Joseph and Frances Bird of Eastington
BIRD FAMILY OF EASTINGTON AND STROUD
William Bird (1710c-) and Deborah Miles (1723-1764)
Brimpsfield, Stonehouse, Plasterer of Eastington
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Joseph Bird (1755-1802) and Frances Cratchley (1765-1837)
Plasterer of Stroud, Randwick and Eastington
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Mary Bird (1792-1876) and Robert Brown (1786c-1861)
Watchmaker of Gloucester
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Frances Brown (1831-1879) and James Henry Yarnold
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Emily Yarnold and Ernest Edward Eley
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Grace Margaret Eley and William Edward Terrett
JOSEPH BIRD, Great IV Grandfather of Richard Barton
Son of William Bird and Deborah (nee Miles)
Husband of Frances Cratchley
Father of Mary Brown
Also Father of Charlotte Kelley, Elizabeth, Joseph, Deborah and James
Joseph Bird was born in Eastington and he was baptised there on 6th April 1755. He was the son of William and Deborah Bird.
On 18th February 1785 Joseph who sent back from Stonehouse to Eastington where he had legal settlement:
Stonehouse Overseers P316 Ov 3/4/19:
18th February 1785 Joseph Bird born in Eastington where his father William Bird had lawful settlement
Stonehouse Overseers P316 Ov 3/3/30:
18th February 1785 Joseph Bird to Eastington
On 1st April 1788 he married by licence at Stroud Parish Church. His bride was Frances Cratchley and she was described as over twenty-one-years. Joseph was himself described as a ‘Plaisterer’ of Stroud, aged over twenty-one-years.
We can deduce from this reference, that in April 1788 Joseph Bird was living in Stroud by October of that year we find that Joseph and Frances were having a child, Charlotte, christened at Stonehouse. In later life Charlotte stated that she was born in Ebley. In 1791 a further child, Elizabeth, was baptised at Randwick. From May 1793 until May 1796 they had probably returned to live in Stroud because both Mary and Joseph were baptised in the Parish Church there. From 1798 to 1802 they were living at Eastington as their youngest children, Deborah and James were baptised in the Parish Church there.
In the burial register for Eastington we find an entry for Joseph Bird on 6th June 1802 and from May 1807 we find payments to ‘Widow Bird’ by the Overseers of the Poor.
FRANCES BIRD, Great IV Grandmother of Richard Barton
Daughter of Richard Cratchley and Mary (nee Niblet)
Wife of Joseph Bird
Mother of Mary Brown
Also Mother of Charlotte Kelley, Elizabeth, Joseph, Deborah and James
Frances Cratchley married Joseph Bird by licence at Stroud Parish Church on 1st April 1788. Frances was described as over 21 years. Her husband, Joseph, was a ‘Plaisterer’ of Stroud.
Frances Cratchley was probably the daughter of Richard Cratchley and his wife Mary Niblet. There is a baptism of a Frances Cratchley at Randwick on 14th July 1765. Her parents married on 19th August 1759 at Randwick.
By October 1788 we find that Joseph and Frances were having a child, Charlotte, christened at Stonehouse. In later life this child stated that she was born in Ebley. In 1791 a further child, Elizabeth, was baptised at Randwick. From May 1793 until May 1796 they had probably returned to live in Stroud because both Mary and Joseph were baptised in the Parish Church there. From 1798 they were living at Eastington as their daughter Deborah was baptised in the Parish Church there on 20th October 1798.
Fanny’s husband, Joseph Bird, was buried at Eastington on 6th June 1802 and their son James was baptised there on 5th September 1802.
In the Overseers Accounts we find the following payments, which probably refer to Fanny Bird. In the period 31st March to 4th May 1807 ‘Widow Bird’ was paid three shillings towards clothes and in the period September to November of the same year Widow Bird received a shilling.
A Henry Bird, the illegitimate son, of Frances Bird was also baptised at Eastington on 12th or 14th April 1811.
On 9th February 1837 Fanny Bird, aged seventy-two-years, was buried at Eastington on the same day as her daughter, forty-four-year-old Elizabeth Bird.
CHARLOTTE KELLEY, Great IV Aunt of Richard Barton
Charlotte Bird was baptised on 18/19th October 1788 at Stonehouse. She witnessed her sister’s wedding to Robert Brown in 1814 at Cheltenham Parish Church.
Charlotte Bird married James Kelley on 30th December 1823 at St Mary’s Parish Church, Cheltenham. The witnesses were William Roberts, Judith Savory and Jno Rutherford. Both bride and bridegroom signed their names. We know from Charlotte’s death certificate that he was a Butler – Domestic Servant.
At the time of the 1841 census, Charlotte Keeley, aged forty-six-years, was living at 2 Corpus Street (off London Road – initially Corpus Christi Street 1822), Cheltenham, and working as a laundress. Living with her was thirty-year-old John Goldsworthy.
At the time of the 1851 census Charlotte Kelley was described as a sixty-year-old post mistress living at 2 Corpus Street, Cheltenham, and born at Ebley. With her was Alice Holder, a forty-year-old visitor who was working as a dressmaker:
1851 census: Corpus Street, 2 KELLEY Charlotte HD M 60 Post Mistress GLS Ebley
By the time of the 1861 census Charlotte Kelley was still at 2 Corpus Street and she was described as a sixty-nine-year-old widow and Post Office Keeper Her place of birth was given as Stroud. Her niece, Mary Brown, was living with her and she was listed as a forty-year-old spinster working as a dressmaker and born in Gloucester. Also living with them was another niece, Emma Bird, who was aged twenty-seven-years and working as a dressmaker. Significantly she was born in Eastington. In fact this Emma was the daughter of James and Priscilla Bird of Millend, Eastington. Also we find living with them at Corpus Street a Mary Davis, a sixty-eight-year-old servant and widow, who was born in Ireland.
In 1871 Mary Brown was still lodging at 2 Corpus Street with Charlotte Kelley who was described as an eighty-year-old annuitant, born at Ebley. Mary’s name, which is written more like Henry Brown, was listed as a fifty-year-old unmarried dressmaker, born in Gloucester. Jane Hawkes, a fifty-seven-year-old nurse was also living there.
Charlotte Kelley died on 28th October 1872 at 19 Corpus Street, aged eighty-four-years. She was described as the Widow of James Kelley, Butler, Domestic Servant. The cause of death was given as ‘Sevectus – certified’. John Bennett, Registrar registered the death on 29th October and the informant was Jane Feasee of 19 Corpus Street, who was present at the death and signed her name.
MARY BROWN, Great III Grandmother of Richard Barton
Daughter of Joseph Bird and Frances (nee Cratchley)
Wife of Robert Brown
Mother of Frances Yarnold
Also Mother of Robert, John, Mary, Eleanor, Alexander, Charlotte, Edwin, Ellen, and James
Mary Bird was the daughter of Joseph and Frances Bird and she was baptised on 21st May 1793 at Stroud. According to later census returns Mary was born in Eastington. However, two of the six children of Joseph and Frances Bird were actually baptised at Eastington. The Birds had one of their children christened at Stonehouse in 1788, another at Randwick in 1791, two at Stroud, in 1793 and 1796, and two in Eastington, in 1798 and 1802.
Her father was buried at Eastington on 6th June 1802 and from May 1807 we find payments to a ‘Widow Bird’ by the Overseers of the Poor.
Mary Bird married Robert Brown at Cheltenham Parish Church on 19th September 1814. A witness at the wedding ceremony was a Charlotte Bird and this could be Mary’s eldest sister, Charlotte, who was baptised at Stonehouse in 1788.
We know that the first child of Robert and Mary Brown was baptised at Cheltenham Parish Church on 30th April 1815 and from the year 1816 the baptisms of their other nine children took place at St Nicholas’s Church in Westgate Street, Gloucester.
At the time of the 1841 census Robert and Mary Brown were living at Longsmith Street near to the Bolt Inn and the address given in the Electoral Rolls from 1841 to 1861 is Bolt Lane. In the census return Robert was described as aged fifty-five-years and Mary, his wife, as aged forty-five-years. Their children included – James, aged five; Charlotte, aged fifteen; and Frances aged ten years. At the time of the 1841 census Robert, Mary and Ellen, her children, were living in the High Street, Cheltenham. Robert was a twenty-five-year-old watchmaker and Mary a twenty-year-old milliner.
Ten years later, in 1851, the address was given on the night of the Census as Bolt Lane and one can only conclude that they must have lived on the corner of the two roads, with the shop front facing on to Longsmith Street and the residential accommodation on to Bolt Lane.
In the 1861 census Robert is described as a seventy-seven year old Watchmaker and his wife as a sixty-seven-year-old Gloucestershire woman. Their daughter and son-in-law – James Henry and Frances Yarnold were staying with them with William Yarnold their two-year-old grandson.
Robert Brown died at this address on 10th November 1861, aged 77 years, leaving Mary a widow.
I cannot find Mary in the 1871 census.
On 27th November 1876 Mary Brown died at The Almshouses, Wotton, Gloucester. She was described as eighty-four-years-old and the widow of Robert Brown, a watchmaker. The cause of death was given as ‘Asthma many years’ and was certified by John P. Wilton M.R.C.S. Benjamin Thurston registered the death on 29th November and the informant was Sarah Davis of the Wotton Almshouses, who was present at the death.
Mary was probably buried in the graveyard of the almshouses on the opposite side of the London Road.
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT THIS FAMILY CONTACT: btsarnia@gmail.com
