Thursday 14 March 2019

Great x4 Grandfather Robert James

My Great x4 Grandfather Robert (1808 - 1887) was an agricultural labourer and father of five.



Robert James was born around 1808 in Morchard Bishop, Devon, to Robert James (about 42), a labourer, and Elizabeth James (nee Kingwell) (about 36).

Robert was baptised on the 14th January 1808 in Morchard Bishop. Robert was named for his father.

Robert of the sixth of eight children (three daughters and five sons):

  • Mary  1793 -
  • Sarah  1795 -
  • William  1797 -
  • Richard  1800 - 1800 (about two weeks old)
  • Richard  1805 -
  • Robert  1808 -
  • John  1810 -
  • Elizabeth  1815 -

All eight siblings were baptised in their parents' native Morchard Bishop.

In 1800, eight years before Robert's birth, his older brother Richard passed away as a very young baby. Richard was baptised on the 17th June, and passed away less than two weeks later on 29th June 1800.

The 1815 baptism record of Robert's younger sister of Elizabeth states that family lived at the time at Middlecott, near or in Morchard Bishop.

In 1831, when Robert was about twenty-three, his mother Elizabeth passed away, aged about fifty-nine, in Morchard Bishop. She was buried on 16th September in 1831.

In 1834, when Robert was about twenty-six, his father of the same name passed away, aged about sixty-eight, in Morchard Bishop. Robert Senior was buried on 5th June 1834 in Morchard Bishop.

On 31st January 1835, Robert (about 27), an agricultural labourer, married Jane Leach (about 29), a serge weaver, in Morchard Bishop.

Robert and Jane had five children (two daughters and three sons):

  • Elizabeth Frances  1835 -
  • Henry  1837 -
  • Robert  1840 -
  • William  1844 -
  • Ann  1845 - 1847 (one year old)

It seems likely Robert and Jane named their eldest daughter Elizabeth after their mothers, Elizabeth James and Elizabeth 'Betty' Leach.

All five children were born and grew up in Morchard Bishop. Elizabeth Frances' and Henry's baptism records list the family's residence in the mid 1830s as Watcombe, near or in Morchard Bishop. Watcombe was Jane's family home.

By 1841, Robert and Jane and their eldest two sons had moved from Watcombe to Gollands, also in Morchard Bishop, but their eldest child Elizabeth Frances stayed at Watcombe with Jane's parents. I wonder why.

1841 Census:


In the first quarter of 1847, Robert and Jane's youngest child Ann passed away, aged only one-year-old, in Morchard Bishop.

Robert and Jane's sons left home at very young ages to work as servants and labourers on local farms. It is likely they left school at the age of eight, as was often the case for poor rural children of that era, then were deemed old enough to go out and start work.

The 1851 Census shows Henry, thirteen, working as an indoor farm servant for William Leach, farmer of 160 acres, at Higher Week in Morchard Bishop; and shows Robert, ten, working as an indoor farm servant for John Leach, farmer of 130 arcres, at Higher Cote South in Morchard Bishop. Their mother Jane's maiden name was Leach, so farmers William and John Leach are likely better off relations of their mother. It seems they were likely first cousins of Jane's father Roger.
 
By 1851, only the couple's youngest son William, aged seven, was still at home and attending school.

1851 Census:


Unfortately, I cannot find Robert and his family on the 1861 Census, meaning I know little about his life in his late forties and early fifties. But he does pop up again in the 1871 Census, still in Morchard Bishop, still working as an agricultural labourer, still with Jane. The only apparant changes are that the couple moved from Wood Gate to Paradise, also in Morchard, and that all their surviving children had now left home.

1871 Census:


By the time of the 1881 Census, ten years later, Robert and Jane had moved again - this time from Paradise to Church Yard Gate, next to the School House. Also by then elderly Robert was no longer working.

1881 Census:


In Oct/Nov/Dec 1885, when Robert was about seventy-seven, his wife Jane passed away, aged about seventy-nine, in the district of Crediton.

Less than two years late, in Apr/May/Jun 1887, Robert himself passed away, aged about seventy-nine, in the district of Crediton. 

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