So this was the state of the country during Mary’s early life and all those wars were putting a great strain upon the people of England and especially upon those living and working in the country.  They had to provide food for all the townsfolk and the British fighting forces, as well as for themselves.  With people working so hard, often from dawn until dusk, there was very little time for pleasure activities.  People outside of the cities had to make their own entertainment and this often meant the occasional fair, which sometimes lasted for several weeks.  As these were generally no more than two or three times a year, the remainder of the time the people had to find other things to do.  Among the most popular pursuits, especially among the young farm labourers during the summer months, were sexual activities.  Sex among the unmarried working classes was extremely common and this led to a large number of illegitimate children being born.  Often these young parents would marry each other at a later date,   but this was not  always the case.  If a young man was particularly promiscuous he could get two women pregnant within a few weeks, but of course he could not marry both of them.  If he married one, the other would then be left with the problem of trying to find another man to marry, but such women would not always be lucky.  Although there were numerous illegitimate children being born in the Chilcompton area in the early 19th century, no one made a secret of this and virtually all of those children grew up knowing exactly who their fathers were.  If they got married, most of them would include the name of their true father in the marriage record.  Exactly what the circumstances were that first led Mary Mears to become pregnant we may never know.  What the records do tell us is that Mary died a spinster at the age of 82, and that she had at least seven children.  Six of these children reached adulthood and had children of their own, and five of them became married themselves.  In their marriage records the names of the fathers of four of them are given, and all four fathers are different men.

Mary’s first child was a boy named John who was born about 1820 in Chilcompton.  He died in 1904 and the burial records state that he was “unbaptised.”   If this was true (and no baptism record for him has yet been found) then he may have been the only one of Mary’s children not to be baptised, although there is one other for whom a baptism record has still not been found.   John was married on 9th September 1843 to a woman named Ann Matthews who was born in 1823 and died in 1902. The marriage took place in Chilcompton and the records tell us that the name of John Mears’s father was William Emery and the name of Ann’s father was John Marchant.  Her mother was Susannah Mathews. John and Ann Mears had seven children and these were Ellen Elizabeth born in 1844, Alfred John born in 1847, Martha Jane born in 1850, Emma Matilda born in 1855, Emily Matilda born in 1858, Theodore Hubert born in 1860 and Albert Theodore born in 1863. 

About 1821 Mary had her second child; a son named William.  He was baptised on 7th April 1822 in Chilcompton and was entered in the records as William Emery, bastard son of Mary Meers.  In all other records that mention William, the name of Emery does not appear and this name  may  have  been  a  mistake  by  the  registrar  who  entered  the baptism.  William was married on 13th May 1844 in Binegar to Eliza Gould.  Eliza was born in Binegar in 1816 and died on 15th January 1880.  The name of William’s father was not listed in the marriage register, but as he was given the Christian names of William Emery in the baptism records, and William Emery was the father of his older brother John, it is possible that both John and William had the same father.  William died on 19th September 1869 at the age of 48 and does not appear to have had any children. 

On 26th December 1823, Mary gave birth to her third child, a son she named James.  This is the child of Mary Mears from whom our branch of the Mears family is descended.  He was baptised in May 1827 in Chilcompton and was entered in the baptism record as James, son of Mary Meers.  Unfortunately the day of the month is so faded in the register that it cannot be read.   James was married in Chilcompton on 1st August 1847 to Elizabeth Salvidge, who was born in East Harptree in 1821 and was the daughter of Charles and Sarah Salvidge.  The marriage certificate tells us that the father of James Mears was a man named James Creas.  This is confirmed in the ‘Bastard Calendar’ where James Mears’s father is named as James Crees.  Elizabeth had two illegitimate daughters before she married James.  The first of these was Sarah Ann who was born in 1842 and baptised on 11th June 1843.  The second was Eliza, born in 1845 and baptised on 27th June 1847.  The father of Sarah Ann is not known but the father of Eliza was James Mears.  After their marriage James and Elizabeth had a further eight children.  These were Charles born in 1849, Sarah Ann born in 1852, Emily born in 1854, Harriet born in 1856, Elizabeth born in 1858, Matilda born in 1860, James born in 1863 and Henry Frank born in 1865.  James (the father) died on 13th September 1900 at the age of almost 77 years and was buried in Chilcompton.  The date of the death of his wife Elizabeth has not yet been found but the year was 1908. 

The next child of Mary Mears was a daughter named Ann who was born about 1831 and baptised on 27th November 1831 in Chilcompton.  She was registered as  Ann, daughter of Mary Mears, spinster.  Ann had an illegitimate son named Henry in 1848 whose father was a man named  Isaac  Targett.    On  12th  May  1850  Ann  Mears  married  Isaac Targett in Binegar and the marriage certificate tells us that Ann’s father was William Sperring.  Ann and Isaac had a further eleven children after their marriage and these were Samuel born in 1850, Elizabeth Ann born in 1852, Joseph born in 1855, John born in 1858, George born in 1860, Eliza born in 1863, James born in 1865, Emma Jane born in 1867, Isaac born in 1869, Ann born in 1871 and Frederic born in 1874.  Ann and Isaac’s first child, Henry, had his surname changed form Mears to Targett after his parents were married.  Henry grew up and married his cousin Martha Jane, the daughter of John and Ann Mears. 

In 1836 Mary had a son named Robert.  There has been no baptism record found for him but both the 1841 and 1851 censuses show Robert in the house of Mary Mears listed as her son.  On 16th August 1860 Robert married 21-year-old Emma Norris who was the sister of Harriet, the woman who married Robert’s cousin Philip. Robert is entered in the marriage register as Robert Henry Meares and one of the witnesses to the marriage was George Sperring, a member of the same family as Ann Mears’s father. The marriage took place in the parish of Midsomer Norton where both Robert and Emma were living.  In the marriage records the father of Robert is entered as James Mears who was probably Mary’s own brother. This should be no surprise because in the 19th century incest was not a crime and was very common among all classes of people.  After their marriage Robert and Emma had twelve children, the first being a boy named Robert who was born in 1861 and died in 1869 at the age of 8 years. The next two were twin girls born just before Christmas 1862.  They were baptised very soon after their births, on the 23rd December that same year.  One was named Emily who died after just 12 days and the other was named Mary Matilda who died at the age of 12 months.  The other children of Robert and Emma were Frank born in 1865, Edward born in 1867, Louisa born in 1869, Henry born in 1870, Florence born in 1872, Lewis born in 1874, Charles born in 1876, Elizabeth born in 1878 and Emma born in 1880.

 Mary’s last two children were a daughter named Mary Ann who was born in 1838 and a son named George born in 1844.  These two were baptised together on 21st November 1847 and entered in the baptism records   as Marianne,   illegitimate daughter of Mary Mears of   Binegar,and George, illegitimate son of Mary Mears of Binegar – labourer.  Mary Ann appears in the 1841 census as Mary, the daughter of Mary, and in the 1851 census as Mary Ann, daughter of Mary.  This means that her true name was probably Mary Ann and the name Marianne in the baptism record is likely to have been a mistake by the registrar who made the entry.  No marriage record for Mary Ann has been found so she probably wasn’t married, but she did have an illegitimate son named Robert who was baptised on 28th July 1858.   As for George, he was the only one of Mary’s seven children not to have reached adulthood and he died in 1853 at the age of 9 years.

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