The Daughters of Laura Secord

Gravestone of Hannah Cartwright Secord (1817-1877)

I've written previously about the importance of distinguishing between family history and family mythology. One recurring myth in Canadian genealogy is to claim descent from Laura Secord (1775-1868), the heroine of the War of 1812. As the 200th anniversary of the start of the war approaches, there is renewed interest in Laura Secord, and as result, claims of descent. While it is certainly possible to be one of the over 500 descendants of Laura, it is highly unlikely that your last name will be Secord. You would most likely be descended from her daughters, four of whom lived in Guelph, Ontario.

Laura and James had six daughters and one son. Charles Badeau SECORD (1809-1872) was three years old at the time of his mother's famous trek to warn the British of an American attack. Charles and his wife Margaret ROBBINS (1813-1872) had three children, two of whom had no issue. Laura's grandson, Charles Forsyth SECORD 1834-1899), had numerous children, however, he and his family emigrated to Nebraska. One of his sons became a missionary in Guatemala, and apparently the only descendants of Laura to still carry the Secord name were born in that country.

Laura and James's oldest daughter, Mary Lawrence SECORD, was about 14 when her mother went for her twenty mile walk in June of 1813. In 1816 she married William TRUMBLE, assistant surgeon of the 37th Regiment of Foot, and accompanied him when he was posted to Jamaica. A letter written by a descendant living in Norway describes that when William died in 1822, Mary returned to Canada with her two small daughters. A few years later her father-in-law died, and Mary took her family to Ireland in order to claim an inheritance. According to the letter's author, Mary had to fight off the advances of an amorous sea captain on this voyage. One of Mary's granddaughter's married a Norwegian Army officer, which explains the Norway connection.

The next oldest daughter, Charlotte, was two years younger that Mary. Charlotte never married, died in 1880, and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in Guelph, Ontario. No grave marker survives.

Gravestone of Harriet
Hopkins Secord
(1803-1892)

Harriet Hopkins SECORD was ten years old in 1813. In 1824 she married David William SMITH and had two daughters and a son. David practiced law in St. Catharines and was a heavy drinker. When he died in 1842, Harriet and her daughters lived with her mother in Chippewa, Ontario. Her son went to live with his father's parents and eventually settled in Wisconsin. After her mother's death, Harriet and her daughters joined her sisters in Guelph. Harriet died in 1892 and was buried in Woodlawn Cemetery, Guelph. Neither of her daughters married.

Appolonia SECORD was just a toddler when the War of 1812 began. Unfortunately she contracted tuberculosis and died in Queenston at the age of 19.

Gravestone of Laura Ann
Secord (1815-1852)

Laura Ann SECORD was born eight months after the war ended. She married John POORE of Guelph in 1833 and had two sons, one who died in infancy and the other who settled in Manitoba. After John's death in 1842, Laura married Dr. William CLARKE (1810-1887), who was a magistrate, and later a member of Parliament and the Mayor of Guelph. They had three children: a son and daughter who died in infancy, and a daughter Laura Secord CLARKE who died unmarried in 1936. Laura Ann died in 1852 is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery, Guelph.

The youngest daughter of Laura SECORD was Hannah Cartwright SECORD (1817-1877). Hannah married twice and had children from both marriages. Hannah first married Howley WILLIAMS (1809-1844). She later married Edward CARTHEW (1808-1879). All three are buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Guelph. Unfortunately, Hannah's and Edward's gravestones are located underneath a lilac bush and are lying flat on the ground. When I photographed the gravestones several years ago it was necessary to cut back the lilac, and then dig away the grass and soil that had almost completely obscured Hannah's gravestone.

Unlike her sisters, Hannah had numerous children and grandchildren. Those claiming descent from Laura Secord in Canada are therefore more than likely to be Hannah's descendants.

Virgil Baptist Graveyard

Virgil Baptist Graveyard, Niagara-on-the-Lake

I took advantage of the long weekend and the warm Spring weather, and visited a couple of cemeteries near Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. One was the Virgil Baptist graveyard which I wanted to photograph for the CanadaGenWeb Cemetery Project.

