Hibbitt and Barnes Family History Blog

Site Updates - Surnames: Weaver, Twogood, Street, Munckton + Picture Gallery additions

Tue, 7 May 2013 00:10:00 +0100

Hibbitt Family Tree section

I initially had the wrong Sarah as a wife of my 4 x great-grandfather, Robert Weaver (1789-1869). Beforehand, I had found a marriage in 1810 in Curry Rivel, Somerset, between a Robert Weaver and a Sarah Munckton, both previously widowed. However, there were always difficulties with this. Firstly, they were so young that they didn't seem to have had time to have been married before, I could find no obvious first marriages for either and their children didn't start coming along until 1817.

With my FindMyPast subscription, I recently discovered another marriage between a Robert Weaver, bachelor, and a Sarah Street, spinster. The couple were married in Curry Rivel on 26th March 1816. I now realize this is the better fit for my 4 x great-grandparents.

Whilst I don't have absolute proof, it's reasonable to assume the Weaver/Munckton marriage was the second wife of Robert's father, also Robert Weaver (1757-1832). Robert senior's first wife, Ann (nee Twogood/Toogood), may have died in 1809 as there is a burial in the Curry Rivel parish records of an Ann Weaver on 30th August 1809. There are no other Robert Weavers in the locality as far as I can tell.

This is a lesson in having to be very careful using datasets with various cut-off dates. Some websites, commercial and non-commercial, may not have all the parish records for a particular parish and so it's important to recognize this.

Updates include:

Additional notes for my 5 x great-grandparents, Robert Weaver snr. and Ann Twogood.
Moved Sarah Munckton to become the second wife of Robert Weaver, with notes.
Added one or two notes for Sarah Munckton's first husband, Mr. ? Munckton.
Updated details and notes for my 4 x great-grandparents, Robert Weaver jnr. and Sarah Street.

Place names: Curry Rivel in Somerset.

Resources > Family Tree Reports section

Updated the Ancestors of Phyllis Grace Weaver report.

Barnes Picture Gallery

Added the following albums:

People - (Individuals) > Barnes - so far, the album contains one image of Harvey's great-aunt, Cissie Barnes. More Barnes photos to follow in due course.
Graves & Memorials > Rouen, France - St Sever Cemetery Extension - Harvey's great-grandfather, George Harvey, is buried here.

Dynamic Family Trees

The Dynamic Family Trees section has been removed. With the numerous devices on the market which don't have flash player installed, I've decided to concentrate my efforts on researching and updating the main family trees.

[Note: All content on the Hibbitt & Barnes Family History website and blog is copyrighted. Click here for conditions of use.]

Family Recipe Friday: Kitchen Maxims from Mrs Beeton's

Fri, 3 May 2013 12:38:00 +0100

It's been a while since I published an excerpt from my gran's 1894 publication of 'Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book and Household Guide' so here goes:

Kitchen Maxims

I think the funniest phrase is "One egg well beaten is worth two not beaten".

For more information about the book, please see this post.

[Why Family Recipe Friday? This phrase has been included in the title in order to take part in Daily Blogging Prompts at Geneabloggers]

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Wishful Wednesday: Great-aunt Cissie poses for Newlyn School artist

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:23:00 +0100

Harvey's great-aunt, Cissie Barnes, sounds like 'quite a gal'. She posed for Newlyn School artist, Dod Procter, for the picture, 'Morning', which caused a bit of a stir at the time. Cissie (real-name - Sarah) was just 16 years old when she modelled for the painting, which shows her reclining on her bed having a morning snooze.

Painted in 1926, the picture was voted Picture of the Year at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition of 1927 and was bought for the nation by the Daily Mail newspaper. It was also displayed in New York, went on tour for 2 years and became part of the Tate collection. The painting now hangs in the Tate Modern Gallery in London.

Cissie was born, and grew up, in Newlyn, Cornwall, and it's understood that Dod Procter painted her several times. I can only imagine Cissie might have enjoyed some short-term notoriety when the picture hit the headlines. Amongst the family archive is a newspaper cutting which shows a photograph of Cissie standing in one of her father's fishing vessels wearing a sou'wester hat, waterproof coat and boots. It was taken when she was 17 years old and the caption refers to Dod Procter's painting.

