Gulliver's travels

[LizzieL]

Tring to find out where the Gullivers came from and went to after living in Shapwick.
Joseph Gulliver married Lucy Rabbits in Shapwick on 31 Oct 1785. Both were otp, but according to bapt records on the Dorset OPC site neither were born there. Witnesses to marriage were Sarah Watterman and Henry White.
They baptised 6 children in Shapwick over the period 1786 to 1796 ( Jane, Susannah, Elizabeth, Thomas, Robert and Mary). There are no burials listed for any Gullivers in Shapwick according to Dorset OPC transcripts which go up to 1875 and no marriages apart from Joseph and Lucy.
I have found a Joseph Gulliver living in Shapwick in 1841 age 75, which would make his birth year 1762 to 1766, therefore fits with a 1785 marriage. Living with him is Elizabeth recorded as same age. This is transcribed as Elizabeth by DorsetOPC and Elizh on FindMyPast. The image is very faint but it does look like Eliz age 75, so it isn't unmarried daughter Elizabeth or Lucy the known wife. So if Lucy died and he remarried, Lucy wasn't buried at Shapwick, and no sign of his second marriage.
Joseph and Elizabeth don't appear on 1851 census. There is no death for either between 1841 and 1851 in Blandford district or any of Dorset but there are deaths of a Joseph and an Elizabeth in Christchurch in 1848 and 1842 respectively, so a strong possibility considering eldest daughter Jane (who married Walter Derham) lived in Christchurch.

So what I an trying to find is where Lucy came from (parents, baptisms). (I believe Joseph was bapt Charlton Marshall in 1762 son of Robert and Jane). And what happened to Lucy - did she die and Joseph remarry - or were Lucy and Elizabeth actually the same person. And what happened to their children. Apart from Jane who I have full information on right down to some living descendants who I have communicated with, I cannot find any marriages or deaths for her siblings. Maybe they all emigrated - with a name like that why not?

[lizdb]

Just a couple of ideas -

When Jane marries Walter Dereham, who are the witnesses? Are any of her siblings (incl sisters who may have already married)
Does Joseph leave a will? They can be great for clies as to what happened to offspring.

[lizdb]

I see a Robert on the censuses of right sort of age, dying in Christchurch age 90
He gives pob as Christchurch. One wonders if the family maybe lived there, but returned to Lucys home parish to christen their children?

[LizzieL]

I haven't found any sign of a will for Joseph.
As to the marriage between Jane and Walter Derham, I have only found transcripts which don't list witnesses. FindMyPast has them marrying in Pennington, Hants and Familysearch has it in Milford a few miles away. The date is the same on both 5 May 1822. I suspect they were from different parishes and one is the Banns, but I have usually found an earlier date by a few days for the Banns parish. Jane gives her POB as Shabwick (sic) in 1851, so I suspect the Christchurch connection for Joseph and Lucy was post 1841, when as they got older and probably infirm came to live with or near Jane.

[LizzieL]

An on line tree has my Gullivers on it but has Lucy dying in Surrey in Jan 1861. Looking at 1851 census, there is a Lucy Gulliver living in Surrey of around the right sort of age. This Lucy was born in Manson, Dorset (probably Manston north of Blandford). She is listed as single. Checking Manston PRs there is a Lucy baptised there in 1779, d/o William and Mary Gulliver. So confirms the Surrey Lucy was born a Gulliver in Manston and not the errant wife of Joseph!
Another misleading tree on-line!
 
 

[LizzieL]

I've managed to find a bit more on the Gullivers.

As well as Joseph baptised in Charlton Marshall, Robert Gulliver and his wife Jane baptised Thomas, Lemuel, John, Mary and another Lemuel all in Charlton Marshall between 1843 and 1754.
As there is a gap between last Lemuel and Joseph, there could be another child or two. I have found an Elizabeth Gulliver married in 1775 in Charlton Marshall, who I can't connect, but a 1750ish birth would be feasible.
Robert married Jane Rogers in Spetisbury on 19 Sep 1742. The record says both of Charlton. I believe Jane was daughter of Thomas and Jane Rogers bapt C M on 4 Feb 1724. Assuming baptism soon after birth this would make her under 21 and may explain why they married in a different parish.
Although marriage record says Robert was of Charlton, I can't find his birth there or any other family members of same or earlier generation, so it looks like his family weren't from there.
Can anyone find a baptism for Robert Gulliver, I would guess about 1720ish probably somewhere near Charlton Marshall?
The name Lemuel might be significant, he named a second son Lemuel when the first one died young. Unless they were just influenced by Jonathan Swift's book, it was published about 20 years before!

[LizzieL]

Maybe completely unconnected but just found burial of a Lemuel Gulliver in East Orchard, Dorset on 27 Aug 1806, his age was 77 giving a birth date abt 1729. Three years after the book was published. This would be about same generation as Robert, could this Lemuel be his younger broher?