Virgil Baptist Cemetery, in the small community of Virgil, is hidden behind a cedar hedge just to the northwest of the junction of Niagara Stone Road and Four Mile Creek Road. A church building was located here from 1831 until the late 1930s. The congregation originally consisted of escaped slaves who had fled to Canada, however, white settlers in the vicinity also became members.

Most of the gravestones are in good condition. Many have been laid flat on the ground, so in some cases it was necessary to carefully remove the grass and soil which was encroaching around the edges. There were also quite a few fallen branches to move aside. Only one monument appears in need of major repair. A large tree had tilted the base of the monument to James BROOKER (1843-1913) causing the rest of the monument to fall over.

When I later cross-referenced my photographs against the Ontario Genealogical Society transcription I discovered a problem. There were four stones listed in the transcription that I had not photographed. These four stones are also referenced by W.G. Reive in his Cemeteries and Graves in the Niagara District. When Reive visited the Virgil Baptist graveyard in 1927, he described it as being "in a wretched condition and many stones mentioned by Miss Carnochan in her visitation of twenty-five years ago have disappeared." Janet Carnochan, however, in Inscriptions and Graves in the Niagara Peninsula, published by the Niagara Historical Society, only recorded the inscriptions for two stones, both of which I photographed.

Reive also mentions looking unsuccessfully for the monument to Barnabas CAIN who fought at the Battle of Lundy's Lane during the War of 1812. David Hemmings in his recent Disappearing History of Niagara also states that Barnabas CAIN was buried at Virgil Baptist. Carnochan, however, mentions "Barney Cain" under the heading for the nearby Virgil Methodist graveyard, so it seems likely that he was buried there and not at Virgil Baptist.

A return visit to Virgil Baptist will be needed later this Spring in order to locate (if possible) the four missing gravestones, and to retake some of the photographs. A visit to photograph the Virgil Methodist cemetery is also likely.

No Pleasures or Prospects: Francis Goring (1755-1842)

Niagara by James Peachey ca. 1783
Source: Clements Library, University of Michigan

During the Revolutionary War, many colonists who remained loyal to the Great Britain fled to other parts of British North America. Loyalist refugees from the Mohawk Valley area of New York, and from the East Branch of the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, often made their way to Fort Niagara, located at the mouth of the Niagara River. It was here in 1778 that 15-year-old Lucy Secord met 23-year-old Francis Goring.

Lucy Secord was the daughter of Peter Secord, one of three brothers who settled on the East Branch of the Susquehanna River about 1773, but were forced to abandon their farms during the war. The date of Lucy and her family's arrival at Fort Niagara is uncertain. It is known that Peter Secord was a member of Butler's Rangers, a Loyalist Regiment, but was discharged in 1778 because of his age. In 1780, Peter Secord became one of the first settlers west of the Niagara River.

Francis Goring, on the other hand, was born in Westminster, England, and was baptised at St Martin in the Fields on 7 Sep 1755. His father, Abraham Goring, was a bookseller. In 1776, Francis, an indentured apprentice, left England for Quebec, arriving on the 30th of June. He was then unexpectedly sent to Fort Niagara which he reached on the 26th of August. In a letter written soon after his arrival he describes his situation:

There are no pleasures or prospects to direct the mind, being confined by the woods in one side and the water on the other. Our whole place consist of a fort and four houses and about five hundred men, therefore I leave you to judge how agreeable it must be to one who has accustomed to much pleasure.

Francis was initially employed by Edward Pollard, but later became an employee of Captain Thomas Robison,¹ who had resigned from the Naval Department in 1777 to become a merchant at Niagara. Robinson's firm supplied Butler's Rangers, the Indian Department, and the Fort Niagara garrison with rum and other sundries.

Some of the sundries were a bit unusual. In Aug 1779, Goring received a letter from Capt. Walter Butler who was encamped with Butler's Rangers on the Genesee River near the High Falls of the Genesee River. In his letter Butler asks Goring to send him two bear skins and a barrel of port, and writes, "I am obliged to you for the hooks, for now it is, that he that will not hunt or fish, must not eat."

In 1779, Robison sold his business to George Forsyth. The following year Goring entered into a partnership with James Burnet and Samuel Street. This partnership however, lasted little more than a year.

