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!

Thomas Folland (and Catherine Pococke) born 1681

Thomas Folland was baptised in Dolton, Devon on 9 October 1681. His parents were Michael and Anne, and it would appear that they were generally known as Folly, rather than Folland. During Thomas’ life his name changed from Folly to Folland! Michael and Anne baptised another son, George in Dolton on 7 August 1687, but otherwise nothing more is known about his childhood. On 3 June 1701 when Thomas was 19, he married Catherine Pococke in Saint David, Exeter, Devon, England. Pococke is a rather interesting surname, and derives from the early medieval English “pecoc” or “pecock” (peacock) originally used as a nickname for someone who liked bright colours or clothes.  Because there are so many variations of spelling, there are not a lot of ‘Pocockes’ recorded: and there are very few in Devon. Sometimes this means that a birth entry is easier to find, but this is not the case with Catherine and so the names of her parents or her birthdate are not known. The fact they married in Exeter may mean that this was where Catherine was living at the time. The Clergy of the Church of England Database notes that at the time the Vicar of Morwenstow in the Parish of Exeter was Thomas Pocock, who could have easily been a relation.  It is believed that Catherine was born in Brushford, a very small village about 50 km north of Exeter and about 40 km east of Dolton.

Catherine and Thomas then spent the next 20 living in, or close to, Dolton. They baptised at least six sons in the Parish Church.  The children were:

John – baptised 8 July 1702

Thomas – baptised 18 January 1703 (really 1704)

Will – baptised 22 March 1708

George – baptised 20 August 1711

Michael – baptised 18 February 1717

Henry – baptised 10 July 1720.

It is possible, obviously, that there were other children who were baptised elsewhere, or even in Dolton but with a weird spelling alternative! But nothing more is known of this couple…

Hester Knott (nee Folland) (1724 to 1814)

Hester Knott was another person in the family who was born, lived and died in Beaford, Devon.  She was born in November 1724 and baptised on 4 November at the Parish Church.  She was the eldest of seven daughters born to Margaret (nee Marshall) and Arthur Knott.  She was named after her maternal grandmother.

On 3 May 1748 Hester married Henry Folland at the Beaford Parish Church.  Henry was from the nearby village of Dolton, but moved to Beaford on his marriage to Hester.  Hester and Henry had eleven children over twenty years; four sons and seven daughters;

• Arthur – born 1749
• Judith – 1750
• Margaret – 1752
• Catherine – 1753
• Rebecca – 1755
• Henry – 1757
• Robert 1759
• Martha – 1761
• Elizabeth 1762
• John – 1766
• Hester – 1769.

In 1772, at the age of 48, Hester's first known grandchild was born: a son for Rebecca, who had married George Marshall – who was actually Hester’s (much younger) cousin (Beaford wasn’t a particularly large village!).  Over the next 25 years at least 16 grandchildren were born in Beaford alone! 

In 1797, at the age of 72, Hester became a great grandmother and at least 10 more great-grandchildren were born in Beaford before Hester’s death.  

Hester died in March 1814 and was buried on 7 March at the Beaford Parish Church, Devon – a few months short of her 89^th Birthday (a ripe old age!).

[Relationship to SNR = Great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother]

Arthur Folland - 1749 to 1830

It’s hard to imagine spending your entire life in one small village in the middle of Devon.  But it was also very common – at least it was in the 17^th and 18 Centuries.  Arthur Folland is one such person.  He was born in early 1749 and was baptised on 15 February 1749 at Beaford Parish Church, Devon.  His parents were Hester (nee Knott) and Henry Folland; Arthur was their first child, born nine months after his parents wedding, which also took place in Beaford.  Ten more children were born to the couple over the next twenty years.  

On 9 April 1777 Arthur married Elizabeth Fry in Merton, Devon.  I suspect that Elizabeth was from Merton.  When Sarah, the couple’s first child was born in late 1778, the family was living in Beaford.  Sarah was baptised on 6 December 1778 at Beaford Parish Church.  (Sarah later married John Ashplant, and their youngest child, Maria, married John Milton, who was widowed and then married Jane Heard who was Maria's cousin, but that's all in Jane's story and just included here to show how close knit these families from small villages could be).   Arthur and Elizabeth had six known children, all baptised in Beaford.  One, a son also named Arthur died when he was five years old.

Arthur lived until June 1830 and was buried at the Beaford Parish Church on 3 June 1830.  He was 81 – relatively old for the time!

[Relationship to SNR = Great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather]