Introduction
This is a study of a Somerset farming family over four generations.
1. John Cary
Ancestral home
The Cary family came from Evercreech, a village three miles south-east of Shepton Mallet. The parish registers record Carys in the sixteenth century.
Marriage
George Abraham’s paternal grandfather, John Cary, moved to Norton-sub-Hamdon in the 1840s. Born at Evercreech in about 1785, he married Esther Hiscox by licence at Pilton on 30 March 1808. One of the witnesses was Esther’s brother, Abraham, who occupied Manor Farm, West Compton, Pilton, a farm that played an important part in the lives of Esther’s descendants.
Occupation
John Cary was ambitious and capable, moving around and progressing from dairyman to farmer. He and Esther lived at Ditcheat, South Petherton and Merriott before settling at Norton-sub-Hamdon, where John farmed 182 acres in March 1851 and 200 acres ten years later. The farm was a significant part of the village, employing eleven men and five boys in April 1861.
Children
John and Esther had two daughters, Jane and Mary, who married local farmers and a son, George.
Death
John Cary died in 1863, leaving an estate valued “under £1,500.” His primary beneficiary was his son, George, who inherited his live and dead farming stock and personal estate, subject to the payment of various legacies. John left his lands in the parish of Hornblotton to his wife for life, then to his son, George, for his life and then to his grandson, George Abraham Genge, absolutely.[1]
References
[2] The will of John Cary, dated 11 August 1856, proved at Taunton on 25 January 1865.
George Cary
Birth
John’s only son, George, was born at South Petherton in about 1821.
First marriage
On 8 September 1851, George married Mary Norton at Merriott parish church. She was the daughter of Robert Norton, a butcher of Merriott, who, when he died in 1865, left an estate valued at “under £100.”[1]
John and Mary had three children: George Abraham, Joseph Norton and Mary Elizabeth.
Occupation
Initially, George worked on the family farm. After his marriage, George took on the lease of a small farm in the same village.
Following his father’s death in 1863, George took over his father’s farm. The 1871 census recorded him as a farmer of 188 acres, employing ten men, seven boys and three women. Ten years later, he farmed 193 acres and employed ten men and four boys. His son, George Abraham, worked on the family farm until he married in 1876; his son, Joseph Norton, similarly worked on the family farm until he married in 1883.
Death of first wife and re-marriage
The family suffered a devastating blow when George’s wife, Mary, died on 29 September 1868, aged 46.[2] His sons were 16 and 15, and his daughter was only 9 when this happened. Providing them with a suitable stepmother may have been his priority, and on 6 January 1870, he married Martha Moody Hiscox at Shepton Mallet.
Second wife
Martha had had an unsettled childhood. Her father, Thomas, farmed at Pilton until he died in 1828, leaving his widow to raise four young children alone. After her husband’s death, she ran a farm at Huntspill until she was in her fifties, when she joined her son, John, a saddler, at Wells. He was to provide his mother and sister with some security. He never married, and when he died in 1867, at the age of 43, he left an estate valued at “under £600.” He left his estate to his trustees on trust for his mother for life, then his sister, Martha, for her life, and then the capital to various cousins.[3] The inheritance would have provided Martha and her mother valuable protection from the vicissitudes of life. The 1851 census shows Martha working as a lady’s maid in the home of a County Magistrate. She has not been found on the 1861 census but was probably still in domestic service. After martha married George, her mother lived with them until she died in 1879, aged 89.
West Compton
In 1887, George and Martha moved to Manor Farm, West Compton, where they remained for ten years. In 1888, George’s daughter, Mary Elizabeth, married Stephen Charles Roger Orledge, a Pilton farmer.
Retirement and death
In 1897, George retired from farming and lived with his wife in Bread Street, Pilton.[4] He died on 12 March 1902, leaving an estate with a gross value of £3,758-7s-2d. His second wife survived him by six years.
