Revised June 18, 1997
I. Introduction
This is an HTML version of a WordPerfect document which provides details concerning Edmund Dirrick of Ubley, Somerset, and his many descendants. I am descended from one branch of this tree. (Note that, due to the convention used in the searchable database found in these pages, Edmund is listed as Edmund (Abt 1643) in the fathers index there. Similarly, other fathers will be listed under slightly different birthdates to those shown here - these being linked across the generations.)
Although the name Derrick is found elsewhere in Britain, it is mostly a north Somerset and Bristol name. The main concentration of people of that name lived between the Mendips and the River Avon, with a strong concentration in the villages along the north face of the Mendip hills. In particular, there were Derricks at Ubley and Blagdon from the 1600s (or earlier) until at least the late 1800s. During that time many families migrated to other villages and towns in Somerset, as well as into neighbouring counties (e.g., Wiltshire and Gloucestershire), to Wales and farther parts of England, and to Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Apart from the early Derricks in Ubley and Blagdon, there were concentrations in Long Ashton and Whitchurch, but they disappeared in both places in the early 1700s owing to death and migration. In addition, there is early evidence of Derricks in Bristol, with the number increasing due to natural causes and in migration. Early on, that is, around 1700 and before, there are many variations in the spelling of the family name (e.g., Dirrick, Dyrryke, Derick, Derrick). After that time, Derrick was used in most places except for Ubley, where Dirrick was used until about 1800.
This document is about one early family and its descendants. It is a collection of information on the more interesting people related to Edmund Dirrick, who was known to be living at Ubley from 1670 to 1713. It was compiled mainly because Edmund is an ancestor of mine, on my mother's side. The information is divided into various parts. Part II is concerned only with Edmund (1640) and his immediate family. Parts III - V deal with family trees descending from each of Edmund's three sons, while Part VI is concerned with my family tree. Each of these parts has a diagram showing the family tree giving by name those that are mentioned in the text. Bold print is used to show the main part of the text where each of these persons is described. Part VII includes a transcript of some testimony against an Edmund Dirrick living in Ubley around 1615 (possibly the grandfather of Edmund (1640), and two extracts from the Ubley register written by Edmund (1640) describing two natural disasters.
There were many more Derricks descended from Edmund (1640) apart from those described here. They are not included since nothing is known about them except for their birth, marriage, children, and burial, if that. In the family tree diagrams, those of no particular interest are indicated by s = son, or d = daughter (all children are shown, though many of them did not survive into adulthood).
In looking at the details provided here, it should be remembered that amount and type of information available on people differed as time went on. The early parish registers usually provided little if any information of a person's job. Later, some registers started adding this information, while, after about 1810, a standard printed form was used, that gave occupation and abode. Similarly, age at death was usually not provided in the early registers, but was on the later printed forms. The census information available in 1841 and later also gave job information. In addition, some parishes have extensive records on Poor Law, Churchwardens' Accounts, Settlement, and Bastardy, while others have few records or none.
It should also be remembered that one is more likely to find bad rather than good information about people, for if one was poor, had illegitimate children, or broke the law, one's name would be in the parish documents, while if you had a job and did nothing wrong, you would not appear in the books. So, any information found about people tends to be on the bad side, and probably presents a misleading picture in general.
II. Edmund (1640)
Edmund
1640-1713
= Margaret = Hannah = Elizabeth = Mary
M. 1666 M. 1680 M. 1693 M. 1694
| |
------------------------- +
| | | |
Edmund Edward Esther Richard
1671-1701 1676-1730 1678-1679 1695-1759
| | |
Tree 2 Tree 3 Tree 4
Tree 1 Edmund (1640), his wives and children
A note in the parish register on the cessation of his clerkship in 1707 says he was 68 at that time. He was therefore almost certainly the Edmund born in 1640 to an Edmund and Elizabeth (according to an Ubley Bishops Transcripts record). This birth year would make him age 26 at the time of his first marriage in 1666, which is consistent with the general marrying age at the time. His parents, Edmund and Elizabeth Evans, were married at Ubley in 1639, with Edmund being designated Edmund the Younger. Prior to that time there is scattered evidence (not fully researched yet) of Dirricks at Ubley. Around 1615 there are several documents related to the Quarter Sessions, including testimony concerning an Edmund Dirrick by his neighbours. According to these reports Edmund had been harassing them by bringing frivolous law suits, and had also been speaking out against the King and his Nobles, among other things. Earlier, in 1596, there is a Court Roll record of an Edmund Dirrick taking the lease of certain fields belonging to the manor of Ubley.
