An 1833 Inventory

I have written before about George Short, who owned the house from 1801 to 1833. We have two plaques with his initials. The first commemorates his restoration of the workshop in 1793 – during his father’s ownership – and the second his own major restoration of the house in 1812.

George Short died in the house on Thursday 9 May 1833, aged 68, and was buried in a very prominent tomb at the entrance to Chipping Sodbury churchyard. He left the house and contents, his cordwainer’s business and some leasehold property in Yate but no will. His son, also George, applied for letters of administration and was required to submit an inventory of his father’s possessions. That inventory survives in the Gloucestershire Archives and has recently been published online at Ancestry.

Not only does the inventory give us a fascinating glimpse into George Short’s lifestyle, it also gives a description of each room, which we can compare to the house as it is today. That is what I intend to do in future blog posts.

House History 3: Thomas Fereby

When William Roach sold the house to Robert Short on 2 August 1790, the sitting tenant was listed as a Mr Thomas Fereby.

Thanks to a genealogist with the delightful nom de blog Parishmouse, I now know Thomas Fereby's occupation, dates of birth and death and place of burial. I even have a mini-obituary for him, with the prospect of a fuller one to come.

Parishmouse transcribes historical books and makes them freely available online. Yesterday, the entry for Sodbury in the Universal British Directory 1791 was published. A few minutes later - thanks to Google Alerts - a link to the transcription was in my Inbox.

Listed under "Clergy" in the Directory entry I found:

Ferreby Rev. Mr. Baptist-preacher

Googling on variants of his surname, plus +baptist and +sodbury, enabled me to find the following information:

• From the October 1808 edition of the Monthly magazine and British register, courtesy of Google Books, came a death notice cum mini-obituary:

 At Sodbury, the Rev Thomas Ferebee, aged 76 years - 52 of which he spent in the discharge of his duty, as minister of the baptist congregation in that town; and to whose sterling piety and unblemished reputation all who knew him bear ample testimony.

• From a list of Ferebee BMDs online I have his place of burial:

Thomas Ferebee, no age, 1808, of Sodbury, Shortwood Baptist.

• From the Baptist Historical Society website I have the index entry to his obituary in the Baptist Magazine, 1809:

Ferebee, Born: 1733. Died: 1808. Obituary: Baptist Magazine 1809. Page 105.

Chipping Sodbury Baptist Church is the church where I worship, when my health permits. This morning I attended the Good Friday service there. I am so pleased to know of this connection between our house and a former minister of the church. I am hoping that the obituary in the Baptist Magazine will give me more information about him. In view of his calling, it seems entirely appropriate that his wife's name was Hannah Heaven. They married, by licence, at Chipping Sodbury on 9 May 1774.

1751 Indenture

Back in December, Marian Pierre-Louis posted a comment on House History 1: 1690-1790 saying: "Any chance you could scan one of the old deeds and post it as a blog post? I would love to see what it looks like!"

Now that I have my new Flip-Pal scanner, I have been able to do just that. I took an original document measuring 20" x 24" and made 53 separate, overlapping scans. I then used the EasyStitch software, bundled with the Flip-Pal, to reassemble them into one large image. I am very pleased with the final result.

This is the earliest deed that we possess. It dates from 1751 and it  is an indenture. An indenture was a legal contract which was written in duplicate on one sheet of paper. The copies were then separated by cutting along a wavy, indented line. Each party to the contract was given one half. The authenticity of the contract could be confirmed at a later date by fitting the two parts back together. You can see the wavy line at the top of the image.