While the bulk of Goring's surviving correspondence can be found at Library and Archives Canada, other letters have appeared in secondary sources. In a letter to his uncle, James Crespel, dated 23 Sep 1779, Francis describes his first three years at Niagara.

I have lived at this place three years last August and have two masters in that time and am now getting a third still in the same house. The first was Mr. Pollard. He made a great fortune and left off. The second, Mr. Robison, who was formally a captain on these lakes is now tired of business and assigns in favor of George Forsyth, who has treated me with the greatest of kindness and is ready serve me in anything I should ask. I have had several offers by two old employers to leave Niagara and live with them, but I believe I shall continue here which I prefer to Canada where everything is carried in with the greatest gaiety and this is a place which you may say is almost out of the world in the woods and frequented by nothing but Indians, except the people of the garrison. As I have stuck close to business so long I shall continue that I may be of service to my lost sisters. At this place is carried on a great business which consumes every year £30,000 sterling worth of merchandise of all sorts which is mostly retailed to Indians. We employ four clerks of which I am senior. For the first two years my salary was but small, I have now (and I flatter myself that there is not in these parts a clerk that has as much) about fifty guineas per annum, being found in food and washing. By carrying on correspondence with my friend Mr. Cruickshank, who supplies me with silver work, such as the Indians wear and which I dispose of to the merchants in the upper country and the profit arising there from is sufficient to keep me in clothes.

The winter of 1780 was especially hard with frequent storms and bitter cold. New York Harbour froze completely, and British soldiers were able to march across the ice from Manhattan to Staten Island. At Fort Niagara, the Haudenosaunee refugees who had taken shelter there after the Sullivan Expedition suffered greatly from cold and starvation.

John Warren, in charge of the commissary at Fort Erie, wrote to Goring in January:

We have experienced the longest succession of severe weather I ever felt in Canada. It has snowed and drifted here every day this month. We have in common not less than four feet on the ground. In the woods where it has drifted in some places it exceeds ten. The sun is become a stranger here, hardly ever showing his face, and when he does it is thro' a mist as if he intended not to be too familiar.

Goring himself described conditions at Niagara in a letter to his uncle dated 14 Oct 1780:

I cannot help mentioning that last winter was the severest that was ever felt here. Our river was frozen over for seven weeks, so that horse and sley could pass, which was never known to be froze over before, owing to the great rapidity of the water from the falls. The snow in the woods eight feet on a level ground.

In the summer of 1780, several members of Butler's Rangers who had been discharged due to their age were given permission to begin farming on the west side of the Niagara River. Among them was Goring's future father-in-law, Peter Secord. In August 1780, Goring recorded, "Secord commenced farming over the river."

HMS Ontario at Fort Niagara

The following year, Goring wrote to his uncle about the sinking of the HMS Ontario:

A very malancholy misfortune happened nigh here last fall. On the 31st Oct. a New Vessel called the Ontario sailed from here in the afternoon, and about 12 O-clock at Night a violent storm arose in which the vessel was lost and every soul on board Perish'd in number about 120, among which was Lt. Col. Bolton, who commanded this post, Lt. Collerton of Artillery, Lt. Royce of the 34th Reg't. About a week ago six of the Corps were picked about 12 miles from her and buried, which is all that has ever been seen. This was the finest snow that every sailed these Lakes and Carried upwards of a thousand Barrels.

When the Revolutionary War ended, Francis received an initial grant of 300 acres on the west side of the Niagara River and took up farming. He tutored the children of his neighbours, and opened the first school house in the district in 1790. On 10 Dec 1792, Francis recorded in his journal, "This day commenced keeping school at the Landing for day scholars." A list of students followed, including three sons of Robert Hamilton.

Hamilton, a prominent Niagara merchant and member of the Legislative Council of Upper Canada employed Francis as a debt collector from 1800 to 1808. Hamilton and Francis knew each other from when Goring was a clerk for Robison at Niagara while Hamilton was a clerk for the Ellice brothers at Carleton Island.