Apart from being the subject of this note, Edmund (1640) is of interest for various reasons: 1) he was the parish clerk of Ubley and of the neighbouring parish of Butcombe, 2) he wrote about a number of local weather episodes in the parish register, 3) his wife appears in a Quarter Session account of an assault by a neighbour, and 4) he testified in a dispute over a will that he had drawn up for one Matthew Pickering of Compton Martin in the last years of the 17th century.
Edmund was the parish clerk for Ubley from at least 1670 until he died in 1713. This is known
from the cover of the parish register, and from the entry for his death which notes he was clerk for 52
years. It was he who purchased the register book from a Richard Gravett of Bristol, and laid it out. He
actually did this in 1696, and must have transcribed the entries from 1670 to 1696 from some other book
or papers. He wrote in the register about several natural disasters that occurred in the area between 1683
and 1709, including a great frost, a tempest, and famine caused by rain (See back of this report for two
of them). He was clearly a great Bible reader, as he put a number of Biblical quotes at the end of his
narratives.
Edmund (1640) (Tree 1) had three children by his first wife, Margaret Smith, who he married at Compton Martin in 1666. He may have had more before his son Edmund, but we probably shall never know because the parish register begins in 1670. Further information on his son Edmund and his descendants is given in part III, and on his second son Edward, in part IV. Margaret died in 1679, and Edmund married Hannah Stephens in Ubley in 1680. There are no recorded children bapized to Edmund and Hannah. Hannah died in 1692, and Edmund married Elizabeth Parker the next year. She died the next year, possibly, I suspect, in childbirth. In 1694 Edmund married Mary Parker at Butcombe. He and Mary had one child, Richard, about whom more is given in part V.
Apart from Edmund (1640), there were other Derricks living at Ubley at about the same time. Of these, two may have been brothers or cousins of Edmund. First there is John (1642), who died at Ubley in 1704. The reason for thinking that he was a close relative to Edund is that the parish register has an epitaph to him -- a unique occurrence at Ubley. This epitaph is very interesting because it suggests that John suffered from occupational lung disease, perhaps silicosis from being a lead miner (although it may have simply been asthma or another lung disease). It goes:
John Dirrick a Mindips man was buried January 28th
His constant employment was underground
His long distemper was shortness of breath
His main endeavor was safe and sound
He set his aspirations above this earth
And after sixty and two years spent
In labour and sorrow in grief and pain
Finding on earth no true content
Surrendered his soul to God again
John fathered a line of Derricks, most of whom went to live at Compton Martin and then dispersed. Reading between the lines they were not a happy lot, one dying drunk, others having to travel around seeking work. One branch was effectively forced out of Compton and ended up at Bradford-on-Avon (where it grew during the rest of the 19th century at Bradford Leigh, with one branch returning to Somerset at Bath around 1891). The line died out from Compton around 1800 due to the families having girls mostly, or to early deaths of the males, or to families moving away.
Another possible brother (or cousin) of Edmund (1640) was Peter (1648?). Nothing is known of his birth, but his marriage was documented at Wells, where he was described as a husbandman. A John Dirrick was a witness, which is why I think Peter and John were brothers. Peter died six years after his marriage. His burial record describes him as a Mendips man (like John).
Lastly, there were a couple of families both headed by Williams. One William may have been the father of the other. In neither case is there any clear indication of their relationship to Edmund (1640). Two sons of the later William went to Blagdon, one founding a long line of Derricks, many of whom were masons, and many of whom went to Bristol around 1800 or later.
