In October 1712, when he married Mary Bennet, he was described as a resident of the parish, and this implies he had been living and working there for at least twelve months and a day. No baptism for Mary Bennet has been found in Ringshall and since both of them had been resident in Ringshall long enough to be "of this parish", there is no way of knowing where she was born.

Jonathan and Mary had five children baptised in Ringshall before her death and burial in September 1729. The next year, in September 1730, Jonathan married again. His second wife was Elizabeth Bramford and they were married in the next village of Battisford. They had three more children before Elizabeth died and was buried in Ringshall in April 1737.

There is no indication of Jonathan's profession (the parish registers are not very informative at this date) but it is very likely that he was a farm labourer of some kind. They seem to have settled in Ringshall since their children were baptised there. These were:

1. Mary baptised December 1713, married John Whitehead at Combs in 1751, when she was 38. The registers for Combs have no more entries for this family.
2. Jonathan baptised June 1715, married Elizabeth Hix or Hicks and had 11 children in Ringshall.

After this there is a gap in the parish registers until 1754, but the entries can be filled in from the Bishop's transcripts. (For these I am indebted to John Hammond Laflin, who supplied me with copies of these records).

3. Sarah baptised December 1718.
4. William baptised December 1721, buried April 1750.
5. Abraham baptised May 1725, married Elizabeth Ennals at Combs in 1752 (when he was 27) and did not return to Ringshall. There are no more records in Combs relating to this family.

In September 1729, Mary Laflin (Jonathan's wife) was buried at Ringshall. A year later, in September 1730, Jonathan married Elizabeth Branford in the neighbouring village of Battisford. They returned to Ringshall and their three children were baptised there:

6. Jemima. baptised July 1731 & married Wm Sedon of Earl Stonham at Combs in 1757, when she was 26. They may have returned to live in Earl Stonham, but in February 1773, Ann, daughter of “William and Jemima Seaton” was buried in Combs.
7. Anne. baptised and buried October 1734.
8. Thomas. baptised August 1736.

In April 1737, Elizabeth was buried at Ringshall, only seven months after Thomas’ baptism. Thomas may have died and been buried at the same time, but if so this was not recorded. He does not appear again in the records. In July 1761, at the age of 74, Jonathan Laflin was buried at Ringshall.

Sources for this section.

Parish Registers for Hitcham, Ringshall, Battisford and Combs - all available in Ipswich Record Office.
Bishops Transcripts for Ringshall (filling the gap in the registers).

Page maintained by Susan Laflin. Last updated in December 2007.