Devon Blacksmiths
HEARDs of Beaford
Trades were often past from father to son down the generations. With the HEARD family we have traced blacksmiths for four generations.
Robert HEARD [2594] and Jane nee SNELL [2595] had 13 children all born in Beaford. Robert died before any useful census was taken and occupations were routinely recorded in registers. We therefore do not know what his occupation was. However we know that his sons were very practical tradesmen, two became gunsmiths, one a glazier and two were blacksmiths.
William HEARD [6051] was born in 1792 Beaford the tenth child of Robert and Jane. He married Elizabeth CARPENTER in Huish in 1813 and had their first child Mary baptised there. William and Elizabeth then had 11 children baptised in Beaford between 1815 and 1843 where he was a blacksmith. This occupation is given on every census until 1861. He died in 1871 before the census was taken.
William and Elizabeth’s second child Robert [6175] was working as a blacksmith in Bridgewater, Somerset in 1841. He married Mary WESTLAKE later that year in Bristol. Later he was an engineer/engine driver working on land drainage in Weston Zoyland, Somerset. Their daughter Sibina Elizabeth married George HEARD [10751], son of Edward and Ann, who was a blacksmith.
Their fifth child George [6114] was a Blacksmith in Beaford in 1841 living with his father. He married Susan GOODING in High Bickington in 1844 and they lived in Beaford where they had two children baptised. In 1851 he was in Bedminister, Bristol where he is on the census as James HEARD, a police constable born in Beaford with wife Sarah and children Helen, Charles and Silas. His wife and children's ages and birthplaces match with those on the 1861 census return so we are sure that this is George. The 1861 census reveal that he had lived in Tiverton and Collumpton before returning to Beaford to resume his trade as blacksmith and had been joined in the smithy by his sons, Silas and William in 1871. George died in 1876 in Great Torrington.
Silas [10757] continued working in Beaford and in 1881 was also a machinist and had an apprentice, John PIPER. He was employing his two eldest sons George and Edward in 1891 and his mother, Susan, was a baker and grocer on the next schedule. Silas was still in the smithy in 1901 joined by his 21 year old son Charles, both were also machinists. He was a widower working on his own account in 1911. His youngest son Archibald was assisting with the business.
George [10777] moved away but continued as a blacksmith. He was in South Mimms, Middlesex in 1901 and in Peckham, Sussex in 1911. In both censuses he was single.
Edward [10782] married Selina SLUGGETT and was smith and machinist working on his own account in Great Torrington in 1901. By 1911 as well as being a blacksmith he was also a Cycle Agent and Motor Agent developing the business into the up and coming forms of transport.
Charles [10794] married Mabel BOND and by 1911 had set up business in Great Torrington as smith, Innkeeper and cycle agent at the Hunters Inn.
William [10758] married Hannah HEARN in Beaford in 1876 when he was a smith and sojourner in Beaford. Although his wife appears on census in Beaford as a married dressmaker we have not found any record of him until 1901 when he was living on his own means in Beaford with his widowed mother and widowed sister Ellen. His wife Hannah is then recorded as being a widowed dressmaker.
Their sixth child, daughter Betsey [6115], married Thomas PETHERICK. One of her sons, Silas PETHERICK [10741] worked for his uncle John before moving to Llangyfelach, near Swansea, Glamorgan. He married Sarah BOWDEN in Swansea and was a blacksmith in Llangyfelach in 1881, 1891 and 1901. In 1911 he was living in Morriston where he was a blacksmith in the tin works.
Their eighth child William [6074] was a blacksmith with his father in 1851 and may have joined the RMLI and on board the Royal Navy vessel Meander in 1861.
Their tenth child John [6100] stayed in Beaford all his working life he died in 1912. He trained at least two apprentices including his nephew Silas PETHERWICK. There was an entry of him in Kelly’s directory for 1902. His son William [10762] born 1863 was working with him in 1891 and 1901. His daughter Amelia married Ernest James TRIGGER [26698] who was a blacksmith in Beaford in 1911.
William [10762] married Julia WESTCOTT later in 1901. He had been a pupil teacher in 1881 and Julia had been a schoolmistress / school teacher. In 1911 Julia was the head teacher and William an assistant teacher working for the County Council.
Their eleventh child Edward [6101] was working with his father and brothers in 1861. He moved to Plymouth where he was a brewer’s traveller and married three times before retiring to to Dolton.
The youngest son of Robert and Jane was Edward [6053] born in 1798 and moved to West Anstey where he was the blacksmith in 1841, 1851 and 1861 and was a retired Blacksmith in 1871. His sons Thomas [10747], Edward [10749], William [10750] and George also became Blacksmiths. In 1861 Edward and sons Edward, William and George appeared together as blacksmiths in West Anstey.
