Mary was one of five children born into the Thompson family of worsted weavers in Baildon at a time when the textile trade, though still cottage-based, was becoming more important.
She and her brother George were baptised together in 1772 and their brother and sister John and Nancy were baptised in 1775. This doesn’t necessarily mean they were two sets of twins, but it’s possible. The youngest, Rebecca, was born in 1781.
Baildon was a chapelry of the parish of Otley, and had its own church, St John the Evangelist. (It is now a parish in its own right and St John’s is the parish church.) Mary and William were married at the parish church, All Saints in Otley, though both were baptised and buried at St John’s.
Mary had five children, of whom our ancestor Jeremiah (sometimes Jere) was the eldest. He would be 13 when his mother died at the age of 39.
Mother of Jeremiah, daughter of George and Mary Thompson
Baptised Mary Thompson 25 October 1772 in Baildon, Yorkshire
Married William Bell on 25 September 1797
Buried 28 June 1811