Inherited Craziness
A place to share all the nuts found on my family tree

Showing posts with label Melhuish. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Melhuish. Show all posts

Wednesday 31 May 2023

Henry Wood and Mary Jane Melhuish

Kentisbeare: St Mary's churchyard
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Martin Bodman - geograph.org.uk/p/4624352

Henry Wood (b. 1842), son of James Wood and Harriet Gollop, married Mary Jane Melhuish (b. 1847 in East Stonehouse, Plymouth), daughter of William Melhuish and Sarah Lake, at St. Mary’sKentisbeare on 31 May 1866

Henry and Mary Jane had ten children:
  1. Charles Henry Wood b. 1866, bap. 19 Aug 1866 at All SaintsBlackborough, Devon (Demolished 1994)
  2. William Wood b. 1869, bap. 27 Mar 1869 at St. Mary’sKentisbeare
  3. Emma Jane Wood b. 1871, bap. 3 Sep 1871 in Kentisbeare
  4. Alice Wood b. 1874, bap. 18 Jan 1874 in Kentisbeare. (Died 1874, aged 3 weeks and buried on 25 Jan 1874, also in Kentisbeare.)
  5. Henry Wood b. 1875, bap. 3 Feb 1875 in Kentisbeare
  6. Amelia Wood b. 1877, bap. 3 Jun 1877 in Kentisbeare
  7. Walter Wood b. 1879, bap. 25 Dec 1879 in Kentisbeare
  8. Alice Mary Wood b. 1882, 4 Jun 1882 in Kentisbeare
  9. Ellen Wood b. 1887, bap. 9 Mar 1887 in Kentisbeare
  10. Frederick Wood b. 1889, bap. 11 Aug 1889 in Kentisbeare
On Charles Henry's baptism in Blackborough, Henry and Mary Jane are described as "Tinkers in Kentisbeare", which is an archaic term for an itinerant tinsmith who mends household utensils.

In 1871, they were living in the Village, Kentisbeare with Henry Wood (28) Farm Labourer from Kentisbeare, Devon, wife Mary Jane (24), with Charles Henry (6), William (2) as well as Henry's father, James Wood (57), mother, Harriet (51), brother James (12) and sister, Sarah (8). 

In 1881 and still living in the Village, Kentisbeare, were Henry Wood (38), Mary J (34), William (12), Harry (6), Amelia (4) and Walter (1). Charles Henry (15) had already left home and was working as a Farm Servant (indoors) for William Snell (48) Farmer of 118 Acres at Bishops Farm, Kentisbeare, while Emma Jane (9) was staying nearby with her grandmother, Harriet. 

In 1891, living in a Cottage, Kentisbeare (quite possibly the same place), were Henry Wood (48), Mary J (44), Charles (24), Emma J (19), Henry (16), Milly [Amelia] (14), Walter (11), Alice (9) and Ellen (4). 

In 1901, back in the Village, Kentisbeare, there were Henry Wood (59) now a Carter on Farm, Mary Jane (55), Charles Wood (34) Single, also a Carter on Farm, Ellen Wood (14) and Henry Melhuish (44) Lodger.

Henry Wood died, aged 63 and was buried on 13 Mar 1904 in Kentisbeare.

In 1911, Charles Wood (44) Widower and Waggoner on Farm has become head of the household with, Mary Jane (65) and brother Walter (31). 

In 1921, Mary Jane Wood (73) and son Charles Wood (55) General Labourer were living at Church Cottage, Kentisbeare, Devon.

Charles Wood predeceased his mother and died in 1933 at 68.

Mary Jane Wood died in 1935, at 87.

Saturday 20 May 2023

James Wood and Mary Ann Melhuish

Broadhembury
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Stowell - geograph.org.uk/p/6855

James Wood, son of James Wood and Harriet Gollop, married Mary Ann Melhuish on 20 May 1883 at St. Mary’s church, Kentisbeare. The spaces for Mary Ann's father are left blank on the marriage certificate, which lends more circumstantial evidence for accepting an illegitimate birth of a Mary Ann Melhuish (who said she was born in Clayhidon, Devon), in 1863 J Quarter in WELLINGTON SOMERSET AND DEVON Volume 05C Page 445. Without buying the certificate, we cannot even tell who her mother was, but I have a sneaking suspicion she may turn out to be the daughter of Mary Jane Melhuish, who James' elder brother Henry had married.

