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St Dunstan's Church, Stepney, Friday, 15 November, 2024 Photo available for reuse under this Creative Commons licence. |
Henry Gabedy (sic) (b. ~1680) of Limehouse, Caulker, married Hannah Peters (b. Wednesday, 2 Dec 1685, bap. 15 Dec 1685 at St Dunstan's, Stepney) of the same [Parish], Spinster, daughter of Peter Peters of Phoenix Street, Spitalfields, Gent (he was a Victualler), and of Elizabeth uxor, at St Dunstan's, Stepney, on 9 Nov 1704. St Dunstan's was a busy church, but it's interesting to note that theirs was the last of twelve marriages taking place that day, with seven of the men listed as mariners, which leads me to think a ship was sailing imminently. Other trades listed were butcher, poulterer and cooper. A cooper on an 18th-century ship was absolutely essential for survival, but a specialized caulker was rarely a permanent part of the crew.
Records exist for five children of this family:
- Henry Gaberdee (sic) b. Wednesday, 19 Sep 1705, bap. 7 Oct 1705 at St Dunstan's, Stepney, Henry son of Henry & Hannah Gaberdee (sic) of Lhouse [Limehouse] Caulker, at 18 days old.
- Hannah Gaberdee (sic) b. Thursday, 25 Mar 1708, bap. 4 Apr 1708 at St Dunstan's, Stepney, Hannah daughter of Henry & Hannah Gaberdee (sic) of Limehouse, Caulker, at 10 days old.
- Thomas Gabbade (sic) b. Thursday, 3 Jul 1710, bap. 16 Feb 1710 at St Dunstan's, Stepney. This is correct. February came after July at that time, because the year began on March 25th. Until 1752, dates between 1 Jan - 24 Mar were in the year earlier than would seem correct to us. Died, aged ~24. Thomas, son of Henry Gaberdey Caulker L.H. Causeway was buried at St Anne's Limehouse in 10 Nov 1734.
- Stephen Gabberday (sic) b. Wednesday, 8 Oct 1712, bap. 4 Nov 1712 at St Dunstan's, Stepney. Stephen son of Henry and Hannah Gabberday of Lhouse, Caulker at 27 days old. 'Infant, son of Henry Gaberde (sic) of Limehouse, Caulker', was buried on 10 Aug 1716 at St Dunstan's.
- John Gaberdey (sic) b. Thursday, 5 Sep 1717, bap. 4 Oct 1717 at St Dunstan's, Stepney. John son of Henry Gaberdey of Lhouse, Caulker, and Hannah, his wife, at 29 days old. Died, aged ~23, John Gabbeday of Ratclif (sic) was buried at St Dunstan's, Stepney on 22 Apr 1740.
iv. Others have assumed the Infant buried in 1716 was born then and died before he could be given a name, but, on balance, as Henry Gabedy seems to have been consistent in record keeping and because there are no further records for Stephen and equally no birth record for the Infant, I'm more likely to accept that the church official simply wrote Infant, but that this relates to Stephen, who would have been an Infant at ~3 years old at that time.
London, England, Land Tax Records place Henry Gabbady (sic) in Limehouse Causeway, in the parish of St Anne, Middlesex, paying rent of £5 (not the highest in the area, but far from the lowest). Caulkers were an important trade and they were also one of the highest paid because they kept the ship afloat.
Initially a raised path through marshland, Limehouse Causeway developed as a bustling hub for sailors, shipbuilders, and ropemakers in the 18th century.
On 20 Jan 1715, Henry Gaberdy (sic) Master Caulker of Limehouse, paid the premium to take John, son of John Perrin of Hertford, as an apprentice.
Hannah Gabrely (sic), wife of Henry Gabrely of LH [Limehouse] died at ~33, and was buried at St Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney, on 7 Jun 1719.
