The Rolle Brass at Petrockstowe

Monumental brass at Petrockstowe, Devon

One of the more challenging photographs I took during my trip to Devon was that of the early 17th century monumental brass to Henry ROLLE and his wife Margaret YEO at Petrockstowe, Devon. A tripod was essential since flash was out of the question. In hindsight, a polarizing filter would have also been useful to reduce the amount of reflection.

The two brasses show Henry ROLLE and his ten sons, and Margaret YEO and her eight daughters. Another daughter who died before her parents is represented by a skull. Margaret ROLLE's date of death in 1591 is given, however, no date of death is given for her husband. Above the head of Margaret ROLLE is the inscription, "My children feare the lorde."

Henry ROLLE was the fourth son of George ROLLE of Stevenstone in St Giles in the Wood. Henry acquired the manor of Heanton Sachville in Petrockstowe upon his marriage to Margaret YEO. Henry ROLLE presumably died in 1625 as his will was proved at the Prerogative Court of Canterbury later that year. Heanton Sachville was inherited by the oldest of his nineteen children, Robert ROLLE (1560-1633).

When Henry ROLLE's great-great-grandson Samuel ROLLE died in 1719, Heanton Sachville became the inheritance of his ten-year-old daughter, Margaret ROLLE (1710-1781). When Margaret married Robert WALPOLE (1701-1751), son of the first British Prime Minister, Heanton Sachville passed to the WALPOLE family. Neither Robert WALPOLE nor his son George (1730-1791) used Heanton Sachville as a residence. When George died childless, a distant cousin, Robert George William TREFUSIS (1764-1797), inherited the property, however, four years later the house was destroyed by fire.

Trip Report

Hound Tor Cairn Circle and Cist

Well, I'm back from a very successful research trip to Devon and Somerset. Filled most of a notebook with genealogical research and took over 1450 photographs. It's going to take some time to go through it all.

You'll note that the photograph that leads this post isn't an effigy or a gravestone. It is, however, a burial site, so I technically was stalking dead people. During my trip I spent three days on Dartmoor visiting a number of megalithic sites including this cairn circle and cist near Hound Tor. Hound Tor is thought to have inspired Sir Arthur Conan Doyle in The Hound of the Baskervilles, and was the location for filming the 1975 Doctor Who episode The Sontaran Experiment.

I also spent more than a few hours at various libraries and archives. Visits to the Westcountry Studies Library in Exeter and the North Devon Atheneaum in Barnstaple were very productive. I also spent lots of time looking at microfiche of parish registers at the Devon Record Office. Of course not all parish registers have been microfilmed, so I had several opportunities to consult some of the original registers. Viewing original documents is quite different from staring at microfiche. This page from the East Buckland register records the baptism of my ggg-grandmother Elizabeth STEVENS in 1816.

At the Dartmoor Bookshop in Ashburton, Devon, I picked up a copy of Florence Wrey's 1892 book Tawstock Church, and a copy of W.G. Hoskins Devon published in 1954.

Only visited about 20 churches this time. Most were open for visitors. Exeter Cathedral once again had scaffolding on the west front, however, the fascade of Wells Cathedral was free of obstructions. Unfortunately, the Chapter House wasn't open. As expected, St Mary's, Atherington and St Mary's, High Bickington were closed due to roof repairs. St Peter's, Tawstock, however, more than made up for any disappointment.

St Peter's is remarkable both for the number of monuments it contains and for it's architectural features. Hoskins writes that the church "contains the finest collection of monuments in Devon." Notable monuments include those for Frances KITSON (1535-1586) and for William BOURCHIER, 3rd Earl of Bath (1557-1623). Much of the floor is paved with ledger stones and the walls are covered with mural monuments. Architectual features include roof bosses, oak screens, a manorial pew, carved bench ends, a 16th century gallery leading to the tower, and corbels decorated with leaves and heads.

Also did some "normal" tourist things like visiting the Lost Gardens of Heligan and Glastonbury Abbey.

Snure Cemetery

Snure Cemetery, Jordan, Ontario

Snure Cemetery is a small cemetery of about 180 gravestones located in the Town of Lincoln near the village of Jordan, Ontario. The cemetery is one of several of various sizes and ages in the former township of Louth. The area was first settled by United Empire Loyalists following the American Revolution and by Swiss Mennonites from Pennsylvania. The names on the gravestones reflect both groups—United Empire Loyalist families such as HARE and HAYNES, and Mennonite families such as CULP and HIGH.