III. Some families in the line of Edmund (1671)
Edmund
1671-1701
= Sarah
m. 1692
|
------------------------
| | | |
s Philip s d
? 1695-1772 =
= Mary
m. 1727
|
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | |
Isaac s 2d s Shadrach d Meshach d Abednego d
1728-81 = = 1736-80 1742-1811 1750-98
= Martha = Jane = Hester
m. 1772 m. 1764 m. 1772?
| | |
----------- ---------------------------------------- ------------
| | | | | | | | |
Shadrach 2d George Charity d Meshach 3d Phoebe Edmund
1774-1823 1765-1820 1771-1847 1777-1850 1773-1829 1775-96
= Eleanor = Hannah = Phoebe = Jane
m. 1805 m. 1799 m. 1800 m. 1832
| | |
3d ------------------- ------------------
| | | | | | |
George John 1s, 2d Shadrach 2d s 2d
1800-66 1802->51 1801->51
= Sarah = Sarah = Jane
m. 1826? m. 1826 m. 1832?
| | |
3s, 1d 5s, 3d 3s, 3d
Terminating symbols - = means child died young, | means more descendants, ? means no information
Tree 2 Edmund (1671) and his descendants
Edmund (1671) appears to have been the first son to Edmund the parish clerk and Margaret his wife. He was baptized at Ubley in 1671. It seems very likely he married Sarah Philips at Blagdon in 1692. The Blagdon register notes that both were from Ubley, and it is curious that they would get married there since neither was from that parish, and since Edmund's father was the parish clerk of Ubley. The reason for this may have been Blagdon connections (see William noted above), and they may have been living there at the time.
Edmund and Sarah had four children, all baptized at Ubley. The oldest was named Edmund, but there is no further mention of him in the Ubley register. His second son lived for 77 years and is dealt with in the next part of this section. The remaining two children died within a few years of birth.
Edmund died 1701 at age 30. The burial entry refers to Edmund as being a husbandman. There is a plaque to Edmund in Ubley church, under the tower, which says the following:
Here lyeth the body of Edmund Dirrick who departed this life in the faith and feare of God the 1st day of August anno domi 1701.
From dust, from dust at first, to dust,
I must in dust a while remain.
Now dust, I trust in Christ
From dust to rise again.
Philip, the second son of Edmund (1671) and Sarah, and grandson of Edmund the parish clerk, is of interest not only because of his large number of children, but also because of the names he gave them, and that he had a kind of rags-to-riches story.
He married Mary Jones at Butcombe, at the rather late age of 32, in 1727. They had eleven children, with three sons named consecutively, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. All children were baptized at Ubley, although Philip and Mary were living at Blagdon at least until 1734. In 1729 they made an attempt to settle back in Ubley, but were made to return to Blagdon by parish settlement order. (Settlement orders were part of the poor law system designed to keep people out of the village who couldn't support themselves.) Hence, it seems that Philip and Mary must have come upon hard times at Blagdon.
Philip must have made good some how, or perhaps came into some money, for by 1766 he, with his son Isaac, was paying parish taxes to Ubley. This meant he must have been one of the relatively few who owned or rented land. He died in 1772 and was buried at Ubley.
After Philip's death, his son Isaac (1728) continued to pay parish taxes until his death. He apparently did not marry, and, maybe, left his money to his only surviving brother, Abednego (1750). Abednego also paid parish taxes until his death, and eventually became parish tax assessor and then collector. He married Hester, and had two children before she died, both being baptized at West Harptree. I believe that his only daughter married her cousin, Meshach (see below). His only son, Edmund, died at West Harptree two years before he did. He died in 1798 and is buried at West Harptree.
Philip's son, Shadrach (1736), got married in Temple parish, Bristol. He appears to have had at least one son (though I have not found his baptismal record), Shadrach (1774?), who also married at Bristol, and had three daughters baptized at Ubley. He appears to have taken over the property that his uncle Abednego had been paying Ubley taxes on. Shadrach continued to pay taxes until his death, at which time his wife paid for two more years. Nobody from this particular family line appears to have taken over paying taxes after 1825, unless the land or rental passed to one of the daughters after she had been married.
