Events
Date of Birth: about 1768.
James’s burial record gives his age at death as 28.
Date of Baptism: 5 June 1768.
Place of Baptism: Colne, Lancashire.
The baptism is recorded in the parish register.
Date of Burial: 24 June 1796
Place of Burial: Blackburn, Lancashire (St Mary the Virgin).
The burial is recorded in the parish register.
Relationships
Father: Richard Stuttard (1742 - 1780).
Mother: Alice Hargreaves (died 1775).
See the Commentary section.
Lover: Ann Rhodes.
Documents at the Lancashire Record office identify James as the father of an illegitimate child by Ann Rhodes.
Spouse: Isabel Spencer Married 22 July 1790 in Whalley, Lancashire (St Mary and All Saints).
The marriage is recorded in the parish register.
Children (by Ann Rhodes):
(Complete source citations for facts about the children on this page are currently outside of the scope of this project.)
John Rhodes (baptized 5 July 1789 Whalley - buried 3 May 1859 Whalley) married Mary Tricket 5 November 1810 in Whalley.
Children (by Isabel Spencer):
Richard Stuttard (baptized 30 January 1791 in Whalley) married Henrietta Braidley 26 October 1811 in Whalley.
John Stuttard (baptized 1 July 1792 in Whalley - died 30 January 1873 in Napton-on-the-Hill, Warwickshire) married Henrietta Hall 26 March 1815, London, England (St Giles Cripplegate) .
Elizabeth Stuttard (baptized 9 February 1794 in Whalley).
Mary Stuttard (baptized 29 November 1795 in Newchurch-in-Pendle).
Evidence
James Stuttard baptism (parish register of St Bartholomew, Colne):
1768 June
5th. James Son of Richard & Allice Stuttard of Watermeetings.
from the Lancashire Archives catalogue:
Bastardy Orders of Filiation and Maintenance [reference number PR 1558/3/96]
John, son of Ann Rhodes of Blackburn, and James Stuttard of Whalley, hostler. Endorsed: "James Stuttard dead"
Date: 1789 Jul. 3
James Stuttard - Elizabeth Spencer marriage (Whalley parish register):
Banns of Marriage betwixt James Stuttard and Elizabeth Spencer both of Whalley Where [sic] published three Sevaral Sundays in this Church were Married in this Church by Banns this 22d Day of July in the Year One Thousand Seven Hundred and Ninety by me Geo: Wearing Curate
This Marriage was solemnized between Us
James his + mark Stuttard
Isabel Spencer
In the Presence of
Robert Spencer
Wm. Hall
Baptisms (from the parish register of St Mary and All Saints, Whalley):
1789
John son of Ann Roads of Whalley basterd July 5
1791
Rich.d son of James Stutard of Whalley Ostler Feby 5
1792
John Son of James Stuttard of Wiswell Weaver July 1.st
1794 February
Elizabeth Dau.r of James Stutard of Wiswell, Weaver 9.th
Baptism (from the parish register of St Mary, Newchurch in Pendle):
November 1795
29th Mary Daur of Ja.s & Isable Stuttard
Burial (from the parish register of St Mary the Virgin, Blackburn; June 1796):
24 James Stuttard of Blackburn -- 28 yrs
Commentary
James’s parentage
James’s first child was baptized in 1789, and he was married in 1790, suggesting that he was probably born very roughly in the 1760s. James had a daughter baptized in November 1795, and his wife remarried in July 1802, so James must have died sometime between 1795 and 1802.
I can only locate three burials of a James Stuttard in Lancashire in the relevant period in indexes. Here are transcriptions of the digital images of the registers:
Blackburn, June 1796 (Burials)
24 James Stuttard of Blackburn [age] 28 yrs
Burnley, May 1798 (Burials)
James son of Bernard and Betty Stuttard of Burnley, 25th.
Burnley, June 1800 (Burials)
James Son of Bernard and Ellen Stuttard of Hab: Eaves 14.th
The last two burials are clearly of children, but the first burials seems very likely to be the one we are looking for. The place of burial is unexpected, but the age at death is a match. There are no other appearances of a James Stuttard in the Blackburn register in the period to which the burial could be tied.
The age at death suggests that we should be looking for a baptism taking place around 1768. There is only one baptism appearing in Lancashire indexes within five years of that date: 5 June 1768 in Colne (parents Richard and Alice Stuttard). The date exactly fits, and the father’s name, Richard, is the name James gave to his eldest legitimate son.
The evidence that Richard and Alice were James’s parents is reasonably good.
James, baptized in Colne in 1768, was Richard and Alice’s eldest child. The Newchurch-in-Pendle register records the marriage in 1767 of Richard Stuttard of Barley, weaver, and Alice Hargreaves of Watermeetings.
The place of the marriage, Newchurch-in-Pendle, is not completely unexpected, since James and Isabel had a child baptized there.
References
[no title] PR1558/3/96 1789 Jul.3, Lancashire Record Office, indexed on Access to Archives.
Contents: John, son of Ann Rhodes of Blackburn, James Stuttard of Whalley, hostler
Endorsed: “James Stuttard dead”
Lancashire Anglican Parish Registers. Preston, England: Lancashire Archives. [Digital images at Ancestry.com accessed 19 January 2016.]