Most of the surviving correspondence from this period relates to business matters, however, in a letter to Goring dated 25 Mar 1780, Hamilton writes of having "spent a very idle, tho' in other respects not a very uncomfortable winter" at Carleton Island. In the same letter he shares news about the Battle of Grenada and the Siege of Savannah, and how he, "will not see my Niagara friends 'till the second trip of the Haldimand." Hamilton moved from Carleton Island to Niagara later that year and went into business with Richard Cartwright.

Francis was responsible for writing and delivering letters to those indebted to Hamilton. This sometimes required Francis to travel as far as Ancaster at the head of Lake Ontario. At Hamilton's bequest he kept a detailed journal. The journal from 1805 survives and in addition to recording who received letters and their responses, provides snippets of information about some of the inhabitants of Upper Canada:

Old Henry Dochseder has a new large fram'd House & seemingly everything in plenty, but has not generosity enough to ask a traveller to Eat.

James Ross, a very poor man that was burnt out at Chippewa & has been a long time sick, has a wife and children, the only Cow he had the Doctor took for his attendance.

Isaac Durham has a good fram'd House & Barn & large clearing & seemingly in a good way. John Durham attends more to the Blacksmith's trade than farming.

Chambers has no grain in the ground & by appearance, nothing has been done since I was here 2 years past.

Francis and Lucy married about 1781. They had ten children and numerous grandchildren. In his Upper Canada Land Petition dated 20 Oct 1796, Francis wrote, "That your Petitioner has been married many Years—and has had 9 children, Six of whom are living—and has received 400 acres of Land; for which he is thankful." Attached to the petition is, "A List of Francis Goring's Children" beginning with Charlotte born in 1782 and ending with Abraham Hamilton born in 1796. Not on the list is the youngest child, Lucretia Caroline, who was born about 1799. The three children who had died were twins Francis and Lucy, born in 1788, and Arthur, born in 1792.

Lucy died during the Winter of 1801. Francis never remarried.

Francis was a highly literate person, and much of what we know about him comes from his surviving letters and journals. The journals contain records of his accounts, the crops he planted and harvested, the animals he butchered or sold, lists of his students, visits of dignitaries, but very little about his family. The 1792 marriage of Lucy's cousin David Secord is mentioned, as is the funeral of her cousin Peter. Of his own family only the births of his son Arthur and daughter Mary Ann are recorded:

Friday, August 10, 1792—My wife delivered of a Son at about half-past nine in the evening.

May 26, 1794—My wife delivered of a Daughter at about 11 o'clock at night.

The weather is frequently mentioned. A drought in the spring of 1791 resulted in a fire that caused considerable damage:

May 11, 1791—Considerable damage done in this settlement by the woods catching fire. Mrs. Guthrie's House and fence burnt and most of the fence by the river. Peter Secord's fence burnt and many others.

May 12, 1791 - A remarkable dry spring. But one day's rain between the 13th April and 12th May—29 days drought—Mostly hot days and frosty nights.—Rained 24th in the Morning.

Journal entry for Sunday, July 1, 1792

Francis's entry for Sunday, July 1, 1792 is perhaps the oldest surviving description of a tornado in Canada:

A violent hurricane happened this day about 2 & 3 o'clock in the afternoon which began at the little lake at the head of Lake Ontario which drove which such violence towards Fort Erie as left hardly a tree standing for two miles in width. The heaviest part fell among the Short Hills, between the Fifteen and Thirty Mile Creeks. In some places, for near five miles wide, there is not so much as a sapling, but what is torn up by the roots, whole trees carried a considerable distance, some fifty trees a foot and a half thick twisted like a [?] — every house disroofed and many blown down, in some places the hail was as large as a man's fist, in other places there was neither hail or rain. The woods now is rendered impassable 'til roads can be cut through, forty men were three days cutting so as to get out five families and their cattle, the whole way it went was as a whirl wind, the trees falling different ways. There is no appearance by the woods that such a storm has ever happen'd in this country before, what is very remarkable we hear of no lives being lost except those of Cattle.

In his will, dated August 26, 1833, Francis left most of his estate to his sons Abraham Hamilton Goring and Frederick Augustus Goring, and to his daughters Mary Ann Darby and Lucretia Caroline Lambert. The only other child named is Frances Sophia Milliard.

