Henry Goodfellow and Dinah Tewksbury in Wincanton

 

Henry Goodfellow was born about 1755. 

Dinah Tewksbury was born about 1754.  Did her family have a connection with the medieval market town of Tewkesbury in Gloucestershire?

St Peter and St Paul Anglican Church, Wincanton
Photograph by Diana Heins 19 September 2019

Henry married Dinah Tewksbury on 28 Apr 1779 or 1780 in Wincanton, Somerset, England.  Both lived in Wincanton Parish.  The witnesses were Silas Blandford and Hy Mogg (Wm Mogg). 

Dinah and Henry had four children: John, who married Jane Jeanes, Henry, Grace and Dinah.   

Henry aged 63 died on Wincanton on 27 August 1818.   Dinah died aged 79 on 22 October 1833 in Wincanton.

John Jeanes and Susanna Bridle in Somerset

 

Is Jane Jeanes the daughter of John Jeanes and Susanna Bridle or James and Priscilla Jeanes?

 John Jeanes was born about 1763. He died in 1842 in Wincanton, Somerset, England. He married Susanna Bridle on 2 September 1799 in Wincanton.  Susanna Bridle was born about 1778 in Evercreech, Somerset.

At their marriage, John was a widower; Susanna was a spinster.  They were married by licence and both lived in the Wincanton Parish.  The witnesses were John Mallair and Nathaniel Farewell.  John Jeanes was a master cordwainer (shoemaker) in Wincanton in 1796.  His apprentice was James Brown. 

John and Susanna had three children: Jane, born in 1801 married John Goodfellow in 1823.  Susanna and Ann were born in about 1804 and 1806, remained single, living with their parents.  

 There is another Jeanes family.  James and Priscilla Jeanes’ daughter Jane, was baptised on 6 February 1799.  Their son, Henry, was baptised on 17 October 1800.  Is this the Jane who married John Goodfellow? 

Dorset Record Office, PF/SN: RE1/4

At the 1841 Census, John and Susan were living at Church Street, Wincanton. John was aged 75, so born about 1766.  He was an auctioneer.  Susan was aged 60, so born about 1781.  Living with them were Susan and Ann Jeanes, both aged 30, so born about 1811. Their neighbour was Benjamin Dove.  In 1773, William Goodfellow married Dolly (Dorothy) Dove; at William and Dolly's marriage the witnesses were Thomas Goodfellow and Wm Mitchell.  The other neighbour was John Long, also an auctioneer. 

At the 1851 Census, Susannah was a widow aged 71, so born about 1780.  John had died in 1842.  On his Monumental Inscription he was “Husband of Susanna”.  One daughter, Susan, was living at Church Street, a school mistress, unmarried.  She was aged 46, so born about 1805 in Wincanton.  There were two girl scholars, sisters from Frome, Somerset.  Their neighbours were Philip Dove, baker, and Henry Vining, blacksmith. 

At the 1861 Census, Susanna and her daughters Susanna and Ann were living at High Street, Wincanton.  Susannah aged 82 (so born about 1779) had no occupation.  Susanna aged 57 and Ann aged 55, so born about 1804 and 1805 were school assistants.  Susanna was born in Wincanton, Ann in Bourton, Dorset.  Elizabeth Goodfellow, a granddaughter aged 11, was a scholar.  Another scholar was Joanna Jeans from Salisbury.  There were three assistant school mistresses; one was Mary Jeans from Wednesbury check Staffordshire, four other girl scholars and a servant, Ann Jukes. 

At the 1871 Census, Susanna was aged 92, so born about 1779.  High Street?  Her daughters were Susanna aged 66 (1805) and Ann aged 64 (1807).  There were five female boarders aged between 6 and 25 and a servant Mary Pond.  Also in High Street was Mary Goodfellow, a school mistress aged 68 (born 1813) and her brothers Charles, grocer and Edward, photographer aged 57 (born 1814).  Henry Goodfellow was an early photographer in Yeovil in the 1860s and from 1880s in Wincanton. 

Susanna died on 16 July 1874 in Wincanton.

John Goodfellow and Jane Jeanes in Wincanton

 

John Goodfellow, born about 1790 in Wincanton, Somerset, England was the son of Henry Goodfellow and Dinah Tewksbury. 