The cemetery is sometimes referred to as the Disciples of Christ Cemetery. A red-brick church built in the early 1840s occupied the site but has since been demolished. The only indication that a church once stood on the site is the horseshoe of gravestones surrounding a largely open area.

Research on the descendants of Adin BEEBE (1761-1842) of Butler's Rangers has led me to Snure Cemetery on several occasions. Adin BEEBE was the brother of my gggg-grandmother Charlotte BEEBE (1767-1852) , and three of his granddaughters are buried at Snure. Also buried at Snure is Captain Peter HARE (1748-1834) of Butler's Rangers. Peter HARE's daugher Deborah HARE (1798-1884) married Adin BEEBE's son, Joshua BEEBE (1795-1834). Peter HARE's gravestone is one of five mentioned in Janet Carnochan's Inscriptions and Graves in the Niagara Peninsula.

The most interesting gravestone visually is that of Andrew BRADT (1838-1928) and his wife Libbie (1842-1923). Andrew Hansler BRADT, the son of Thomas BRADT (1810-1885) and Elizabeth HANSLER (1817-1889), was born in Louth. He married Elizabeth Amelia "Libbie" DARLING, daughter of Thomas DARLING and Eve HAINER (1818-1898) on 11 Jan 1865 in Wainfleet, Welland. According to census data, Andrew BRADT was a farmer, so it is unclear why the gravestone has a nautical motif.

Last summer I undertook to photograph every gravestone for the CanadaGenweb Cemetery Project. Almost a year later I started to index the photographs and cross-check them against a transcription published by the Niagara Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society in the early 1980s.

It soon became apparent that there were some issues with the published transcription. There were a number of stones that I photographed that should have been listed in the transcription but were not. The transcription also listed eight gravestones recorded in an 1965 transcription that were unlocated. I had found and photographed six of them. As expected, some dates had also been incorrectly transcribed.

Not surprisingly, there were a few gravestones listed in the OGS Transcription that I could not find. Weathering and vandalism will certainly account for some that are missing. Sometime in the next few weeks I will revisit the cemetery to retake a few photographs and check once more for the missing gravestones.

Captain Peter Hare (1748-1834)

Gravestones, Snure Cemetery, Louth, Lincoln, Ontario

In Snure Cemetery near the village of Jordan, Ontario can be found the gravestone of Peter Hare (1748–1834). Nearby are the gravestones of several of his descendants. 

Captain Peter Hare was a company commander in Butler's Rangers, a Loyalist provincial regiment during the American Revolution. Hare was born near Fort Hunter in Tryon County, New York on 17 May 1748, the son of John Hare. His first marriage, to Elizabeth Petree, produced two daughters. Seven children resulted from his second marriage to Catherine Greenwalt, including Major Peter Hare (1794-1856) of the Lincoln Militia, and Deborah Hare who married Joshua Beebe, son of Sergeant Adin Beebe of Butler's Rangers (and nephew of my gggg-grandmother Charlotte Beebe). Peter Hare's third marriage was to Margaret Bowman, the widow of Solomon Secord, a cousin of Adin Beebe. 

Butler's Rangers were based at Fort Niagara, located on the east side of the Niagara River where it empties into Lake Ontario. When the regiment was disbanded most of the Rangers were given land in the Niagara Peninsula. Hare received 3200 acres of land although he only farmed 150 acres near Jordan. 

Hare joined Butler's Rangers as a 2nd Lieutenant in 1777 and initially served under Captain William Caldwell. He was present at both the Battle of Wyoming and the Cherry Valley Massacre in 1778, and the Battle of Newtown in 1779. He was promoted to Captain in 1779 and give command of his own company. Many years later he served as Colonel of the 4th Regiment, Lincoln Militia. Hare died at his home on 6 Apr 1834.

Also at Snure Cemetery are the gravestones of his son Peter, his daughter-in-law Magdalene Secord (1794–1846), and six of his grandchildren.

Updated December 28, 2022

Cemetery Transcriptions: Ontario and Devon

Fairfield United Cemetery, Stephen, Huron, Ontario

Those of us with ancestors who emigrated in Ontario have the good fortune of being able to access gravestone transcriptions for hundreds of cemeteries. The wealth of printed transcriptions is the result of the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS) undertaking to transcribe existing gravestones in cemeteries throughout Ontario. The availability of these transcriptions, which can be purchased from the various OGS Branches, has saved me valuable research time on many occasions.

Walk into the local branch of a public library and you will more than likely find copies of the transcriptions for nearby graveyards. Larger regional libraries often have a more extensive collection. The Canadiana Department of the North York Central Library in Toronto has the most complete collection of transcriptions, and also houses the library of the OGS.

