Great, great grandfather, Thomas Burton

My great, great grandfather, Thomas Burton, was living in the community of Rowde in the county of Wiltshire, England, in 1901. In the 3rd quarter of 1902 he died, reportedly in the Devizes district. I searched the web to see how far the actual town of Devizes was from Rowde and discovered it was less than two miles away. Since I couldn't find a cemetery listed for Rowde, I assumed that he was probably buried in the Devizes cemetery. I found a web site for the cemetery on the web (you can see it here) and sent the cemetery clerk an email asking if Thomas Burton was buried there. The cemetery was opened in 1878, so it definitely was available in 1902. Here's a photo of the cemetery today.


The history of Devizes is quite interesting. I obtained the following information from the Devizes and District Twinning Association website:

The origins of Devizes are lost in time. It is traditionally believed to have been founded by Dunwallo, a pre-Roman British king. It would be surprising, in view of its commanding position on a hill and surrounding prehistoric sites, if it was not the site of fortified earthworks in prehistoric British times.

Excavations for Pans lane railway cutting in 1861 revealed plenty of Roman and Romano-British brica-brac. Roman finds have been recorded in the Southbroom area since 1699. Twenty bronze statuettes and Roman coins were found on the Green in 1714 and when Southbroom Junior School was built in 1960 a Romano-British cemetery was found with burials in lead and stone coffins. This leaves little doubt that a settlement existed to the east of the town in Roman times. After the Romans came the Saxons and Wiltshire became part of Wessex. Then came the Normans and firmer historic ground.

Click here for more information on Devizes.

The Happy Wanderers

Some of you may recognize our Blog's Happy Wanderer theme from the TV show of the same name. Back in the mid sixties, The Happy Wanderers was a weekly travel log sponsored by the Ford Motor Company. The show focused on the backroad-ramblings of a jovial character named Slim Barnard. Each week, Slim and his wife Henrietta motored throughout the southwestern United States in search of adventure and beautiful scenery. And each week they produced a wonderfully artistic map of their travels which was available only at your local Ford dealership. The idea was for families to visit the dealer to pick up their personal copy of the map and get acquainted with all the new Fords. Though I was just a kid, I never missed Slim's adventures and would always prevail upon my mother to drive me to the local Ford dealer to get my maps. I was too young to drive, of course, but was simply planning for the future when I, too, would hit the road in search of adventure. The show employed a very distictive them song which I sing to this very day, usually as I wander the mountain tracks of California's San Gabriel Mountains. The music follows. Click on it once to make it larger. Click on your brower's back button to return to blog.


Here's the rest of the lyrics:

Words by Antonia Ridge
and music by Friedrich W. Moller,
copyright © 1954 by Bosworth & Co., Ltd.

I love to go a-wandering,
Along the mountain track,
And as I go, I love to sing,
My knapsack on my back.

CHORUS:
Val-de-ri, val-de-ra,
Val-de-ri, val-de-ra, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha,
Val-de-ri, val-de-ra
My knapsack on my back (repeat last line of each verse).


I love to wander by the stream,
That dances in the sun,
So joyfully it calls to me,
Come join my happy song.

I wave my hand to all I meet,
And they wave back to me,
And blackbirds call so loud and sweet
From every green wood tree.

High overhead the skylarks wing,
They never rest at home
But just like me they laugh and sing,
As o'er the world we roam.

Oh, may I go a-wandering
Until the day I die,
Oh, may I always laugh and sing,
Beneath God's clear blue sky.

Click here to listen to the Happy Wanderer theme. User your browser's back button to return to this blog. Be patient, sometimes it takes a moment to start.

Slim was born in 1903 and has been gone from the scene since 1975, but he certainly touched my life way back then. He was the first one to really awaken the travel bug in me and I'll always be grateful. Here's a copy of one of his wonderful maps from his TV series, The Happy Wanderers. All these years later, I still have a large collection them.

Great, great grandmother, Martha Burton

My great, great grandmother, Martha Burton seems to have died in Chippenham in 1913. At first I couldn't understand why she would move away from Rowde where her husband, Thomas was probably buried. But then I noticed that on the 1861 census, Martha mentions that she was born in Allington. Now there are five towns named Allington in England, but I was intrigued to see that there was one just 1.8 miles from Chippenham. See photo below.


So, the question is, did Martha move back to her home town at the close of her life to be buried with her own family? The only cemetery I've come across is called the "London Road Cemetery." I don't know Martha's maiden name, but I'll certainly have to pay London Road a visit and see if I can find my great, great grandmother's final resting place.

Thomas Burton moves to Sandy Lane

By 1891, my great, great grandfather, Thomas Burton was in his sixties and had moved 14 miles away from Monkton Farleigh to the village of Sandy Lane, Wiltshire, which has at various times been voted the prettiest village in Wiltshire. Its rows of stone-built, thatched cottages are the finest in the county. Click on the map below to see Sandy Lane's proximity to Monkton Farleigh



Here's a typical house in Sandy Lane


By 1901, Thomas and his wife Martha were in their seventies and had moved to the villiage of Rowde, some four miles southeast of Sandy Lane. Here, Thomas tells the census worker that year that he was a "retired farmer." I suspect that Thomas and Martha moved to Rowde because their son Albin was living there and farming. Here's a piece I found on the web about Rowde:

"Rowde seems to be one of those communities that have existed for over a thousand years but in many ways do not have a great deal of recorded history. Its name comes from a Saxon word meaning a reedy place and there was certainly a village here in late Saxon times. In fact there was a settlement to the north-east of the village, near Rowde Farm in Iron Age and Romano-British times and, although it is pure speculation to suggest it, there could have been continuous occupation from then through to the recorded settlement in the early 11th century."

Thomas Burton died in 1902, presumably in Rowde, so I hope to be able to find his headstone in a churchyard there. His wife Martha didn't die until 1913, but the district is listed as Chippenham, not Devizes as was true with Thomas. It will take more research to determine where my great, great grandmother Burton was buried.

Great, great grandfather, Thomas Burton

My great, great grandfather, Thomas Burton, lived in the village of Monkton Farleigh, Wiltshire, England for many years. On the 1881 census he lists his address as the Monkton Farleigh Church Farm where he was working as a "Farm Baliff." Recently, I found this picture of the Church Farm that is now functioning as a Bed and Breakfast. The converted barn is pictured.


Here's a bit of information on Monkton Farleigh from a Wiltshire government site:

The community was made up predominantly of farm labourers (like my great, great grandfather, Thomas Burton), although there were also clothiers, weavers, maltsters, tailors, shoemakers, carpenters, blacksmiths, grocers, thatchers etc. There are no registers of occupations until 1700. By the 19th century there was a very rapid growth of the industry of stone quarrying and by 1881 Hobhouse stated that nearly half of the labourers were quarrymen. Bath Stone was sent by rail all over the country. The population in 1801 was 264, and in 1851 was 359 (Thomas Burton moved to Monkton Farleigh some time before 1851).

The buildings of Monkton Farleigh are principally two storey buildings, constructed of rubble or of coursed stone (some maybe constructed by Thomas Burton's son, Joseph the mason). They generally display tall, Victorian type chimneys, with stone slate or tiled roofs. Other points of architectural interest include stone mullioned windows and gables. The King’s Arms retains an early 16th century doorway with a 17th century two storey porch, with original windows and a corresponding projection at the back with a circular stair. The Fox and Hounds Inn at Farleigh Wick has curious courtyard and entrance pillars.

The parish of Monkton Farleigh is situated in the extreme north western bend of an isolated chain of hills, at one end of which is Bradford on Avon and another Chippenham. The ground on which the village stands is from 6 to 700 feet in height (733 feet at the Tower on the Down). There is woodland in the south west corner of the parish, as well as small clumps of trees in other places. There is a park and avenue of elms adjoining the Manor House. The village is situated on high ground in the centre of the parish (four miles north west of Bradford on Avon and five and a half miles east of Bath). The village still commands some fine views, especially eastwards. There is sand and clay in the parish, but the soil is generally known as the stone brash. The quarries of freestone are a peculiar feature of the upper or west end of the parish. The A363 from Bradford on Avon to Bath passes through Farleigh Wick, a hamlet at the southern end of the parish. Sir Charles Hobhouse, in his history of the parish in 1881, stated that “probably in all Wiltshire there is no place where the combination of scenery – hill and valley, wood and stream, distance and home views is more varied and beautiful.”

Joseph W Burton & Eliza Jane (Jefferies) Peacock

I'm always interested to find out how my various ancestors managed to be in the right place at the right time to meet. As I researched Eliza Jane Peacock, I noticed that in 1871 she was working as a servant to the Williams family in Bathwick, Somerset. Then I looked up Joesph Burton and found that he was living in Monkton Farleigh, Wiltshire. Here's the map (compliments of MapQuest) that shows where they were each living. (Note, you can click on the map to see it bigger. Use your back button to return to this page).

