Descendants of John Berry
Generation 1
John does not appear to have been born in Latton, Wiltshire, but married
Elizabeth Dowsell there on the 12th December 1764 after the reading of the banns
on the 14th and 21st of October and the 4th of November 1764. Both were
single and 'of this parish', although this does not necessarily mean that they
were born in Latton, and neither were able to sign their names in the parish
register. The witnesses were James and Thomas Habgood who were probably
both churchwardens as they witnessed many weddings and were well enough educated
to sign their names.
John died in 1786 and was buried at Latton on the 19th May 1786 and was
described in the parish register as a pauper. It is probable that
Elizabeth was the daughter of John and Ursula Dowsall and was baptised at
Cricklade St Sampson on the 6th January 1745. She was buried in Latton by
the Reverend J Lyne on the 10th January 1814 at the age of 70.
They had four children who were Robert in 1767, Thomas in 1770, Mary who was
baptised on the 30th January 1774, and John in 1780.
Generation 2
Robert was baptised on the 7th December 1767 in Latton church and married Priscilla
Coventry on the 11th September 1791. (Priscilla was the daughter of Edward
Coventry and Susanna Humphris and it looks as if Edward was born about 1705,
married Susanna in 1757, and they had eight children between 1763 and 1776, and
Edward died about 1801.) Robert and Priscilla moved to the neighbouring
parish of Marston Maisey in Wiltshire before they had their two children, John
who was baptised in 1792, and Thomas who was baptised a year later. I believe
that Robert was buried soon after the baptism of Thomas on the 6th August 1795
in Latton.
He was baptised in Latton on the 7th January 1770 in Latton and married Ann
Harding on the 13th November 1797 after the banns were read in the church of Saint
John the Baptist in Latton, with Richard Keylock and Henry Hitchin
witnessing their signatures. The Reverend J Lyne performed the ceremony.
It looks as if they left Latton after the marriage as there is no trace
of them in the parish registers after their marriage.
John was baptised on the 12th November 1780 in St John the Baptist Church in
Latton and married Mary Dix, (daughter of John and Mary Dix) in Latton on the
18th August 1803 after the banns had been read. The Reverend J Lyne
performed the ceremony and it was witnessed by Henry Hitchin and Mary Lyne,
(presumably a member of the family of the vicar). Neither John nor Mary
were able to sign their names. They had four children - Robert in 1805,
Harriet the following year, Elizabeth in 1814 and finally Thomas in 1822.
In 1841 John and Mary were living near Latton Mill with their son Thomas who was
shown as being 15 and a woman named Mary Berry who is probably John's sister
Mary. It looks as if they were living in the house of William Cuss, a 53
year old yeoman, and his family John aged 23 and Ann aged 64. There were
also two servants named Henry Hinds and Patience Gardner, both in their teens.
John would have been employed by William Cuss to work as an agricultural
labourer. The parish register of Latton records the death of a Nanny Berry
aged 69 in 1845 who is probably Mary, as I can find no trace of anyone called
Nanny.
John died in 1849 and was buried at Latton on the 20th July 1849 by the vicar,
Hyde W Beadon. Mary then moved to the High Street in Latton where she was
living in 1851, although no occupation is recorded in the census. Her
youngest son Thomas and his family was living with, and possibly supporting,
her. She was buried on the 6th May 1854, also by Hyde Wyndham Beadon.
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Generation 3
John was born in Marston Maisey, which is very close to Latton, but married Sarah Green, (daughter of
John
Panting and Elizabeth Green), in
Latton on 22nd
October 1835 and lived there until the end of his life. He was a gardener
in 1841, and also in 1851, (when he and the
family lived in Church Street), but he
was a labourer by 1858 when his daughter Elizabeth was born. Three years
later they had moved to Gosditch Street in Latton. Their children Maria,
Mary Ann, John and Thomas were still living with them, and, in addition, John's
brother Thomas and their grandson John Shurmer, (son of Elizabeth and John
Shurmer), were also present in the household.
John and
Sarah had 7 children, Harriet, Elizabeth, Maria, Jane, Mary Ann, John and Thomas between
the years 1837 and 1854. John died on 28th November 1866 in Latton after
suffering from influenza for 7 days, his daughter Maria registering the death in
Cricklade, but
Sarah lived on until the 7th February 1871 when she was only 56 years old. She
died of chronic bronchitis, a diseased heart and ascites, (a collection of
serous fluid in the peritoneal cavity). She was buried three days later by
the vicar, Hyde W Beadon, and there
is a gravestone for John and Sarah in the churchyard of St John the Baptist's
Church, Latton.
