The Fountain Inn Parkend (General)

by Jefff , West London, Middlesex, Saturday, May 06, 2017, 23:10 (2568 days ago) @ admin

While searching this website for the "Fountain" I found this page which states a James KEAR was resident at the Fountain Inn Parkend in 1859. I realise he may have been residing at the Inn without being the landlord, but the fact that the same page shows a William KEAR at the New Inn, Bream, also in 1859 makes me wonder if they were POSSIBLY related and POSSIBLY both in the pub trade ?. Hence maybe James Kear should also be included in the list of past Fountain landlords ?

Then again, perhaps this is just indicative of the KEAR name being fairly common in the FoD area ?. (I can see about 600 KEAR PRs under Parkend and Bream in this site's database...).

http://www.forest-of-dean.net/joomla/index.php/resources/16-wills/22-places

Using the Advanced Search, looking for Baptisms (to start with) taking place in "Parkend", with "inn" in the "occupation" field, yields 30 Baptisms in total. There are 8 to parents James & Harriet Kear, innkeeper of Parkend, between 1833-1844, so presumably this is the same James. Of course he may have been retired before living in the Fountain, or could have kept another Parkend inn.

From FamilySearch,

1851 Census, Parkend, Monmouthshire, Wales
Household Role Sex Age Birthplace

James Kear Head M 46 Innkeeper. Lydney, Gloucestershire
Harriet Kear Wife F 38 West Dean, Gloucestershire
Edwin Kear Son M 18 West Dean, Gloucestershire
Alfred Kear Son M 11 West Dean, Gloucestershire
Henry Kear Son M 9 West Dean, Gloucestershire
Matilda Kear Daughter F 7 West Dean, Gloucestershire
Coza Kear Daughter F 2 West Dean, Gloucestershire
Lucy Thomas Servant F 18 West Dean, Gloucestershire