Mary INKSON, b: ABT 1713

Mary Chennery née Inkson b. ABT 1713 Kings Lynn, Norfolk

Although the 1713 baptism record for Mary Inkson names here parents as Thomas and Mary [sic] Inkson it is assumed that her mother was known variously as Margaret and Mary rather than there being two Thomas Inksons at this time. This reinforced by the Archdeacon's transcript which records the parents as 'Thomas Inkson Margret [sic]'. Certainly the wills of both Thomas Inkson b. ABT 1683 and his wife Margaret née Bates or Batts b. ABT 1688 mention their daughter Mary. The worse case is that the assumption about there not being two Thomas Inksons is wrong so the baptism date and hence assumed birth year of this daughter of Thomas and Margaret is not correct.

Thomas Inkson b. ABT 1683 was a man of substantial wealth and he left a lot of property to Mary when he died in 1743, albeit to be inherited only on the death of Margaret. At the time Mary would have been a 30 year old spinster. Mary married a Robert Chennery on 30 Aug 1745 in All Saints' South Lynn. No children have yet been found for Mary and Robert.

In 1787 Mary, 'being of sound mind, memory and understanding but weak in the body', signed her last will and testament. The date was 16 July 1787. The will was proved later that year so Mary died in 1787 and her burial is almost certainly that of a Mary Chennery, widow, at St Nicholas' on 18 July 1787.

In her will, Mary bequeathed to quite a few people including an intriguing 'cousin Mary Christopher' but she left the residue of the estate to her 'niece Margaret Inkson of Sabridgeworth in the county of Hertford, spinster'. That was Margaret, known as Peggy, daughter of her brother Thomas Inkson b. ABT 1722.