Thomas Ware and Harriet Ridgeway

Church of St Thomas, Chevithorne
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Smith - geograph.org.uk/p/5109963

Thomas Ware, son of Robert Ware and Sarah Radford (m. 31 Mar 1834), was baptised on 15 May 1836, in Cullompton, though their residence was listed as Halberton. His father, Robert, died aged 28, and was buried in Halberton on 21 May 1837. In 1841, his widowed mother, Sarah Ware was a Female Servant at the Growing Farm, Cullompton and with her were her two children: Mary Ware (bap. 30 Nov 1834) and Thomas (4). Then in 1851, Thomas Were (sic) (14) was employed as a Farm Servant at Sutton Barton, Halberton.

The marriage, on 12 May 1859, at St Peter's Church, Tiverton, suggests that Thomas Were, son of Robert Were, married Margaret Ridgway, daughter of James Ridgway. There are no other records of a Margaret Ridgway, so I'm certain this is yet one more error - and as is so often the case, neither of them could read and write to spot it - and is the marriage of Harriet Ridgeway, daughter of James Ridgeway and Mary Ann Lock, sister of Mary Ridgeway.

Thomas and Harriet had at least ten children: 

1. Eliza Ware born 1862 in Somerset
2. Thomas Ware born 1863 in Somerset
3. Mary Jane Ware born 1865 in Tiverton, Devon
4. Emma Ware born 1867 in Tiverton, Devon
5. Robert Were (sic) born 5 Jul 1869, bap. 25 Jul 1869
6. Harriet Ware born 28 Feb 1871, bap. 19 Mar 1871
7. James Ware born 23 Jun 1873, bap. 13 Jul 1873
8. Ann Ware born 25 Mar 1875, bap. 11 Apr 1875 
9. John Ware born 16 Mar 1878, bap. 14 Apr 1878
10. Ellen Ada Ware born 1883 in Tiverton, Devon

Robert, Harriet, James, Ann and John were baptised at St Thomas, Chevithorne.

In 1861, Thomas Were (sic) (24) Agricultural Labourer from Halberton, and Harriet Were (20) were living in a Private Cottage, Court Place, Ashbrittle, Wellington. (This was Court Place Farm, where her parents had lived.)

In 1871, in Chettiscombe - probably moved by 1865, looking at the locations of the children's births - with Thomas Ware (33), Harriet Ware (29), Eliza (9), Thomas (7), Mary Jane (5), Emma (4), Robert (1) and Harriet (0).

There at Chettiscombe Villas in 1881, were Thomas Were (sic) (43) Ag Lab, Harriet Were (38), Robert (11), Harriet (10), James (8), Annie (6) and John (3). Couldn't locate Thomas; Mary Jane Ware (15) was a General domestic servant to the household of Robert S Austin in Angel Hill Terrace, Tiverton. That year, there was an Emma Ware (14) employed as a Housemaid to the household of John C Williams, Carpenter, in Castle Street, Tiverton.

Thomas Ware died in Tiverton, in 1890, aged 51.

In 1891 at Chettiscombe Cottage, Chettiscombe, Tiverton, Harriet Were (sic) (50) Charwoman, was living with James Were (17) Farm Labourer, John (12), Ellen (8) and Harriet's mother, Mary A Marsh (83) Widow.

Harriet Ware died in 1896, aged 55.

• Eliza Ware had married Charles Stuart McDougal, Mechanic, son of John McDougal, at St Peter's Church, Tiverton, on 15 Dec 1879.
• Emma Ware married John Copp, Labourer, son of John Copp, at St Peter's Church, Tiverton, on 11 Sep 1884
• Mary Jane Ware married Charles Vinnicombe, Mason, son of Henry Vinnicombe, at St Peter's Church, Tiverton, on 5 Jul 1885
• Robert Ware married Amelia Land, daughter of Robert Land, Labourer at at St Thomas, Chevithorne, on 25 Dec 1891. Robert Ware died in 1909, aged 40. 
• James Ware (24), Porter at the Railway, of "Paradise" Cowleymoor Road, Tiverton, married Mary Pook, daughter of Richard Pook, Labourer, at St Peter's Church, Tiverton on 4 Apr 1896. James Ware died in 1897, aged 24.