In 1732 John Maskelyne was residuary legatee and sole executor of his father's Will. In his father's Will are named three Maskelyne grandchildren, John, Thomas and Edith, whom the Wootton Bassett Parish Register shows to have been children of John Maskelyne. Their mother's name is currently unknown, though it would appear she died shortly before John Maskelyne Sr. wrote his Will, and soon after the birth of her daughter Edith.
Mary Maskelyne, widow of John Maskelyne, was granted Admon of her husband's personal effects in 1736 (see below). In 1730 a John Maskelyne married Mary Harvey in Wootton Bassett. Some secondary sources show this Mary Maskelyne (née Harvey) having died in 1758 after having (among others) a son, John Maskelyne, in 1737, though the Wootton Bassett parish register does not name the mother of any of these children. A Mrs. Mary Maskelyne, widdow, was indeed buried in Wootton Bassett on 17 Nov 1758; however, this was not the widow of John Maskelyne, as Administration of her personal estate was granted to her sons Neville Maskelyne and Edmund Maskelyne on 23 September of the following year, neither of whom are listed among the children of John Maskelyne born in Wootton Bassett between 1731 and 1741.
In the absence of evidence to the contrary, Mary Harvey is shown here as the second wife of this John Maskelyne. She was most likely a lot younger than he was, and they do not appear to have had any children. It was probably this Mary Maskelyne who (re-)married to Thomas Kendall in Wootton Bassett on 25 May 1736. 'Mary wife of Tho: Kendall' died the following February, buried in Wootton Bassett on 22 Feb 1737.
--------------------------------
John Maskelyne of Greenhill in the Parish of Wootton Bassett, yeoman, died intestate. Administration of his goods, chattels and credits was granted on 23 Mar 1735/6 to his widow Mary Maskelyne. 4
Research Notes: