Tombstone Tuesday: James Gibbs

St Barnabas, Woodend, Canterbury, New Zealand

The Story of James and Elizabeth

James Gibbs was born in 1820, in Turvey, Bedfordshire, the son of George and Sarah (nee Stanton) Gibbs and cousin to our Joseph.

In 1841 he is living at home and is described as an agricultural labourer.

On the 21 September, 1846 James marries Mary Huckle and later that year their son, Thomas is born but sadly, in June of 1847, Mary dies.

On the night of the 1851 census James is visiting his aunt and uncle, James and Esther Ayres, but his son is at the home of Keziah and Ben Bailey - Keziah is his sister and I think it's safe to assume that James and Thomas are living with the Baileys.

Elizabeth Gibbs was born in 1821, in Lavendon, Buckinghamshire, the daughter of James and Catherine Drage.

In 1841 she marries William Stanton - cousin of James Gibbs - they live in Turvey and in 1844 their daughter Mary is born. But William will also die before the 1851 census where Elizabeth is listed as a widow , a lacemaker,  living with her daughter at 166 High St, Turvey.

Both widowed with a child to raise it seems natural they would find some solace together but in 1855 James and Thomas are part of the Turvey family group preparing to set sail to New Zealand on the Cashmere - and that raises questions which will never be answered but are interesting to think about.

• Did James ask Elizabeth to marry him and go to NZ and she refused?
• Did they see their relationship as only an interlude before each went their separate way?

And the big question - Did they know Elizabeth was pregnant when James left? My feeling is they didn't . The Cashmere left London on the 2 July - the travellers would have been gone from Turvey sometime in June. Elizabeth's baby was born in February of 1856, eight months later and she named him James Gibbs Stanton. 

Two years later Elizabeth, Mary and James are part of the another group from Turvey heading for New Zealand on the ship 'Zealandia'. They arrived in Lyttelton on 21st September, 1858 and a month later, on 27th August, 1858 , Elizabeth Stanton (nee Drage) and James Gibbs are married and settle in Woodend and in 1862 another son, Samuel is born.

A fascinating story and one that took quite a while to put all the pieces together . It deserves a 'they lived happily ever after' ending but unfortunately it doesn't. 

James Gibbs died in 1864 - he was only 44.

Elizabeth Gibbs would spend another 27 years as a widow - she died in 1891.

  

Temperance Toomey nee Hoysted (1781 - 1819)

Temperance was born on the 6th October, 1781, the first child of John and Anne Hoysted of Foxhill (near Athy) , County Kildare, Ireland.


She was named Temperance for her paternal grandmother , Temperance Hoysted nee Bagot who herself had been named for her grandmother, Temperance Browne nee Perry.
It's an unusual name which has continued to be used through each generation although over the years it is more likely to be seen as Tempe or Tempey.

The Hoysted's were an old and well established family and with their connection to the Bagots had an impeccable social standing. Temperance was exactly the sort of woman that Mark Toomey needed to consolidate his newly acquired position and grace Eagle Hill as his wife. I hope it wasn't a completely mercenary contract and the two had an affection for each other.

Temperance Hoysted and Mark Toomey were married in the Ballyshannon Church at Fontstown on the 25th August, 1799. The groom is 30 years-old ...........his bride is a month short of her 18th birthday.

This is the beginning of what would become known as the Regency Era which is so wonderfully described in Jane Austen's novels and if you've seen the film and TV adaptations it's not hard to imagine what Temperance's life would have been like.

Temperance and Mark would have 10 children: (I'll add links to their individual posts as I do them)

1. Martha - 1800
2. Mark Antoney - 1801- 1833 ( Alan Toomey's great-great grandfather)
3. Anne - 1803
4. John Hoysted - 1805 - 1881
5. Elizabeth - 1807 - 1807
6. George - 1808
7. Temperance - 1810 - 1888
8. Mark - 1812 - 1864
9. Jane - 1814
10. Alicia - 1816

At first sight it seems strange that there are two Marks but I think the elder Mark would have been known as Antoney (this is possible a misspelling) or Anthony to avoid confusion with his father . Alan's father and grandfather were both Mark Anthony but his father was always Anthony/Tony.