Thomas was baptised on 7th December 1794 in Marston Maisey.
When the census was taken in 1851 he was living with his brother John in Church
Street, Latton and ten years later he was still living in John's house, this
time in Gosditch Street, Latton when he was described as a landed proprietor.
He died on 6th February 1870 in Latton but apparently never married. He is commemorated on a
gravestone in
Latton churchyard.
He was baptised in Latton on the 18th September 1803 and married Maria Haywood
about 1837. There is no record of this marriage in the Latton parish
register, so it is possible that they married in a village close to Latton, or
never married. Robert, Maria, and their first daughter Harriet, lived in
Gloucester Street in Cirencester in 1841, where Robert was labouring on nearby
farms. They moved back to Latton shortly after this as their second
daughter, Elizabeth, was baptised on the 10th April 1842 in Latton by Hyde W Beadon. Two years later their only son, John, was born. In 1851 the
family was living in Church Street with Maria's father Edward Haywood, who was a
widower of 76 years of age. Ten years later they lived in Gosditch Street,
and this time Edward Haywood was living with his daughter and son-in-law, rather
than the other way round. Robert was buried in Latton the following year
on the 14th May 1862.
Maria stayed on in Gosditch street for a number of years as the 1871 census
shows her with a nine year old boarder called Lydia Winterbourn and moved to the
St Marks district of Cheltenham by 1891 to live with her daughter Harriet and
her husband Thomas Cook, (not the founder of the travel agency). She died shortly afterwards and was buried in Latton
on the 8th December 1891.
The curate, H C S Rennett baptised Thomas privately on Christmas Day 1821 and he
lived with his parents until at least 1841 when they were living near Latton
Mill, although no occupation was shown against Thomas's name at this date.
I believe that his 'wife' was Susanna Matthews from Brinkworth, although I have
yet to find evidence of a marriage. Their first child was Mary Ann who was
born around 1848. Thomas and his family continued to live with his father
and mother until after the 1851 census when Thomas was labouring for a local
farmer.
Their only son, Robert, was born in 1854 and some time during the 1850s the
family moved out of the house where Thomas's parents were living to a cottage
near Latton Field Farm and three years later their last child was born, and she
was named Harriet. It looks as if they stayed in that cottage for another
twenty years with Thomas continuing to work as an agricultural labourer.
In 1871 they took in a lodger named John Tye from Bibury in order to help with
the finances. Ten years later another lodger, George Butlin from Colne in
Gloucestershire was living with them. Thomas died in 1883 and was buried
by the Reverend Hyde Wyndham Beadon on the 28th August.
Susanna probably moved house after Thomas died to a cottage near the Lock House,
(which would have been on the canal), in Cirencester Road, Latton. She
took in another lodger called William Taylor from Ashton Keynes, and he was also
an agricultural labourer.
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Generation 4
She was born in Latton, baptised on 12th June 1836 in the church and was
still living with
her parents in Latton in 1851. Ten years later she was an under nurse and
living in a house called 'Corner' in Latton. The head of the household was
a police magistrate called Fred Beadon from Marbro Street, London. There
were seven members of the family and required 11 servants, three of whom lived
out of the house, (possibly in a cottage).
She married William Compton in the
spring of 1870, and in 1871 the Comptons
lived next to a Maria Berry who was aged 66, in Gosditch Street, Latton.
Unsurprisingly Harriet's husband was working as an agricultural labourer.
He was about six years younger than Harriet and also came from Latton.
Within the next ten years they moved to Herefordshire as the 1881 census shows
them living in Dinmore House, Wellington, where John was a coachman to the head
of household, Harring Fleming St John who was a clergyman from Barnes in Surrey
with no parish to serve. Altogether there were five in the household and
five servants. Harriet was one of the servants as she was working as a
housemaid.
Another move followed as 1891 saw them at Coombe Dingle in Westbury-on-Trym
near Bristol. Harriet was shown with no occupation but John was a general
labourer. They returned to Latton by 1901 and John changed his occupation
again to gardener, and Harriet was again apparently not working, apart from
running the household which would have been very time consuming in this era
without the appliances we take for granted today. She probably died in the
winter of 1911 in Latton, just over three years after the death of her husband.