As you can see, the two were living on either side of the town of Bathampton, just over five miles apart. Maybe they met in one of the local pubs or dance halls in Bathampton. Certainly they could have met on a local train or at the seashore. But Joseph Burton was a mason. He made things out of brick and stone. So, what if the family who employed Eliza Jane as a domestic also hired Joseph to do construction on their property in Bathwick. If so, was it love at first sight?

The Electronic Age

Even though I've made my living off the electronic age for most of my career in Nevada State goverenment, I have still continued to cling to many of the tried and true ways of doing things. This includes, at least until last night, the monthly paying of bills. Last night, for the first time ever, I paid most of my bills via my bank's electronic bill-paying site. Wow, what a revelation!

This is, of course, important because I plan to spend more of my life traveling once I retire. Not being at home to receive and pay bills the old fashioned way could prove a problem. Ergo, pay via the web. Yup, I suspect that things will never be the same.

More on Eliza Jane Jefferies

Since my great grandmother on my father's mother's side, Eliza Jane Jefferies, was adopted by the John Peacock family, I wondered how children came to be adopted in the 1840s. I found the following on the web:

Victorian Definition of “Orphan”
When we hear the word “orphan” we imagine a child whose parents have both died tragic deaths. Indeed, there were plenty of these pitiable creatures in Victorian society – the living and working conditions of the poor were so unsanitary and crowded that diseases such as typhus and tuberculosis often spread unchecked, sending many of their victims to the grave (Czarnik, “Living Conditions”). However, children were often considered “orphans” if they had one surviving parent, had been abandoned by their family, or were forced out into the world because of overcrowding at home (Cunningham, “Orphan Texts”). In 1861, it is estimated that 11% of children had lost a father by the age of 10, 11% a mother, and 1% had lost both parents (Czarnik).

Adoption
A very common fate of orphans was adoption. They were often taken in by relatives or neighbors, and even, on occasion, strangers wishing to raise them as their own children. In England, there were no laws concerning adoption until the 1920s, so most adoption was informal. Children who were adopted by their own social class were usually treated fairly and equally… however, if they were adopted by a family whose status was above and beyond their original class, they were frequently mistreated and neglected. Children of different social classes were not encouraged to fraternize, so if an orphan was taken into a household where higher class children lived, they could be forbidden to even speak to them (Czarnik).

see http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/agunn/teaching/enl3251_spring2005/omf/GREIG.htm for more information on Victorian-era adoption.

Great Grandmother, Eliza Jane Jeffries

My dad's mother's mother, Eliza Jane Jeffries (or Jefferis) was adopted in England by the Peacock family. She was only a Jeffries until she was less than four years old. The 1851 census finds Eliza living with John and Hannah Peacock in Kelston, Somerset, England. I haven't been able to find anything on Eliza's original family, however here's a little history on the name Jeffries:

Ancestry.com says that Jeffries is English, from a Norman personal name that appears in Middle English as Geffrey and in Old French as Je(u)froi. Some authorities regard this as no more than a palatalized form of Godfrey, but early forms such as Galfridus and Gaufridus point to a first element from Germanic gala ‘to sing’ or gawi ‘region’, ‘territory’. It is possible that several originally distinct names have fallen together in the same form.

Searchforancestors.com says that Jeffries is corrupted from Geoffrey or Godfrey, which is German for "from God" and fried for "God's peace", or from Gau and fried, "joyful peace." This name was borne by the chief of the royal house of Plantagenet.

From Jeffrey.com we learn that Rhodri Mawr, or Rodrick the Great was the first recorded monarch of all Wales, he died in 893. On his death, he gave Wales to his three sons, Anarawd became king of North Wales, Cadalh became king of South Wales and Mervyn became King of Powys, or mid-Wales. The history of the name Jeffrey also emerges from these same welsh chronicles. It was first found in Herefordshire where they were seated from very ancient times, some say well before the Norman Conquest and the arrival of Duke William at Hastings in 1066 AD.

From some of the many early records researchers examined, manuscripts such as the Doomsday Book, the Pipe Rolls, the Black Book of the Exchequer, the Curia Regis Rolls, the family name, Jeffrey was traced in many different forms. Although our name was mentioned in the different records, it was spelled Jeffreys, Jeffereys, Jeffries, Jeffers, Jefferis, Jefferyes, Jefferys, Jeffry, jeffs, Jefries, Jefery.