Francis died in 1842 at the age of 87. He was buried at Homer Cemetery in Niagara Township, however, no grave marker remains.

Notes:

¹ Thomas Robison had commanded various ships on Lake Erie including the schooner Earl of Dunmore, and the brig General Gage. During the Revolutionary War he was briefly in command of vessels operating on Lake Ontario. After the war, he moved to the United States and settled in Portland, Maine where he became a distiller and merchant. Robison retired to Kingston, Upper Canada in 1805.

Sources:

Durham, J. H. Carleton Island in the Revolution: The Old Fort and its Builders. Syracuse: C. W. Bardeen, 1889.

Francis Goring Fonds, Library and Archives Canada, MG24, D4

Francis Goring Fonds. Archives of Ontario, F 594

Ketchum, William. An Authentic and Comprehensive History of Buffalo. Vol 2. Buffalo: Rockwill, Baker and Hill, 1865

Lincoln Country Surrogate Court Files, Archives of Ontario, RG22-235

Perry, Charlotte L. "Reminiscences of Francis Goring," Family History and Reminiscences of Early Settlers. Publications of the Niagara Historical Society No. 28.

The Diaries of Sophia Stevens

A footnote to the suicide of Thomas Stevens (1782-1832) are the diaries of his wife, Sophia Le Marchant (1798-1860). In 2009, five volumes of the diaries were deposited at the North Devon Record Office in Barnstaple. Last summer when I visited Barnstaple, I had the opportunity to view the diaries. My interest was in any references to Baron Rolle of Stevenstone (1751-1842). Thomas Stevens was the first cousin once removed of John Rolle, and had it not been for his death, was the most likely successor to the vast Rolle estates.

I was not prepared for how small the diaries were. Each volume only measures about three inches by five inches. The writing inside was even tinier. Unfortunately, I had forgotten my reading glasses. I decided to photograph the months of August and September 1831 with my Nikon D40X and hope for the best.

The diary records the trivia of the life of the landed gentry. In the summer of 1831 Thomas and Sophia were living at Cross in the parish of Little Torrington, Devon. Names of dinner guests figure prominently, as do comments about the weather.

The photo at left shows the entries for Sunday, August 14th to Saturday, August 20th. The only significant event during this week was the 9th birthday of Sophia STEVENS (1822-1892) on Sunday. Sophia was the oldest of Thomas and Sophia's two daughters. Elsewhere in August and September are references to young Sophia being unwell and unable to take her music lesson, and a reference to her riding with her parents. Sophia's sister, Louisa Annie STEVENS (1828-1868) is not mentioned, although her cousin Louisa MOORE (1823-1856) was apparently a frequent visitor. Louisa was the daughter of John MOORE-STEVENS (1784-1865), Vicar of Otterton and Archdeacon of Exeter.

The diaries do record a visit to the Misses Rolle of Hudscott. Lord Rolle had two unmarried sisters, Anne (1755-1842) and Lucilla (1757-1851), who lived at Hudscott in the parish of Chittlehampton, Devon.

The diaries are definitely worth a second look and I'll be sure to bring my reading glasses next time.

The Criminal Career of Alice Dobb

Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum

Alice Dobb was not a particularly nice person. In fact, this notorious grandmother's criminal career lasted several years and only ended with her incarceration at the Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum.

Alice, the daughter of William Adams and Mary Garnsey, was baptised at St Peter's, Tawstock on 11 Aug 1806. She was the third of six children.

Alice married William Dobb at Tawstock on 19 May 1827. Their first child, John, was born in 1828, and was followed by Anna, Elizabeth, Henry, Mary, Martha and William. All seven children were born in Tawstock. Her son Henry died at the age of three, but the other six grew to adulthood.

Sometime between 1841 and 1851, William and Alice moved to neighbouring parish of Fremington and took up occupancy of Brynsworthy Farm. Joining them at Brynsworthy were Alice's widowed father, William Adams, and a farm labourer from Tawstock named James Ridge. In 1852, James, the son of Thomas Ridge and Miriam, married Alice's daughter Elizabeth.

Then tragedy struck. Alice's husband died in December 1853, shortly after the death of her father.

