Thursday 19 March 2020

Great x4 Grandfather William Andrews

My Great x4 Grandfather William (1818 - 1894) was an agricultural and railway labourer, and father of ten.



William was born around 1818 in Morchard Bishop, Devon, to Thomas Andrews (about 29), an agricultural labourer, and Mary Andrews (nee Lee) (about 27).

William was baptised on 8th February 1818 in Morchard Bishop. At the time of his baptism, the family lived in Oldborough (likely Oldborough Cottage) in Morchard Bishop.

William was the fourth of nine children (five sons and four daughters):

  • John  1810 - 1810 (less than a week old)
  • Sarah  1811 -
  • John  1815 - 1818 (3 or 4 years old)
  • William  1818 -
  • Eliza  1820 -
  • John  1823 -
  • David  1825 -
  • Jane Mary  1828 -
  • Charlotte  1832 -

Sadly William's eldest brother John passed away only days old in 1810. He was baptised 3rd April and buried on 8th April 1810 in Morchard Bishop. William's next older brother, also called John, also passed away, aged three or four years old, in 1818. He was buried on 29th December 1818 in Morchard Bishop.

From the baptism records of the younger siblings, we learn the family moved from Oldborough to Frost (likely Frost Cottage), also in Morchard Bishop, in the early 1820's. They were still there, a decade later, in the early 1830's, when William's youngest sister Charlotte was baptised.

As a young man, William found himself, about fifteen miles south-east of his native Morchard Bishop, in Exeter. There he married.

On 18th October 1840, William (22), an agricultural labourer, married Kent-native Jane Perkins (19), a servant, in St Olave, Exeter. At the time of their marriage, both were residents of Bartholomew Street. William and Jane each left only their mark, implying their were illiterate. A James Perkins witnessed the marriage - likely a close relative of Jane.

William and Jane had ten children (four daughters and six sons):


  • Mary Jane  1841 - 1843 (about 2 years old)
  • John  1844 -
  • Sarah Ann  1847 -
  • George  1851 -
  • James  1854 -
  • Mary Emma  1856 -
  • William J  1859 -
  • Eliza Jane  1861 -
  • Jane  1864 -
  • Elizabeth  1865 -


The couple's oldest child, Mary Jane, was baptised in William's native Morchard Bishop, implying the young family moved back there from Exeter around late 1840, early 1841. Sadly Mary Jane passed away aged only about two years old.

Come the 1841 Census, the family had moved again, about nine miles south-east, from Morchard Bishop to Mills Cottages, Shobrooke, Crediton.

1841 Census:


However, within a few years, they were back down in Exeter. At the time of their son John's baptism in 1844, the family resided in Cowley Road, Exeter.

In the 1840's, in his twenties, William changed professions: the agricultural labourer became a railway labourer.

A few years later, and they had moved again, about four north from Exeter to Stoke Canon, where they resided at the time of their daughter Sarah Ann's baptism in 1847. They were still there come the 1851 census.

1851 Census:


Sometime in the early 1850's, William and his family moved again, about thirteen miles north-east from Stoke Canon to Sampford Peverell, where the younger children were born and baptised.

Unfortunately I cannot find the family on the 1861 Census; however, baptism records imply the family were still living in Sampford Peverell at the time.

Sometime in the late 1860's, William and his family moved once more: this time over the border in Somerset! They moved about fifteen miles north-east from Sampford Peverell to Allerford, Hillfarrance, Somerset. They would remain in the area for twenty/thirty years until their deaths. There once more William worked as an agricultural labourer. Lodging with the family was Emma Bennett, the older sister of James Bennett, the husband of William's daughter Sarah Ann.

1871 Census:


In August 1872, William's daughter Sarah Ann was suddenly widowed, when her husband James passed away as a result of an accident at work. In his role as a packer for the Bristol and Exeter Railway Company, he aimed to unload a truck. Alas he attempted to get into the truck while it was still in motion; he missed his step and his leg got entangled in the wheel!

It seems William and Jane were either unable (or chose not) to support their widowed daughter and two infant grandchildren. Sarah, with no obvious means of support, was left a pauper and sought relief in Exeter. Sadly, she and her children were not welcomed by the city, and its justices sought to have them legally removed to South Molton. But Sarah did soon settle in Exeter, with her second husband, Scottish veteran of the Crimean War, James Clapperton, by whom she had more children.

1881 Census:


On 18th October 1890, William and Jane celebrated their golden wedding anniversary. The local newspaper at the time reported that the elderly couple had "worked hard all their lives, and brought up a [large] family of children".

From the Weston Mercury of 1st November 1890:


1891 Census:


William passed away in January 1894, likely just short of his seventy-sixth birthday. He was buried on 21st January 1894 in Hillfarrance, Somerset. His widow, Jane, would move in with their son, William, a groom, and his young family, in Taunton, Somerset.

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