Amother of Philip's sons, Meshach (1742), married at Ubley, had two daughters, and then moved to Stawell near Bridgewater, where he had a number of children. He then moved to nearby Moorlinch, and had one more child. His son, Meshach (1777) married a Phoebe Dirrick (probably his cousin, the daughter of Abednego) at Bristol, and had at six children, including a son and a daughter baptized at Ubley, and the rest at Moorlinch. The early deaths of Phoebe (age 56) and of three of the children (ages 21, 22, and 29) at Burnham on Sea suggests they died of TB. (Actually, a substantial proportion of this family line died in early adulthood to middle age, i.e., between 19 and 60, suggesting that TB was endemic to this line.) In 1832 Meshach married a Jane Spenser at St Mary Redcliffe, Bristol. He died in 1850 at Woolavington, and his will survives. His estate was listed at 100 pounds. His wife, Jane, died in 1852 at Burnham, and she left 450 pounds, but none to any Derrick! His son, Shadrach (1801) was farming 210 acres at Moorlinch in 1851,
Another son of Meshach (1742), George (1765) may also have been a farmer. However, his sons, George (1800) and John (1802) did not do so well, both being agricultural laborers (though one, John became a butcher for a few years before he died sometime between 1841 and 1851). Charity (1780), a daughter of Meshach (1742) is listed in the 1841 census for Binegar as a farmeress. She died in 1847 and left an estate worth 450 pounds to her only surviving brother(Meshach (1777)), to her sisters and some of their children, to a nephew (Shadrach (1801)), and to the widow (Hannah) and three of the (four, possibly three, surviving) children of late brother, George (1769?) (excluding George (1800) for some reason, unless she got mixed up between George and John).
Nobody from this family line is mentioned in Ubley after 1825.
It is clear that most of the money (and land, if any) in the family went to this line of the family. Little, if any, seems to have gone to the line of Richard, while the intermediate children appear to have got some.
IV. Some families in the line of Edward (1676)
Edward
1676-1730
= Ann
m. 1700
|
--------------------------------------------------------
| | | | |
Peter s James 3s John
1701-70 ? 1704-53 == 1713->50
= Hannah = Hannah = Elizabeth
m. 1725? m. 1727 m. 1737
| | |
--------------------------------------------
| | | |
d James Thomas 2d
1734-94 1736-1821
= Rebecca = Martha
m. 1760 m. 1758
| |
------------------------- ------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | |
Samuel 4d James s d s 2d s Esau d 2s
1760->1841 1775-1848 = | ? 1770-? ==
= Betty = Sarah = Betty
m. 1808? m. 1800? m. 1790
| | |
--------------------- --------------- ---------------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
3d s Charles d s d s s s d Joseph 2d s d 2s Francis d Levi d s s
| 1818->41 ? | = ? 1817-? | 1806-77 1815-? | ?
= Harriet = Hannah = Sarah
m. 1841 m. 1832 m. 1842?
| | |
---------------- -------- --------
| | | | | | | |
Helena 2d s Henry Henry 4d 2s,2d Worthy
1841>58 ? 1857-1935 1836-? ? ? - ?
| | = Hannah Lydia
m. 1858 m. ?
| |
----------- ---------
| | | |
4s, 4d George 7s,d Charles
? 1864-1939 ? 1889-1989
= Elizabeth = ?
m. 1884 m. ?
| |
-----------
| |
3s, 6d Vincent
? 1897-1958
|
= means child died young or did not marry; | means more descendants ? means no information
Tree 3 Edward (1676) and his descendants
There are many descendants of Edward (1676) (well over 100 even before 1850), although little is known about most of them more than their birth, death, marriage and children. Information about the rest is given below (see Tree 3).
James (1775) probably moved to Bath. He set up (or bought) a poultry shop at 3 New Bond St. His son, Joseph, born 1817, emigrated to Australia. Joseph's first born is distinctive for marrying a Chinese man, an interpreter at Avoca, Victoria. She was also witness to the marriage of Annie Pope, age 16, born in the Bay of Biscay, to My Lee Pew of China. Joseph's three sons each had a family in Victoria. One of them, Henry (1857), after being a coach driver, became a road contractor, ran hotels in Ararat, and owned a farm.