It's with some regret that Harvey never met, or even knew about, his great-aunt Cissie, especially as it appears she was still alive when Harvey was growing up. Even more ironic is that she resided in Plymouth in her latter years, which would have coincided with some of the years Harvey spent living in the same city.

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Site Updates - Surnames: Barnes, Gardner

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 11:22:08 +0100

Barnes Family Tree section

Added details and notes for Francis Edmund Gardner & Sarah Barnes, (also known as Cissie Barnes).

Place names: Newlyn in Cornwall and Plymouth in Devon.

Barnes Family Biographies section

Added a biography page about Cissie Barnes in the new Barnes family biographies section.

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Site Updates - Elizabeth Gale (later Hellier)

Tue, 9 Apr 2013 00:37:00 +0100

Hibbitt Family Tree section

Added further details and notes for my 4 x great-grandmother, Elizabeth Gale.

So what have I discovered so far?

Elizabeth Gale was married to Samuel Hellier in Tavistock in 1815. She was most likely widowed before 1841 as she appears on the census with her grand-daughter, Sarah Hellier, and a Grace Gale, who was probably a relative but I've yet to discover who Grace was. Residing in West Street in 1841, Elizabeth and her grand-daughter lived at Ford Street Alms House in 1851 and 1861.

Elizabeth lived to be about 78 years old and was still working as a laundress 3 years before she died. She was probably born in Widecombe-in-the-Moor as stated on the 1851 census, although the 1861 census puts Tavistock as her birth place. This might easily have been an error - whoever gave the enumerator the information might have guessed or said 'Don't know' so perhaps Tavistock was chosen because this was where the family were living at the time.

I need to undertake further research to discover Elizabeth's roots but, as I don't currently have access to baptism registers for Widecombe, this will be placed on hold for the time-being.

Place names: Tavistock and Widecombe-in-the-Moor in the county of Devon.

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Sentimental Sunday: Messing about on the Water

Sat, 16 Feb 2013 22:42:06 +0000

My Grandpa Hibbitt (Charles George Hibbitt) used to have a boat, a small cabin cruiser, and we spent many hours as a family on the Kingsbridge/Salcombe Estuary. He kept the boat at Frogmore Creek, a short drive from his and Gran's home in the South Hams village of East Allington.

Frogmore in 2010
They say the sense of smell is the most nostalgic of the senses. Every spring when the new season arrives there's a certain smell in the air and it always reminds me of our days out in the boat. Mind you, the smell of two-stroke does the same thing.

Grandpa on his boat
Grandpa had two rowing boats but one leaked so we never used it. The other one would accompany us on our day trip, being towed by the cruiser. The rowing boats were named after my elder brother and I (my younger brother probably wasn't born when the names were first used). It sounds stupid now but I remember being miffed that the leaky boat was the one named after me.
Grandpa would moor up in a cove and my brother and I used to row around in the rowing boat. Some of the coves were only accessible from the water so it was like having our own little private beaches.

My two grans are sitting on the beach
with the cabin cruiser in the water and the rowing boat behind
We used to hang a makeshift fishing rod out of the back of Grandpa's cruiser as he motored along the estuary but we never ever caught a fish. No doubt, that would be something to do with the lack of bait! I'm sure the fishing was just to occupy us.

There were numerous swans who used to grace us with their presence and I remember being told how they could break your arms if they came near you. I used to be really scared of them.

We sometimes went to Kingsbridge in the boat and I seem to recall there being a miniature train that you could ride on, close to the harbour.

Kingsbridge in 2010
Grandpa's love of the water most certainly developed when he was a young boy. His father was a coastguard and so the family were brought up in various places by the sea.

Grandpa was born near Dundalk in Ireland, at a place called Soldier's Point, and his father was stationed at a number of places in Ireland before coming back to England, specifically to Cornwall and Devon.

