Just outside the entrance to St Mary’s church in Morchard Bishop, Devon, is a solitary grave.
The grave stone is so worn, only the name ‘Alfred Wreford’ can be made out.
Fortunately, there was a list of burials inside the church which quickly gave me Alfred’s death date and the fact he was only 8 years old when he died.
Of course, I wanted to know more. I was unable to find any mention of Alfred’s death in the newspaper, which indicates he was likely to have died from some kind of illness rather than a tragic accident. To know for sure, I’d have to order his death certificate. But if I ordered every certificate that took my fancy, I wouldn’t have enough money to eat, so that will have to remain a mystery for now.
But I’ve still been able to find some details about Alfred’s life.
Alfred was baptised at Morchard Bishop on 25 May 1863, the son of agricultural labourer Matthew Wreford and his wife, Mary Drew. This was the second marriage for both his parents, and although Alfred would be the only child his parents would have together, he had 7 older half-siblings combined. At the time of his baptism, the family were residing on The Street in Morchard Bishop.
In the 1871 census, Alfred can be found with his parents and 14-year-old half sister, living at ‘Sidbury’ (or Sidborough) which is part of the village of Oldborough (just south of Morchard Bishop).
I was able to find photographs of the house but it looks a lot grander today than it would have done in the 1870s. (Historic England states it was formerly a small farmhouse and adjoining cottage.)
Alfred would die only a few months after the census was taken, and be buried next to the church building, where I would discover him 153 years later.
But since I have a theory that I am related to every Wreford buried in Morchard Bishop, I wanted to find out how this boy was related to me.
Turns out, Alfred was my fourth cousin, once removed, and two sets of his 3rd great grandparents were also my 7th great grandparents:
Set one – William Wreford (1717-1763) and Thomasin Manley (1719 – 1794)
Set two – Matthew Wreford (1712-1752) and Sarah James (1717 – 1763)
William and Matthew were brothers – the children of Matthew Wreford (1682 – 1763) and Elizabeth Manley (1684 – 1757) – and two of Matthew’s children grew up to marry two of William’s children.
Nice to have ‘met’ you, cousin Alfred.
