Danson als Pearson, John, of Todhole in Lamplugh (1595-1665)
John Danson als Pearson was baptised in Lamplugh 02-03-1595. He was illegitimate, son of Peter Danson of Mockerkin in Loweswater, and Catherine Pearson of Lamplugh.
There is only one Pearson family in Lamplugh that dates back to this period - the Pearsons of Holedale. Even they don't quite get back to the 1590s. The first record (from a parish register that starts in 1581) is the death of John, son of Thomas Pearson of Holedale, in 1602.
The only Pearson reported in the 1590s is also a Thomas, possibly the same one. He married a Catherine Murrow in 1587.
Catherine was living at Scalesmoor. This is next to Holedale. A Thomas Murrow, possibly her brother, died there in July 1586. His son Richard died in September. His wife Annas died in December. A year or so later Catherine married. It's not clear whether this Thomas was the owner of Holedale and moved in, or whether he was living at Scalesmoor already (possibly due to inherit Holedale).
Their son William was baptised in 1592/3; but his father Thomas died a month later, when he was described as of Scalesmoor. The property does not sound healthy!
At this point, Peter Danson of Mockerkin came into the picture. Scalesmoor and Holedale are on the northern edge of the parish, not that far from Mockerkin. So a quick affair with a widow, a resultant child (John Danson als Pearson) in 1595, end of relationship. Catherine then married Christopher Norman in 1597, and they had three children - John, Elizabeth and Isabel - at Holedale.
Holedale descended to a long line of Pearsons. Normans failed to establish any yeoman roots, either at Holedale or elsewhere. So there are two choices - either we can see the Pearson dynasty at Holedale continuing with Catherine only being a side-show, or we can see the future Holedale Pearsons as being her descendants. The next Holedale heir was a William Pearson, producing a family in the 1620s - that would be consistent with Catherine's som William baptised in the early 1590s.
John Danson als Pearson was living in Lamplugh at the Protestation and died at the home of his brother Thomas in Little Clifton. when he was described as of Todhole in Lamplugh.
After his brother died in 1644, his widow remarried John Pearson of Mockerkin, and a child bond was drawn up to commit the new father to looking after the Danson children. The new husband was appointed administrator. There were two other bondsmen - John Pearson of Arlecdon, farmer, and Cuthbert Fearon of Mockerkin (the local schoolmaster)
There seems to have been some confusion - John Pearson of Arlecdon signed, and then maybe John Pearson of Mockerkin put his mark in the wrong place? Anyway, it seems likely that John Pearson of Arlecdon was actually John Danson als Pearson (his father and brothers were literate). He would have spent his life working around the farms of the manor of Lamplugh and Arlecdon.
The bequests in his will are to Dansons, not to Pearsons. Perhaps at the end he viewed himself as a Danson, but even the end was enigmatic - the scratched initials on his will - JP or JD?
His inventory noted him as a bachelor.
The value of his inventory was small (£19 9s), but that would not be unusual for a man of his age living in retirement.