Thomas (1736) appears to have paid Ubley parish taxes, and to have grown teazles. He is one of the few people for whom a will has been found (most wills being burnt at Exeter during the war). In this he names his two sons, Esau and James as executors, and leaves various items to his various children, including barrels, bees, a bedstead, and also three acres of land at Compton Martin. His son Esau (1770) also paid taxes, and had a large number of children, many of whom had unusually fancy names for the time. He eventually went to Iron Acton in Gloucestershire, accompanied by five of his sons (Benjamin, Alexander, Levi, Francis, and Orlando -- all except Francis and Levi not shown). These also were mostly teazle growers or merchants at Iron Acton, but Francis and Orlando (at least) moved back to Somerset, to the West Hatch/North Curry area. George (1864), the grandson of Francis, moved to South Wales (Bedwellty), and became a coal miner. His father, Vincent (1897), emigrated to the United States and became a coal miner in Pennsylvania. He later moved back to South Wales. The grandson of Levi (1815), Charles (1889), lived to 100 years old, and died in the Taunton area. In a newspaper clipping of him it says that he was born at Broadway and left school at age 11 to mind sheep at sixpence a day. Later, he started teazle growing, which he continued until he retired at 70. He would rent a field, have it ploughed, and then employ a team of men and women to sow the seed and harvest the crop.
People believed to have paid parish taxes were: James (1734), Charles (1769), Aquilla (1775), and George (1789) (the last three are not shown in Tree 3 but Charles and Aquilla were probably descendants of Peter (1701), while George was the first son of Thomas (1736)).
People believed to have moved away and not shown in Tree 3 were: Job (1736), who probably moved to Bristol; Jesse (1771), who moved across the valley to Nempnett Thrubwell; and Richard (1813), who ended up at Chilcompton. All were descendants of Peter (1701). In addition, two brothers and sons of John (1713), Nathaniel (1738) and Daniel (1743), moved to Cloford, and possibly may have lived for a while at Bradford on Avon, Wilts. Both died in their 40s.
(There is the possibility that Thomas (1736) in this line may have had a grandson, Thomas (1798) who emigrated to Victoria in the 1850s. I have not included him in Tree 3 because there is a lot of doubt owing to two families in the area having children with the same name in the same year, and the evidence generally favouring the other family rather than Thomas.)
V. Some families in the line of Richard (1695)
Richard
1695-1759
= Ann
m. 1721
|
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
| | | | | | | |
3d Richard s William s s d Joel
1730-1802 1735>76 = | 1745>77
= Betty = Ann = Sarah
m. 172 m. 1761 m. 1772
| | |
------------------ -------------------- -------
| | | | | | | | | | | |
3d Richard s William s d s 2s d s d s
1759-1809 1761-1839 | ? = |
= Ann = Elizabeth
m. 1786 m. 1783
| |
------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Joel s s s Amos Priscilla Lamech Jehu Job s William d s s s 3d s
1786>1825 = ? ? 1794>1851 1796>1819 1798>1851 1801-1878 1803>1851 = 1783-1838 = ? | ?
= Betty = Jane = Ann = Mary = Mary = Priscilla = Hester
m. 1815 m. 1825 m. 1825? m. 1822 m.1829 m. 1806 m. 1819
| | | | | | |
----------------- | ------------- ------------------ --------- ----- ------------------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
Richard Matilda 4d 1s, 5d 8s, 2d Enoch Elijah Joseph 1s, 2d 3d s s d Richard s d
1816-83 1825>57 1828-60 1830-1907 1836-93 = ? 1824->72 ?
= Betty = Enoch = Matilda = Eliza = Brunette = Prudence = Ann
m. 1850? m. 1854? m. 1854? m. 1854 m. 1850 m. 1852? m. 1862?
| -------> | | | | |
----- ----- ------------------- ----- --------------- ------------------
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | |
3s 4d s d d s 2d Albert s d s 10s 2d d William 2s Richard 3s
== = = 1862-1907= 1854-1923 ? 1866-1938
= Martha = Elizabeth = Sarah
m. 1885 m. 1879? m. 1890?
| | |
--? + -------------------
| | | | |
s 4d, 6s 1s, 1d Albert 3s, 2d
= | 1895-1991
= Rose
m. 1920
|
Terminating symbols - = means child died young, | means more descendants, ? means no information
Tree 4 Richard (1695) and his descendants
Richard (1695) was the only son of Edmund the Ubley parish clerk and his fourth wife. His father died when he was 18 (Tree 4). Richard married Ann Dirrick in 1721. Ann was from another Ubley Dirrick family that had moved to the next village of Compton Martin. She was the daughter of James (1675), the son of John (1642), possibly the brother of Edmund (1640)).
