Joseph & Judith Shakespeare

of Polesworth

Joseph Shakespeare and Judith Smith married 13 November 1774 at Polesworth.

Joseph, a labourer, was buried 6 Sept 1781 and a daughter Mary was baptised 6 Jan 1782, four months after his demise. Judith survived until 1814 when she was then aged 72, placing her birth around 1742. This would make her around 32 when she married Joseph, making it conceivable that this may have been a second marriage for both of them.  [There is a marriage 14 Nov 1768 at Tanworth, Warks, of a Joseph Shakespeare and Sarah Aubut, and two children recorded in Tanworth: Mary bapt 11 April 1769, and Elizabeth bapt 26 July 1772 - this family has not yet been investigated]

There is another group of families in Polesworth, possibly descended from the above Joseph - these being descendants of Edward 1759 - 1843.