Dear John,
Your website has been very helpful for my family research and I came across
the item below in an old book on Bedfordshire, thought it may help someone
else. There is no indication what happened to the poor soul, but it is
likely she was sent back to Wirksworth.
From Bedfordshire County Records
Notes and Extracts from the County Records Committee.
Compiled by William John Hardy.
(From Qtr Sessions, minute books and old deeds)
Book on Open Library and Internet Archive.
7th November 1730
Examination of Ann Johnson, a vagrant taken up in the parish of Wootton.
"She says she does not very well know how old she is, but appears to be
between 13 & 14 years of age. That her father and mother were named Richard
and Sarah Johnson, and that her father was a miller and lived in the parish
of Wirksworth, in the county of Derby, in which parish deponent was born,
as she has often been told by her father and mother. That her father, owing
more money in and about Wirksworth than he was able to pay, and afraid of
being thrown into prison, some years ago (but how many deponent could not
tell) together with his wife and the deponent,left the parish of Wirksworth,
and went from thence to the City of London, where after they had been some
time, deponents mother died, and the same summer the father also died. Ever
since his death she has lived by begging, and has sometimes earned small
wages by keeping of sheep and cows in the fields of several parishes and
counties through which she has wandered."
Hope this is of use to someone!
Laura Wood
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