Richard (1695) became the parish clerk after his father, Edmund died. He had ten children, including four sons who survived to marry and have families. Two of them, Richard (1730) and Joel (1745) are mentioned below. He lived until 1759, when he was 64, and was buried at Ubley.
Richard (1730), the son of Richard (1695) and grandson of Edmund was born at Ubley. He also became parish clerk when his father died. He married Betty White of Ubley, and they had five children. He chose unusual names for four of them: Priscilla, Ariporia, Keziah, and Aquilla. The first and last are named after a Roman couple mentioned in the new testament. His remaining child, Richard (1759) was named after him. He died in 1802 and is buried at Ubley.
Joel (1745) the youngest brother of Richard (1730) is of some interest because he was moved by Settlement order from Blagdon to Nempnett Thrubwell in 1775. Previously he had married Sarah Roynons in 1772 at Nempnett, but must have moved to Blagdon. However, he clearly did not have work there, and was removed back to Nempnett.
Richard (1759) the son of Richard (1730) was employed as schoolmaster to a charity school at Compton Martin between 1780 and 1788. He received five pounds, "for one half year's salary for instructing 12 poor boys..." It was probably while he was at Compton that he met his wife, Ann Vowles. They married in 1786, he being 27, and she 19. It appears that they moved back to Ubley when the school closed down in 1788. The family then moved to Blagdon, where they remained. It is not known what Richard did at Blagdon, but he is mentioned in the 1807 Highway accounts as being paid for drawing rates and entering accounts. He may have continued being a school teacher, for the death certificate of his son Jehu, says his father was a school teacher.
Richard and Ann had nine sons and one daughter, and like his father, Richard named them after obscure Biblical people (Joel, Aquilla, Enoch, Amos, Priscilla, Lamech, Jehu, Job, and Jeremiah). The name of the last one must have been significant, for Ann died five weeks after his birth, and Jeremiah followed one week later. That left seven children under 15 with no mother. Worse still, Richard followed four years later. He was buried at Blagdon. Most of the children seemed to have survived without a problem, for five of the boys eventually married and some became craftsmen. Those mentioned in this document are Joel, Priscilla, Amos, Lamech, Jehu, and Job.
Joel (1786) is of interest because, to my knowledge, he is the first to become a Wesleyan. He married Betty Curtis, and went to live at Bishops Sutton, a few miles north of Ubley. His children were baptized at East Harptree Wesleyan chapel. He later was living at Tunley, with his wife and two daughters. One of those daughters married her cousin, Enoch (see below) and went to Victoria, Australia. Joel's only son, Richard (1816), went to Camerton parish, and was living at Carlingcott in 1851. He later emigrated to Victoria, Australia, where he had a number of children, all dying young except for one.
Amos (1792) another son of Richard (1759) became a plasterer and moved to Wrington. He had six children.
Priscilla (1796), one of the few women mentioned in this report (because very little information is available about women in the registers and parish documents), was a daughter of Richard (1759). She appears to have come to a bad end. She had two illegitimate children, and was also removed by Settlement Order from Ubley to Blagdon.
Lamech (1798), another of the sons of Richard (1759) married Ann Sandford at Bristol, became a Wesleyan like his brother Joel, and though born at Blagdon went on to live at Churchill. Like his brother Amos he was a plasterer. He had ten children.
Jehu (1801), yet another son of Richard (1759), was the one that did well for himself. He moved first to East Harptree, and then to Radstock. He married Mary Holbrooke and had four children. Like his brothers Joel and Lamech he became a Wesleyan. He was a mason, and by 1851 had a business going that employed six men and two boys. He emigrated to Victoria, Australia, in 1857. His eldest son, Enoch (1828), was also a mason, and in 1851 was employing 14 men and three boys in Radstock. He married Matilda Derrick, probably his cousin, the daughter of Joel (1786), and emigrated to Australia, where he died quite young at the age of 32. Elijah (1830), who was a mason in 1851, emigrated to Australia in 1852. He had just married at Radstock, but his first wife was drowned in a shipwreck on their way to Australia. He remarried in Victoria. He superintended the building of the Ararat Mental Hospital, and built the Wesley Church there (probably among other things). His son Albert James became the director of public works for Victoria. Curiously, another Derrick distantly related to Elijah was living at Ararat at the time. This was Henry (1857), who was mentioned previously in the section dealing with the sons of Edward (1676). The last child of Jehu (1801) was Joseph (1836). He also went to Victoria, and married there, and had 12 children, most of whom appear to have survived.