Grandpa was 9 years old when they settled at Devil's Point in Stonehouse, now part of Plymouth, and he was 15 when they moved to the Yealm Estuary. The family most likely lived in the Old Coastguard Cottages opposite Newton Ferrers, and I imagine Grandpa would have regularly sailed on the Yealm during that time.

The Old Coastguard Cottages opposite Newton Ferrers, Devon, in 2010
Later in adult life, Grandpa and Granny used to take boating holidays on the Norfolk Broads and it was after Grandpa retired that he bought his own boat.

Grandpa on his boat
Our boating days were over by the time I was 9 when sadly, Grandpa passed away in 1972, but the happy memories live on.

The pictures of the boat are amongst my Grandpa's collection of old slides.

[Why Sentimental Sunday? This phrase has been included in the title in order to take part in Blogging Prompts at Geneabloggers]

[Note: All content on the Hibbitt & Barnes Family History website and blog is copyrighted. Click here for conditions of use.]

Site Updates - Surnames: Hellyer/Hellier, Congdon, Sillick

Fri, 8 Feb 2013 01:10:20 +0000

Upon researching my 2 x great-grandparents, John Gale Hellier & Mary Ann Congdon, I've discovered more about their children.

After one of their twins, May Amelia Hellyer, died under the age of 2, they also lost another daughter, Alice Maud, at 10 months old. A second son (and 10th child), John, was born in April 1890, just a few months before his mother died.

John senior found himself widowed with 8 children whose ages ranged from 12 years to 4 months. It's not surprising that by the following year (1891) two of his daughters, Lily Elizabeth and Sarah May (my great-grandmother), were living with extended family members. The young boy, John, was adopted by Thomas Simpson (a naval pensioner and perhaps a friend of John's father) and his wife, Mary. Sadly, the boy died at the age of 9 years.

Hibbitt Family Tree section

Added burial details for John G Hellier & Mary A Congdon together with baptism & burial information for their children.
Added the name of William Sillick, my 4 x great-grandfather.

Place names: Tavistock and also Devonport in Plymouth, both in the county of Devon.

Resources > Hibbitt Family Tree Biographies section

Amended the biography page for John Gale Hellier.

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Sentimental Sunday: Postman Spoils Special Homecoming

Sat, 2 Feb 2013 19:46:16 +0000

I remember my gran (Phyllis Grace Geake, nee Weaver) once telling me what happened the day my grandpa (William Hellyer Geake) arrived home from the second world war, having been away for four years.

It was fairly early in the morning when grandpa got home and his arrival coincided with that of the postman (or it might have been the milkman but I think it was the former). The postman knew grandpa and proceeded to ask him all about his time away in the war and stood at the doorstep chatting for 5 or 10 minutes. How insensitive! All the while, gran was waiting to greet the husband she hadn't seen for such a long time. In addition to this, he'd never even met his 4 year old daughter, who was more than a little coy at the sight of this strange man in their house! Gran said the postman ruined their reunion.

My Grandpa's WWII Service Record
[Why Sentimental Sunday? This phrase has been included in the title in order to take part in Blogging Prompts at Geneabloggers]

[Note: All content on the Hibbitt & Barnes Family History website and blog is copyrighted. Click here for conditions of use.]

Site Updates - Surnames: Geake, Dinner, Arscott, Pengelly, Walters, Dearing, Ball, Edwards, Sillick, Hellier, Gale, Hibbitt, Pitcher, Newbold, Day

Sat, 2 Feb 2013 00:43:42 +0000

With my new FindMyPast.co.uk subscription, I've been delving into my maternal family, taking advantage of the many Devon records in their databases.

Hibbitt Family Tree section

The Church at Peter Tavy

Added more notes for my 3 x great-grandfather, Robert Geake (b abt 1797) and added the surname and details of his wife, Jane Dinner. Also added a photo on their family page of a road sign showing Wapsworthy and Cudlipptown, places near Peter Tavy where they lived. Also added a few more children of Robert and Jane Geake together with baptism facts and notes.
Added Robert Geake's parents, my 4 x great-grandparents, Robert Geake (b abt 1769) and Mary Arscott, with notes, plus a photograph of Wapsworthy on their family page.
Also added Robert & Mary Geake's other children with notes including Walter and wife Maria with facts, notes and photos of their headstone, Grace who married John Pengelly, and George and wife, Grace nee Walters, with photos of their headstone.
Placed a photo of a view from Wapsworthy on the family page of my 2 x great-grandparents, George Geake and wife, Maria (nee Dearing).
Added baptism details for Israel Edward Ball.
Added Israel's parents, William Ball and Maria Edwards.

