Great x3 Grandfather George Brealey

My great x3 grandfather George (1830 - 1894) was a carpenter and father of three.

George Brealey was born in 1830 in North Tawton, Devon to Richard Knight Brealey (22), a carpenter, and Martha Brealey (nee Hill) (25).

George was baptised on 12th December 1830 in North Tawton.

George's mother Martha had been about three pregnant with him, when she married George's father Richard.

George was the eldest of three brothers:

• George  1830 -
• Robert  1833 -
• Richard  1835 -

In 1837, when George was six, his mother Martha passed away. aged thirty-two, in North Tawton.

About one year later, when George was seven, his father remarried. On 2nd September 1838, Richard Brealey (29), a carpenter, married Ann Hill (about 28) in St Edmund's Church, Exeter.

1841 Census:

George soon had four younger half siblings from his father's second marriage:

• John  1839 - 1845 (5 years old)
• William  1844 -
• Martha  1843 - 1845 (2 years old)
• Henry 'Harry'  1845 -

Sadly, in May 1845, when George was fourteen, his younger half siblings John (5 years old) and Martha (2 years old) both died of measles.

Six years later, when George was twenty, his step mother Ann passed away, aged forty-four, in 1851, in North Tawton.

1851 Census:

On 20th July 1853, George (22), a carpenter like his father, married Joanna Sampson (33), in North Tawton.

Around 1854, George and Joanna moved around twenty miles south east to Holy Trinity, Exeter.

Around the same time, George's father Richard married for a third time. On 26th June 1854, Richard (46), a carpenter, married Agnes Even (36), in North Tawton.

George soon gained another younger half sibling:

• Selina  1856 -

George and Joanna had three children (one son and two daughters):

• Emma  1855 - 1924  (68 or 69 years old)
• Charles  1857 - 1923  (65 years old)
• Eliza  1859 - 1860  (13 months old)

Sadly, in 1860, when George was twenty-nine, his youngest daughter Eliza passed away, aged only thirteen months. She was buried on 25th March 1860, in Holy Trinity, Exeter.

1861 Census:

1871 Census:

In 1872, when George was forty-two, his wife Joanna passed away, aged fifty-three, in Exeter. She was buried on 29th December 1872, in Holy Trinity, Exeter.

Four years later, George remarried. In the summer of 1876, George (45), a carpenter, married Charlotte Mary Filleul (30), a laundress, in Exeter.

1881 Census:

Tragedy struck George and his family in August 1889, when George was fifty-eight years old.

Firstly, Henry 'Harry', George's youngest half brother from his father's second marriage, was charged with manslaughter, having hit his mistress Elizabeth 'Lizzy' Redway, who fell back, hit her head, and died. He was sentenced to ten days hard labourer.

Seondly, William, George's younger half brother from his father's second marriage, who was dying from stomach cancer, in great pain and suffering from depression, killed himself, slitting his throat with a razor. George himself was sent to identify William's body.

George's second wife Charlotte appears to have had a problem with drink. She was repeatedly charged for being drunk and disorderly, and spent many years in a home for inebriate women.

From the Western Times on 10th March 1890:

1891 Census:

In 1894, George passed away, aged sixty-three, in Holy Trinity, Exeter. He was buried on 12th May 1894 in Holy Trinity, Exeter.