Bedfordshire Archives Service Catalogue

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Reference
Z1398
Title
Records of the Moore family of Manor Farm, Wilstead
Admin/biog history
John Moore McDonald (c.1842-1917), the great-grandfather of the donor, was born at Haynes Park, Beds (1881 census). In 1866 his father John died (will X 713/20/82; property sale catalogues SF 74/11,14,15) and John junior took over the tenancy of Manor Farm, Wilstead, at which point he started the farm account book (Z 1398/1) which has remained with the family ever since. Shortly after his father’s death John junior married Elizabeth Heading at Old Warden church on 15 November 1866. However, John Moore McDonald did not remain a farmer for very long; the account book entries cease in 1875, and the last entries (1885) record the sale of horses and stock. The family story is that John junior was ruined by the agricultural depression, but what is certain is that he left Bedfordshire for Leicester in the 1880s and died there in 1917, aged 75 years.
Level of description
fonds