Florence was one of Ari’s great-great-grandmothers, born in 1900 in the village of Himbleton, Worcestershire. Her father was George Thomas Waters, and her mother was Mary James. Florence was their youngest child, and she can be seen in the 1901 census with her parents, two brothers and three sisters, living in Himbleton: Ancestry.co.uk The 1911 census shows that she was at school, aged 11. In 1918 Florence married Alfred John Sheppard, a railway labourer. They had six childre

Elizabeth (Betty) Pool was one of Ari’s 6x great-grandmothers. She was born in about 1774 in Oddingley, Worcestershire, which is “pleasantly situated about 3½ miles to the south-east of Droitwich on the slopes of a valley through which run the Worcester and Birmingham Canal and the Bristol and Birmingham branch of the Midland railway” (https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/worcs/vol3/pp456-460). Worcester and Birmingham Canal approaching Oddingley, Worcestershire Betty marrie

Ari’s 5x great-grandfather, John Tyler, was born in Huddington, Worcestershire, in 1811. I haven’t found his baptism or parents yet. On 25 Nov 1833, he married Sarah Perkins at St John the Baptist in Crowle. The church when we visited in October 2017. The first record we can actually see is the 1841 census. This shows the family in Sale Green, with a daughter Mary (born in 1839), Sarah’s mother Elizabeth (Betty), and a ten-year-old, Mary Hughes. Bluebells in Trench Wood, Sale

Ari’s 8x great-grandmother, Alice Robinson, was born in 1709 in Huddington, Worcestershire and christened on the 10th of April that year. Huddington St James. Churchyard gate. The year was remembered as being the coldest in Europe for 500 years (see this New Scientist article on the Great Frost). Four scenes of war, poverty and death. 1709 etching by Giuseppe Maria Mitelli. British Museum Online Collection. Alice was the daughter of John and Mary. On 11 October 1731 she marri

One of Ari’s 4x great-grandfathers was Robert Butler, who was born in 1837 in Bredicot, Worcestershire. Bredicot is a small parish in the centre of the county, about 4 miles east of Worcester. A traditional Bredicot barn Conveniently, Robert was born in the year that civil registration of births became compulsory, so we know that his father was Thomas Butler and his mother was Elizabeth Reynolds. He was the first of their nine children, and was baptised on 5 October 1837 at t

The canal at Tibberton Joseph Sheppard was Ari’s 5x great-grandfather, youngest son of Joseph Sheppard and Ann Day, and husband of Mary Bishop. He was born in about 1806 in Huddington, Worcestershire, and married Mary Bishop on 15 August 1832 in Grafton Flyford. Their first son, Joseph, was born in 1840. In the 1841 census they are living in Sale Green, and Joseph is listed as an agricultural labourer. Another son, William, was born two years later, and then a daughter, Ann.

Ari’s 7x great-grandfather William Day was born in 1735 in Huddington, Worcestershire and christened on 30 September, the son of John Day and Alice Robinson. The little church at Huddington is in the grounds of a fifteenth-century manor house called Huddington Court, famous for its connection with the Gunpowder Plot. You can read the story in this interestingly named AA walking guide! You have to walk through the garden to get to St James’ church. On 14 Oct 1762 William marri

Joseph Sheppard (or Shepherd) was one of Ari’s 6x great-grandfathers, born in 1752 in Worcestershire, possibly in Hanbury, as that is where he was living at the time of his marriage. St Werburgh’s Church, Hanbury – monument to Sir John de Hanbury (detail) No baptism for him has been found in Hanbury, which is near Droitwich. When he was 33, Joseph married Ann Day in Huddington, as shown in the parish register: They had nine children between 1786 and 1806, the youngest of whom

Today we found the grave of William Sheppard, Ari’s 4x great-grandfather, and his wife Angelina. They are both buried at the church of St John the Baptist in Crowle, Worcestershire. William was born in 1843 at Sale Green in Worcestershire, and christened on 24 Feb. at Huddington church. Parish chest in Huddington church William’s father Joseph died when he was just five years old. In the census for 1851 he is living with his mother Mary, a ‘pauper gloveress’, and older brothe

Mary Bishop was Ari’s 5x great-grandmother, born in 1809 in Grafton Flyford in Worcestershire. Mary was the seventh of eight children of John Bishop and Ann Willis, who had married in 1792. She was christened on 30 Dec 1809 at the church of St John the Baptist, and married at the same church at the age of 16. Her husband was a farmer, Joseph Sheppard (spelled Shepherd). We can see Mary in the 1841 census living at Sale Green with her husband Joseph, an agricultural labourer,

William Henry Sheppard was Ari’s 3x great-grandfather, born on 3 Nov 1865 in Crowle, Worcestershire. His mother was Angelina Tyler (see my post of 17 July 2017). From the various national censuses we know that William started out as a farm servant (indoor). In 1881 he was on a farm at Dunhampstead, Himbleton. By 1891 at the age of 25 he had married and was the head of his own household, listed as one of several families living at Malt House, Crowle, with his wife and their fo