By the time he died, George Abraham was his only child, still alive. Joseph Norton died childless in 1895, and Mary Elizabeth died in 1899, leaving two sons and a daughter.
References
[1] Probate Calendar.
[2] Western Gazette, 9 October 1868, p.8.
[3] The will of John Hiscox, dated 25 October 1866, proved at Wells on 18 November 1867.
[4] Western Gazette, 19 February 1897, p.1.
3. George Abraham Cary
Childhood
In a legal case of 1902, George Abraham Cary testified that he lived at West Compton (a hamlet of Pilton) from six to twelve, living with his uncle, his father’s tenant. His testimony indicates that he lived at West Compton from about 1858 to 1864. However, the 1861 census shows him living at home with his parents while his brother, Joseph, lived at West Compton. Perhaps he and his brother stayed there intermittently.
The “uncle” to whom George referred was actually his great-uncle, Abraham Hiscox, the brother of his paternal grandmother. Abraham occupied Manor Farm, West Compton, until he died on 1 March 1858. His widow then ran the farm with her married sister, Eliza Norton, until 1882.[1]
First marriage
George married Sarah Genge, the daughter of Abraham and Elizabeth Genge, at Hardington on 24 February 1876.
White Vine Farm
George was the tenant of White Vine Farm from about 1875 to about 1880.
Thurlbear
George was the tenant of Badger Street Farm, Thurlbear, from about 1880 to 1890.
On 15 June 1882, he attended the bishop’s visitation at Taunton as the churchwarden of Thurlbear.[2]
On 13 August 1889, he took one of his labourers to task for the way he tied a sheaf of corn, and the labourer reacted by knocking him down and using violent threats towards him. At Taunton police court, the labourer admitted to being “pretty well tight” when he committed the offence but reminded the magistrates that he had “never been up for thievery.” They fined him 5s and added 5s for costs.[3]
Norton-sub-Hamdon
George was the tenant of Knapp Farm, Norton-sub-Hamdon, from 1889 to 1902. He took over the farm from his brother, Joseph, who moved to Caundle Stourton, a village twenty miles east of Norton-sub-Hamdon.
Three deaths
George’s only brother, Joseph, died at Woodford, Wells, on 30 November 1895, aged 42; his wife, Sarah, died in May 1898, aged 44; and his only sister, Mary Elizabeth, died at Home Farm, East Pennard, on 22 November 1899, aged 40.
Second marriage
George married Julia Ann Terrell, the daughter of William and Ann Terrell, by licence at Stoke-sub-Hamdon Congregational Chapel on 14 September 1899.
Julia came from a close-knit farming family. Her father, William, occupied a farm of about sixty acres at Stoke-sub-Hamdon for over thirty years. When Julia was sixteen, her father died in tragic circumstances. Seized by an epileptic fit, he fell and hit his spine on a stone, dying seven days later.[4] Following his death, his widow, Ann, ran the farm with her sons, William and Joseph, and her daughters, Sarah, Julia, and Ellen. Sarah was the only one of her children to marry during her lifetime. After her death on 2 December 1898, Julia married in 1899 and William in 1900.
Julia’s mother died intestate, leaving an estate valued at £4,278 12s 2d, which was probably divided equally between her five children.[5]
Inheritance
The deaths of George’s brother and sister must have impressed on George that life was short. However, even more significant was his father’s death on 12 March 1902, which cemented the terms of his father’s will and triggered part of his grandfather’s will.
His grandfather, John Cary, had left a life interest in land at Hornblotton, firstly to his widow and then to his son, George. On George’s death, the land passed to George’s son, George Abraham.[6]
His father left his household effects and any money in his bank accounts to his widow. He left the remainder to his executors on trust to pay the income to his widow for life and, after her death, to pay half the income to his son and his son’s wife, Sarah, for life and the other half to his daughter and her husband for life. Assuming that his furniture had little value and his bank balances were low, the income generated by his estate may have been about £150 per annum, of which George received one-half. This income commenced after the death of George’s mother on 6 February 1908.[7]
Stoke-sub-Hamdon
In 1902, George retired from farming and bought a freehold detached house at Footlands, Stoke-sub-Hamdon.
