I believe that he may be the Thomas Roberts from Redbrook who, with wife Jane, had a son Thomas who was baptized in Newland Church in 1746. Thomas and Jane do not appear to have married in Newland.
Thomas, (who may have been baptized on the 19th May 1746 in Newland), married Mary Yersley in All Saints Church, Newland on the 3rd November 1778. The ceremony was performed by the vicar, P Ball, after the reading of banns, and witnessed by George Williams and Mary Evans, who were both able to sign their names in the marriage register whereas the bride and groom both made their mark. They had four children - Thomas in 1779, James two years later, George in 1787 and Nancy in 1790. All of the children were baptised at Newland.
He was baptised on New Year's Day in 1782 and the parish register shows his parents as Thomas and Mary Roberts from Clearwell. James married Elizabeth Willetts from Garway in Herefordshire, on the 9th of April 1804 in the church at Newland, and they had six children - Mary, baptised in 1804; Anne in 1807; the first George in 1809 who died before 1820; Thomas in 1812; William, born in 1815; and lastly another son called George who was baptised on the 24th December 1820 and was buried on the 24th March 1823. All were born in Clearwell in the parish of Newland in the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire.
Elizabeth was the daughter of Matthew Willetts and Mary Williams who married in Garway on the first of January 1770. She was baptised on the 17th of July 1774 and was buried in Clearwell on the 13th of July 1854 at the age of 81. Matthew and Mary also had two other children who were Mary, baptised on the 30th March 1877 and James who was baptised three years later.
James Roberts was admitted to an almshouse in Newland, (although it is not clear whether it is Bell's Almshouse or the one endowed by Edward Jones), some time during the early 1860s and died there within three years as he was buried at Newland on the 24th of October 1863.
Thomas was baptised on the 26th April 1812 in All Saints Church, Newland. He was working as an agricultural labourer in 1841 and living with his parents in Clearwell, Gloucestershire. Ten years later he was still living with his parents but his occupation was, very unkindly, shown as 'Idiot'. He does not appear in the 1861 census.
The curate of Newland, P M Procter, baptised William on the 12th November 1815 in All Saints Church and he lived with his parents until just after 1841, when he was working as an agricultural labourer, but the following year he married Hannah Jordan on the 1st October 1842 in Newland. The parish register suggests that both William and Hannah were living in Coleford at the time, but possibly this refers to Coleford registration district rather than the town. William was sufficiently literate to sign his name but Hannah made her mark, and the wedding was witnessed by Thomas York and Fanny Jordan, Hannah's sister, who married William Pace a year later.
Their first five children were Mary, in 1843; William who was baptised on the 29th September 1844 and buried on the 2nd October 1844, he lived just 3 days; George, 1846; Elizabeth, 1848 and James in 1850. By 1851 they had moved to Clearwell Meend, on the north-eastern outskirts of Clearwell and then had three more children - William, 1854; Emma, 1858; and lastly Sarah Ann in 1859.
It is possible that they lived very close to the Nailer's Arms pub in 1861 and William was still working as an agricultural labourer. In 1871 two grandchildren were living with William and Hannah in Clearwell. They were Richard and John who were the illegitimate children of the eldest daughter Mary, who had left Clearwell by this time to work in Monmouth.
William continued to live in Clearwell, working on local farms, until his death in 1882, but his widow, Hannah, lived on until 1892 and was buried in Clearwell on the 7th November 1892 by the Curate, H L Parry. She died of senile decay and cardiac failure, both of which she had suffered from for 6 months, and acute bronchitis which had lasted 6 days. Her daughter-in-law Ann, (wife of George), registered her death the following day. Parry died 3 years later aged 73.
Mary was living with her parents in Clearwell Meend in 1851 but does not appear in the 1861 census. She had two illegitimate children before she left Clearwell- Richard in 1866 and John in 1868. Within three years of John's birth she had moved to Monmouth to work in the Kings Head Hotel in Agincourt Square as a housemaid, and married William Pyner shortly after this. It is possible that she never saw her sons again.
By the time he was 15 he was working in Clearwell as a labourer and married Ann Mudway, (the wife of William and Elizabeth Mudway), in the autumn of 1870, although the marriage does not appear to have taken place in the Forest of Dean, even though both were born in Clearwell and lived there for all of their lives.
In 1871 he and Ann were living in a house between the Lamb public house and the cooper's shop towards the western end of the village. There were six children in all who were Richard, born autumn 1873, Agnes who was born in the autumn of 1875, Frank in summer 1878, then twins Emma and Elizabeth in September 1880, and finally William in 1883.
The 1881 census shows George as a general labourer, although it is possible that he was still working for an iron ore mining company as this is his occupation in all other censuses. He died in 1900, three years after his wife died, and was buried in Clearwell on the 2nd September by C Goddard.
Elizabeth was baptised at St Peter's church, Clearwell on 1st October 1848 and had left home after the 1861 census as she was working as a domestic servant for Edwin Payne, a stone merchant who lived near Platwell Farm, Clearwell in 1871.
The 1861 census shows James working as a labourer in Clearwell but he had moved to Normanton in Yorkshire by 1881 and was married to Rhoda Hale, a 24 year old woman from Coleford, Gloucestershire.
William was working as an iron miner by the time he was seventeen.
Emma left home after 1871 and was working in London as a cook at 60 Kensington High Road, Chelsea in 1881. The head of household was Alfred B Joseph, a produce broker, who had five children. Ten years later she was still single and working as a cook, but this time for a widow named Emma B Groom from Maldon in Essex who was the head of household at 6 Leinster Square, Paddington, London. This was a lodging house with a cosmopolitan guest list including a Russian, a Greek and three other guests.
She started work as a cook between 1871 and 1881 but was still living at home at that date.