Job (1803), the last child of Richard (1759) to be mentioned here went on to live at Paulton, married again, to Mary Whiddock, and had three children, one named after his brother Jehu. Though he lived in a coal mining area, he was employed as a labourer.
VI. My family line
I trace my line from Edmund the parish clerk, through his son, Richard (1695) (Tree 4). Richard had a son William (1735), who also had a son William (1761), who had a son William (1783). The first two Williams are of little interest because nothing is known about them apart from birth, marriage, and burial records.
However, a fair amount is known of William (1783). First, it seems he had two wives (in succession). The first was a woman who was born illegitimate at Compton Martin. They had four children, one being baptized at Cheddar, and three at West Harptree. The children were baptized at West Harptree because William and Priscilla were living at a farm called Temple Down, which is just on top of the Mendips above Ubley and Compton, and which is just in that parish. William was said to be the bailiff of the farm. Priscilla died in 1817 at the age of 35, and William married Hester Attwood in 1819. Hester was said to be from St Cuthberts parish in Wells, but had been born in Emborough. Like may, she was illiterate, and made her mark on the marriage entry in the register. William and Hester had six children, all baptized at West Harptree but the last, who was baptized at Ubley. William appears to have had a number of jobs, including apparent demotion to labourer at Temple Down, and labourer elsewhere.
William died in 1838 at the age of 55, leaving four children under the age of 15. Hester was probably turned out of Temple Down, where they were most likely again living. In 1841 she and the last three children were all living at the Castle of Comfort Inn a few miles from Temple Down. She was said to be a nurse. the Inn still exists. Hester went to live with one of her daughters, and ended up living in Camerton with her son, Richard. This daughter is of interest, because she got married at 16, an extremely young age at that time. Her husband was George Dimond. Her grandson, Ernest Dimond married Ellen, the daughter of William (1854), listed below.
Richard (1824), the son of William the bailiff, went to work at a Mendip farm (on Blue Bowl Road and owned by Henry Lane) after his father died. By 1851 he was at Camerton parish at Whitebrook Lane (south end of the present Peasedown). He was employed as an agricultural labourer, was married to Prudence, but with no children. By 1861 he was a widower with two young children, and his mother, Hester, living with him on Bath Road. In 1871 he was married again, now to Ann, and had five sons: George, Mark, Richard, John, Oliver, and Henry, as well as William from his first marriage. It seems that Ann died sometime between 1881 and 1891, because the latter census says that his wife was Mary, she being from West Harptree (not shown in Tree owing to lack of space). He was a colliery labourer. Three of their sons, Richard, John, and Henry, were still living at home, and all were coal miners, and unmarried. Also listed in the census was a Mary Perry, general domestic servant, age 10, from West Harptree (perhaps the grand-daughter of his third wife?).
William (1854), the first son of Richard (1824) was living at 8 Stowboro cottages, Firgrove cottages, Peasedown, in 1891, and was a coal miner. One child of his moved to South Wales. Another, Ellen, married her cousin Ernest Dimond, and they ended up in the U.S.A.
Richard (1866), completes this list of family members. He was the son of Richard (1824) and Ann. He married Sarah Summers of Tunley, and had eight children: Gilbert, Florence, Albert, Gertrude, Francis, Louis, Primula, and Roy. The 1891 census records that Sarah was visiting the house, before she and Richard were married. She was from Camerton.
VII. Transcripts of historical texts
The text of the first piece was transcribed from a copy of an original single page stored in the Somerset Record Office. The second and third pieces were transcribed from copies of the parish register. In all pieces I found a few words and abbreviations hard to decipher, and they are indicated by '?'. [ ] indicates my interpretation of missing or abbreviated words. The spelling was modernized and punctuation added.
a. Testimony against Edmund Dirrick of Ubley (1616) (from Quarter Sessions)
Right hear our love and ?