I am sure that lawyers back then were paid by the yard, as the indenture contains an awful lot of legal padding around the "meat" of the contract. For that reason, I have not bothered to transcribe the whole thing but just extracted the following sections of interest:

This Indenture made the Fifth day of December in the Four and Twentieth Year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lord George the Second by the Grace of God of Great Britain France and Ireland King Defender of the Faith and so forth and in the Year of our Lord One Thousand Seven Hundred and Fifty One Between Jeremiah Russell of Yate and Arthur Walter of Old Sodbury both in the County of Gloucester Gentlemen Devised In Trust named in the last Will and Testament of Nicholas White late of Rodford in the Parish of Westerleigh in the said County of Gloucester mason deceased and Elizabeth White Widow Relict and Executrix of the said Nicholas White deceased of the one part and John Boddily of Chipping Sodbury in the said County of Gloucester Innholder of the other part Witnesseth that the said Jeremiah Russell Arthur Walter and Elizabeth White for and in Consideration of the Sum of Fifty Eight Pounds of Good and Lawfull money of Great Britain to her the said Elizabeth White in hand by the said John Boddily ... hath Granted Bargained Sold Aliend Remitted Released Conveyed and Confirmed ... unto the said John Bodilly ... All That Messuage Cottage Tenement or Dwellinghouse with the appurtenances wherein one Henry Wickham formerly dwelt and since in the Possession of John Clark but now of James Taylor as Tenant thereof Situate lying and being in Chipping Sodbury aforesaid in a Street there called Horse Street between a Tenement heretofore or late of Ann Somers on the Northside and a Tenement formerly of Henry Crew and since of Sicilly Wickham but now of Sarah Smith on the Southside which said Messuage Cottage Tenement or Dwellinghouse was some time since built and Erected by one Francis Cross and afterwards bought and Purchased in Fee by the said Nicholas White of and from David Clark and Mary his Wife who had before purchased the same of one John Clark and was then or heretofore called the Smith's Shop ...

At the bottom of the indenture are the signatures and seals of Jeremiah Russell, Arthur Walter and Elizabeth White. It is interesting to see that Elizabeth, the widow of a property-owning craftsman, was able to sign her own name.

House History 2: 1790-1873

For 83 years the house was in the possession of one family, the Shorts. They were cordwainers - the name for makers of shoes and boots who worked with good quality leather, as opposed to cobblers, who literally cobbled together old leather scraps.

2 August 1790

William Roach sold the house to Robert Short of Yate, cordwainer, for £112 10s. Mr Thomas Fereby was the tenant.

Robert Short and his wife, Ann, had two children, George and Jane, baptised at Wickwar in 1765 and 1768.

Thomas Fereby married Hannah Heaven, by licence, at Chipping Sodbury on 9 May 1774.

1793

Robert Short's son, George Short, remodelled the cottage adjoining the house.

21 December 1801

Robert Short died intestate and the house passed to George Short, his only son. Like his father, George was a cordwainer.

George Short was baptised at Wickwar on 1 December 1765. He married Jane Rawbone in Yate on 12 May 1788. George and Jane had two children, Priscilla and George, baptised at Yate on 5 October 1788. Priscilla had been born before her parents' marriage and was baptised under her mother's name of Rawbone.  George and Jane Short had a further nine children baptised at Chipping Sodbury between 1792 and 1810.

1812

George Short remodelled the front of the house, replacing the 17th century gable front with a fashionable Georgian style facade.

15 September 1815

George Short mortgaged the house, together with a property in Yate, for £260 to Thomas Watts, proprietor of the Royal Oak in Chipping Sodbury.

£180 of the money was used to pay off an earlier mortgage on the property in Yate, which George Short and his sister Jane had inherited from their father, George having used the money to buy out Jane's half share.

The other £80 was for George Short's own use. It may well have been used to pay for the building work on the house.

23 April 1818

George Short wrote a promissory note to his son-in-law, John Haynes, in return for a loan of £260 (presumably to pay off the 1815 mortgage).

1 July 1829

George Short signed an indenture granting the reversion of the property to John Haynes upon his own death. This was in settlement of £290 owed by George Short to John Haynes (the 1818 loan of £260 plus £30 accrued interest).

9 May 1833

George Short died, aged 67, and was buried in a large chest tomb, prominently situated at the entrance to the churchyard of St John the Baptist, Chipping Sodbury.

Under the terms of the 1829 indenture, the property passed into the ownership of John Haynes. John, who  was described as a gentleman, was married to George Short's eldest child, Priscilla.