Jane Jeanes was baptised on 1 July 1801, at the Anglican church in Wincanton. Her parents were John Jeanes and Susanna Bridle.

In 1823, Jane married John Goodfellow, a widower; Jane was a spinster.  The witnesses were John Bartlett and Susan Jeanes. 

John and Jane had three children: Henry Tewkesbury born 1825, John Tewksbury born about 1828 and Edwin born about 1836.

Jane (Jeanes) Goodfellow was a school mistress and ran the Berlin Wool Depot in Wincanton in 1851. 

"Berlin wool work is a style of embroidery similar to today's needlepoint that was particularly popular in Europe and America from 1804 to 1875.   It is typically executed with wool yarn on canvas, worked in a single stitch such as cross stitch or tent stitch, although Beeton's book of Needlework (1870) describes 15 different stitches for use in Berlin work. It was traditionally stitched in many colours and hues, producing intricate three-dimensional looks by careful shading. Silk or beads were frequently used as highlights. The design of such embroidery was made possible by the great progress made in dyeing, initially with new mordants and chemical dyes, followed in 1856, especially by the discovery of aniline dyes, which produced bright colors. 

Berlin work creates very durable and long-lived pieces of embroidery that can be used as furniture covers, cushions, bags, or even clothing."   (Wikipedia)

In the 1841 Census they were living in Church Street, Wincanton.  John, aged 50 was a painter, Jane aged 35 was a school mistress. There was one teacher and 15 girls, who were pupils at the school.  Their son Henry aged 15 was a druggist assistant.  At the next house was Alice Gale, an inn keeper.  The next neighbour, Thomas Phillips was a chemist. 

On his son Henry’s baptism record, his father John's occupation was a painter.  John Goodfellow was an organist on son Henry Goodfellow’s marriage to Grace Fitzpatrick in 1847.  

At the 1851 Census John and Jane were living in Market Place, Wincanton.  John was aged 60, so born 1790 or 1791.  He was a house painter employing three men and one apprentice and was a church organist. Their son Edwin aged 15 was living with them.  Henry had left; he married Grace Fitzpatrick in 1847.  Jane was aged 48, so born about 1803; but her baptism was 1 July 1801.  She was a school mistress and ran the Berlin Wool depot.  Louisa MacKenzie lived with them and was an assistant draper in the Berlin Wool shop. There were four scholars living with them and a house servant, Mary Ann Green. 

John Goodfellow died on 28 Mar 1868 in Wincanton, Somerset, England.  Jane died on 14 July 1853 in Wincanton.  Her Monumental Inscription stated: “Wife of John, Age 57”, so birth date assumed 1796, but her baptism was 1 July 1801.

Berlin Wool

 

At the 1851 Census John and Jane Goodfellow were living in Market Place, Wincanton.  Jane ran the Berlin Wool depot. Louisa MacKenzie lived with them and was an assistant draper in the Berlin Wool shop.  This is an example of Berlin wool work.

"Berlin wool work is a style of embroidery similar to today's needlepoint that was particularly popular in Europe and America from 1804 to 1875.   It is typically executed with wool yarn on canvas, worked in a single stitch such as cross stitch or tent stitch, although Beeton's book of Needlework (1870) describes 15 different stitches for use in Berlin work. It was traditionally stitched in many colours and hues, producing intricate three-dimensional looks by careful shading. Silk or beads were frequently used as highlights. The design of such embroidery was made possible by the great progress made in dyeing, initially with new mordants and chemical dyes, followed in 1856, especially by the discovery of aniline dyes, which produced bright colors.  

Berlin work creates very durable and long-lived pieces of embroidery that can be used as furniture covers, cushions, bags, or even clothing." (Wikipedia)

Jane's grand-daughter Grace (Goodfellow) Murphy embroidered this table mat.  She also embroidered tablecloths and painted pictures.

Grace's grand-daughter Diana (Murphy) Heins made eight hooked rugs between 1972 and 2005.  She learned North American rug hooking in Burlington, Ontaro, Canada.  She designed this rug with Australian wildflowers and dyed the woollen material strips for the flower hooked loops.

Diana's grand-daughter embroidered these Australian Summer Gum wildflowers using counted cross stitch tapestry.

