Thomas Stone and Dolly Carpenter

Fore Street, Kentisbeare
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Derek Harper - geograph.org.uk/p/2793712

The earliest Stone ancestors I can document a link to in Devon are Thomas Stone (b. 1766) who married Dolly Carpenter (bap. 15 Jul 1764), daughter of Edward Carpenter and Mary Winter, at St Mary's, Kentisbeare, Devon, on 5 Sep 1787. These were a pair of my 4th great-grandparents. 

There are records for nine children, all baptised in Kentisbeare: 

1. Sally Stone bap. 20 Apr 1788
2. John Stone, b. 6 Jan 1790, bap. 22 Jan 1792
3. Henry Stone bap. 22 Jan 1792
4. Hugh Stone bap. 25 Jul 1793 (buried 19 Nov 1802)
5. William Stone bap. 26 Apr 1795 (buried 4 Apr 1796)
6. Mary Stone bap. 2 Apr 1797 (buried 11 Apr 1813)
7. William Stone bap. 3 Nov 1799
8. Hugh Stone bap. 15 Feb 1803 (buried 13 Jan 1804)
9. Elizabeth Stone bap. 7 Sep 1806

Dorothy Stone died, aged 49, and was buried at Kentisbeare on 9 May 1813. 

Thomas Stone remarried, also in Kentisbeare, on 17 Apr 1814 to Mary Hill (probably born around 1773-6). Witnesses to this marriage were Thomas Farnell and Elizabeth Hill. Thomas and Mary had three more children.

1. Robert Stone bap. 16 Oct 1814
2. John Stone bap. 10 Mar 1816
3. Thomas Stone bap. 13 Sep 1818

Thomas Stone Sr died in 1838, aged 72 (from exhaustion, I shouldn't be surprised), and was buried in Kentisbeare on 26 Jan 1838.

In 1841, Mary Stone (65) was living in "Kentisbeer Village" with her sons Robert (30), John (26) and Thomas (23). And Mary Stone (78), Widow, Pauper, was still living in the village in 1851, but disappears after that.

In 1799, the year my 3rd great-grandfather, William Stone, was born in the village, Betty Limpany was executed in Exeter for burning down the house of her master, William Leech of Kentisbeare. According to Trewman's Exeter Flying Post of April 11th 1799, "She acknowledged her guilt, was very penitent, and behaved in a manner becoming her unhappy situation." 

But the film, Betty Limpany (1997), claims "Betty was said to be pregnant with the master's child and framed for a crime she didn't commit ..." It's also said that she was the last girl (at around 17) to be hanged in England.

It's a small enough village, so the Stones must have known about the house fire. Could they even have known Betty Limpany? Was she seduced by her master? Was she framed, or was she guilty? We'll never know, but for the people of Kentisbeare, it must have been the talk of village for a long time.

The film of the story apparently has a character named "Village Idiot". Gotta wonder which family member was the inspiration for that role?😀

James Adcock and Mary Hill

Former Church of St Michael the Greater, Stamford, Lincolnshire
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Robinson - geograph.org.uk/p/6208532

James Adcock, son of Joseph Adcock and Sarah Cook, married Mary Hill, daughter of William Hill, on 5 Jun 1838 at All Saints Church, Pytchley, Northamptonshire. James' profession was listed on the marriage certificate as Carpenter and Joiner and he was already living in Stamford at the time of the marriage. Witnesses were Edward Bryan and Louisa Cox.

James and Mary had five children, all born in in Stamford, Lincolnshire and baptised at the [former] church of St Michaels, Stamford.

1. John Adcock born 1839, bap. 14 Apr 1839
2. William Hill Adcock born 1840, bap. 11 Dec 1840
3. Joseph Hill Adcock born 1842, bap. 20 Feb 1842
4. Mary Elizabeth Adcock born 1844, bap. 6 Jun 1847 
5. James Adcock born 1845, bap. 27 Feb 1847 (died 1847)

In 1841, James Adcock (25), wife Mary (30), John (2) and William (0) were all living in the parish of St Michael, Stamford, Lincolnshire.

In 1851, in the parish of All Saints, Stamford, we find James Adcock (38), Joiner, wife Mary (43) - birthplace listed as Denford, Northamptonshire - John (12), William (10), Joseph (9) and Mary (7). (James had died).

In 1861, in the parish of St George, Stamford, were James Adcock (48), Carpenter, Mary (50), and daughter Mary (17), at that time a Dressmaker. John had married that year and gone to live in Peterborough. William Hill was in London visiting his cousins, John and Maria Blackett. Joseph Adcock (19), Gardener, was a visitor in the household of Edwin Wright in Northampton. 

Mary Adcock died, aged 62, and was buried on 18 Mar 1867.

In 1871, James Adcock (60), Carpenter, widower, was living with daughter Mary E Adcock (27), Schoolmistress and Jane Gilbert (13), Domestic Servant.

James Adcock died, aged 63 and was buried on 17 Aug 1876.

Ernest John Hill and Irene Venetta Stone

North Devon : Grassy Field & Cattle near Rackenford
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Lewis Clarke - geograph.org.uk/p/3997996

Irene Venetta Stone, the ninth child of Frederick James Stone and Loveday Jane Land, married Ernest John Hill, in Tiverton, in Q2 1919. Ernest, born 16 Nov 1882, will have been 36 and Irene 19. The couple's first child, John Hill, was born on 18 Oct 1919. Five more followed between then and 1931. 

The records for four of the children are still closed on the 1939 Register, so they may still be living. In 1939, the entire family was living at East Wilson Farm, Rackenford (PDF) with Ernest J Hill engaged in Mixed Farming. 

Ernest J Hill of East Wilson Farm, Rackenford, died, aged 61, on 9 Dec 1943 and in 1944, Probate was granted to his widow, Irene Venetta Hill, to whom he left effects valued at £1723 10s 3d (worth £78,376.29 today). 

In the second quarter of 1944, daughter Mary A C Hill (b. 8 Mar 1926) married William Coles and in the fourth quarter of 1945, Irene V Hill remarried to William C Coles. In 1939, there had been a William Coles (b. 8 Mar 1917) living with his widowed father, William C Coles (b. 8 Oct 1878) at 11 Bolham Halt, Chettiscombe, so it seems mother and daughter married father and son.

William C Coles died, aged 84, in Tiverton, in 1959.

Irene Venetta Coles died in 1980, in her 80th year.