Elizabeth was baptised on 8th April 1838 in
Latton church and was still
living with her parents in 1851 but she married
John Shurmer on 6th February
1858. They had 9 children and her history is continued on the
Shurmer
page.
Maria lived with her parents until after the 1861 census when her occupation
was laundress. Her parents died before 1871 when she had moved to
Cirencester Road, Latton to live with her brother and was living with
her younger brother John, (still unmarried). They moved back to Gosditch in Latton
by 1881 but ten years later Maria was the head of the household, still working
as a laundress, and living in Cirencester Road again in a house next to The
Croft. In 1901 she was living at Latton Cross and died in Latton on 27th
May 1913, aged 73. She never married and was buried in the churchyard at
Latton.
She lived with her parents until after the census was taken in 1851 and, like
her sister Harriet, was working for Fred Beadon at 'The Corner', Latton, but as
an under housemaid. She was one of the three servants who lived out of the house.
She married Henry James Mantell in Cricklade in the spring of 1867 and they
lived in Malmesbury Road, Cricklade in 1871.
Their children were Alice Sarah, spring 1867; George John, spring 1870;
William James, winter 1873; and Fanny Louisa who was born in winter 1877, the
about 6 months after her father Henry died. In 1881 Jane was living in the
High Street in Cricklade but had no occupation. She had two lodgers - her
nephew John Shurmer, (son of John and Elizabeth Shurmer), and Moses Stone, a 21
year old agricultural labourer born in Cricklade.
John was baptised on the 28th April 1844 and was living with his paternal
grandparents in 1851. During the 1850s he was apprenticed to a carpenter,
(possibly a member of the Chivers family), but was in his parents house when the
next census was taken. There is no record of a marriage in Latton between
John and Elizabeth Fitchew, but I believe she was the mother of his children,
the first of whom was Edith Elizabeth in 1867, by which time John had completed
his apprenticeship. He and his wife and daughter were living with John's
parents in Gosditch Street in Latton in 1871 and they appear to have moved to
Woodchester in Gloucestershire, when Anny was born in 1873. By 1879 they
were living in Battersea when John was born and were still there two years
later, with Elizabeth's widowed mother Anny living with them. Both
Elizabeth and her mother died during the next ten years as John was living on
his own in lone room in lodgings when the 1891 census was taken.
Like her elder sister Maria, Mary Ann did not marry and worked as a
laundress. Mary Ann and Maria may have been very close as they lived in
the same houses all their lives. She died on 29th November
1914 in
Latton.
John probably took over as the head of the household after the death of his
mother in February 1871 when he and his sisters were living in Cirencester Road,
Latton. He was an agricultural labourer, like many in the village, and had
moved the family back to 5 Gosditch, Latton by 1891. The 1881 census shows
a 13 year old niece, Alice Mantell, living with them.
It is possible that John was a witness at the wedding of
John Owens and
Sarah
Jane Shurmer in Bath in November 1886.
In late 1887 he married
Sarah Jane Hart and their first two children were Sarah H, born in 1889 and Fanny N who was 5 months old at
the time of the 1891 census. Their third daughter, Mary, was born in 1893
in Maisey Hampton but the family moved to Latton by 1901 to live at Lock Round
House, (probably on the Thames and Severn Canal which no longer exists).
Sarah was the
daughter of Hannah Hart, bookseller and stationer of Cirencester. In 1881
they lived at 30 Castle Street, Cirencester and Sarah had a sister Ellen Annie
who was 12 years younger than Sarah, who was born about 1855 in Cirencester.
John died on the 8th November 1918 and was buried 4 days later by the
Reverend C Wray. Sarah Jane lived on until 1930 in Latton and was buried
on the 29th August in that year.
Thomas lived in Latton until the 1870s and started work as an agricultural
labourer. Curiously it seems that he moved to London where he married
Sarah Fanny Kingdon in the Autumn of 1875 and then, shortly after this, moved to
32 Sheppard Street, Swindon where he was working in 1881 as a wheel examiner for
the Great Western Railway. Two of their children, John and Thomas were
born in 1877 and 1879 respectively. Thomas's mother in law Mary Ann
Kingdon, (nee Williams?) and a boarder Elizabeth Boldecker who was a 26 year old
governess, were also living in the house.
Their third son William was born in 1883 and they had moved to 2 Sheppard
Street by 1891 when Thomas was described as a Railway Train Examiner. They
were still living there in 1901.
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