John Bach of Dudley, died 1640

John Bach of Dudley, yeoman, left a will, probate 12 Aug 1640. He names his wife as Isabel and his children in the order William, Richard and John and daughters Isabel and Elizabeth.

When comparing with the Parish Register of St Thomas, Dudley we can piece together his family and postulate about a number of his descendants and relations.

He married Isabel Sidway on 9 Apr 1616. Richard was baptised on 24 Nov 1617, John on 5 Feb 1619, Isabel on 9 Dec 1621 and Elizabeth in Jul 1632. There is no baptism for William, the ‘oldest son’ and we can conclude that he was older, predating this marriage. His mother would thus appear to be Joanne as ‘Joanne the wife of John Bach’ is recorded as being buried in 1614. At least two other siblings, daughters of John Bach are baptised and buried in 1611 and 1614.

There are a number of Bachs in the Dudley register that are not readily accounted for but it is the contention here that John Bach’s oldest son William is the one who marries Mary Engre on 16 Jun 1624. This implies his birth was before 1605, thus a lot older than his siblings from John Bach’s second marriage. This in turn gives us the idea that John Bach was born at least before 1580, making him over 60 at death and thus earning the burial entry in 1640 as ‘Old John Bach’.

It seems likely that the Bach(e)s of Penn and Wombourne are closely related. The marriage of Thomas Bache to Margret Southole in St Thomas Dudley is likely to be Thomas Bache, son of William Bache of Over Penn, who died in 1624. One of the overseers of John Bach’s 1640 will was Roger Southall of Dudley.

These Baches from Over Penn are directly mentioned in the will of Thomas Bach of Wombourne, 1617. The Wombourne Baches are those resident in the Woodhouse there and seem to co-reside with the eponymous Wodehouse family discussed on this site elsewhere.

William Bach of Over Penn who dies in 1624 (without a will)  is married to Mary Dyson and is the progenitor of the Bach family of Penn that intermarries with the Bradneys and Sedgwicks, who went on to build Penn Hall.

To return to the descendants of John Bach in question, we can follow the putative descent through his eldest son William further. The descendants of William Bach and Mary Engre are all born and baptised in St Thomas Dudley. They include the eldest son William Bach baptised in St Thomas  on 27 Jul 1628. This William marries Eleanor Colbourne the daughter of Humphrey Colbourne. Their son, William Bach,  in turn would appear to be baptised on 18 Oct 1663. Significantly this William Bach of Dudley leaves a will in 1731. Here he identifies his brother-in-law Edmund Darby and we know his sister must be Hannah Bach, Edmund’s second wife.

The burial of ‘Old John Bach’ is recorded in the St Thomas Dudley register on 8 Aug 1640.

Sources and Notes

  • Will of John Bach, Probate 12 Aug 1640, (Worcester)
  • Will of Thomas Bach of Woodhouse, Wombourne, Probate 6 Nov 1617 (Lichfield)
  • Will of William Bach of Dudley, Probate 7 Jun 1731 (Worcester)
  • Parish Register of St Thomas’s, Dudley (BMSGH Transcript)
  • Note there is a hint of ‘Puritanism’ in the request in the will to be buried “amongst my christian brethren and sisters’ in Dudley churchyard.
  • John’s great grandson Josiah Bach, brother in law to Edmund Darby was the overseer of John Colborne’s will of 1695
  • See the article on Richard Shaw  for a reference to Nicholas Bache, the only son of Thomas Bache of  Womborne.
  • See the article on Thomas Madstard of Stourbridge, whose sister Isabel marries another John Bach.