Thomas Lander

  General Notes:

Thomas, born after the death of his father and baptised 9 Sep 1705 in Worth Matravers [posthumus son of William Lander] was the first known Lander to enter the stone trade. When his father died, his mother Margaret was left with three children and as she died a widow in 1729 she must have had some support presumably from her own family.

Margaret's family were almost certainly in the stone trade so when Thomas was 14 he most probably was apprenticed to a relative.

At the age of about 30 Thomas married Mary Chinchen at Corfe Castle on the 11 Aug 1735 and we can assume this is the same Thomas born to William and Margaret as he named his second daughter Margaret. Why they married at Corfe Castle and not at Langton Matravers or Worth Matravers is a mystery.

Their first recorded child Charles, who was baptised in 1739, was buried 3 days late. Perhaps they had earlier children as it seems unusual that there would be a four year period from their marriage to a first born but there are no surviving records to prove otherwise.

From the Manor Court Books-Manor of Worth Matravers of 1742 a list of leasehold and copyhold tenants states a Mr Thomas Lander for Mr John Browne's 14/-.
From this book is also two entries: 1742 and 1772 referring to a list of members of the homage and Thomas was "sworne".

It appears from this book that Thomas and Mary were living in Worth Matravers at these times although their ten children were all baptised in Langton Matravers where Mary herself was baptized and probably had family.

In the will of his father-in-law dated 1764 he was recorded as a stone merchant and was probably involved in the buying of stone from the Purbeck quarries and shipping it to customers outside Dorset.

In 1766 Thomas signed the Letters of Administration of his son-in-law Samuel Bower [husband of Mary] who had died the year before.

His daughter Margaret married John Savage and when he died in 1774 the will stipulated that Margaret was to be the sole executor so long as she remained a widow. Five years later she did remarry and her daughters Mary and Ann were granted administration 5 days after the marriage. Unable to act as executors because they were minors they "do hereby make choice of our grandfather Mr Thomas Lander to be our Curator or Guardian".

Recorded on a Bond re Curation-1779- "Thomas and William Lander bind themselves for £600 to care for and bring up Mary and Ann".

On the Church Wardens Accounts of 1778 & 1779 there are entries for the occupier of Mr Thomas Lander's house who paid 1d each year. It appears rates may have been paid to the church wardens. [LM or Worth?]

Thomas died in 1789 aged 84 and was buried in Langton Matravers churchyard.
He seems to have been a respectable man appearing in several documents as Mr Thomas Lander implying that was the way he was usually addressed

  Noted events in his life were:

• Occupation: Stonemason, 1719, Langton Matravers, Dorest.

• Marriage: to Mary Chinchen, 11 August 1735, Langton Matravers, Dorset.

• Occupation: Stone Merchant, 1764.

Thomas married Mary Chinchen, daughter of William Chinchen and Agnes Harden, on 11 August 1735 in Corfe Castle, Dorest. (Mary Chinchen was born in 1716 in Langton Matravers, Dorset, christened on 3 April 1716 in Langton Matravers, Dorset, died in 1793 in Langton Matravers, Dorest and was buried on 10 June 1793 in Langton Matravers, Dorset.)