John WELDON was a yeoman tailor of Siston als Syethston (Syston) in the County of Leicester.
Based on the timing of his children's birth he would have been born 1613-1626.
John married Elizabeth and together they had three children: William 1647, Anne 1650 and Robert 1653. Another son Ralph was baptized in 1660, however no mother's name was given, possibly because Elizabeth had subsequently died.
Elizabeth's surname is unknown as no marriage record has been identified, and no burial has been found.
In May 1663 John married Rebecca GODDARD in St Martin's, Leicester. They had a son, John, baptized in Syston in March 1663/4.
John WELDON died in 1689 having made his will in 1687. In that will he left land in Syston to his younger sons Robert and John. Robert also receive a cupboard. His eldest son, William, received a "teaster without any furniture" and a bible. His daughter, Anne, received a coverlid (bedding) and a brass pan. Everything else was to remain with his "now wife Rebeckah" who was his executrix.
Presumably William's inheritance was the tailoring business that had already been taken over.
John died in 1689 and was buried on 18 Oct 1689. John's probate inventory was valued at £6 8s 10d.
John WELDON's parents are unknown. Potential candidates include:
- John WELDON, husbandman, who died intestate in 1663, because his estate went to a John WELDON junior. However, you would expect John WELDON junior to have been a husbandman, especially as he would have been the oldest surviving son.
- William WELDON of Leicester and Marie NORTH of Syston, were married by licence on 6 May 1605 in Stoughton.12 Possible children include Thomas (1607) and John (Jan 1609/10) baptized in Leicester, and Alice (1606) and Ann (1612) baptized in Syston. (Boys in Leicester and girls in Syston where their mother was from?)
Other information:
A John WELDON of Syston was mentioned in the 1635 inventory of Isabell WELDON of Barrow on Soar as a debtor. Isabell was the wife of Robert WELDON of Syston who died in 1614. Robert may have been the father and/or brother of one or more of the John WELDONs of Syston that may have been John's father and/or grandfather.
There is another branch of the WELDON family in and around Syston that descends from a Thomas WELDON, blacksmith of Queniborough who might also be the son of the above Robert. Thomas died in 1627 and left his land in Syston (which had been purchased from a John WELDON) to his son Thomas and daughters Margarett and Mrs HILBY (wife of Anthony of Queniborough). Son Thomas had two sons, Robert and Thomas and a daughter Isabell (wife of William WHATOFFE). Robert may have been the administrator of the intestate husbandman John WELDON senior in 1663 indicating that he was the senior member of the WELDON family in Syston at that time. Robert died without any surviving children in 1678, but his brother Thomas had seven children and a proportion of the later Syston WELDONs descend from him.
The John WELDON that Thomas had bought his land from (before 1627) might have been the John WELDON (of Sitheston) who married Elizabeth SIMSON in 1608. This marriage date fits with John WELDON being born 1613-1626. He could also be the debtor to Isabell in 1631 and the John WELDON senior who died intestate in 1663 (aged 76+). To achieve this he would have had to have been born in the late 1580s and could have been the son of Robert who died 1614 and brother to Thomas, blacksmith of Queniborough, who bought his land.