Alice's first brush with the law came in 1855. Samuel May of Fremington had noticed that various articles had been disappearing from his locked barn. He "at length resolved to set a watch for the purpose of detecting the mysterious visitor." The culprit turned out to be his neighbour, Alice Dobb, who after using a key she had somehow acquired to unlock the barn, stumbled over the legs of one of Samuel May's labourers. A search of Alice's home recovered no stolen goods, so Alice was charged and convicted under the Vagrant Act, and sentenced to two months imprisonment. According to report in the North Devon Journal, Alice explained her actions by stating that she "must be mazed or mad or something." The article goes on to say:

The woman brought into those circumstances of shame is the mother of six children, pressed by no necessity to the commission of such an act as was clearly contemplated, and is moreover in a good farming business, occupying an estate of some 60 or 70 acres. The two sons of the wretched woman were present to witness the disgrace of their unhappy mother and their own, and some time after she had been committed, the eldest son (a nice respectable young man about 26 years of age, who had returned from service upon his father’s death to assist his widowed mother) came into Court, to try when it was too late to obtain a reversal of the sentence. He represented that his mother had been subject to fits of insanity, and they had been obliged to have a person, at times, to look after her. Considering that circumstance, which appeared not to have been thought of before, Mr. May would not now have pressed the charge to the consequence which could not then be re-called. The poor young man wept as be stood there, stunned by the ignominy his unhappy parent had brought upon herself and her family.

Alice served her sentence and by 1861 was living in Tawstock with her daughter, Elizabeth, and her husband, James Ridge. In 1862, she was charged with stealing turnips from Peter Joce of Tawstock. Apparently she tried to convince Mr. Joce to not press charges as "she could not bear the thought of coming before the gentlemen." Alice, however, was convicted and sentenced to one month imprisonment.

More serious crimes were uncovered a few months later, when Alice was charged with stealing a skein of worsted. During the police investigation, a pistol which Alice had stolen from a Barnstaple shop a few weeks earlier was also recovered, resulting in a second charge. 24 yards of stolen alpaca were also recovered, and a third charge was laid. For these crimes Alice was sentenced to six months. The report in the North Devon Journal also alluded to the fact that Alice was suspected in a number of arsons.

Two years later, Alice was in trouble again, having stolen a quantify of muslin, lace, and cotton from Eliza Dalling of Barnstaple. The lawyer representing Alice stated "he could offer evidence that the prisoner was not in a sound state of mind, and that she had been confined in a Lunatic Asylum, in which place she would now be confined had her family the means to pay for her." The Recorder of Barnstaple, however, felt that he had no choice but to sentence her to 12 months.

Alice served her 12 months in the Barnstaple's gaol, and then returned to Tawstock to live with her daughter and son-in-law. Early one February morning in 1866, Alice decided to prepare some potatoes for the family's breakfast; potatoes seasoned with arsenic. Alice left the potatoes for Elizabeth to fry claiming that she wanted to see if her "old house was blown down." James, Elizabeth and three of their children immediately became sick after eating the potatoes. When James later testified before the magistrates, he stated that after vomiting he felt well enough to chase after his mother-in-law, but as soon as he caught up to her she blurted, "'Tisn't me, 'tis the potatoes have done it."

The doctor and the police were summoned. The doctor, Joseph Harper, successfully treated the family with emetics although they remained quite sick for several days. The doctor also discovered a few white crystals in the bowl the potatoes had been in. A chemist later identified the crystals as arsenic. The police tracked Alice to the neighbouring parish of Newton Tracy where she was arrested.

In describing Alice, the North Devon Journal used words such as "notorious" and "monomaniac." The newspaper noted that Alice's behaviour when she appeared before the magistrates was "very erratic." She claimed she was ill or that she was blind. When informed that she was remanded for eight days, she exclaimed, "I shan't last eight days longer." Alice claimed that it had been a case of accidental poisoning, and that she had been poisoned herself, however the evidence clearly pointed to Alice having attempted to kill her daughter and her family.

During his testimony at Alice's trial, James Ridge stated that Alice had been in the Exminster Asylum once. He further stated, "I have known the prisoner come down stairs and smash the window, and sometimes try to come down naked. I have seen her running about like a deranged person. At the best of times she never can sit down like a sane woman."