Wincanton Old School

Old School House Church Street, Wincanton
19 September 2019
Photograph by Diana Heins

John Goodfellow and Jane Jeanes were married in Wincanton on 17 April 1823, by licence.  John Goodfellow was a widower; Jane was a spinster.  They both lived in the parish of St Peter & St Paul, Wincanton.   

In the 1841 Census they were living in Church Street, Wincanton.  John, aged 50 was a painter, Jane aged 35 was a school mistress. There was one teacher and 15 girls, who were pupils at the school.  

 At the 1851 Census John and Jane were living in Market Place, Wincanton.   Jane, aged 48 was a school mistress and ran the Berlin Wool depot. Louisa MacKenzie lived with them and was an assistant draper in the Berlin Wool shop. There were four scholars living with them.

Goodfellow Places: Somerset and London, England

In the 1800s, the Goodfellow, Jeanes and Bridle families lived in Somerset County in south west England.  In the 1850s, Henry and Grace (Fitzpatrick) Goodfellow moved to London, where Grace had lived with her mother, Jane (Howe) Fitzpatrick and sisters in 1841.  Jane was born in Clerkenwell, London in 1791 (see Jane's places and the history of London and Clerkenwell below). Their son, George Goodfellow, migrated to Queensland Australia in 1873.

Somerset

The Jeanes and Goodfellow families were long-time residents of Wincanton in the east of Somerset County.  In 1847, Henry Goodfellow and Grace Fitzpatrick were married in Wincanton. Their first child, George was born in Glastonbury in 1848.

Somerset County - Glastonbury and Wincanton

Henry Goodfellow was born in Wincanton in 1825 and his parents John Goodfellow and Jane Jeanes were also born in Wincanton.  Jane's mother, Susanna Bridle was born in Evercreech in about 1778.

Somerset: Glastonbury, top left; Evercreech, top centre; Wincanton, on lower right.
Family Tree Maker aerial view with symbols added in PowerPoint

Somerset: Glastonbury, top left; Evercreech, top centre; Wincanton, on lower right.
Family Tree Maker road map with symbols added in PowerPoint

London and Clerkenwell

Cecil R. Humphery-Smith, The Phillimore Atlas and index of Parish Registers, 3rd ed. 1963.
Middlesex County, p.22. 

In London in the 1800s, the Fitzpatrick, Howe and Goodfellow families lived west of the City in the Parishes of Clerkenwell, Islington, St Pancras, St Marylebone, Paddington, Kensington, Hammersmith and Fulham.

When Jane Howe was born in Clerkenwell in 1791, the area was on the urban fringe of London, around the Foundling Hospital.  A 1574 map shows rural land north and west of Smithfield.  Plans for re-building after the Great Fire of 1666 still show Hatton Garden and Clerkenwell outside the urban area (White, p 17).  The fire destroyed 13,000 houses and 87 churches.  The illustrated London: the story of a great city (Jerry White, 2014) describes London as a “City of Suburbs”. It was only from 1750 that Westminster Bridge connected London to south of the Thames River and Lambeth.  By 1800, London had a population of one million, increasing to over six million by 1900.  In West London, Bedford Park Chiswick on Bath Road was one of the first garden suburbs in the late 19^th century.

During the reign of Queen Elizabeth I, 1558-1603, East London developed as a trades area with poorer housing.  The hills to the north were of middling quality.  The west end had better quality houses.  Elegant squares were developed after the Great Fire from 1670 to the end of the 18^th century.  There were silk weavers, porcelain and potteries at Chelsea, jewellery, silk weavers at Spitalfields and ceramics in Lambeth.  Covent Garden was an early example of town planning. 

In Clerkenwell, streets for the middle classes north and south of Pentonville Road and elegant housing around the great squares – Brunswick, Mecklenburgh, Myddelton, Holford -  were established during the 1820s.  By the 1870s there was poorer housing with the many trades and businesses.  Notable were the craft metal and wood workers – jewellers and watchmakers - cabinet makers, inlaid furniture, drapers, artificial florists.  William Coombs Howe & Co were teachers of cutting.  (Alan Godfrey, Old Ordnance Survey Maps; Clerkenwell, Kings Cross & The Angel, 1871, Dunston, Gateshead, 1990.) 

