Lower Shobrooke

‘Lower Shobrooke’ was a property owned by members of the Wreford family. Often described as being situated in Morchard Bishop, it is closer to the Hamlet of Morchard Road (within the parish of Down St Mary). It is described as a ‘detached period farmhouse‘ or a ‘period cottage’ but the exact period this refers to is unspecified.

c1809 map
‘Shobrook’ shown in proximity to Morchard Bishop and Down St Mary c1809

It is unclear when the property entered Wreford hands but the estate was mentioned in the Domesday Book as ‘Schipebroc’ (Sheepbrook), and apparently even earlier in a charter of 930 AD.

The estate passed from Matthew Wreford (1712-1752) to his eldest son Matthew (1741-1821) and (it seems) subsequently to his son John (1765-1845).

Matthew (junior) had to wait until he turned 24 before inheriting – he was only 11 when his father died. (Matthew senior died at the age 40, and eleven years before his own father Matthew Wreford ‘of Middlecott’ (1682-1763).

In 1822, Lower Shobrooke was put up for auction “to be SOLD for the Life of the Owner, Mr. JOHN WREFORD, now aged about 56 years…”

However, it is unclear whether the property sold as his wife, Betty (nee Hosegood), was described as ‘of Lower Shobrooke’ when she was buried in 1829.

In the 1841 census, three families were living at ‘Shobrook’, including the family of John Wreford (1817-1892). (He was the great grandson of Matthew Sr’s brother William Wreford (1717-1763). This John Wreford was recorded at ‘Higher Shobrooke’ in the 1851 census.

In the 1851 census, two families were recorded at ‘Lower Shobrooke’, named Mann and Warren. The heads were recorded as agricultural labourers so would not have owned the property.

Image of part of the 1851 census
The Mann family at Lower Shobrooke in the 1851 census
Image of part of the 1851 census
The Mann family at Lower Shobrooke in the 1851 census

My ancestry

Matthew Wreford (1712-1752) was my 7th great-grandfather.

Links related to Lower Shobrooke:

Location on modern map

Location on c1904 map

Location on c1886 map

Location on c1809 map

Shobrooke Farmstead on Heritage Gateway (Devon & Dartmoore HER)

Real estate catalogue

Lower Shobrooke, Wreford Name Study wikitree category – lists profiles of Wrefords connected with the property

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Celebrity Ancestor

Mayoral Connections

Ancestor Found (almost)

Further Pedigree Collapse

I previously posted about ‘cousin marriage’ and ‘pedigree collapse’ in my tree here.

I had wondered what effect two less ancestors would have on the ancestor count in my family tree. It turned out, two less ancestors meant that in 17 generations I had 254 less ancestors.

I’ve now discovered another cousin marriage in my tree.

My 4th great-grandparents, Arthur Buchan and Agnes Buchan, married at Rathen, Aberdeenshire in 1828. Their fathers were brothers (as shown in the diagram below).

 

My pedigree is now only typical until the 8th generation, where I lose two 5x great grandparents, which leads to the loss of another 2046 ancestors by the 17th generation.

My ancestor count now looks like this:

Generation Relationship Typical Number My Number Ancestors Lost
1 Me
2 Parents 2 2
3 Grandparents 4 4
4 1x Great grandparents 8 8
5 2x Great grandparents 16 16
6 3x Great grandparents 32 32
7 4x Great grandparents 64 64
8 5x Great grandparents 128 126 -2
9 6x Great grandparents 256 252 -4
10 7x Great grandparents 512 504 -8
11 8x Great grandparents 1024 1006 -16-2
12 9x Great grandparents 2048 2012 -32-4
13 10x Great grandparents 4096 4024 -64-8
14 11x Great grandparents 8192 8048 -128-16
15 12x Great grandparents 16384 16096 -256-32
16 13x Great grandparents 32768 31562 -512-64
17 14x Great grandparents 65536 64384 -1024-128
TOTAL 131070 128770 -2300

If I find any more, I will make sure to update.

(If you believe that I have actually calculated incorrectly, please let me know!)

Related posts:

Twins

Son of a Lunatic

More Buchan 'Lunatics'

Drowned Near the Boat Shore

Fishing Boat in Rough Seas by Rein Miedema (1884)

On 26 October 1859, cousins Andrew Buchan (23) and Robert Buchan (17), drowned when their boat was overturned by a strong wind in deep water (Robert was incorrectly named Arthur in the article). The cause of death given on their death records was, “Drowning Near the Boat Shore”. John Buchan, Andrew’s brother, certified that both were buried at St Combs Churchyard.

clipping from newspaper
Aberdeen Journal, 5 October 1859, p3, c6

Their fathers, Andrew Buchan and Arthur Buchan, were brothers. Arthur Buchan, father of 23-year-old Andrew, was my 4th great grandfather; and brother of my 3rd great-grandmother, Helen Buchan. Helen was 19 when her older brother, and younger cousin, drowned (she would marry James Findlay two years later). I can only imagine the devastating effect this tragedy had on the family.