One of the witnesses for the defence was Michael Cooke, a surgeon of Barnstaple, and a nephew of my ggg-grandfather. Cooke stated that as the surgeon of the Barnstaple gaol he had seen Alice on a number of occasions. In his opinion Alice "was disordered in her mind." The judge and jury concurred and Alice was found "not guilty on the ground of insanity" and "confined during Her Majesty's pleasure."

Alice was sent to the newly opened Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum in Berkshire, and is listed there in the 1871 Census. Alice died at the age of 71 during the winter of 1878. James and Elizabeth Ridge recovered completely and were still living in Tawstock in 1901.

---

Sources:

Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, July 22, 1864
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette, March 16, 1866
North Devon Journal, July 19,1855
North Devon Journal, February 13, 1862
North Devon Journal, June 12, 1862
North Devon Journal, February 15, 1866
North Devon Journal, February 22, 1866
North Devon Journal, March 1, 1866
North Devon Journal, March 16, 1866
Trewman's Exeter Flying Post, February 14, 1866
Trewman's Exeter Flying Post, February 21, 1866

Deluged in Blood

Exeter Cathedral circa 1830

I've written previously about the suicide of Thomas STEVENS (1782-1832), whose mother was first cousin to the Right Honourable John Lord Rolle of Stevenstone. An account of his death in The Annual Register describes how he cut his own throat and died in the arms of his wife, "deluged in blood flowing in torrents." Far less melodramatic, and probably far more accurate, is this account from Trewman's Exeter Flying Post:

Trewman's Exeter Flying Post, Thursday, 19 Jan 1832 THE LATE THOMAS STEVENS, ESQ. It is with feelings of grief to which we are at loss for words to give utterance that we announce the death of this gentleman. Educated for the Bar, he early displayed talents of a superior order, and having been selected by Mr. Courtenay, Recorder of this city, on several occasions, in his unavoidable absence, to officiate as his deputy, his services were thought so highly of, that on the resignation of that gentleman, in 1820, was invited by the Chamber to fill the situation in his stead. How he has performed the duties of it is known to the whole city. Indefatigable in the prosecution of these, he was ever at hand to advise and direct, and his instructions to the different Grand Juries, were marked by sound sense, a thorough knowledge of the state of society and its best interests, as well as of the law. The melancholy event by which the public are deprived of the services of such a man, is no subject for comment; that such a mind should have given way under, unquestionably, great mental excitement, is one of those circumstances that must remain inscrutable to human understanding, and should teach us all how weak and dependent, even at the best, we are. As a country gentleman, Mr. Stevens had ever taken an active part in the business of the district in which he resided, and long held the commission of Major, in the North Devon Regiment of Yeoman Calvary, in which situation, as in all others, he was beloved and respected. The deceased was 49 years of age, a remarkably affectionate husband, and tender father; a good and considerate landlord, and kind master. Possessed of feelings like these, late events in his neighbourhood had much distressed him, and threats towards one who designed nothing but good, preyed upon his mind. He had been subject to walk in his sleep, and it is imagined that having in this way quitted his bed, under apprehensions that the conspirators were attacking his mansion-house, and the servants (at that hour,) not instantly answering his call, he first fired a loaded pistol in the direction of the shrubbery, and with a razor cut his throat. This sad event, as will been seen by the evidence, took place at his seat,—Cross, near Torrington, about half-past one o'clock, on the morning of Saturday last, the 14th inst. On the same day, an inquest was taken before Francis Kingdon, Esq., Coroner,—when      Edmund Herring Caddy, Esq., of Great Torrington, Surgeon, was the first witness examined:—Saw the deceased on Thursday last, at Great Torrington, his spirits appeared very low and dejected; saw him again on Friday, between the hours of 4 and 5 in the afternoon, he appeared still more dejected in mind and very low in spirits—he stated that he had not slept for several nights, and that his mind had been much harrassed; advised deceased to put his feet in warm water and go to bed, and that he would send him some medicine; deceased complained of a pain in his head, and said that his stomach was in a disordered state from bile; was again send for between the hours of 1 and 2 o'clock on Saturday morning when he found him dead, deceased was lying on his back in his dressing-room which was covered with blood, an open razor on his bowels, and a pistol on the floor; on examining the body found a large wound on the throat extending from ear to ear, which had divided the carotid arteries and the windpipe, the wound extended back to the vertebrae; of the neck, which must have caused immediate death, and which the cause of the death of the deceased; found no other wound on the body, nor any marks of violence; has no doubt that the deceased died by his own act; the symptoms under which the deceased has labored very frequently produces delirium and temporary derangement of mind.      Thomas Sandford, a servant to the deceased; have observed my master has failed in his appetite for some time past, and that on Friday he appeared quite melancholy, that he was continually passing from room to room, and was so weak that he could scarcely walk upright; remarked to the servants the state in which my master was in; my master retired to his bed about 5 o'clock in the evening; about half-past 1 my master's bell rang continually which awoke me; wend down in my small clothes and Mary Elsworthy who had answered the bell called "he is killed, he is killed;" saw nothing more until Mr. Caddy arrived, who examined the body; is quite sure that no person could come into the house as he had himself secured the house, and is of opinion died by his own act.      John Upstone, heard my master's bell ring about half-past 1 on Saturday morning; struck a light and went down to my master's dressing-room, and entered it with Mary Elsworthy the maid servant; saw the deceased lying on the floor covered with blood; his throat was cut from ear to ear; lifted him up with the assistance of Mary Elsworthy; saw no sign of life left but heard on laying him down again a rattle in the throat of deceased three times; saw a razor on the upper part of the thigh which was covered with blood; washed the body after Mr. Caddy, which was covered with blood; washed the body after Mr. Caddy, surgeon, had examined it; there is no possibility of any person entering the room of the deceased by the window; has no doubt deceased died by his own act; there was also a pistol lying on the floor, but did not examine it.      The evidence being gone through, and the Coroner having summed up, the Jury delivered their verdict, That the deceased labouring under a grievous disease of body, and being delirious and out of his mind, had inflicted on himself a mortal wound of which he died.      Mr. Stevens has left a widow, and two daughters, of tender years, who with numerous relatives, and still more numerous friends, mourn this great bereavement.