As it turned out, he enjoyed nearly thirty years of retirement.
Death
Julia died intestate on 20 January 1931, aged 74, leaving an estate valued at £506-17s-11d.[8]
George died at Stoke-sub-Hamdon on 14 March 1931, aged 79, leaving an estate valued at £4,444-15s-4d.[9]
References
[1] Shepton Mallet Journal, 3 November 1882, p.1.
[2] Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 21 June 1882, p.8.
[3] Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser, 21 August 1889, p.8.
[4] Western Gazette, 7 June 1872, p.8.
[5] Probate Calendars.
[6] The will of John Cary, dated 11 August 1856, proved at Taunton on 25 January 1865.
[7] The will of George Cary, dated 31 May 1897, and codicil, dated 2 January 1898, proved at Wells on 16 August 1902.
[8] Probate Calendars.
[9] The will of George Abraham Cary, dated 15 May 1928, proved in London on 12 May 1931.
4. The Children of George Abraham Cary
George and Sarah had a daughter, Martha Bessie Genge Cary and a son, Arthur George Abraham Cary.
Martha attended a Ladies’ School in East Street, Taunton. On 2 March 1897, she married Ethelbert Nelson Creed, a farmer of Pilton, at Norton-sub-Hamdon parish church. Martha and Ethelbert lived at Manor Farm, West Compton, until 1903, when they moved to Pennard Hill Farm, East Pennard.[1] Martha died of rheumatism of the heart on 1 April 1915, aged 38.[2] She left four sons, who were all under sixteen when she died.
Arthur emigrated to New Zealand, where he became a farmer. He returned to visit his father in 1921 and returned permanently in the 1930s. He spent his final years at Bournemouth, his addresses including 3 Landseer Road and 26 Queen Road. He died at the Gables Nursing Home, Bournemouth, on 2 February 1957, aged 78.[3]
References
[1]Shepton Mallet Journal, 9 April 1915, p.5.
[2] Shepton Mallet Journal, 9 April 1915, p.5.
[3] The Civil Registration Death Index gives his age as 77.
Appendix: the will of George Abraham Cary
Executors and trustees: Gilbert Sandford Poole of South Petherton, solicitor, and William Griffin Terrell of North Street, Stoke-under-Ham.
To my trustees upon trust: all my furniture to allow my wife to enjoy during her lifetime and then to form part of my residuary estate.
To my trustees upon trust: a legacy of £850 to invest, paying the income to my wife for life and then to my grandsons, Nelson Arthur Cary Creed, Percy Douglas Cary Creed and Roger Stanley Cary Creed at 21 in equal shares as tenants in common.
If the £850 now secured on Manor Farm, West Compton, has not been paid off at the date of my death, I authorise my trustees to allocate this security in satisfaction of the said legacy of £850.
To my son, Arthur George Abraham Cary now residing in New Zealand: all my freehold and leasehold land in the parish of Hornblotton, Somerset.
To my trustees: the remainder on trust to convert into money and invest, paying the income to my wife for life and then the capital and income as to one moiety to my son, Arthur George Abraham Cary absolutely and the other moiety to my four grandsons, George Robert Genge Cary, Nelson Arthur Cary Creed, Percy Douglas Cary Creed and Roger Stanley Cary Creed at 21 as tenants in common. The share of George Robert Genge Cary shall not vest absolutely in him but shall be retained and invested by my trustees, paying the income to him for life and then to his son, Garth Cary Lewis Creed absolutely.
If a beneficiary dies leaving children, their children to take in their place, except in the case of George Robert Genge Cary.
Wit: Solicitor and his clerk.