(Maria Dearing was born before her parents, Israel Ball and Ann Dearing, married. It is therefore, uncertain whether Israel Ball was Maria's father or step-father. However, there is a possibility that the young Maria was Israel's child, who might have been named after his own mother, Maria nee Edwards.)

Added the surname of my 3 x great-grandmother, Sarah Sillick, and her marriage details to William Hellier.
Discovered the baptism of William & Sarah Hellier's eldest daughter, Sarah Hellier, born about 1838.

(Sarah hadn't appeared in the censuses with her family because she was living with her grandmother, my 4 x great-grandmother, Elizabeth Hellier (nee Gale). I'd seen both grandmother and grand-daughter on the censuses before but I wasn't absolutely certain this was indeed my family. This extra information has confirmed the link.)

Added burial details with notes for Amos Hibbitt & Mahala Hibbitt (nee Newbold), plus for Charles Newbold Hibbitt & Mary Ann Hibbitt (nee Pitcher) and William Amos Hibbitt.
Also added the marriage of William Amos Hibbitt to Mary Ann Day in All Saint's Church, Hockley, Birmingham. They married in the same church as William's brother, Alfred, but about a week later.
Added the name of George Day, Mary Ann Day's father.

Place names: Milton Abbot, Marystow, Peter Tavy, Wapsworthy, Cudlipptown, Mary Tavy, Tavistock, Okehampton, Hatherleigh - all in Devon; plus Birmingham and Ireland.

Resources > Family Tree Reports section

Updated the report for the 'Ancestors of William Hellyer Geake'.

[Note: All content on the Hibbitt & Barnes Family History website and blog is copyrighted. Click here for conditions of use.]

Site Updates - Surnames: Hibbitt, Pitcher, Young, Gardner, Applegate, Holt, Ellen, Byden

Sun, 9 Dec 2012 00:16:36 +0000

Hibbitt Family Tree section

Added the 1872 Kelly's Directory entry for Charles Newbold Hibbitt.
Added more facts and footnotes for Benjamin Pitcher, the younger.
Removed John Pitcher (b abt 1830). I had originally thought he might have been another son of Benjamin Pitcher & Sarah Rice but I've realized he is the same as the one born in abt 1829, the son of John Worgan Pitcher and Hannah. He is mentioned in Benjamin's will as his grandson.
Added William Worgan Pitcher (b abt 1816), a son of Benjamin Pitcher & Sarah Rice, with footnotes, together with William's wife, Louisa Young, and their son William Worgan Pitcher (b abt 1844).
Added a few additional facts and notes for Timothy Pitcher.

Place names: Ladywood in Birmingham; Uley, Coaley and Rockhampton in Gloucestershire; Bath, Northwick and Keynsham in Somerset.

Barnes Family Tree section

Added lots of facts and notes for Arthur William Gardner, together with a picture of him and his wife, Emma Elizabeth Applegate, on their family page.
Added Hilda May Gardner and husband, Harold Arthur Young, with pictures and notes.
Added Cecil Arthur Gardner and wife, Beatrice Holt, with notes.
Added a wedding photo of Cyril Norman Ellen & Gladys Lily Gardner to their family page.
Added small photo of Blanche Maudlyn Byden to her family page.

Place names: St Saviour, Southwark in Surrey; Islington and Holloway in London; Bedford in Bedfordshire; Manchester; Edmonton and Muswell Hill in Middlesex; Penzance in Cornwall; Reading in Berkshire; Seaham Harbour in Durham.

Resources > Hibbitt Family Tree Biographies section

Added biography page for Benjamin Pitcher (abt. 1775-1857) .

[Note: All content on the Hibbitt & Barnes Family History website and blog is copyrighted. Click here for conditions of use.]