Thomas Ridgway and Ann Tooze

Whitnage Farm
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Lewis Clarke - geograph.org.uk/p/2826469

Thomas Ridgway, son of James Ridgeway and Mary Ann Lock (and brother of my 2x great-grandmother, Mary Ridgeway), married Ann Tooze, daughter of Richard Tooze, Chair Maker, and his wife, Eliza Disney, of Holcombe Rogus, on 27 Mar 1865, at St Peter’s Church Tiverton. Witnesses were Thomas Vickery and Jane Ridgway (Thomas and Mary Ridgway's sister), who were married, also at St Peter's, Tiverton, in May of that same year.

Thomas and Ann had ten children. Where they were baptised, these were all at at St Peter’s Church, Uplowman: 

1. James Ridgway b. 1867
2. Tom Ridgway b. 1868, bap. 7 Jun 1868 (died 1881, aged 12)
3. John Ridgway b. 18 Jun 1870, bap. 10 Jul 1870 
4. William Ridgeway b. 29 Jun 1873, bap. 10 Aug 1873
5. Henry Ridgeway b. 17 Mar 1876, bap 23 Apr 1876 
6. Frank Ridgeway b. 1878, bap 28 Apr 1878 (Died aged 22 and was buried on 13 Dec 1900 at St Peter’s Church, Uplowman)
7. Bessie Ann Ridgeway b. 4 Mar 1880, bap. 28 Mar 1880
8. Sidney Ridgway b. 24 Feb 1882, bap. 7 Apr 1882
9. Charles Ridgway b. 1884, bap. 24 Feb 1884
10. Ellen Ridgeway b. 4 Jan 1886

By 1871, Thomas and Ann Ridgway were living at Lowman Cross, Uplowman.

In 1881, at Whitnage, Uplowman, are Thomas Ridgeway (37), Ann (37), John (10), William (7), Henry (5), Frank (3) and Bessie Ann (1), as well as Thomas' twice widowed mother, Mary Ann Mash (sic), formerly Ridgeway, née Lock (74). James had left home and Tom died in 1881, aged just 12.

In 1891, still at Whitnage, Uplowman, with Thomas (47) and Ann, were James (24), Frank (13), Bessie (11), Sydney (9), Charles (7) and Ellen (5). In 1891, John Ridgeway (20) was lodging with James Wood at Widhayes, Uplowman. And that year, Harry Ridgeway (17) was working as a Farm servant to farmer, James Crosby at Landside, Sampford Peverell, Tiverton.

In 1901, living at Greenend, Uplowman, were Thomas Ridgway (57), General Farm Labourer; Ann Ridgway (56), William Ridgway (27), Carter on Farm and Ellen Ridgway (15). 

Ann Ridgway died, aged 63, in 1907, in St Thomas, Exeter.

In 1911, Thomas Ridgway (67), Widower, Farm Labourer, was living with his son William Ridgway, at Wallflower Cottage, Halberton. 

In 1921, Thomas Ridgway (77) Farm Labourer, was still living with son William Ridgeway at Neddycott, Uplowman.

Thomas Ridgway died in 1927, aged 83.

Richard Tooze and Eliza Disney

No.46 Timewells, Holcombe Rogus
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Andrew Riley - geograph.org.uk/p/5833994

Richard Tooze (bap. 24 Jul 1803), son of Thomas Tooze and Joan Potter, married Eliza Disney (b. ~1807 in Thorne St Margaret, Somerset), at St John the Baptist Church, Sampford Peverell, on 22 Jan 1827. Unfortunately, I've not been able to find a baptism nor identify the parents of Eliza Disney. 

Richard and Eliza had nine children: 

1. Caroline Tooze bap. 22 Feb 1829
2. Samuel Tooze bap. 17 Feb 1831 
3. James Tooze bap. 2 Feb 1834 (Died and was buried on 22 Nov 1835)
4. Richard Tooze bap. 10 Jul 1836
5. James Tooze born 1839, bap. 5 Dec 1841
6. Emma Tooze born 1841, bap. 5 Dec 1841
7. Ann Tooze born 1844, bap. 21 Mar 1844
8. George Tooze bap 22 Aug 1847 (Died and was buried 30 Sep 1848)
9. Elizabeth Tooze born 1851, bap. 25 Mar 1853

All of the baptims were at All Saints' Church in Holcombe Rogus and every one of the records lists Richard Tooze' trade as Chairmaker.

In 1841, at Tinckham, Holcombe Rogus, are Richard Tooze (35) Chairmaker, Eliza Tooze (30), Caroline (12), Samuel (9), Richard (5) and James (2).

In 1851, at Twitchen, Holcombe Rogus, we find Richard Tooze (47) Chairmaker, Eliza Tooze (44), Samuel Tooze (19) Chairmaker, Richard Tooze (14) Chairmaker, James Tooze (10) Errand boy, Emma Tooze (9) and Ann Tooze (7). Caroline Tooze (22), in 1851, was working as a General servant to Sarah Shackell (67) Widow, Butcher in Lower Town, Sampford Peverell.

In 1861, Richard Tooze (56) Chairmaker, Eliza Tooze (54) Lace Mender with birthplace listed as Thorne St Margaret, Somersetshire, and Elizabeth Tooze (9), were living at Timewells Cottage, Holcombe Rogus.

Still at Timewells Cottage, Holcombe Rogus, in 1871, were Richard Tooze (67) Chairmaker and Eliza Tooze (64). 

