Mary Pouncy

A Memory of Tarrant Rushton.

I once bought an old book dated 1795 entitled "The Pocket Magazine", which had several signatures on early pages of the owner: "Mary Pouncy Rushton". Interested in learning more about her I sought her birth, marriage, death etc details in all the "Rushtons" I could discover: no luck. The book went into the roof. The other day I came upon it again and this time searched every page. A few pages in was a different clue "Mary Pouncy Fordington". As a Thomas Hardy fan I went straight to the Dorset records and found Mary's birth, in Dorchester on 29 June 1780, daughter of Thomas and Mary Pouncy. A further search shows that she died unmarried at the age of 24 in Dewlish. Very little more research uncovered the mystery of "Rushton". If Mary had the book new, she must have lived in Tarrant Rushton during 1795-1800 or so and been quite well-to-do since she was literate when few were. Perhaps somebody could guess where she might have lived?

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