Mark, Caroline and Emma Organ

Mark (1836-1891) baptised at St Martins Church

Caroline (1832-1866)

Emma (1841-1903) Baptised at North Nibley Tabernacle

with thanks to Geoff Gwatkin for the use of the Tithe Map transcription

In 1841, Mark, Caroline and Emma were living with their brother Rowland in Forthay, at number 669, which was rented from Henry Bailey. Their father Maurice was a labourer and had married their mother, Mary Handcock, in 1829.

In 1851, all three were living with their parents. Caroline was a roller joiner, Mark was an agricultural labourer and Emma was still at school. Two more siblings had joined the family, Jacob and Jemima.

In 1859, Caroline married George Harrold and Wotton under Edge Tabernacle.

In 1861, the Banns of Marriage were read for Mark and Harriet Thompson. Prior to their marriage, Mark was living at Starfall Farm as a servant.

Mark and Harriet had six children. For the rest of their lives, they lived in Forthay. Mark died in 1891, aged 56.

Maurice and Mary were living at Horses Green in Forthay with Emma, working in a woollen cloth manufactory, and Caroline – now Caroline Harrold, a soldiers wife. Caroline died in 1866, aged only 34. George had died three years previously, in Nagode, India.

In 1867, Emma married Henry Gabb at the church of St John the Baptist in Gloucester. During their childhood, Emma and Henry had lived next to each other in Forthay. In 1871, she and Henry were living next to Mark and Harriet in Forthay.

Henry was another of the 1841 cohort.

For the next 30 years, the couple had two daughters and were living in Forthay, next to Peter Gabb, Emma’s father in law, and Mark and Harriet. Emma died in 1903, aged 62.

In 1907 the widowed Henry married the gloriously named Marie Victorine Brady Olive Iles at St Paul’s Church Gloucester. Marie was the daughter of James Iles, a gardener. In 1911 and 1921 the couple were living with their daughter, Victorine May, in Forthay.

Henry died in 1921, aged 79.