Temperance Toomey died on the 27th March, 1819 and is buried at the Ballyshannon Church in Fontstown.
She was only 37 years-old and her youngest child was only three. Her mother-in-law Martha who had lived with them throughout the marriage outlived her by 5 years. She didn't live to see her children married or to hold her grandchildren - nor could ever have thought that so many of these young people would leave Ireland and her descendants would be found  in the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.

Temperance Toomey is Alan Toomey's great-great-great grandmother.

Surname Saturday - The Bagot Lineage

The following information was included with our copy of the family tree compiled by Garry Toomey. There are also several very interesting links about this family branch to be found on the internet including...
The Irish Branch of the Bagot family
thepeerage.com 


1.......... Patrick Bagot, born abt. 1518; died abt. 1553 in Bagotstown, County Limerick. He married Maria O'Dwyer, born abt.1520.
                                          son - Edmund

2.........Edmund Bagot, born abt. 1545; died abt, 1623 in Bagotstown, County Limerick, Ireland. He married Honora Bourke, born abt, 1550
                                          son - James

3..........James Bagot, born abt. 1577; died abt 1635 in Ballinstown, County Limerick, Ireland. He married (2) abt, 1595, Ellen Purcell. 
                                           son - Edward

4...........Edward Bagot, born abt. 1620 in Harristown, Kings County, Ireland; died abt 1711 in Waterstown, County Kildare, Ireland.
Royal Commissioner of Kings County - 1663
High Sheriff of County Kildare - 1667
He married (2) abt. 1659 , Catherine Colbourne, born abt. 1622 in Great Connell, County Kildare, Ireland; died 1691
                                       son - Christopher

5.............Christopher Bagot, born abt. 1665; died before 1737. Married (2) in 1704, Catherine Fitzgerald, born in Kilmead, County Kildare, Ireland.
                                       son - John

6. ...........John Bagot, born abt. 1705; died 5 June, 1753 in Nurney Castle, Ireland. He married (2) on 26 August 1736 in Riverstown, County Kildare, Ireland, Alicia Browne, born abt 1720 in Riverstown, County Kildare; died 5 June 1756 in Riverstown, County Kildare, Ireland.
                                       daughter - Temperance

7..............Temperance Bagot, born 24 July 1737 in Nurney Castle, County Kildare, Ireland; died 1789 in Foxhill (near Athy), County Kildare, Ireland. She married in 1754 in County Kildare, James Hoysted, born 1731 in County Kildare; died 1789 in Foxhill, County Kildare - son of Thomas and Rose (nee Naughton) Hoysted.
                                        son - John

8..............John Hoysted, born abt. 1775 in Foxhill, County Kildare; died 1808 in Walterstown, County Kildare. Buried at Kildangan, County Kildare. He married (2)  Anne Richardson, born abt. 1760 in Athy, County Kildare; died abt.1795.
                                        daughter - Temperance

9.......Temperance Hoysted married Mark Toomey.

New Zealand bound - Cashmere passenger list

The family group from Turvey and Newton Blossomville are marked in bold red. Note that Stanton has been misspelled as Staunton.
Joseph Stanton, William Ayres, James Gibbs and Keziah Bailey are all Stanton cousins. The Elizabeth Gibbs travelling with James is his niece who will later marry William Ayers.

London (2 Jul 1855) to Lyttelton (23 Oct 1855)

Under Captain ?

