Friday, April 3, 2020

FRIDAY FINDS ~ The burial record for my maternal 2nd great grandaunt, Mary Ann Gillespie Addicott–1829-1898, England


Mary Ann Gillespie was the only daughter of Thomas Gillespie & Susannah Barrowcliff.  She had 10 brothers.  She was the 8th child.  What must that have been like?  Such a very busy and full household. Her oldest brother would have been about 12 when she was born and the youngest just 2 years old.  After her birth in 1829 her parents had 3 more sons.

Mary Ann’s parents are my maternal 2nd great grandparents and I descend from her younger brother Joseph Gillespie.  You can read more about Joseph & his family here Census Sunday - My 2nd great grandparents - Joseph & Susan Gillespie - 1900 Detroit, Michigan

It’s not been particularly easy finding information on all of the children in this family.  I’ve been fortunate on some and come up empty on others.
 
My first inkling that I’d located Mary Ann as an adult came when I found her mother, Susannah, living with her and her husband in the 1871 census.
 
TIP: I cannot tell you how many times I’ve located my female ancestors because they had a parent living with them.  Keep an eye out for all members in the household and be aware that family members may well be listed as “boarders.”

Today, though I want to talk about the burial record I located for Mary Ann.  I found the record on Ancestry.com Somerset, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1914.

The record doesn’t give me a lot of information, but I do know that Mary Ann and her husband, William were living in Somerset when they were enumerated in 1871, 1881 and 1891. William was a Day Laborer.

Here’s what the record tells me:
  • Page 70 – Burials in the Parish of Huish Champflower in the County of Somerset in the Year 1896-7-8-9.
  • No. 559
  • Name – Mary Ann Addicott
  • Abode – Wiveliscombe Without
  • When Buried – September 1st
  • Age – 67
  • By whom the ceremony was performed – Walter C. Haines (officiating minister)
Naturally, when I found this record I was obliged to find out a little more about Huish Champflower.  My search found the following information on Wikipedia
History
The name comes from the hiwisc, the Saxon for homestead, and it was recorded in the Domesday book as Hiwis,[2] with the suffix marking its ownership by the family of Thomas de Champflower, who was Lord of the Manor by 1166.[3]
Just outside the village, on the road to the Brendon Hills and Clatworthy Reservoir, is Huish Champflower round barrow.[4]
The parish of Huish Champflower was part of the Williton and Freemanners Hundred.[5]
A house called Washbottle, which stands on the River Tone as it flows through the village, represents the watermill which ground the corn for the village from 1086 until World War I.[3]

I used Google Earth to find the exact location of Huish.
 
Here’s a map showing an aerial view.  This certainly looks like a quaint little village and a place I’d like to visit.


Here is a map showing the placement of Huish in the United Kingdom.


This burial record does not list the name of the cemetery.  I have searched online at all the usual sites, FindAGrave, Billion Graves and Deceased Online for any further information on Mary Ann’s burial.
   
I do suspect that if I could locate Mary Ann’s burial, I might well locate other Addicott or Gillespie family members.  I’ll keep looking from time to time and hope eventually I can locate the burial site.

NOTE:  One thing I did do when looking at the aerial view of Huish, was to find the local church, St. Peter’s.  I thought I saw a cemetery on the church grounds.  I then went to Google and searched for the church and sure enough, there is a cemetery there.  Could this be where Mary Ann is buried?  Here’s a link to the pictures I found St. Peter's Church  And, I did then locate the church cemetery on FindAGrave, but with only 3 memorials added.  Wouldn’t this be a great project?    Walk the cemetery and document all those headstones.

If you are related to any of the families mentioned in this blog post, I’d love to hear from you.

Happy hunting,
Michigan Girl
Copyright ©  2010-2020   Diane Gould Hall
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.  NO USE WITHOUT PERMISSION

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I look forward to reading your comments. If you have any connection to the people mentioned in this blog, please let me know. I write about mine and my husband's ancestors and would welcome new information or meeting a new cousin or two. Thanks for visiting and come back soon.