The Disappeared

Harriet Timberal (1836-

At the time of the ’41 Census, Harriet was in Waterley Bottom, with Diana (aged 50) and Rebecca (aged 18). It was a cottage in the remotest eastern end of the parish, where the wooded slopes came together, number 1156 on the Tithe Apportionment. Owned by George Bengough, who owned The Ridge House nearby, it was leased to Philip Timbrell. By the time that the OS Map was drawn up in 1924, it has disappeared and the site overgrown with trees.

Blue circles the patch of land where the house stood. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

We know that Phillip was the husband of Diana, and the father of Rebecca, who was to marry Solomon French two years later. Solomon lived at Dingle Farm, a short way down the valley. On the night of the ’41 Census, Phillip was living at the Ridge, listed as being a farm servant. In the same property was Ann, Rebecca’s sister, also listed as a farm servant.

After 1841, Harriet disappears from the record. We have no further mentions of her in the Census, and no church records. Because the ’41 census doesn’t give the relationship to the head of the household, we don’t know her relationship to Diana and Rebecca.

After Solomon French died Rebecca moved to New Zealand and lived with her daughter Mary Ann Watts. She died in 1906 in a small dairy community called Waharoa. Waikato. New Zealand.

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Mary Organ (1836-

In 1841, Mary lived with Elizabeth Smith and Mary Smith in Swinhay. Mary, a widow, died in 1843 and in her will left her estate (valued at under £20) to her eldest daughter Elizabeth. The land she owned is circled in blue on the map. and they lived in the house shaded yellow. The site is now occupied by Elmtree Farm.

reproduced with the kind permission of Geoff Gwatkin

Mary died in 1843, leaving her estate (worth under £20) to her eldest daughter Elizabeth. Elizabeth’s brother William died in 1839, leaving his house in Swinhay to her. Both wills were proven in April 1844. Elizabeth sold the property in 1847.

So – where did Elizabeth go after that? And who was Mary Organ, who only appears in the 1841 Census. There are no other records to attest to her existence.

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Sarah Robertson (1834-

Sarah was baptised in Nettleton church, Wiltshire, in May 1834. She was the daughter of Thomas and Judith, nee Holborrow. They had a large family, of 12 children, born variously in Crudwell, Littleton and Malmesbury. In her obituary, one of her sisters had apparently said that there were 22 children in all, but this seems as though it was an exaggeration!

So, at the time of the ’41 Census, Sarah was living with her uncle, William the younger. They were in Binley Farm, at the western end of the valley. The yellow areas show the land owned or occupied by William in 1847, when the Tithe Map was drawn up. Binley Farm, and the area around it, had been left to Hannah Robertson, William’s mother, by her father Thomas Robinson, in his will dated 1837.

For more information about Binley Farm, go to the Binley Farm page.

Map reproduced with the kind permission of Geoff Gwatkin

William lived in Binley Farm until the 1870s, when he moved to the recently-developed Mayfield Park, in Fishponds, Bristol. The picture shows Myrtle Villa, where William lived, on the left-hand side, with Pynes Villa, which he let out, on the right. As can be seen in the second image, Pynes Villa is handily identified.

At the time of the ’41 Census, Hannah, Sarah’s grandmother, was living, or visiting, the family of her son Thomas (Sarah’s father). William the elder was living in Nibley with the rest of the family.

Hannah died later in 1841. In 1850, William married Elizabeth Robinson. He lived in Nibley until his death in 1869, leaving Elizabeth with a daughter, Sarah Ann, born in 1856.

In 1871, Elizabeth was recorded as an annuitant, and was living in the parish with her 10-month-old illegitimate son, William, who died the next month.

In 1881, she was living with Eli Mason and her son Arthur Robertson, aged 6. At the time, she was 54, to Eli’s 36. Arthur is recorded as being Eli’s son. Elizabeth died in 1890. In 1901. Arthur Robertson had become Arthur Mason, and was living next door to his father at Millend in Nibley.

Returning to Sarah, In 1851, she was living with her family in Malmesbury. In 1856, her mother, Judith, died. With startling alacrity, the family moved to the USA. In the 1860 Census, Thomas was living in New York, with three of Sarah’s siblings. Unfortunately, I can find no record of his emigration, or of him afterwards.

This is the passenger list for the SS Manhattan, arriving in New York in 1857. I can only assume that Sarah, her elder brother Thomas William, and their father arrived previously. Six of the siblings died before the crossing.

The six who did emigrate seem to have prospered. Except for Sarah, who has vanished. Perhaps one day the mystery will be resolved!