I have, so far, been unable to find where John came from, but, according to the IGI, in Sussex, the surname, Dean, is far more common in Brighton, and places to the west of Brighton, than to the east. At the time of his wedding, recorded in the Ninfield registers, in 1684, he was 24, which makes him born in the year 1660, or thereabouts, but there is no obvious candidate for our man.
The IGI is a reasonable place to start research but any and every entry should be checked thoroughly as both the completeness and accuracy of this source is in doubt, because of how the information was obtained. So, the origin of our John Dean is a mystery.
In the absence of any other information, on 1st April 1684, John Dean, aged 24, married a Jane Ticehurst, also 24, at the church on Ninfield, Sussex.
Their first child, Thomas, was born, later, that same year and baptised on 23rd November but died on the 28th and was buried, in the church at Hooe, which, at that time would have been the Church of All Saints.
In 1685, John took on the running of the mill at Hooe and things may have looked better for the couple as, later that year, they had another child, a daughter who was christened Elizabeth on the 27th September. Less than two months later, however, the child died and was buried in Hooe Churchyard, on 14th November.
Two years later, another son was born, and baptised, John, in Hooe Church, on 13th February, 1687. Over the next twenty years, there is no record in the Hooe registers of his burial so he appears to have survived into adulthood. There is, however, also, no record of a marriage or of any children being born to him and a wife or of a burial, so, most likely he moved out of the area.
Tragedy however, was still not far off for this couple as, on 2nd March, 1690, they had another son, christened Thomas on March 2nd, 1690. Jane, however, died and was buried, in Hooe, two years later, on April 25th 1692, leaving John to look after the infant, though not for long as the child died and was buried on November 16th 1692.
What happened to John, after this, is not recorded but the mill was taken over, in 1690, by a John Colman. What caused John Dean to give up the mill may have been the family problems he was having. He doesn't seem to have remarried and what happened to his only son, who seems to have survived, John, is, also, a mystery.
