Mary SKELTON was recorded in Latin as "fegrince" when she baptized her illegitimate daughter Maria in Pateley Bridge in November 1703. "Fegrince" roughly translates to "traveller".
With a newborn child and probably no home or right to reside, things must have looked bleak at the start of a Yorkshire winter. Fortunately better times were coming and she married Joseph SIMPSON, a lead miner, in Ripon Cathedral in January 1703/04. Joseph and Mary had 8 children christened in Pateley Bridge while living in Greenhow Hill, site of the lead mines.
Mary died in 1746, just one month before her husband died.
There are a few possible baptismal records that fit the approximate age and location, although as a "traveller" she may have come some distance :
- Mary daughter of Charles SHELDEN in Burnsall 24 Mar 1677/8
- Maria daughter of Henry SKELTON of Bellerby, in Spennithorne 12 Mar 1680/1
- Maria daughter of William and Ann SKELTON of Sutton(-in Craven), in Kildwick 25 Jan 1683/4