Edward's eldest son Thomas [10747] was working with his father in 1851. In 1856 he married Mary COLE, the daughter of a blacksmith, in Bishop's Nympton. He had moved to Bedminster, Somerset in 1861 where he was a journeyman blacksmith. 1871 he was in Lucombe, Somerset and in 1881 was in his wife’s birthplace of Bishops Nympton where he had probably taken over his father in law’s smithy.
Edward [10749] married Sarah THORNE and was a smith in Uffculme, Devon in 1871. By 1881 he had taken over his father in law's farm in Uffculme and, according to the census return, was a Farmer of 120 Acres employing 2 Men. His father in law was a retired farmer.
William [10750] was a blacksmith living and working with his father in West Anstey in 1861. In 1871 he was a blacksmith boarding with his brother George in Bedminister. By 1881 he was married and was a blacksmith in Bristol. He retired before 1901.
George [10751] married Sabina the daughter of Robert and Mary HEARD and therefore his 1st cousin once-
George HEARD [2473] was a younger brother of Robert HEARD [2594] he married Mary SAUNDERS and they had nine known children in Beaford, two of whom were blacksmiths.
Robert [2626] was the seventh child of George and Mary. He lived in a Devon long house in Dolton at the cattle market. In 1841 he is listed as a publican and has Samuel MITCHELL a Blacksmith living with him. In 1851 Robert was a Blacksmith. White’s History, Gazetteer & Directory of Devon, for 1850 lists him as smith & vict, at The Union. Inn. Robert was married to Ann FOLLAND and they had 10 children.
Richard [2631] married Charlotte STANDBURY [4146] the step daughter of Edward HEARD [18571] and his 5th cousin once removed. He took over the smithy in Dolton but sadly died in 1864, his widow Charlotte took over the smithy employing two men and a boy in 1871, one of the men was her son Robert who at 19 was newly married to Betsey FREIND and living with his wife’s parents. The boy was an apprentice William HEARD [26842] the son of John HEARD [13652] and cousin of Richard [2626]. Charlotte became a grocer and draper in Dolton.
Robert [10774] took over the smithy and was found there on the 1881, 1891 and 1901 censuses. His sons John [10811] and Alfred [10812] are both blacksmiths in 1901. Working with them was a blacksmith's assistant Reuben CLEMENTS [11115] who went on to marry Robert's daughter Charlotte in September Quarter 1906. Reuben was a farrier in 1911. Robert’s sons Walter and Ernest became cabmen operating from a barn adjacent to the Smithy. Later Ernest had a taxi service and dairy round. Ernest married Amy HAM having a double wedding with her sister Fanny who married Archer SHORT. Walter served with the 9th Battalion Devonshire Regiment and was killed in Arras, Pas de Calais, France
Edward [18571] was the youngest of George and Mary’s children. He married Thomazine STANBURY and together they kept the Royal Oak Inn in Dolton while Edward continued to work as a blacksmith. Sometime between 1861 and 1871 he gave up the Inn but continued to work as a smith in the village until his death in 1880. Thomazine’s daughter Charlotte married Richard HEARD [2631] the son of Robert mentioned above.
Sarah [6046], the daughter of George and Mary, married Richard SCOTT and their son Thomas [21943] was a blacksmith with Edward [18571] in Dolton in 1851, Edward was on the census as an innkeeper. By the time of the next census in 1861 Thomas had married and was a widower blacksmith living with his parents. He died in 1864.
William JURY [6213], a great grandson of Robert HEARD [2594], was a wheelwright like his father on the 1871 and 1881 censuses in Beaford. In 1891 he was in Thelbridge, Devon still a wheelwright but in 1901 he was a coachbuilder and blacksmith, an employer working at home with his sons Alfred J., a wheelwright, William E., a blacksmith and Robert, a painter workers at home. A family business.
William Edward JURY [12049] was a blacksmith working for his father, William JURY [6213] a coach builder in Kingskerswell, Devon in 1901. In 1911 he was a coach smith still working for his father.
Henry HAMMETT [10976] was a blacksmith servant to Samuel LYNE in 1841 in Dolton. Samuel LYNE [18370] was husband of sister of husband of Jane HEARD [20004] and Jane HEARD was cousin of wife of Henry HAMMETT. He married in 1842 to Jane WESTCOTT who was the granddaughter of Robert HEARD [2594]. He became a smith and had moved to Beaford village by 1851. They moved and he was a smith in Ilsington near Newton Abbott in 1861.Jane, his wife, died in 1863 and he remarried in 1864 to Mary SKINNER. In 1871 Henry was a blacksmith in Chudleigh. His son William [10979] aged 15 was with him as smith in 1861. William married and was a fitter in agricutral implements in Ilsington in 1871.
