Great x3 Grandfather Walter Easterbrook

My Great x3 Grandfather Walter (1789 - 1862) was an agricultural labourer, thatcher, beerhouse keeper, and father of four.

Walter Easterbrook was born around 1789 in Exbourne, Devon to Thomas Easterbrook (about 24) and Sarah Easterbrook (nee Westlake) (about 24).

Walter was baptised on 29th November 1789 in Hatherleigh, which is less than five miles from Exbourne, and his mother Sarah's hometown. All his siblings were baptised in Exbourne.

Walter was the second of nine children (four daughter and five sons):

• Betty  1787 - 1802 (about 15 years old)
• Walter  1789 -
• Mary  1792 -
• Sarah  1795 -
• Jane  1798 -
• John  1800 -
• Thomas  1802 - 1809 (about 6 years old)
• William  1807 - 
• Thomas Westlake  1810 -

Sadly two of Walter's siblings passed away young: in 1802, when Walter was about thirteen, his older sister Betty passed away, aged about fifteen; and in 1809, when Walter was about twenty, his younger brother Thomas passed away, aged about six.

On Valentine's Day 1810, Walter (21) married Ann Ballamy in Exbourne. Ann left only her mark on their marriage certificate, implying she could not write; however, Walter was able to sign his name.

Walter Easterbrook's Signature, 1810

Walter and Ann had three children (two daughters and one son):

• Ann  1810 - 
• Thomas  1810 - 1811 (0 years old)
• Patience  1811 - 1811 (0 years old)

Walter and Ann's oldest children, Ann and Thomas, were likely twins, being baptised together. Sadly Thomas and his younger sister Patience passed away as babies in 1811. Thomas was buried on 4th April, and Patience was buried on the 27th December, both in Exbourne.

Sadly it seems Walter's wife Ann soon passed away too. She was buried 14th October 1812 in Sampford Courtenay, which is about two or three miles east of Exbourne. The next registered burial on the register is that of a Jane Ballamy on 30th November. Was Jane perhaps a relative of Ann? Maybe an unmarried sister?

So Walter was left, in his early twenties, a widower, with little daughter Ann. What happened to her?

An Ann Mitchell alais Easterbrook married a Richard Knott of Sampford Countenay in Exbourne in 1831, when Walter's daughter Ann would have been in her early twenties. I looked for Mitchells in Exbourne and for a Mitchell/Easterbrook marriage. I found only a marriage between a Christopher Mitchell and Grace Easterbrook (somehow likely a relative of Walter) in Exbourne in 1809. Behold - the 1841 Census shows that Walter and Christopher's household were close neighbours. Christopher and Grace don't appear to have had a daughter called Ann, though they were having children around the time Ann was born, as proved by baptism records. I wonder if they took in little motherless Ann and raised her with their own children. The 1841 Census shows Ann Knott, born around 1811, with her husband Richard and their children in Sampford Countenay; the 1851 Census shows them there again and confirms Ann was born around 1810 in Exbourne. And the only Ann Mitchell or Easterbrook born around then and there was Walter's daughter.

Whilst his little girl was most likely cared for by his neighbouring female relation Grace Mitchell and her family, young widower Walter worked as an agricultural labourer and later a thatcher. He didn't remarry.

It was over nearly thirty years later, when Walter was around fifty, that his second family was born.

On 19th July 1839 in Exbourne, Dinah Herd (nee Bennett) (about 34), a servant and housekeeper, gave birth to Ezekiel Herd. Importantly Ezekiel's birth certificate acknowledges Walter (about fifty) as the father. On Ezekiel's birth certificate, Walter's occupation is listed as beerhouse keeper.

Walter and Dinah did not marry, but would live together for many years. Dinah was a married woman, whose husband William Herd, according to Ezekiel's baptism record, at the time of Ezekiel's conception and birth in 1839, was absent and had been in America above three years.

Ezekiel was baptised on 25th August in 1839 in Exbourne, with his mother's married name Herd; and when a baby on the 1841 Census he was again listed with Herd as his surname; however on all later records, Ezekiel is listed with Herd as is middle name, Easterbrook as his surname, and Walter as his father.

1841 Census:

1851 Census:

In 1859, when Walter was about seventy, his son Ezekiel married. His young wife Mary would move in with the Easterbrook family, who around that time moved from Exbourne about five or six miles south to Okehampton. Ezekiel would work for many years as a blacksmith, which would have required an apprenticeship in youth. Did Walter secure his son an apprenticeship with the local blacksmith?

1861 Census:

In January 1862, Walter passed away, aged about seventy-two, in his native Exbourne. He was buried on 24th January 1862 in Exbourne.