James and Mary Ann had 11 children:
  1. Robert Wood b. 1883, bap. 12 Jul 1885 in Kentisbeare (Baptism record notes that he was 18 months old.) 
  2. Sarah Ann Wood bap. 12 Jul 1885 in Kentisbeare
  3. Edith Maud Wood b. 24 Jul 1887, bap. 14 Aug 1887 in Kentisbeare
  4. Harriet Mary Wood b. 23 Nov 1888, bap. 13 Jan 1889 in Kentisbeare
  5. George Wood b. 30 Aug 1890, bap. 5 Oct 1890 in Broadhembury
  6. Unnamed male Wood b. Q1 1893 (Died in the same quarter)
  7. Eldred James Wood b. 15 Mar 1894, bap. 1 Apr 1894 in Broadhembury
  8. Mabel Wood bap. 8 Aug 1896 in Kentisbeare (Died at 21 days old, buried 23 Aug 1896, also in Kentisbeare)
  9. Roland Ashford Wood b. 25 Jan 1898, bap. 13 Mar 1898 in Kentisbeare. 
  10. Reginald Leonard Wood b. 8 May 1901, bap. ? 1901 in Blackborough
  11. Mabel Frances Wood b. 1904 (Died at 26 days old, buried 17 Jan 1904 in Blackborough)
In 1891 the family were living in Broad Road, Broadhembury, Honiton with James Wood (32) Agricultural Labourer, Mary A (29), Robert (7), Sarah A (5), Edith M (3), Harriet M (2) and George (0).

In 1901, they were back in Kentisbeare at Hollis Green, with James Wood (43), Mary A (39), Edith (13), Harriet M (12), George (10), Eldred J (7) and Roland A (3). I've been unable to find either Robert or Sarah Ann. 

In 1911, at Cobblers Hall, Kentisbeare, were James Wood (53), Mary Ann (49), Sarah Ann Wood (25) Servant Cook, and Reginald Leonard Wood (9).

James Wood died in 1918, aged around 61.

In 1921, Mary Ann Wood (58) Widow, was living at Downlands, Kentisbeare, Devon with Roland Ashford Wood (23) & Reginald Leonard Wood (20) Farm Labourers; Sarah Ann Edmond (36) Widow; James Roland George Edmond (8) Grandson; Arthur Cecil Ronald Edmond (6) Grandson; Constance Mary Helen Edmond (4) Granddaughter and Robert Wood (37) Visitor.

In 1939, Mary Ann Wood, Widow, was living at 15, Blackborough with her youngest son, Reginald Leonard, then employed as a Rabbit Trapper. 

Mary Ann Wood died in 1955, aged 91.

  1. Eldred J Wood served in the Devonshire Regiment during World War I.
  2. Roland A Wood married Cicely Butt in 1939. That year they were living at Bodmiscombe Wood, where Roland was a Farmer on his own account. Roland Ashford Wood died on 28 Feb 1975.
  3. Reginald Leonard Wood of 15 Blaydon Cottages, Blackborough, died on 18 Jun 1954 at Tiverton and District Hospital. As he left his effects to his widowed mother, we can probably conclude he had not married. 

Tuesday 12 January 2021

Mary Amalie Kritzer, Edward William Brown Todd & Frederick Croydon Melhuish

St Martin-in-the-Fields church, London
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Jeremy Bolwell - geograph.org.uk/p/6130198

In Q3 of 1933, Mary A Kritzer or Christie (the record says), daughter of Joseph Kritzer and Sarah Sophia Tompson, married Edward William Brown Todd, son of Charles Brown Todd and Mary Cole, at St Martin, London

In 1939, Mary A Todd, a hairdresser, and her husband, Edward, were living at 2 Ashford Cottages, The Tilt, Cobham, Surrey. (Her mother, 'Daisy' S S Kritzer, was then living nearby at 1 Pemry Villas, Elm Grove Road, Cobham.) Although the couple must, presumably (not found evidence), have divorced, because Mary A Todd or Christie (again what the record says) then married Frederick Croydon Melhuish in Surrey North Eastern in 1942. 

Edward W B Todd was at that time still alive, because he died, aged 48, in 1949 in Surrey. While Frederick C Melhuish died, aged 53, also in 1949, in Birmingham (where he'd lived previously and still had family).

On 6 Jan 1992, Mary Amelia Melhuish (formerly Todd, née Kritzer and sometimes Christie), died, aged 85, in Ganges, British Columbia, Canada. The record of her death confirms her husband as Frederick Croydon Melhuish and her parents as Joseph Kritzer and Sarah Tompson. Two things spring to mind: clearly someone was around who knew and could give these details and what was she doing at what appears to be the 'wrong end' of Canada for family?