Henry Gabedy then married an Elizabeth Williamson also at at St Dunstan's, Stepney, on 28 Jan 1720. It is important to note that the record states Henry Gabedy of Limehouse, Shipwright* and Elizabeth Williamson of the same, Widow. So Williamson was her previous married name, not her maiden name. We don't know where she was from, nor how old she was and unfortunately, there's a huge number of Williamsons who married an Elizabeth, so without some other clue, it has proved impossible to learn any more about her. (* I do not believe for one moment that Henry changed his profession suddenly from Caulker to Shipwright. Similar happened on his son's second marriage, where Ship's Caulker became Ship's Carpenter, as a clerical error or laziness.)
Henry and Elizabeth don't appear to have any further children together.
Henry Gabedey of the Parish of Saint Ann in the county of Middlesex Caulker being in bodily health and of sound and disposing mind and memory and considering the perils and dangers of the seas and other uncertainties of this transitory life and for avoiding controversies after my decease make, publish this my last will and testament. Henry left all of his working tools and wearing apparel to his youngest son John Gabedey. The rest of his estate, he left to his loving wife Elizabeth Gabedey for and during the term of her natural life and after her decease, to his daughter Anna Gabedy (sic) [Hannah]. The Will was drawn up on 30 Sep 1737, (in the eleventh year of the Reign of George the Second), which is interesting timing, because that was about three weeks after his eldest son, Henry, had married for the second time.
This will was proved on 26 Jul 1739, by the oath of Elizabeth Gabbedey, Widow, Relict and Sole Executrix, which does suggest that Henry had died, probably shortly before that in 1739. Several people query whether he died at sea, but given the information above that caulkers were not usually members of crew on voyages, I'd say that it's fairly unlikely. The wording on his will mentioning the sea may be the reason for this, but that was pretty standard template wording used by Will writers, especially in this area - I've seen very similar wording on other Wills - and do not therefore see this as a clue. On the other hand, there doesn't seem to be a burial record (either at St Anne, Limehouse, St Dunstan's nor Poplar Chapel), but the absense of such doesn't necessarily point to the sea either, because there are other family members in the area, including women, for whom I can find no burial records either.
Youngest son John Gabbedy only survived his father by a year.
Elizabeth Gabbedy was buried on 12 Dec 1745. The burial record in the Parish of Stepney states, 'Elizabeth Gabbedy at Poplar pensr.' [Pensioner]. From this, it is inferred that she had been in receipt of Parish Relief and that she was buried at Poplar Chapel (St Matthias Old Church).
Henry's daughter Hannah Gabbedy, it seems (from Land Tax Records) moved from Limehouse Causeway to Three Colt Street (Three Colt Street in Limehouse was a middle class thoroughfare of shops and businesses) in 1739, where she lived until 1745, paying GBP 3 rent p.a. As that move was made around the time of her father's death, until the death of her step-mother, I would guess that the two women didn't get along.
Hannah Gabdey (sic) of Limehouse Corner, died unmarried and was buried at St Anne's Limehouse on 16 Aug 1748. (Limehouse Corner is traditionally centred at the junction of Three Colt Street and Fore Street in East London, historically known as the site of the Old Kings Head pub.)
For further research:
- It's thought that Henry Gabdey could be the son of Stephen Gabbedey (Gabathy/Gabydon/Gabadis), who buried several children at St Dunstan's, Stepney from 1668-1675. He was buried as Stephen Gabbadine, at St Dunstan's, on 29 Jun 1684.
- Peter Peters and his wife Elizabeth had four children: Elizabeth in 1683, Hannah in 1685, Peter in 1687 and Charles in 1690. Peter Peters is described as a Victualler in Phoneix Street, Spitalfields on three of the baptisms. Peter Peters of Spitalfields Victualler was buried on 8 Jul 1692. Probate was granted to Elizabeth, Executrix. Various surnames have been suggested for Elizabeth. There is, however, a marriage of a Petrus Peeters and Elizabeth Embrechts on 21 Jun 1681 in Nispen-Essen, two neighbouring villages, with Nispen located in the Dutch province of North Brabant and Essen situated across the border in the Belgian province of Antwerp, which needs consideration. First because the surname Peters often seems associated with the Netherlands, secondly because one would likely find such immigrants in Spitalfields and, thirdly, on account of a tiny bit of DNA allegedly from the Netherlands.