ARTHY		HANNAH		20	DAIRYMAID
ATKINS		ELLEN		35	NURSE/GENERAL SERVANT
AUSTEN		JOHN		68	FARM LABOURER
AYRES		WILLIAM		20	BRICKLAYER
BAILEY		BENJAMIN	38	LABOURER
BAILEY		KEZIA		38	
BAILEY		JOHN		16	SHOEMAKER
BASKAM		GEORGE		21	SAWYER & CARPENTER
BIDLEY		MARY		26	GENERAL SERVANT
BOULTEN		JOHN		17	LABOURER
BOULTON		ROBERT		Inf	
BOULTON		RICHARD		45	LABOURER
BOULTON		HESTER		40	
BOULTON		SARAH		19	NURSE/GENERAL SERVANT
BOULTON		JOSEPH		9	
BOULTON		RICHARD		7	
BOULTON		THOMAS		5	
BOULTON		ELIZABETH	3	
BOULTON		GEORGE		1	
BRIGHT		GEORGE		Inf	
BRIGHT		SARAH HARRIETT	33	
BRIGHT		GEORGE		27	LABOURER
BRIGHT		EDWARD		3	
BROWN		JAMES		33	LABOURER
BROWN		ANN		27	
BROWN		JOHN		1	
BRUNNING	SARAH A.	41	NURSE
BRUNNING	SARAH A.	22	HOUSE/NURSERY MAID
CAMERON		ANNE		26	SERVANT
CAMERON		WILLIAM		19	LABOURER
EILMS		MARTHEA		18	GENERAL SERVANT
ELMERS		HENRY		23	AGRICULTURAL LABOURER
FINCH		JOHN		27	LABOURER
FRANKS		FRANCIS		27	SCHOOLMASTER TO SHIP
FRANKS		HELEN		20	LADIES MAID
GERKEN		ANNA MARIA	Inf	
GERKEN		KATHERINE	35	
GERKEN		JOHN		33	LABOURER
GERKEN		JOHN		6	
GERKEN		MARIA		3	
GIBBS		JOHN		33	LABOURER
GIBBS		ELIZABETH	18	GENERAL SERVANT
GIBBS		THOMAS		8	
GRAUBEN		JOHN		20	AGRICULTURAL LABOURER
HANDCOCK	ANTHONY		22	LABOURER
HASKIN		--		24	SCHOOLMASTER
HASKIN		--		24	SCHOOL MISTRESS
HAYTON		LOUISA		27	WIFE
HAYTON		JAMES		26	MASON
HEPWORTH	GEORGE		26	LABOURER
HILL		ROBERT		Inf	
HILL		CHARLES		30	CARPENTER
HILL		MARY		25	
HILL		LENORA		2	
HOOD		JOHN		Inf	
HOOD		JOHN		37	LABOURER
HOOD		EMMA		36	
HOOD		WILLIAM		13	
HOOD		THOMAS		10	
HOOD		JANE		7	
HOOD		ELIZABETH	4	
IVORY		BETSY		34	
IVORY		WILLIAM		34	GARDENER
IVORY		JOHN		12	
IVORY		BETSY		7	
IVORY		PRISCILLA	3	
IVORY		EDWARD		1	
JACKSON		JOSEPH		22	FARM LABOURER
JONES		MATTHEW		28	LABOURER
JONES		SARAH		25	
JONES		SUSANNA		22	DAIRY & FARM SERVANT
JONES		WILLIAM		1	
KERR		JOHN		39	SHEPHERD
KIMMERSANANTS	HENRY		26	AGRICULTURAL LABOURER
LAFFHAGEN	HENRY		Inf	
LAFFHAGEN	JOHANN		28	LABOURER
LAFFHAGEN	MATTHDA		23	
