Birth

Robert, the son of John and Anne Peach, was born at Rampisham in about 1775.

His father, John, was a yeoman, who by his will proved in 1830, left pecuniary legacies amounting to £265 and other property.[1] He left nothing to Robert, possibly because he had already gifted sums to him.

Marriage

On 18 January 1804, Robert married Elizabeth Paul at Beaminster by licence. Elizabeth signed the register with a cross. The witnesses were John Pearce, Sarah Buckler, John Peach, Henry Paul and Mary Paul.

Robert and Mary’s first child, Mary, was baptised at Beaminster.

Hardington

Robert and his family lived at Hardington, as a minimum, from 1810 to 1813. His son, John, was baptised there on 14 October 1810, and his daughter, Elizabeth, on 15 August 1813.

Robert Peach is recorded as a farmer in the Hardington baptism register in 1813.

Nether Compton

By July 1815, Robert was a farmer at Nether Compton.

On 15 March 1818, while living at Nether Compton, Robert and Elizabeth took their daughter, Sarah, to East Coker to be baptised.

Elizabeth’s death

Elizabeth died at Nether Compton in July 1820, aged 37.

Kingsbury Episcopi

By June 1841, Robert was a dairyman at Lower Burrow, Kingsbury Episcopi. His four unmarried children lived with him: Mary, Ann, Sarah, and Robert. Mary died in 1844, and Ann in 1850.

Witcombe, Martock

Within the following ten years, Robert’s son, Robert junior, became a farmer of 60 acres at Witcombe, Martock, and Robert and his daughter, Sarah, joined him there.

Robert senior remained active. When he lived with his son, he was a farmer. He later moved to a dairy of his own at Witcombe.

At the time of the 1861 census, Robert ran the dairy with the help of his daughter, Sarah, and grandson, Edwin. Two of Robert’s granddaughters were also staying at the farm: Mary Sarah Peach and Sarah Jane Diment.

The presence of the grandchildren shows how the family supported each other. Edwin and Mary Sarah were the children of Robert’s son John, whose wife died at Montacute in April 1861 (at about the same time as the census). Sarah Jane Diment was the daughter of Robert’s daughter, Jane, who died at Combe St Nicholas in June 1846.

Robert’s daughter, Sarah, who would have played a critical role in running the dairy and household, died in August 1866, aged about 48.[2]

Death

Robert died at Witcombe on 24 November 1867, aged about 92—however, the Ash burial register and a newspaper death notice record his age as 95.

Children

Robert and Elizabeth had two sons and five daughters:

Circa 1806-Mary (died unmarried at Burrow, Kingsbury Episcopi in July 1844);

Circa 1810-John (married Marlen Hooper in 1835; a farm labourer at Stoford, East Chelborough, and Montacute)

Circa 1811-Jane (married John Diment, a dairyman, in 1830)

Circa 1813-Elizabeth (probably died young);

Circa 1815-Ann (died unmarried at Burrow, Kingsbury Episcopi in June 1850);

Circa 1818-Sarah (died unmarried at Ash in August 1866);

Circa 1820-Robert (married Mary Richards in 1848; farmed at Martock until the 1880s).

The will of Robert Peach the elder of Witcombe, Martock, Farmer

Executor: my son, Robert Peach.

To my son, John: £20

To the children of my late daughter, Jane Diment: £1 a piece.

To my son, Robert Peach: the remainder.

Wit: William Best, Simon Baker.

References

[1] The will of John Peach of Rampisham, yeoman, dated 9 June 1826, proved in London on 26 May 1830.

[2] The Civil Registration Death Index gives Sarah’s age as 46, but she was older.