Unfortunately a master index to the transcriptions does not yet exist. The closest to a comprehension index is the Ontario Cemetery Finding Aid. The OGS has also been indexing transcriptions but the project is far from complete.

Some Ontario transcriptions are also available through Interment.net.

Another very useful cemetery resource for Ontario researchers is the CanadaGenWeb Cemetery Project. A notable feature of the Cemetery Project is the availability of photographs. Volunteers undertake to photograph every gravestone in a cemetery. The photographs are submitted to the Cemetery Project, indexed and then uploaded to the website.

In comparison to the wealth of resources available online and in print for Ontario cemeteries, there is very little available for cemeteries in Devon. There does not seem to have ever been a major effort to document gravestones and make this information widely available. Some churches have printed guides available. Other churches have made this information available online. But in most cases determining whether ggg-grandfather has a gravestone requires a graveyard visit. Difficult if you don't live in Devon and time-consuming even if you do.

However, all is not lost. The Gravestone Photographic Resource Project was started by Charles Sale in 1998 to photographically record grave monuments and make the information they contain publicly available via the Internet. 825 English cemeteries have been photographed to date and North Devon is particularly well represented. I have been making extensive use of the Project's resources as I prepare for my trip to Devon this summer. I recently received photographs of three gravestones connected to my MOCK ancestors at St Brannock's, Braunton, and have been using the project to develop an index of pre-1813 monuments at St Peter's, Tawstock.

Every year gravestones are lost due to vandalism or become unreadable due to weathering. Any effort to transcribe inscriptions or photograph gravestones should be encouraged.

The Snow Has Melted

Hick's Bible Christian Cemetery (Abandoned), Stephen, Huron, Ontario

A lot of snow melted this week, so I decided to visit some of the cemeteries near Exeter, Ontario, and hopefully cross some gravestones off my "to be photographed" list. It was quite blustery and not as sunny as had been forecast, but it was warm for mid-March. Most of the snow had melted, and there was some puddles and mud to avoid, but I did find most of the gravestones I was looking for.

One cemetery I had not visited before was the Hick's Bible Christian Cemetery in the southeast corner of Stephen Township. While the cemetery was quite easy to find, I was less than impressed with what I found.

Abandoned pioneer cemeteries in Ontario have suffered a number of different fates. Many have been subjected to "restoration." Sometimes the stones are set closely in a row. Sometimes a cairn is built and the stones placed in the cairn. If done carefully the stones are still readable if no longer in situ. At the Hick's Bible Christian Cemetery a concrete pad was poured and the stones placed so as to take up the smallest area possible. Makes it easier to mow the grass I suppose, but it certainly does not make the stones easy to read and photograph. The cemetery has also been subjected to some vandalism with several of the outer stones damaged.

Fortunately, the two stones of interest to me were still intact and fairly accessable. As well a transcription made by the Huron Country Branch of the Ontario Genealogical Society was done before much of the vandalism occured. Still, I will attempt later this year to photograph all the remaining stones for the CanadaGenWeb Cemetery Project.

Waiting for the Snow to Melt

Woodlawn Cemetery, Guelph, Wellington, Ontario

A Canadian cemetery in winter is a special place, especially after a recent snowfall. Of course, finding a gravestone while wading through a foot of snow can be an interesting challenge. Transcribing an inscription while avoiding frostbite is also quite the thrill. A cemetery visit in winter can be aesthetically rewarding, but for genealogical research it's probably best to wait for spring.

Early spring is an excellent time for cemetery visits. Gravestones do not yet lie in the deep shadow of trees. The sun is still low in the sky for most of the day, creating better contrast for reading inscriptions and photography. Flowers, shrubs and grass which can obscure gravestones in summer have yet to make an appearance.

The gravestone of my ggg-grandmother Elizabeth LEWIS née STEVENS (1815-1885) is an excellent example of the advantage of cemetery visits in the early spring. I first visited her gravestone at Exeter Cemetery near Exeter, Ontario, several years ago at the end of June. Her gravestone and that of two of her children, was completely surrounded by a mass of orange day lilies. Quite picturesque, but I don't think anyone would have appreciated my stomping of the lilies to get close to the stone. A few months later, I did wade through the decaying remains and was able to take some adequate photographs. But it wasn't until a visit two years ago this month that I finally got the photograph I wanted — the complete stone, every carved word and symbol cleanly and clearly detailed. As usual, research during the winter months has generated a long list of gravestones to photograph, but here in Ontario we're still waiting for the snow to melt.