LENS		HENRY		20	LABOURER
LUDIMAN		HENRY		23	AGRICULTURAL LABOURER
LUESEN		DIEDRICK	22	AGRICULTURAL LABOURER
LUTCHENS	HENRY		23	AGRICULTURAL LABOURER
LUTCHENS	JOHN		23	AGRICULTURAL LABOURER
MAY		EPHRAIM		Inf	
MAY		GEORGE		25	DAIRYMAN
MAY		MARY		25	WIFE
MAY		ELIZABETH	3	
MONKE		FREDERICK	23	LABOURER
ORCHARD		CHARLES		27	SAWYER
ORCHARD		JANE		23	
ORCHARD		SAMUEL		1	
PARNHAM		JOHN		25	SAWYER
PARNHAM		MARIA		21	
PARNHAM		ANNE		1	
PEIRCE		ALMA		Inf	
PEIRCE		JOHN		32	GARDENER
PEIRCE		ELIZA		28	
PEIRCE		THOMAS		10	
PEIRCE		JOHN		8	
PEIRCE		WILLIAM		6	
PEIRCE		ELIZA		2	
PIERCE		GEORGE		4	
PRING		THOMAS		33	SHOEMAKER
PRING		ELIZA		30	
PRING		MARY ANN	6	
PRING		LYDIA		4	
PRING		THOMAS		2	
RAY		ADAM		Inf	
RAY		SIMON		32	LABOURER
RAY		MARY		31	
RAY		ROBERT		12	
RAY		WILLIAM		10	
RAY		SAMUEL		8	
RAY		RACHEL		6	
RAY		JOHN		4	
RAY		THOMAS		2	
RIDLEY		LUCY		30	DRESSMAKER
ROSE		ALEXANDER	21	LABOURER
SCHAEFFER	HENRY		23	AGRICULTURAL LABOURER
SCHWIETERS	ALBERT		22	AGRICULTURAL LABOURER
SHAW		GEORGE		26	CARTER
STAPLEFORTH	HEPZIBAH	Inf	
STAPLEFORTH	WILLIAM		26	FARM SERVANT
STAPLEFORTH	HANNAH		21	
STAUNTON	SARAH		Inf	
STAUNTON	HANNAH		24	
STAUNTON	JOSEPH		24	LABOURER
STAUNTON	JOHN		5	
STAUNTON	WILLIAM		2	
STOKES		THOMAS	?	34	CARPENTER
WAGSTAFF	HENRY		23	CARPENTER
WATSON		GEORGE		Inf	
WATSON		SARAH		Inf	
WATSON		SARAH		36	
WATSON		JOSIAH		34	DAIRYMAN
WATSON		MARIA		32	WIFE
WATSON		WILLIAM		30	DAIRYMAN
WATSON		ELIZABETH	26	
WATSON		WILLIAM		25	FARM/GENERAL SERVANT
WATSON		JAMES		2	
WELLS		SARAH		50	LAUNDRESS
WELLS		THOMAS		49	WOODSMAN
WELLS		AMELIA		22	LAUNDRESS
WELLS		ROSSETTA	21	LAUNDRESS
WELLS		EDWIN		14	LABOURER
WELLS		JAMES		13	
WELLS		EDGAR		10	
WELLS		MIRIAM		2	
WERRY		WILLIAM		Inf	
WERRY		WILLIAM		36	LABOURER
WERRY		MARIANNE	29	
WHITE		WILLIAM		25	LABOURER
WISE		ELIZABETH	22	DRESSMAKER
YOUNGHUSBAND	JOHN		Inf	
YOUNGHUSBAND	JOHN		41	PRINTER
YOUNGHUSBAND	MARIANNE	34	WIFE
YOUNGHUSBAND	MARIANNE	13	
YOUNGHUSBAND	FREDERICK	10	
YOUNGHUSBAND	CLARA		9	
YOUNGHUSBAND	EMMA		7	