John DYMENT [83] was a blacksmith in 1881 but as he was was visiting his future wife and mother in law, Maria and Mary HEARN in Beaford it is not clear if that is where he was working. Next door was blacksmith John HEARD [6100]. Maria’s sister Hannah was married to William HEARD [10758] and John HEARD [6100] was the uncle of William. John and Maria married four days later when his occupation was given as wheelwright and carpenter. John was a blacksmith in Crediton in 1891 but 10 years later he is producer gas engineer still in Crediton. His father and grandfather were both agricultural labourers.
LYNE family of Dolton
Samuel LYNE [18370] was a blacksmith in Dolton village in 1841, when Henry Hammet [10976] was his servant he had an apprentice William VILLEY. He married Ann SCOTT, her brother William SCOTT married Jane HEARD [20004] to make another connection to the HEARD family. In 1851 he was still a blacksmith in Dolton and his apprentice was then Henry CLARK. He was a blacksmith but there was no apprentice with him in 1861. He died in November 1870. Samuel’s father Thomas LYNE [18367] and grandfather George LYNE [18377] were also blacksmiths. Dr Peter LYNE has written about this family online here.
Thomas LYNE [18506] brother of Samuel, was also a blacksmith in 1841 and 1851. In 1841 he was with his wife and son William, also a blacksmith, and daughter Ann in Lyne’s Cottage, Dolton. On the 1851 census he is in Lyne’s Brook, Dolton with his wife and son William [18511] who had become a local preacher. He was still a blacksmith at the age of 73 at Brook Cottage in Dolton in 1861. He died in 1865.
William LYNE [18511], the son of Thomas, went back to being a blacksmith. He had married Ann BULLIED and was a blacksmith in Dolton village in 1861 and 1871. In 1881 he had was a draper and grocer as well as a smith. His daughter Rosa was a draper’s assistant and his neice Emily DAWE was a dressmaker. He had retired by 1891 and died in 1892. His son William Bullied LYNE moved to London and went into the drapery trade.
John LYNE [13604] was a blacksmith in Dolton in 1841 and 1851. He died in Dolton in December 1851. Although being born in Dolton around the same time as the other Lyne blacksmiths we have found no connection as yet. His daughter Mary married William FOLLAND
Blacksmiths in our FOLLAND family.
Henry FOLLAND [2733] described himself as a blacksmith of St Giles in the Wood in his will. He did not mention a wife or children. Most of his brothers and sisters were given the proverbial shilling. His nephew Henry FOLLAND [11066], a smith living with him was given five pounds but his house, blacksmith shop, tools and materials he gave to his sister Esther CLARKE [2735].
After Henry died in 1836 young Henry [2740] went to live with his mother’s brother in Upton Pyne and became an agricultural machine maker.
Henry CLARK [13720], the son of Esther CLARKE [2735] was apprentice to Samuel LYNE [18370] in Dolton in 1851. Samuel and Henry are fourth cousins. He had married Ann RUSTON, they had had a daughter and with his brother John were living in Cripplegate, Middlesex in 1861. By 1871 he was an engine smith living in Finsbury. As machinery became more popular many Blacksmiths converted to the care of engines in this way.
Michael FOLLAND [6199] was a second cousin to Henry [2733]. The first mention of him being a blacksmith was when his first child was baptised in 1820 in Merton. He his a blacksmith on the censuses between 1841-
His son Thomas FOLLAND [6202] was working with him in 1851 but we have not found any record of him after that.
William Henry BIRD [18985] was a second cousin once removed to Henry FOLLAND [2733]. In 1881 he was a blacksmith living with his parents in Northam. His father was a lime burner. He married Alice BROAD and had children in Clifton, Bristol before living in Knowle, Bristol where he was a blacksmith in 1891 and 1901. He moved within Knowle to house with a tobacconist shop. He was now a blacksmith employing two of his sons, Thomas Earnest and Oswald Henry, his daughters Lily and Dora were Tobacconist Assistants working at home and his other son Arthur William was a Newsagent Assistant working at home. He died in 1920 when he was an engineer and probate of his will was granted to his sons Thomas Earnest and Oswald Henry who were also engineers.
John NETHERWAY [743] was a first cousin twice removed to Henry FOLLAND [2733]. When he married Mary DYMOND [97] in 1840 in Exbourne he was a blacksmith and continued to be a blacksmith on the 1841 and 1851 censuses. He died in 1852 aged 43. Mary, his wife, married his brother Harry NETHERWAY in 1854.
