Inscription on tablet in Westbury on Severn church. (General)

by essjay , Thursday, February 22, 2018, 19:57 (2255 days ago) @ mjcrowley

I agree. The dates are very confusing. The tombstone is too worn to compare with the Bigland transcription. It could be that either Bigland or the stonemason transposed the figures and "aged 46" became "aged 64". A further problem is that on the marriage allegation on this website, John Playstead of Westbury is said to be 26 when he marries Mary Marshall in 1743. That would make him 42 in 1759.
As you say the dates for Mary, daughter of Richard and Rachel don’t add up either. Her baptism record is given as 1773. The tablet in the church says she died in 1805 aged 26. The burial record says she was buried in 1804 aged 28. Nothing matches!

I had always assumed that the digits of John's death age were transposed somewhere from the stone mason to the publication of Bigland's transcriptions.
Knowing how inaccurate marriage records from 100 years later can be, a discrepancy in John's age in the marriage allegation is not surprising. As he made his mark, he could not read or write and may not have been able to work out how old he was within a few years.

I think Mary will have to remain a mystery. The tablet states that she had died, and she is the only one of Richard's children not named in his will drawn up in 1809.