Page:Devon and Cornwall Queries Vol 9 1917.djvu/228

172 Devon and Cornwall Notes and Queries. Oliver, Joseph his son, John Mercer, of Ottery St. Mary, Margaret Mercer, spinster, whom Joseph Oliver meant to marry, and did so marry, leaving issue Elizabeth, wife of William Williams, of Exon, M.D. A. T. P. Skinner. 137. The Revd. Thomas Bedford, B.D,, and his Descendants. — In his day the Revd. Thomas Bedford, B.D., was a man of considerable mark. " Lecturer " at St. Andrew's Church, Plymouth, from 1631 to 1643, he was called twice to preach at St. Paul's Cross, but when ap- pointed to the living of St. Andrew on the death of Dr. Aaron Wilson, the town authorities removed and imprisoned him. The Parliament also removed him from Plymouth to London. Later he became Rector of St. Martin Outwich, and lectured at St. Antholm's. He had three sons, John, James and William. John became Rector of St. Gerrans, Cornwall, in 1645, This Rector of St. Gerrans had five sons, all clergymen bene- ficed m Devon and Cornwall. The eldest son was Head Master of Plymouth Grammar School from 1674 to the time of his death in 1738, at the age of ninety In 1758 the Revd. John Bedford, M.A., became Vicar of Charles, Plymouth, and remained so till his death in 1784, at seventy- four years of age. As an old " Charley boy," I want very much to unravel the mystery that seems to hang over the connection of these three Plymouth clergymen. What seems necessary to trace the relationship is to obtain information first when and where the sons of the Plymouth lecturer were born and what became of James and William ? According to the lecturer's Will, dated 1651, William was not then oi full age, so that he must have been born very much later than his elder brother John, who became Rector of St. Gerrans in 1645. Then it is necessary to follow the issue of the Rector of Gerrans. His elder son was born in 1648, and became, as I have said, Head Master of the Grammar School in Plymouth. John Bedford, M.A., the Vicar of Charles, born in 1710, was teste C. S. Gilbert, the youngest son of a Revd. William Bedford, who was Rector of Tregony from 1694 to 1727. Was this the William, youngest son of Thos. Bedford, the Rector of St. Martin Outwich,