Source: LDS Film #0287464 (Excel file provided by Lindel)

Wedding Wednesday - Jarvis/Ferguson

Richard Hayter Jarvis and Caroline Ferguson were married

on the 27th August, 1829 at

St Mary's Church, Willesden, London

by the Rev. A.B.Bisset

Witnesses who signed the marriage certificate:

Anne and Richard Jarvis - parents of the groom

Frances and William Ferguson - parents of the bride

Anne Gertrude Jarvis - sister of the groom

Julia Isolde Bisset - wife of the vicar

Charles Hayter and Caroline Jarvis are two of my maternal great-great-grandparents.

Joseph Stanton/Hannah Looms - before NZ

John Stanton 1795 - 1837 was the sixth child of James and Elizabeth . He married Mary Edmunds on the 24th November, 1817 in the All Saints Church, Turvey. Their fourth child was......

Joseph Stanton ..........he was born in 1831, probably towards the end of the year as he was christened on the 1st of Jan, 1832.
Joseph's childhood was not an easy one. On the 29th December, 1832 his mother Mary died at the age of 36. Five years later he loses his father.............at 6 years old, Joseph and his three older siblings are orphans.
 In 1841 Joseph and his sister, Ann, are living in High Street, Turvey with 69 year old Sarah Edmunds , his maternal grandmother and another young relation, Maria Edmunds, 25. His two brothers George (20) and James (13) are with Stanton relatives in Cranfield.

There is no male adult breadwinner so the household must have had to rely on the meagre earnings of the three women, all described as lacemakers.........and Joseph!. When I think of the little boys in our present day family and compare their lives with Joseph's I feel very sad. It is heartbreaking to see a 10-year-old described as an Ag.Lab. They must have been very poor and there was no room for childhood freedom or gaining an education.
I don't think Joseph would have had much, if any, schooling.

By the late 1840's Joseph has found a young lady of his own, Hannah Looms from Newton Blossomville. Although the young couple live in different counties the two villages lie on the border and there is only a short walk between them. Early in 1850 their first child, Ben John, is born and at some time during the last three months of 1850 Joseph and Hannah marry in the lovely old church of St Nicholas in Newton Blossomville.......

......and begin their married life living with Hannah's parents where they're all listed together in the 1851 census. Those cottages aren't very big and it must have been very crowded with Joseph, Hannah and Ben John, Hannah's parents and her five younger brothers and sisters.

Two more children are born during the next four years:
William in December of 1851
Sarah Ann in March of 1855

And at some point the decision to emigrate is made and the planning and preparations begin. Joseph and Hannah will be travelling with a group from Turvey. No doubt there are a combination of reasons why the decision to leave was made but one thing I feel may have had an influence was the Methodist Church who played a major role in the early settlements of New Zealand. It saw this new country as a land for the working people guided by a church who had the working man's welfare at heart. During the first half of the 19th century they travelled England holding meetings and open air gatherings to encourage young people to emigrate.
The English parish records all show that the Stantons were Church of England but they are buried in the Methodist Church cemetery in NZ and most of their children marry in a Methodist Church which does suggest a change of religious affiliation.

The Stanton's in Bedfordshire
The Life of an Agricultural Labourer

Surname Saturday - Richardson

Richardson is an Anglo Saxon patronymic surname - i.e. a name deriving from a first name - son of Richard.


Richard is a given name derived from the Old English ric (power) and heard (hardy/brave). The suffix son refers to 'son of' or 'descendant of'.

Research of the surname Richardson reveals it to be of Norman descent.  The name appears in England from about 1066 and its history is prominently woven into the colourful tapestry which is an intrinsic part of the history of Britain.  Professional researchers used such ancient manuscripts as the Domesday Book (compiled in 1086 by William the Conqueror), the Inquisition, the Ragman Rolls, the Wace poem, the Honour Roll of the Battel Abbey, the Curia Regis, Pipe Rolls, the Falaise Roll, tax records, baptismals, family genealogies, and local parish and church records to establish that the first record of the name Richardson was found in Cheshire in 1067/68  where they were descended from Hugh d'Avranche, Earl Lupus, Earl of Chester if Chester who held one of the most highest domains in the whole country.  His descendant, William Belwood or Belward, Lord of Malpas (Henry 1st) in Cheshire, had two sons, David and Richard.   Richard's grandson John Richardson was said to have taken the paternal name of Richardson when he moved across the Pennines to Durham and the name is found in Yorkshire records from about 1381. A Nicholas Richardson, possibly a descendant, started a family wool business in Yorkshire in 1484 (according to the earliest Bierley deed records)

Those Yorkshire roots go back a long way!