Andrew was the one who “left a widow to lament his fate”. He was described as ‘married’ on his death record, but infuriatingly did not give his wife’s name. There was a likely 1857 marriage record to an Isabella Buchan in Rathen, but it was difficult to establish which of the many Isabella Buchans this could have been.

image of two entries in the death register of Lonmay parish, Aberdeen
Death Records of Andrew and Robert Buchan (1859)

I had to cough up the credits and order the marriage record to make sure it was the right one. Sure enough, Andrew’s parents were recorded, confirming it was the correct people. Isabella’s parents were also recorded but leads to another issue… which of the many ‘William Buchan and Elizabeth Duthie’ couples are they?

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Inquests and Articles

Emigrating to New Zealand

The Buchan Trio

Fine Fellows

I just LOVE finding connections within families.

In part 4 of ‘The Hannah Chronicles’, Hannah was involved an incident with a man named Samuel Steele. One of the newspapers reporting the incident, mentioned that William Lamb was a cousin of Steele’s wife.

Tree diagram showing the relationship between William Lamb and Samuel Steele
Samuel Steele was the husband of William Lamb’s cousin

I have since found out that there is another family connection.

Three years after William Lamb’s grandfather Daniel Toon died, his grandmother Mary Kennah, married a man named Robert Fellows. (Note: Since Daniel died before William was born, he may have even looked upon Robert as his grandfather.)

When expanding William Hirst’s tree, I found that his mother’s maiden name was also ‘Fellows’. Coincidences like this need to be explored, and in this case, it turned out that William Hirst’s mother, Ann Fellows, was the sister of Robert Fellows.

William Hirst’s mother was the sister of Robert Fellows

William Hirst’s parents even appear to be witnesses at Mary’s marriage to Robert.

Marriage record showing Thomas and Ann Hirst as witnesses at the marriage of Mary Toon (nee Kennah) to Robert Fellows

When Mary Kennah married Robert Fellows in 1849, her eldest daughter Sarah Toon was about 15 years old. Seven years later, in 1856, Sarah married William Hirst, the son of Robert’s sister.

So, Sarah Toon’s husband was her stepfather’s nephew.

This also means that when Hannah Bates was fighting with ‘William’s cousin’s husband’, she was also fighting with his step-grandfather’s nephew!

Related posts:

Sister Act

Certified Muddle

Bigamy Blues

Pedigree Collapse

Cousin marriage is given the side eye these days but it was a relatively common thing for our ancestors. It seemed to happen a lot with the Wrefords in Devon, and the Buchans in North East Aberdeenshire, but I’ve actually only been able to find it once in my direct ancestral line (so far).

Way back in the mid 18th century, my 6th great-grandparents, Sarah Wreford and John Wreford, married. Sarah and John were 1st cousins – their fathers were brothers.

This kind of situation leads to what is known as ‘pedigree collapse’.

A typical pedigree assumes each set of parents are unrelated to each other and each generation doubles (since each person has 2 parents).

Pedigree collapse occurs when two people who share ancestors reproduce.  

This is demonstrated in the pedigree of Sarah and John’s son (and my 5th great-grandfather), John Wreford:

Instead of having four distinct sets of great-grandparents, Sarah and John’s children had only three.

Their children had only 6 great-parents instead of 8; 12 second great-grandparents instead of 16; 24 third great-grandparents instead of 32; and so on. (The number of ancestors lost each generation doubles: 8 -2; 16 -4; 32 -8; etc.)

This got me wondering. What knock on effect would 2 less ancestors have on my overall ancestor count?

My pedigree is typical until the 11th generation, where I lose 2 8x great grandparents. So instead of 1024 8xGGP, I have 1022; instead of 2048 9xGGP, I have 2044 ; instead of 4096 10xGGP, I have 4088; and so on.

My ancestor count (so far) looks like this:

Generation Relationship Typical Number My Number Ancestors Lost
1 Me
2 Parents 2 2
3 Grandparents 4 4
4 1x Great grandparents 8 8
5 2x Great grandparents 16 16
6 3x Great grandparents 32 32
7 4x Great grandparents 64 64
8 5x Great grandparents 128 128
9 6x Great grandparents 256 256
10 7x Great grandparents 512 512
11 8x Great grandparents 1024 1022 -2
12 9x Great grandparents 2048 2044 -4
13 10x Great grandparents 4096 4088 -8
14 11x Great grandparents 8192 8176 -16
15 12x Great grandparents 16384 16352 -32
16 13x Great grandparents 32768 32704 -64
17 14x Great grandparents 65536 65408 -128
TOTAL 131070 130816 -254

Further calculations will need to be made if/when I find more kissing cousins.

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Arthur and Martha... I mean, Mary

Bombay Love Story

Wreford Death Notice 1902