1770 Bapt.' return (April 1770–March 1771). Read at the image (FamilySearch ark 3:1:3QS7-892X-HQXS), 8 July 2026. Her father matches the 1792 licence bondsman, William Apsland of Littleport (Mum's licence note). read at the image
1792
Married by licence — Mary Aspland of Littleport
1792
Thomas Padget × Mary Aspland — 09 Jun 1792 — Littleport, Cambridgeshire (residence Littleport).— England Marriages 1538–1973 — Thomas Padget & Mary Aspland, 1792
Confirmed in index record Evidence
Found in an index or transcript — the original page not yet read:
- England Marriages 1538–1973 — Thomas Padget & Mary Aspland, 1792 — England Marriages 1538-1973 (FamilySearch/IRI index, via findmypast transcript R_849504883): Thomas Padget & Mary Aspland, 9 June 1792, Littleport, Cambridgeshire. Confirms Mum's date exactly; her licence detail (aged 22, labourer, bachelor; bondsman William Apsland of Littleport) stands at her hand. Searched 8 July 2026. index entry — original not yet seen
1792
Married Mary Aspland
9 June 1792 at Littleport
June 9th 1792 to Mary Aspland in Littleport— From Janet Brock’s research
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research notebook.
1812
In 1812
1812
Death of daughter Sarah, aged 2 months— From Janet Brock’s research
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research notebook.
1815
In 1815
1815
Death of Martha aged 2 years— From Janet Brock’s research
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research notebook.
1841
Census · 1841
1841
Living in Littleport Thomas Padget, age 70, born Cambridgeshire Mary Padget, age 70 born Cambridgeshire Matthew Padget, born Cambridgeshire Address: Sandhill, Littleport (neighbour to Wenham Barber) Occupation: All Agricultural Labourers— From Janet Brock’s research
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research notebook.
1851
Sandhill — 'Paupers (Ag. Labourers)', both 81
1851
Living in Littleport Thomas Padget, Head, age 81, born Littleport Mary Padget, wife, age 81, born Littleport Matthew Padget, son, widower, age 34, Ag. Labourer Naomi Padget, granddaughter aged 6 Address: Sandhill Occupation: Thomas and Mary, Paupers (Ag. Labourers)— From Janet Brock’s research
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research notebook.
1856
In 1856
1856
Mary Padget — buried 1856, Littleport.— Cambridgeshire Burials — Mary Padget, 1856
Confirmed in index record Evidence
Found in an index or transcript — the original page not yet read:
- Cambridgeshire Burials — Mary Padget, 1856 — Cambridgeshire Burials (CFHS transcriptions, findmypast): Mary Padget, Littleport, buried 1856 (transcript's computed birth year 1767). Mum's register reading: buried 28 October 1856, aged 86 — which fits the July 1770 baptism read at the image; the transcript implies 89. Register image to settle. Searched 8 July 2026. index entry — original not yet seen
1857
In 1857
1857
Death of Thomas aged 87— From Janet Brock’s research
Mum’s record Evidence
From Janet Brock’s research notebook.
1857
Buried at Littleport — 18 February 1857
18 February 1857
Thomas Padget — buried 18 Feb 1857, Littleport — age 88 — residence otp.— Cambridgeshire Burials — Thomas Padget, 18 February 1857
Confirmed in index record Evidence
Found in an index or transcript — the original page not yet read:
- Cambridgeshire Burials — Thomas Padget, 18 February 1857 — Cambridgeshire Burials (Cambridgeshire & Huntingdonshire FHS transcriptions, fmp GBPRS/D/403377366/1): Thomas Padget, Littleport, buried 18 Feb 1857, age 88, residence otp. Mum's register reading gives the same day, aged 87 — the one-year age difference stands unresolved until the register image is read. Searched 8 July 2026. index entry — original not yet seen
Our research
Thomas Padget — the wall, and the door beside it
Research · Littleport, the Isle of Ely
The wall is his own beginning. No Thomas Padget was baptised at Littleport between 1760 and 1780: the indexed transcripts return nothing, and we read the 1769–1771 transcript leaves entry by entry. What the leaves do hold is a John and Mary Pagett baptising a son John on 25 December 1770 — the right place, the right years, and Thomas named his own first son John — but that is a candidate, not a connection. To do:
- The 1792 marriage licence bond and allegation (Ely diocese, at Cambridge University Library) — Mum read the licence's facts; the original may add Thomas's parish. A record-office lookup or order: Jon's action, a purchase.
- Baptism sweep of the neighbouring parishes, 1765–1775, at the images: Ely Holy Trinity and St Mary, Downham, Coveney, Manea, and Welney over the border (Ancestry holds Norfolk) — ours.
- Reconstitute the candidate John & Mary Pagett of Littleport: their other children around 1770, John the elder's burial, and the Mary Padget buried at Littleport in 1823 aged about 87 (CFHS index) who may be that Mary — the BT composite browse, ours.
- Both burial register images, 1856 and 1857 (the age discrepancies: 87 v 88, 86 v 89) — the same BT film's burial years, ours.
- The Aspland line — Mary's parents William and Elizabeth are now read at the image; their family (and the 'Mary Aupland, widow' buried October 1770, and John Aspland son of Isaac, 1769) is a small pass of its own for a future round.