Upon the comp[laint] and information of divers and sundry poor men inhabitants in the Hundred of Chewton and Chew unto us of the troublesome dealing, wrongs, and oppressions of one Edmund Dirrick of Ubley in following and setting on divers frivial suits against them in the common law Star Chamber and other places without just cause, we being not ignorant of the law did make c[er]tificate thereof as also of his ill name and behaviour in his country to the King, Nobles, and Lord Chancellor of England, who thereupon granted a special suppti? against the said Dirrick for his good abearing. And as we are given now to understand the said Dirrick to overthrow and contradict the said certificate made by us hath given forth in speeches that he will ? to procure a certificate from you of his good demeanor and behaviour. Our desire therefore unto you is that you would be pleased to forebear said certificate in that kind until you have heard our knowledge and information and the parties wronged by him. And for betaking you to the ? we rest. Your ? friends, Fran. Baber, William Chapell, John ?
b. The Great Frost - by Edmund Dirrick
In the year 1683 was a mighty great frost. The like was not seen in England for many ages. It came upon a very deep snow which fell immediately after Christmas, and it continued until Lady Day. The ground was not open nor the snow gone off the earth in thirteen weeks. Some of the snow remained at Mendips till midsummer. It was so deep and driven with the wind against the hedges and stiles, that the next morning after it fell, men could not go to their grounds to save their cattle without great danger of being buried, for it was above head and shoulders in many places. Some it did bury and did betooken the burying of many more, which came to pass before the end of the [?]; but in a few days the frost came so fierce[?] that people did go upon the top of it, over walls and stiles and on level ground, not seeing hardly where they were, and many men were forced to keep their cattle until the last in the same ground that they were in at first because they could not drive them to any other place, and did hew the ice every day for water. By reason of the sharpness of the frost and the deepness of the snow, some that was traveling on Mendips did travel till they could travel no longer, and then lie down and die, but [?] did [?] most among them that could [?] most. The sharpness of the season took off the most part of them that was aged and of those that were under infirmity. The people did die so fast, that it was the greatest part of their work (which was appointed to do that work) to bury the dead, it being a days work for two men, or two days work for one man, to make a grave. It was almost as hard a work to hew a grave out in the earth as in the rock. The frost was a foot and a half and two feet deep in the dry earth, and where there was moister and wetter did run the ice was a yard and four feet thick, insomuch that the people did keep market on the River of London. God doth cast his ice like morsels; man cannot abide his cold.
The Terrible Tempest - by Edmund Dirrick (in Ubley parish register)
The relation of a terrible tempest both of water and of wind which arose by sea and by land on Friday, the 26th day of November, 1703, and continued until Saturday the 27th day. It began on Friday with rain which caused a great flood before it ceased. Towards the evening the rain abated and the wind arose and so continued rising higher and higher until about midnight at which time it was so high the like was never known. The noise of it was like continual thunder which did awaken all out of sleep. And feeling our beds shake under us and hearing our houses shake over us none that was about to rise could lie on their beds. About four hours before day our houses began to break and one hours time a sad destruction there was. But none could go forth of their houses nor rise from their places to see what hurt was done because of the darkness and the danger for four or five hours but sat mourning one with another and wishing for the day. But when the day was come that we could look forth: Lo a woeful sight to behold: To see heaps of healms at our doors. The streets filled with thatch and tile of our houses, to see some houses blown down, many uncovered and all in general torn and broken more or less. To see the churches defaced, the towers shaken, the windows broken, the lead blown off and the battlements blown down. To see abundance of trees, especially elms lying in the ways and in the fields with their roots turned upwards, a multitude of apple trees, and many whole orchards wholly laid down. To see the corn mounds uncovered and blown about the bartons, the hay mounds thrown down and carried into the ditches, a woeful sight indeed enough to make any one fear and tremble, to every thing that was not blown down the hedges and trees and everything movable to quiver and shake, to see nothing but ruin and destruction on every side. If you look to the north it was all laid down before you. If you look to the south it was all coming towards you. If you look to the east it was all flying from you. If to the west it was all ready to fall upon you: with a great roaring over your head and round about you. Thus it was with us, but with many more much worse. Great God, thou that didst shew Thy wonders in Egypt and the Judgement upon Pharoah and all his servants, and at the same time didst deliver thine own people. Thou that didst hear our prayers in our distress, Give us grace to forsake our sins and to serve thee who hast preserved us. Amen.