Hawkesley
57. John Middlemore, of Hawkesley, gentleman, born before 1689-90[10]. No record of his baptism has been found, it being doubtless performed at some Roman Catholic chapel. His description in 1724 as yeoman shows that he was no longer able to maintain the position which his ancestors had held. From the fact that his children were baptized at the parish church of Northfield, it is probable that he conformed[11], as apparently did all his descendants, although one of his grandchildren, Robert Middlemore, of Walsall, is recorded in the Roman Catholic obituary in 1827 as having received the last rites of that Church.
Will, 16 January, 1733-4, proved at Worcester, 3 April, 1735, mentions his wife Sarah and his two children, Ann and Richard.
Married Sarah Lea, of Halesowen, marriage licence, dated 10 October, 1724, he of Northfield, yeoman, aged thirty-two, she about nineteen, maiden, her father consenting; to be married at Tardebig, Stoak Prior or Cofton Hackett.
He was of Northfield, gent., 2 April, 1729, when he made a post nuptial settlement of Hawkesley.
She married (2) by licence, at Dudley, 20 February, 1736-7, William Farham, but the date of her death has not been ascertained. In the Hawkesley title deeds he is called Pharow.
John Middlemore and Sarah Lea had issue:
- Ann, baptized at Northfield parish church, 16 July, 1725, and married by licence at Halesowen, 18 February, 1747-8, Benjamin Penn, of King's Norton, but of Edgbaston, yeoman, on 18 May, 1748.
- Richard Middlemore, of Hawkesley, of whom next (58).