PLACES Archives - Geneageek

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

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

Double Death

Blind Leading the Blind

Alfred Wreford

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!)

A Lunatic in the Family

Lunatic in the Family Update

Birthplace Pedigree Charts

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?

The Perils of Passchendaele

Chiropody at Trentham

Kissing Cousins?

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!

The Shamrock

Bigamy Blues - Part 2

The Hannah Chronicles: A Disorderly House

Maunder Thursday

Some time ago, I wrote about my ancestor William Wreford’s second wife, Ann Maunder (see post: Good Tithings). I had long thought that Maunder was her maiden name but discovered she was likely born Ann Anstey, and married a man named George Maunder. Today I stumbled on more evidence to support this theory.

William and Ann had a daughter named Elizabeth Ann Wreford born in Tiverton, Devon. While ’rounding out’ her story, I found her in the 1851 census in London. Elizabeth was in the home of ‘Aeneas B. Reid’ and his wife ‘Anne Maunder Reid’, recorded as a sister-in-law. Obviously the name Maunder jumped out at me. Mrs Reid’s age also tied in with the details for Ann and George Maunder’s daughter Ann (her baptism record can be seen in the earlier post).

1851 census image showing Elizabeth Ann Wreford in the home of her half-sibling Ann Maunder

Luckily, I could access the image of the marriage Ann Maunder (jr) to Aeneas Barkley Reid a couple years earlier in 1849. It confirmed her father’s name was George Maunder and also held the signatures of two witnesses: William Wreford and Mary Wreford.

1849 marriage of Ann Maunder to Aeneas Barkley Reid with Wreford witnesses

(I believe these witnesses are likely to be Ann’s step sibling (son of William Wreford to his first wife) and his wife, who also lived in London at the time.)

After this discovery, everything has started tumbling into place. Another half sibling, Mary Anna, who I was previously unable to pin down, shows up in the census record with the Reids in 1861.