Joel KNIGHT family, Yarcombe, Devon, 1840s and earlier

[Jean_E]

Hello zooze & curlyjacquie -
I'm sorry I didn't reply earlier.  I've been away from home (and not working on genealogy) since late July. 

zooze / Sue: The most recent Spiller I have in my family tree is Joan Spiller (b. 8 Aug 1725, Yarcombe, Devon; d. 18 Apr 1784, Yarcombe, Devon; buried at Yarcombe) m. 26 Dec 1749, Membury, Devon to Benjamine/Benjamin Knight (b. 19 Feb 1716, Yarcombe, Devon; d. 29 Apr 1789.) I have 7 children for that couple, if you would like that information.  Just reply to this message and I'll send the list in a reply.

curlyjacquie / Jacquie: I do have Ann Knight (b. 1790, Yarcombe, Devon; d. 26 Feb 1854, Taunton, Somerset) m. 29 Feb 1808 to John Stone.  I don't have any other information on John Stone or his children with Ann.  I'd be grateful if you would share what you have on that family.

Also . . . for anyone familiar with the Yarcombe, Devon area . . . so what does "Marsh" refer to?  Is that just the name for a section of the Yarcombe area or is it really a marsh?  The image I get of ancestors is one from H.P. Lovecraft's Shadows out of Innsmouth with humans who mated with sea creatures resulting in ill-favored progeny with fins, webbed fingers and webbed toes!

By the way, I did find that my g-g grandfather, Joel Knight (b. Aug 1829, Yarcombe, Devon; d. 9 Nov 1911, Waupaca, Wisconsin, USA) married his first cousin, Caroline Dunn (b. 17 Feb 1825, Yarcombe, Devon; d. Jul 1859, Waupaca County, Wisconsin, USA) Mar 1851 before they left England in late Apr 1851 with his brother Robert William Knight and his family and her brother William J. Dunn.  Caroline Dunn and her brother William J. were the children of Martha Bright and James Dunn.  Martha Bright was sister to g-g grandfather Joel Knight's mother, Mary Bright.  So . . . maybe I should have fins and webbed digits. 

Relatively yours -
Jean E., Missouri, USA

[Darwin]

Hi Jean, it's entirely possible that the name Marsh comes from an old description of the place as it's in the Yarty valley and the description of the landscape and soil here talks of areas where drainage is poor.
 
"An annual rainfall of some 1000 mm percolates through the highly porous greensand to be held up at its junction with the marl so that a spring-line of impaired drainage is found."
http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/planning-yarcombe_and_marsh_vds#landscape

The whole page might be of interest to you as you have ancestors there:
http://www.eastdevon.gov.uk/planning-yarcombe_and_marsh_vds

[Jean_E]

Thank you Darwin 53 -

I see on the Yarcombe planning and design statement on the East Devon government web page that Marsh is also referred to as Marsh Village.  I like that a little better than just Marsh.    As the grand daughter of farmers, I know having land with a higher water table than other fields would be a good thing during droughts.

Well, there goes my ancestors with fins and webbed fingers and toes theory! 

It looks like very pretty country with some physical similarities to the area in Wisconsin where my Knights bought farm land and settled. 

Thank you, again, for directing me to the informative web site.

Jean_E, Missouri

[Jean_E]

Hello, again, zooze/Sue -

In working on my Devon Knight and Spiller families, I am finding several different generations of Knights in and around Yarcombe, Devon marrying Spillers there.  So, you and I might eventually have a connection.

So far, the most recent Spiller I have is a William Spiller (no parental information on him yet, or birth/death dates) married 11 May 1814 at Yarcombe, Devon to Mary Knight (b. Aug 1792, Yarcombe, Devon; d. 1824), with a daughter, Jane Spiller (no other information yet on her, either.)  William appears to have been Mary's 2nd husband.

Mary Knight's paternal grandmother was a Joan Spiller (b. 8 Aug 1725, Yarcombe, Devon; d. 18 Apr 1784, Yarcombe, Devon) married 26 Dec 1749, Membury, Devon to Benjamine/Benjamin Knight (b. 19 Feb 1716, d. 29 Apr 1789, both at Yarcombe, Devon.) Their son, Joel Knight (1751-1837, both at Yarcombe, Devon), was the father of Mary Knight, wife of William Spiller.

Mary Knight's maternal grandmother, Winifred Spiller, was an older sister to her paternal grandmother, Joan Spiller.

So . . . I guess Mary Knight Spiller, wife of William Spiller, was her own cousin?!?

Let me know if you would like more of my Spiller and Knight information.

Relatively yours -
Jean_E., Missouri

[Darwin]

It looks like very pretty country with some physical similarities to the area in Wisconsin where my Knights bought farm land and settled. 

Yes it's a beautiful part of Devon and many of the current farming families have the same names as they did hundreds of years ago. If you look at it on Google earth, you'll see how relatively unspoilt it still is.


This thread might interest you too as it has some information about some Spillers in that area:
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,484314.msg3427108.html#msg3427108

[Jean_E]

Thank you for the link to more Rootschat messages regarding the surname Spiller in Devon.  From my family tree, it looks like the Spillers were fruitful and multipled (a lot.)  It's good to know there are still some of the same families carrying on in farming in the area, too.  How would we live the lives we do without the farmers?

Jean_E., Missouri

[dee-jay]

I fear that eastdevon.gov.uk has deprived Marsh of a slice of its history in the 'golden era of coaching', prior to the arrival of the railway at Exeter in 1844.

An item attributed to the Taunton Courier, reproduced in The Times of Monday 19 April 1824, reports a fracas at The Heathfield Arms on the 'line of the new road from Ilminster to Honiton'.  A Coroner's Inquest 14 years later, on the death of a Defiance coachman at what was then called Buckland Hill [which recent local research has identified as Ham Hill - a notorious accident blackspot betwixt Marsh and Ilminster], drew fascinating exchanges in the Chard Union Gazette that on this 'formidable hill' no fewer than 'ten coaches are running daily to and from London'.

In 1824 Mr Loaring junr was Landlord of The Heathfield Arms;  1838 a Mr Loaring of The George, Ilminster, employed a Horsekeeper who assisted coaches with additional horses 'up the hill beyond Westhay' en route to Ilminster, passing through the northern tip of Combe St Nicholas Parish.

My interest in Yarcombe stems from James GILL, Coachman, who was buried there in 1844.  In 1851 his widow, Elizabeth, was living at Marsh with her younger daughter and a couple of lodgers:  Ann BEER (nee SPILLER) and her daughter Jane.

[BluePenguin0]

Hi Jean_E et al,
My name is Andy Spiller and I believe my Spiller roots also come from Yarcombe. I have tried to add a few of the people mentioned in this thead to my Family Tree (spiller.org.uk then follow link for Family Tree)...it is all a little confusing! Does anyone have the information in a tree format?
Thanx,
Andy

[Jean_E]

Thank you, dee-jay, for the bit of history of coaching in the area of Marsh and Yarcombe.  It sounds like the issues about the hill between Marsh and Ilminster must have been sources of pub discussions and such at the time.  It's great when those periods in history can come alive for us!

Historically yours -
Jean_E, Missouri