Well, that's what I know so far. Unfortunately, what I don't know is just what family little Eliza Jane came from. Oddly enough, on the 1841 census the Peacocks were living right next door to the "Jeffry" family, Joseph and Ann, who had a little daughter named "Mary." Did the Jeffry family have another daughter in 1847 (Eliza's birthdate) and then all but Eliza die in some terrible tragedy before 1851? I know the family doesn't show up in the 1851 census. Did the neighboring Peacock family feel sorry for the lone newborn survivor and adopt her?

Or is there another explanation? For instance, my research has turned up a family of "Jefferies" living in the workhouse in Siston in the county of Somerset, only 6 miles from the Peacocks home in Kelston in 1851. Even more interesting, John Peacock claims to have been born in Siston. Could the family in the workhouse have been acquainted with the Peacocks? Might they even have been one-time neighbors? Perhaps the Peacocks offered to help the family out by adopting the new baby whom the Jefferies could ill afford to maintain in the workhouse. Only three adult women, one a grandmother, and six other children are listed in the workhouse. No adult male shows up. Intriguing!

Calling Card

Today I designed and ordered a set of calling cards for our upcoming trip. It will have all of our pertinent information, including the address for this blog and our various telephone numbers. Here's the photo I put on it:

The Burtons of Tisbury, Wiltshire County, England

My father's mother's people were Burtons and lived in and around the village of Tisbury, near Salisbury, in the County of Wiltshire in England. Tisbury is in the Dunworth Hundred. Here's a piece I clipped from the web on Dunworth:

Chalke and Dunworth hundreds are in south-west Wiltshire on the Dorset border. The parishes of Chalke hundred were united by being part of Wilton abbey's estate before the Norman Conquest, but most of the hundred is homogeneous. Long and narrow parishes lie north and south across the river Ebble and are characterized by extensive chalk downs. Until farmsteads were built on the downs in the 19th century, nearly all settlement was in small riverside villages. From the Reformation to the
19th century the earls of Pembroke owned most of the eastern parishes. Sheep and corn husbandry and more recently arable and dairy farming was the pattern of agriculture in all the parishes except Semley where there is a remarkable survival of common pastures. Dunworth hundred is largely in the Vale of Wardour, and land in most of its parishes belonged to the Barons Arundell of Wardour as successors to Shaftesbury abbey. It is an area of broken landscape and mixed farming in which only Tisbury has grown larger than an ordinary village. Except at Tisbury, there has been little manufacturing in the area, but Portland stone has been extensively quarried at Chilmark, Teffont Evias, and Tisbury, and greensand stone has been quarried at the Donheads. Partly because of its stone, Dunworth hundred is notable for its secular buildings. The castle at Wardour is the only one to survive in Wiltshire; Fonthill Abbey in Fonthill Gifford was the most remarkable house of its day in England. Among the many farm houses of local stone which survive from the Middle Ages is Place Farm at Tisbury, which was frequently visited by the abbess of Shaftesbury and has the largest medieval barn in England. Except for Sedgehill parish and part of Donhead St. Mary parish both hundreds are in an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty: the exceptions are in a Special Landscape Area.

Forty-five Days and Out!

Today marks the forty-five day point in my countdown to retirement. It's hard to believe that just six weeks from now I'll be joining the ranks of the unemployed, really for the first time in my life. My employment history started with my working summers for Sam Trubo at his concession stand in Brookside Park near the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. That would have been about 1963 when I was fourteen years old. I made snow cones and dispensed Coca Cola into waxy cups for the park's thousands of visitors.

About 1965 I started working in the grocery business, first as a meat department cleanup boy, then as as boxboy, and finally as a retail clerk. By the time I went in the Navy in 1969, I was a journeyman clerk for Alpha Beta working out of their Hill Street Pasadena store. In those years I was not only working twenty to thirty hours a week, but going to college taking a full load as well.

Once out of the Navy, I continued working and going to school for a time. In 1973 I got a job as a crewman on a yacht in the Mediterranean for a year. That adventure came to an end in 1974. Finally, starting in August of 1974, I began working a 40-hour week and have been doing so ever since.

On August 15, 2008, I will have worked 25 years with the State of Nevada, most recently in the Department of Public Safety. Since Nevada allows you to "buy" retirement time, I actually will be retiring with 30 years of service. It's sometimes hard to believe that I have, for the most part, got up and gone to work every day since 1965, over forty years.

Most of my co-workers believe I won't will be able to find enough to do to keep busy. On the contrary, I have a million interests. Everything from writing to photograhy, from traveling abroad to working on home projects, from genealogy to collecting, from attending college classes to driving antique cars are favorite things to do. I've never had enough time to persue any of my interests in the past. Hopefully, now I will.