Jane Rutherford - Toll Collector

I've been browsing through the census records and looking at the different occupations undertaken by our female ancestors prior to emigration. For most lower class women work was not a choice, but a necessity which would provide the few extra pennies needed to survive. For most women this meant working at home and finding the time between domestic chores to produce something to sell or to provide a service. Among our ancestors are the lacemakers of Beds. and Bucks. and the glovemakers of Somerset. There are farmers wives, dressmakers but not as many in service as I expected. From them all one young lady stands out........one of Alan's great grandmothers......

Jane Rutherford

In April of 1861, on the night of the census , Jane is 19 years old and living in Chatton, a small village in Northumberland way up in the north-east and close to the Scottish border. Her occupation is listed as Toll Collector i.e. a person who sat at a tollgate or turnpike and collected the fees for using the road, bridge or canal. There were many of these tollgates , most of which had a small building, the toll booth, from which the collector worked and sometimes lived. I wonder if Jane's residence is in fact a tollhouse - she is listed as the head of the household and is living alone which is unusual for a young woman of the time even if her father does live two houses away. The toll roads were run by Turnpike Trusts who were responsible for maintaining the road, providing the tollhouse and appointing the toll collectors - Jane was likely employed in this capacity.

Jane's work indicates an independent young woman, unafraid to look for more than the traditional role, and who did have some choice in her occupation.

Grandparents Homes 1 - Richardson

 A Genealogy Blog Prompt - Grandparents’ House. Describe your grandparents’ house.


I haven't been achieving much here - too much research, too little writing so when I discovered the 52 weeks of personal history prompts I thought it might be a good way to achieve something.
My grandparents homes is an easy one as I knew both of those houses well - sadly I didn't know my grandparents at all.


The Richardson Family Home

15 Cuba St (later 415), Alicetown, Lower Hutt, New Zealand

My grandparents, James Harrison and Edith Annie Richardson arrived in New Zealand in December, 1911. There is no record of any other address so presumably they purchased this lovely villa soon after their arrival. It would be their home for the rest of their lives and it was where my father and his siblings grew up.

The photo only shows the front part of the house and doesn't  do justice to it's size - it was a very large house. To the right of the flower bed was a path that went down and behind the hedge you can see to the back half of the house. 

Many photographs were taken against that hedge outside the back door including this one of Clive and myself with our grandmother which would have been taken about the end of 1949, soon after we moved from Auckland. By then the house had been turned into three flats. My grandmother lived at the back with my father's youngest brother, there were two sisters living in the middle and our family took up residence in the front. I lived there until we moved again in 1957 when I was 11.

The big bay window on the left was my parents bedroom - a lovely room and probably the biggest in what, in hindsight, was a very small flat. A door had been added on the far left of the verandah and steps and a path added just in front. The front lawn was our play area - we were discouraged from 'going round the back'.

I remember the garage with the ivy that turned brilliant red in autumn and the three flowering cherries around the front lawn that were lovely in spring - trees I still love. I remember the white picket fence with the red gates at each end and the stained glass window in the bedroom Clive and I slept in but not much else about the interior.

My uncle and his wife continued to live there probably until the late 60's or early 70's when it was sold and pulled down to make way for industrial building. That makes me very sad and is why I've never been back to Alicetown and never will. I prefer to remember it as it was.

The top photograph taken , I'm guessing, in the early 1920's. My grandmother on the left, Auntie Cissie and Uncle Gordon.