Hi John,
thanks for your kind words, we all try to help whenever possible, especially Graham who does so much for this great website.

All the information we've provided are obtained from this site's huge database of local Parish Records. I must admit I'd assumed you were already familiar with them judging by your initial post. That said, I did wonder why you stated many of the family were from Mitcheldean ?

The database is accessed from the "Resources" heading on the blue menubar along the top of the site's homepage; under this drop-down menu you will find several different sets of family-history related including the Parish Records.
See https://forest-of-dean.net/joomla/index.php/resources/parish-records

From your point of view searching the P.R.s suggest that Thomas is a traditional family name for the Lodge family, so a little care must be exercised in sorting out the various men - the database includes 69 entries of these various "Thomas Lodge"s across the whole Forest area, and quite a few "Philip"s too for that matter.

Given the dates and location it seems likely that these Baptisms are all the same family, and POSSIBLY ancestors of your Thomas b1799. It's a shame though the Baptisms don't include mother's name. They were found by searching Baptisms using "Phil Lodge" as the father's name (in case the Minister spells it Philip or Phillip)

Record_ID: 256688
Entry_Number:
Year: 1719
Month: Sep
Day: 3
Parents_Surname: LODGE
Child_Forenames: Thomas
Fathers_Forenames: Phillip
Mothers_Forenames:
Mothers_Surname:
Residence:
Occupation:
Officiating_Minister: John White
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P 110 IN 1/3
Page_Number: 5
Parish_Chapel: Littledean
Soundex: L320

Record_ID: 256723
Entry_Number:
Year: 1721
Month: Nov
Day: 19
Parents_Surname: LODGE
Child_Forenames: Phillip
Fathers_Forenames: Phillip
Mothers_Forenames:
Mothers_Surname:
Residence:
Occupation:
Officiating_Minister: John White
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P 110 IN 1/3
Page_Number: 7
Parish_Chapel: Littledean
Soundex: L320

Record_ID: 256763
Entry_Number:
Year: 1724
Month: Apr
Day: 14
Parents_Surname: LODGE
Child_Forenames: Sarah
Fathers_Forenames: Phillip
Mothers_Forenames:
Mothers_Surname:
Residence:
Occupation:
Officiating_Minister: John White
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P 110 IN 1/3
Page_Number: 9
Parish_Chapel: Littledean
Soundex: L320

---

It seems likely this is their parents, found within the Marriage Allegations database. It does point towards bride Mary coming from the Mitcheldean area, while groom Philip is from the Littledean area;

Record_ID: 33892
Entry No.: 0
Year: 1718
Month: Feb
Day: 8
Groom_Surname: LODGE
Groom_Forenames: Philip
Groom_Age_at_Marriage: 25
Groom_Condition: Batchelor
Groom_Rank/Profession:
Groom_Residence: Flaxley
Groom_Fathers_Surname:
Groom_Fathers_Forenames:
Groom_Father's_Rank/Profession:
Bride_Surname: COLE
Bride_Forenames: Mary
Bride_Age_at_Marriage: 21
Bride_Condition: Spinster
Bride_Rank/Profession:
Bride_Residence: Abenhall
Bride_Fathers_Surname:
Bride_Fathers_Forenames:
Bride_Father's_Rank/Profession:
Marriage_by: Licence
Signature_or_Mark: He signs
Witness_1:
Witness_2:
Other_Witnesses:
Sealed and Delivered in the presence of:
Event_type: Marriage Allegation
Memoranda: Sworn before Nath Lye
Transcriber's_Notes: Old style date 1717/8
Register_Reference: Q3/34
Page_no.: 45
Soundex_Groom: L320
Soundex_Bride: C400

Despite the slightly different area, it does seem possible if not probable that this Marriage Record is the same couple given all the similarities ???

Record_ID: 99092
Entry_Number:
Year: 1718
Month: May
Day: 5
Grooms_Surname: LODGE
Grooms_Forenames: Philip
Grooms_Age:
Groom_Condition:
Grooms_Occupation:
Grooms_Residence: Huntley
Grooms_Fathers_Surname:
Grooms_Fathers_Forenames:
Grooms_Fathers_Occupation:
Brides_Surname: COLE
Brides_Forenames: Mary
Brides_Age:
Brides_Condition:
Brides_Occupation:
Brides_Residence: Huntley
Brides_Fathers_Surname:
Brides_Fathers_Forenames:
Brides_Fathers_Occupation:
Licence_or_Banns: licence
Date_of_Banns:
Signature_or_Mark:
Witness_1:
Witness_2:
Other_Witnesses:
Officiating_Minister: Abra: Morse rector
Event: Marriage
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P184 IN 1/1
Page_Number: 24
Parish_Chapel: Huntley
Soundex_Groom: L320
Soundex_Bride: C400

This MIGHT be their father, but it could equally be from an earlier generation ???

Record_ID: 175656
Entry_Number:
Year: 1726
Month: Dec
Day: 11
Surname: LODGE
Forenames: Philip
Residence:
Age_at_death:
Officiating_Minister: J Whinfield Minister
Event: Burial
Cause_of_death:
Memoranda:
Notes: Not in BTs
Register_Reference: P110 IN 1/3
Page_No: 52
Parish_Chapel: Littledean
Soundex: L320

But be aware there are quite a few PRs for Thomas, Philip, Mary LODGEs within the PRs in our general search area (eastern Forest- Abenhall, Littledean, Huntley even Westbury etc... So with the PRs being quite brief and without any Census data it's hard to sort them apart.

Browsing the LODGE name within the PR search, I'm beginning to wonder (aka guess !) if your line originates from the Longhope area, where there's quite a few Lodge PRs across the years. I even see a Longhope Baptism for a Thomas Lodge in 1601, but this is of course purely conjecture at the moment.

Hoping this helps.. atb J