Eliza Tooze died, aged 72, and was buried on 18 May 1879, in Holcombe Rogus. Richard Tooze died the following year, aged 77, and was buried, on 2 May 1880, also in All Saints Churchyard, Holcombe Rogus.

Family History Holcombe Rogus Devon

William Tooze and Sophia Disney

St Andrew's Church, Halberton, Devon
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Wayland Smith - geograph.org.uk/p/6557083

William Tooze (bap. 3 Apr 1809) son of Thomas Tooze and Joan Potter, married Sophia Disney at St Andrew's Church, Halberton, Devon, on 8 Sep 1831. Sophia was most likely born around 1805 - census records place her birth anywhere between 1803 and 1808 - and she is consistently listed as being born in Thorne St Margaret, Somerset, as was Eliza Disney (b. 1807), wife of William's elder brother, Richard Tooze. Baptisms for that parish are not freely available online, so I haven't seen baptism records for either, but I imagine there's a good chance that the two could have been sisters.

William and Sophia had three children:

1. Thomas Tooze bap. 10 Feb 1833 in Holcombe Rogus
2. Edward Tooze bap. 29 Nov 1835 in Holcombe Rogus. Died 1843.
3. Eliza Tooze bap. 20 Jun 1838 in Burlescombe. Died 1842.

William's occupation listed on all the baptisms was Thatcher. 

Both infants were buried in Holcombe Rogus.

In 1841, William Tooze (30), Sophia Tooze (35), Thomas (8), Edward (5) and Eliza (3) were living at Ridgeway Gate, Holcombe Rogus.

In 1851, William Tooze (40) Thatcher; Sophia Tooze (43) and Thomas Tooze (18) Thatcher were again living at Ridgeway, Pound Hill, Holcombe Rogus.

In 1861, William Tooze (59) Thatcher; Sophia Tooze (58) and Sophia Tooze (7) Granddaughter, were again listed at Ridgeway Gate, Holcombe Rogus.

William Tooze died, at 60, in 1869 M Quarter in WELLINGTON-SOMERSET AND DEVON Volume 05C Page 297.

In 1871, Sophia Tooze (67) Widow, Gardenwoman, and granddaughter, Sophia Tooze (17) Fancy Worker, were still at Ridgeway Gate.

Sophia Tooze died in 1875 J Quarter in WELLINGTON Volume 05C Page 274, with age as 70. She was buried in Holcombe Rogus on 4 Jun 1875.

John Stone: Attempting to ravish and carnally know

Hockworthy: Hockford Cottage
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Martin Bodman - geograph.org.uk/p/164609

John Stone, the third of Henry Stone and Mary Ridgeway's children, born in Ashbrittle, Somerset, in 1858, may have been a bit of a rogue. 

In 1861, John (3), like his older brothers, was at home with his parents at Court Place, Ashbrittle. I've not been able to locate him in 1871, when he will have been around 13, but he'd already left his parents' home. Undoubtedly employed as a farm labourer, his employer probably didn't know much about him, so he may well appear on the census, but with details they guessed.

In 1873, aged 15, John Stone, was arrested and taken to the Devon County Prison, on 2 Jun, accused of "Attempting to ravish and carnally know Maria Disney on the 28th May, 1873, at Hockworthy." The committing magistrate was J. C. New, Esq., of Cullompton, but John wasn't tried: the bill was ignored for assault with intent to ravish, indecent assault and assault. No further details or clues as to why the case did not proceed, but as Peter Calver of Lost Cousins suggested, securing a conviction was difficult in those times.

On the 1871 census, Mariah Disney (then 12, so 14 at the time of the alleged assault), daughter of John Disney, farm labourer, was living at Hockford Barton, Hockworthy. We may assume she was the young lady in question. 

[NOTE: John's sister, Harriet Stone, married their first cousin, James Ridgway. James Ridgway's mother was Ann Tooze, who's own mother was Eliza Disney, so there's no doubt that John was also "keeping it in the family"!]

Widening the area of search, I eventually found John Stone on the 1881 census living in the household of Henry Payne, Railway Tunnel Miner, at Railway Hut, Hurst Green, Oxted, Godstone, Surrey. Living there were Henry Payne (31), his wife, four children aged 5 to 11, as well as nine men, all boarders, all railway tunnel labourers. And at the bottom of the long list was John Stone (22), Tunnel Miner's Labourer, born in Somerset.

The Oxted Tunnel - on the Oxted line, which passes under the North Downs in two tunnels, and then splits into two branches at Hurst Green, adjoining Oxted in Surrey - opened in 1884. It doesn't take much imagination, therefore, to work out what John must have been working on in 1881. Living in what must have been horrendous conditions, with so many people crammed into an undoubtedly overcrowded space, lacking in facilities will have been a perfect environment for transmitting infectious diseases ...

Because one year later, John Stone, "Labourer on Railway", died, aged just 24, on 27 Aug 1882, in Uplowman. His sister, Mary Ann Prescott, was present at his death. Wondering if he'd been killed in an accident or even a revenge attack, I'd ordered his death certificate, but John had, in fact, died of the all-too-common at that time, Phthisis (Tuberculosis). 

John Stone was buried, on 3 Sep 1882, in the churchyard at Uplowman.

Grave of John Stone and his parents, Mary and Henry Stone, in Uplowman Churchyard