John Odell Whitehead was born in 1808 at Wavendon BKM, and baptised on 30^th October 1808, son of John Whitehead and Mary.

John Odell Whitehead married Isabella Sinfield on 2^nd June 1827 at Salford BDF. Their son Cornelius was baptised on 22^nd June 1828. A daughter, Elizabeth was born in 1833, then sadly Isabella died in 1835 and was buried at Salford.

John Odell Whitehead

It seems John took his two children to live with his mother, and he found lodging at Rushden with the Clements family. John found work as an agricultural labourer, then as a gardener at Rushden Hall. John Odell Whitehead married Maria Clements by banns at St Mary’s on 2^nd August 1841.

Cornelius had found work here too, and he married Karenhappuch Baker (born Rushden) in 1846 in the Northampton district. They had a daughter Martha who was aged 6 in 1851, a son Thomas in 1848, and a son John early 1851, all born in Rushden. By March 1851 they moved to Hinwick where Cornelius was a gardener at Hinwick House.

In 1851 Maria is aged 29, and John's eldest daughter Elizabeth, aged 18 and born at Salford BDF, is living with them. His first wife had died shortly before John came here, then his daughter came to join him.

Told to JESmith: Mr. Sargeant Knight, son of the late Ebenezer Knight says that he remembers the Round House, about where the chestnut tree stands. The ‘stocks’ were at the apex and the whipping post was part of the same structure as the stocks. Chestnut tree planted in 1861 a few years after the Round House was demolished according to an entry in the notebook of Ebenezer Knight.

John died in 1864 aged 56, but curiously the record in the parish register reads “John ODELL 30^th October 1864 aged 56” and was crossed through, yet was correctly recorded by the registrar at Wellingborough.

1865 saw 4 more family events : 3 children were married and John’s mother died in October. Son John married Eliz Clayton on 20 Apr 1865, Thomas married Charlotte Nobles on 8^th June 1865 and Mary Ann married Thomas Dunkley on 25 Dec 1865.