His father William NETHERWAY [27005] was recorded as a blacksmith in the Exbourne baptism register at the baptisms of his children from 1814 to 1829 and on the 1841 and 1851 censuses. He died in 1851 aged 52.
Thomas NETHERWAY [27126] was the brother of John NETHERWAY [743]. He was a blacksmith with his father in 1851 and on his own in 1861. By 1871 he had taken on the veterinary skills to become a farrier. He died in November 1871.
Blacksmiths in our BALE family.
Bartholomew FULFORD [2546] married Harriet BALE [387] in Northam in 1827 and was a blacksmith in Appledore. Between 1830 and 1833 they moved to Buckland Brewer. Harriet died in 1842 and he married her sister Prudence [392] before emigrating to Canada in 1848. In 1852 he was a blacksmith in Brighton, Ontario living in a frame house with his wife Prudence and their sons Edward [3914] who was also a blacksmith and John who was a carpenter. Next to them was his brother in law, William BALE a carpenter. Barholomew was a farmer on the 1861 census and died before the 1871 census.
Edward FULFORD [3914] the son of Bartholomew was also a farmer in 1861. He had married his cousin Maria BATE and was living near his father. On the 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 his occupation was given as a blacksmith in Brighton, Ontario.
William Watkins JAMES [19003] was working as an apprentice smith with his father Peter JAMES [19012] in 1851. In 1853 he emigrated to Canada where he married Sarah BALE [546] and had three children before returning to Stoke Damerel where he was working as a smith with his father again in 1861 but returned to Canada before 1862 when another daughter was born. He died in 1869 in Hamilton, Ontario. Sarah BALE [546] and Bartholomew BALE [2546] are fourth cousins.
Peter JAMES [19012] the father of William Watkins JAMES and was a smith in Stoke Damerel in 1841 -
William KELLY [10554] was a blacksmith in Northam in 1871, he was living at the Royal George kept by his parents in Irsha Street so possibly his forge was at the pub. His father died in 1880 and the pub was taken over by his father’s wife. William was still a blacksmith at the pub in 1881. By 1891 he had married but was still a blacksmith living in Irsha Street, Appledore. On the 1901 census he was a blacksmith’s labourer but in 1911 he was in the workhouse. William KELLY [10554] was brother of husband of Harriet BALE [669] and Harriet BALE was niece of wife of Bartholomew FULFORD [2546].
Blacksmiths in our FRIEND family.
Robert FRIEND [11498] was the great great grandson of William FRIEND [11377], the earliest ancestor we have found on that line. He was an agricultural labourer in 1871 but in 1881 he was a journeyman blacksmith with master blacksmith Robert HEARD [10774]. (Robert HEARD was married to Betsy Newcombe FRIEND who was a third cousin of Robert FRIEND.) In 1891 in was boarding at his brother’s house in Halfpenny Land, Dolton. He was a blacksmith neither employer or employed. His brother John was a carpenter. He was boarding with Henry DIMENT, a farmer, in 1901 in Chulmleigh where he was a blacksmith worker. Robert married Grace MITCHELL in 1908 but was still a blacksmith worker in Chulmleigh in 1911.
Thomas FRIEND [11540] was the great x3 grandson of William FRIEND [11377] and third cousin once removed of Robert FRIEND [11498]. Thomas was an apprentice blacksmith with Robert HEARD [10774] in 1881. He was a blacksmith in Charles in Plymouth in 1891 lodging at 1 Marine Cottages Deadmans Bay. His brother John, a horse driver was also lodging there. He married Dorcas Emma FRANCIS, moved to Lambhay Hill and became a farrier for a Cooperative Society.
John CLEMENS [11417] married Mary FRIEND, the granddaughter of William FRIEND [11377]. He is recorded as a blacksmith in the St Giles in the Wood baptism register and a smith on the 1841 census.
William WARE [15032] was apprentice blacksmith to his uncle John BEER [19095] in Bulkworthy, Devon in 1851. When he married Mary TANTON in 1855 he was a mechanic. They emigrating to Canada where William continued to be a blacksmith.
John BEAR [19095] was a blacksmith in Bulkworthy, Devon. In 1841 he had two journeymen, John HEAL and William HEARD, neither of whom we can link to the family. In 1851 his wife’s nephew William WARE [15032] was his apprentice.
More Devon Blacksmiths...
Henry DULLING [21287] was a blacksmith in Winkleigh in 1851.
Samuel POPE [24801] was a blacksmith in Brushford recorded in the baptism register between 1816 and 1827. In 1841 he had two apprentices but died before the 1851 census. His son Samuel POPE [24822] was the blacksmith in Brushford in 1851 employing two men.
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