Thomas married Sophia LE MARCHANT (1798-1860), daughter of Joshua LE MARCHANT (1763- ?) and Sarah Susannah GLUBB, at Sidmouth, Devon on 14 May 1821. Thomas and Sophia had two daughters. Sophia (1822-1892) and Louisa Annie (1828-1868).

A Gruesome Death

Trewman's Exeter Flying Post

For most of my English research purposes, the two most useful newspapers are the North Devon Journal and Trewman's Exeter Flying Post. In my last post I wrote about how scans of the North Devon Journal are now available through the British Newspaper Archive. Another newspaper resource is British Newspapers 1800-1900, the result of a partnership of the British Library with Gale, a part of Cengage Learning. Until recently access was only available to institutions, however, individuals can now purpose a 24-hour pass for £6.99, or a seven-day pass for £9.99. And so, for the last seven days, I've been reading Trewman's Exeter Flying Post.

In previous posts, I've written about some accidental deaths in the parish of Merton, Devon, and recently reported on the accidental death of my distant relative, Mary Jane BULLEID (1828-1838). Both the North Devon Journal and Trewman's Exeter Flying Post frequently reported on inquests "on the body" of victims of misadventure. Perhaps the most gruesome in its details is this report from the Thursday, March 25, 1841 edition of Trewman's Exeter Flying Post:

FATAL ACCIDENT.—On the 16th inst. as a boy named Oliver, about 12 years old, in the service of Mrs. Petherbridge, of Pill, in the parish of Tawstock, was going with a horse and cart, in passing a gateway the horse started, and the cart being upset on the unfortunate boy, his head was crushed in such a manner that the brains literally protruded through the fissures caused in the bone of the skull. An inquest was taken on the body, and a verdict of Accidental Death returned.

The most likely candidate for the victim is Henry OLIVER, son of John OLIVER and Ann SALTERN, who was baptised at Tawstock, Devon on 29 Mar 1829.