John Batteridge Pearson (abt. 1745 - 1808)

Descendants

Died 1808 at about age 63 in Derbyshire, England

Biography

John Batteridge Pearson was born about 1745.

He married Elizabeth Falconer on the 17th of September 1787 in Lichfield Staffordshire^[1]

The Revd John Batteridge Pearson (1749-1808), LL.B., when Curate at Lichfield became engaged to Elizabeth, the eldest daughter of Dr James Falconer, Archdeacon of Derby, Prebendary of Lichfield and Rector of Thorpe Constantine, Staffordshire. The Falconers opposed the match as Mr Pearson was not their daughter’s equal in birth or fortune but when Miss Lucy Porter, Dr Johnston’s stepdaughter, left him her fortune, they could not but withdraw their opposition. Mrs Falconer was, however, so annoyed that she lay in bed all day but she soon became reconciled.
The fortune that Revd John Batteridge Pearson inherited from Miss Lucy Porter included her house and a number of valuable relics of Dr Johnston (1709-84). There was the manuscript of his dictionary that was later put into the loft at Lichfield where it was eaten by rats. There was the bust of Dr Johnston taken after his death that was displayed on a shelf over a door but fell and broke when the door slammed, and there was the walking stick that was lost when Fallodon was burnt down accidentally about 1917. However, there survive at Boultibrooke a writing desk of Dr Johnston’s, some of his letters and a printed copy, not a first edition, of his dictionary signed by him.^[2]

He passed away in 1808. ^[3]

Sources

1. ↑ England, Staffordshire, Church Records, 1538-1944", database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QLQZ-LHF9 : 8 July 2020), Elizabeth Falconer and John Batteridge Pearson, 1787.
2. ↑ http://www.marshalclarke.com/ClarkesOfGraiguenoepark/Clarkes7.htm
3. ↑ "England, Derbyshire, Church of England Parish Registers, 1537-1918," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QL7P-KSW6 : 19 October 2020), John Batteridge Pearson, 1808; citing 1808; citing Burial, Derbyshire, England, United Kingdom, Derbyshire Record Office, England.