Beaford, Devon

Ian’s family has an interesting connection to Beaford. I would almost call it ‘strong’ but no one in his direct family has lived there since Catherine and John Heard (John Heard died there on 26 August 1859, unfortunately I can’t find a record for Catherine).  However, both Catherine (nee Folland) and John Heard had family connections going back for generations. I have transcribed all of the baptisms in Beaford parish church from 1729 to 1837, and the surnames of Folland and Heard are the two most common surnames in the register. From 1729 to 1808, of the approximate 1000 baptisms, with over 250 different surnames, 52 were for infants with the surname Folland and 56 were for infants with the surname Heard. I have established a relationship to either Catherine or John’s family for almost all of these entries. I’ve put a list below for interest of the most common names in Beaford.

The family was in Beaford prior to 1729. I possess the earlier Beaford records, from 1653 to 1729, but they are much more difficult to read, and because they had already been transcribed and put onto FamilySearch, I did not “re-transcribe,” although I often refer to them. On the first page of these records is the baptism of Alice Malles in 1653, who subsequently married George Heard in Beaford in 1679, and it is from this couple that I can trace most of the other entries for the surname Heard in Beaford.

Beaford Baptism Records from 1729 to 1807 (1000 entries)

Most common names: 24 names represent just over half (507) of the entries

Heard – 56

Folland – 52

Dyment (or variations) – 42

Bright – 39

Snell – 34

Marshall – 29

Johns – 27

Webber – 22

Handford – 19

Ashplant – 18

Ashton – 18

Pincombe – 14

Mill – 13

Moore – 13

Vodden – 13

Lock – 12

Saunders – 12

Squance – 12

Cole – 11

Dunn – 11

Baker – 10

Burd – 10

Jury – 10

Spicer – 10

I must admit that the connection has always made me interested in finding out much more about Beaford itself, and so I have collected information over the years regarding the town itself. That can be the subject of another blog!

Henry Walter Hilton (1842 - 1925)

I've almost finished my story on Henry. I'm sure that there is more to find, so it's a work in progress, but I thought it was complete enough to post. 

Henry Walter Hilton was born in 1842 in Pemberton, Lancashire, England. His parents were Anne (nee Leon) and Thomas Hilton, a carpenter. Henry was the second youngest of seven known children born to the couple.  His mother died shortly after the birth of the couple’s youngest child, when she was in her early thirties: perhaps seven children in twelve years was too much. Henry’s father remarried and had a further seven children. Around 1850 the family moved three miles north of Pemberton to Shevington. The census states they were living Copperas House, and it was believed that this is now Braithwaite Street – although there is also a Copperas Close nearby. Henry followed in his father’s footsteps and became a carpenter. Sometime in the early 1870s he emigrated from England to Australia: it may have occurred at the time that his father died.

Australia was in the middle of a gold rush and many people went to inland regions. It appears that Henry may have been one of these people as on 3 May 1874 when Henry Walter was 32, he married 18 year old Frederica Warner in St John the Baptist Church, 6 Church Street, Mudgee, NSW, Australia. Frederica was born in Beechworth, Australia. Her parents were both German born, but her father had citizenship of the colonies of Australia (he was a farmer and needed to purchase land). The couple made their home at Wellington where Frederica’s parents lived. Two years later they had twins – a boy and a girl – but they died not long after birth. Henry Thomas was born in 1878, followed by Sirtees Jacob in 1882 and then Frederick Warner in 1883. By Frederick’s birth the family had moved to Sydney and were living in Holden Street, Ashfield in Sydney. Henry attended the Council meeting on 5 June 1883 to request that kerb and guttering be done in the street, and advising that he would pay for one third of the associated costs. This request was granted.

Frederica died on Thursday 23 October 1884, leaving Henry a widower with three young children. Henry didn’t rush into a second marriage, which is slightly surprising, because it can’t have been easy to manage three small boys. It is possible that the children went to their mother’s parents for some time, but Henry did not have family support in Sydney. On 6 October 1890, six years after the death of his wife, Henry married Sarah Ann Martin, a widow, at the Registrar General’s Office in Sydney. Nothing more is known of Sarah, except that she was born in England, and her maiden name was Chalies. I suspect that Chalies wasn’t even the correct spelling of her name. At some point the marriage ended, but it is not known when or what the circumstances were.

At some point the family moved to Oxford Street, Mortdale and it was here on 7 August 1897 that Henry’s 15 year old son, Sirtees Jacob died.  Sirtees’ death certificate lists the cause of death as congenital heart disease and syncope.

In time, both of Henry’s sons moved away: Henry Thomas moved back to Wellington, where he lived with his uncle, Jacob Warner, Frederica’s brother; and Frederick Warner, became a builder, also moving to the Wellington district before returning to Sydney. Frederick married and had three sons, although ironically Frederick’s wife also died at a young age.

When Henry was 73 he married for a third time, at St Clements Church, Marrickville, Sydney to Jane Toovey (nee Tapp). They were together for the rest of Henry’s life.

Henry Walter Hilton died in 11 Rosser St, Balmain, Sydney, NSW, Australia, on 28 Jan 1925; he was 83. He was buried on 29 Jan 1925 in Woronora Cemetry, Sydney, NSW, Australia.