6 June 1841

The census shows the occupants of the house as John and Priscilla Haynes. John was aged between 65 and 69, of independent means and not born in Gloucestershire.

September 1844

John Haynes died and left the house to Priscilla in his will.

30 March 1851

The census shows the occupants of the house were Priscilla Haynes, a widow and house proprietor, aged 64 and born in Yate, and her niece, Elizabeth Short, daughter of Priscilla's brother, Shirley Short.

7 April 1861

The census shows Priscilla Haynes, a widowed house proprietor, aged 74 and born in Yate. She was living alone.

16 August 1864

Priscilla Haynes died childless. Under the terms of her will, the house was to be sold and the proceeds used to pay legacies to her brothers and sisters and their families.

29 June 1866

Priscilla's brother, George Short, bought the property for £140 from her estate. For the first time, the "court or garden" was mentioned and the adjoining cottage was included in the sale. George Short was already tenant of both properties.

George Short was also a cordwainer. He and his wife, Ann, had five children born in Chipping Sodbury between 1829 and 1841.

8 November 1870

George Short died, aged 82. His effects were valued at under £200.

2 April 1871

The census shows that the house was occupied by George Short's son, Shirley Short, a bootmaker, aged 29 and born in Chipping Sodbury. The other members of the household were Shirley's wife, Ann, and sister, Victoria.

Shirley Short had married Ann Endicott in Bristol only a few weeks earlier.

24 October 1871

Shirley Short bought the property for £150 from his father's estate. Shirley was already the tenant of the house and cottage. He was using the cottage as a workshop for his boot and shoe making business.

5 January 1873

Shirley Short died childless, aged only 31. Under the terms of his will, the property passed to his wife, Ann. She sold it four months later.

House History 1:1690-1790

We are very fortunate to have a complete set of deeds dating back to 1751. The earliest deed gives the name of the man who built the house, Francis Cross, and of the owners and tenants who came after him. In amongst the deeds there are also wills, letters and other documents relating to the ownership of the house.

As a keen genealogist, I have enjoyed researching the people associated with the house. The following is a chronology of the owners and tenants for the period 1690 to 1790:

circa 1690

Francis Cross built the house. He was from the parish of Horton, Gloucestershire. He was born circa 1640 and married Margaret Higgs at Horton on 19 March 1665. They had 5 children baptised at Little Sodbury between 1669 and 1684.

unknown date

Henry Wickham was the tenant. Henry was baptised at Chipping Sodbury on 8 May 1670, the son of John Wickham, a woollen draper, and his wife, Edith.

Unknown date

John Clark bought the house from Francis Cross.

Unknown date

David Clark, a Quaker, bought the house from John Clark. David and his wife, Mary, had the births of 4 children recorded at the Quaker Meeting House, Chipping Sodbury, between 1699 and 1707. David paid 2d in the pound Poor Rate in Chipping Sodbury in 1727 and was one of the town bailiffs in 1731.

Quaker Meeting House, Sodbury

 

Unknown date

Nicholas White bought the house from David and Mary Clark. Nicholas was born circa 1677 and married Jane Hillier at Yate on 18 January 1704. He was a mason at Rodford in the parish of Westerleigh, Gloucestershire. He paid the Poor Rate in Chipping Sodbury in 1727. He died on 28 January 1750 and was buried in the nave of St John the Baptist, Chipping Sodbury.

5 December 1751

John Boddily bought the house for £58 from Nicholas White's widow, Elizabeth. John was born about 1704 and married Elizabeth Roach. He was an Innholder.

The tenant was James Taylor.

20 February 1764

John Boddily died and the house passed to his nephew, Thomas Boddily.

29 September 1764

Elizabeth Boddily, widow of John Boddily, bought the house back from his nephew, Thomas, for  £113. Elizabeth was born about 1710.

15 April 1777

Elizabeth Boddily died and the house passed to her brother, William Roach, and sister, Ann Cornwall. William Roach was a grocer in Chipping Sodbury, with a wife called Elizabeth. He died on 27 August 1798.