Jane’s uncle was General Robert Gardiner, a British army soldier in the 3^rd Buffs, who served in the Peninsular and Napoleonic Wars.  In 1815 his troop helped restore order during the Corn Law Riots in London.  He was aide-decamp to monarchs George IV, William IV and Queen Victoria and was Governor of Gibraltar from 1848 to 1855 and Honorary Master Gunner, St James’ Park 1840-1864.  He married Caroline Mary McLeod, eldest daughter of Lieutenant-General John Macleod.  He died in Esher, Surrey on 26 June 1864.  (Wikipedia, 7 March 2024)

Sir Robert’s father was Captain John Gardiner of the 3^rd Buffs.  His brother was Lieutenant-General John Gardiner, Colonel-in-Chief of the 61^st Regiment of Foot.  Caroline’s parents were Lieutenant-General John Macleod and Lady Wilhelmina Kerr, daughter of William Kerr, 4^th Marquess of Lothian.  (Wikipedia 8 March 2024.) There may have been a military connection with John Fitzpatrick, who was also in the 3^rd Buffs (according to Shearman).  Jane Howe married John Fitzpatrick on 28 October 1820 at St Martin’s in the Fields. This old church is south west of Clerkenwell, closer to the Thames River and near Westminster.

Large land uses were the Middlesex House of Correction and House of Detention, builders’ yard and cartridge manufacture between Farringdon Road and Gray’s Inn Road.  North of Old Street were engineering works, foundries, dye works, drug mills and gasometers.

John Fitzpatrick died in 1838 at Hatton Garden, between Gray’s Inn and Farringdon Roads.  This is now between the British Museum, Museum of London and Covent Garden.  In 1898, the housing was middle class, well-to-do and fairly comfortable.  Nearby were St Bartholomew Hospital and the Smithfield markets: fruit and vegetable, poultry and meat. 

After John’s death in 1838, Jane lived with her daughters Mary, Grace and Jane at 5B Brunswick Place, St Mary Islington Parish in 1841.  The Brunswick Place south of The Regent’s Park in Marylebone has elegant townhouses.  But there is another Brunswick Place near the southern boundary of St Mary Parish, near Old Street, just east of Clerkenwell. Here, in 1898 there was a Board School; this might have been established after the Education Act of 1870.  The houses were fairly comfortable, but there were poor streets nearby in St Mark Old Street and St Clement City Road parishes.  The new Poor Law Act of 1834 had led to the establishment of workhouses.  Around the corner were the Haberdashers’ Alms Houses, St Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics and the London Living-In Hospital.

In the 18^th century road tolls were introduced at turnpikes at Marylebone and Finchley Roads.  During the 19^th century, with London expansion from 1813, there were many changes taking place during the time the Fitzpatrick, Howe and Goodfellow families were living in London.  Sedan chairs and Hackney chairs had been replaced by coaches and hansom cabs.  The Thames River flooded before the embankments were built.  The river froze during the winter of 1813-14.  Cheapside was the main shopping area before new shopping streets such as Regent Street from the 1820s.  From 1829 there were omnibuses drawn by two or three horses.  King George IV opened Buckingham Palace in the 1830s; Parliament House was destroyed by fire in 1834. Then there was the Victorian age, when the Queen reigned from 1837 to 1901.  The Great Exhibition at the Crystal Palace was held between May and October 1851.  It was not until 1854 that Dr John Snow proved the polluted public water pump in Broad Street Soho was the source of infections.  The cholera epidemic of 1832 had killed 5275 and in 1848-49 there were 14,789 deaths.  Big Ben clock dates from 1860. There were still shoe-cleaning boys in 1851 and chimney sweeps in 1861.

In 1851, Jane Fitzpatrick was a visitor in the house of Richard Woolcock, south of the Thames River at Hardinge Terrace, St Mary Parish, Newington. The church is on Kennington Road, lined with middle class, well-to-to houses.  Hardinge Terrace appears in faint letters on Penton Place in Booth’s 1898 London Poverty Map: fairly comfortable, with good ordinary earnings.  Jane may have known Richard Woolcock from Finsbury.  By 1861, Jane was at Bark Place, Paddington, in the parish of St Matthew Bayswater, north of Hyde Park and Kensington Gardens.  She was a widowed pensioner, a lodger in the household of Peter and Elizabeth Jervis.  This well-to-do small street must have been densely populated, as the houses behind are fairly comfortable, yet there are upper-middle and upper class wealthy homes along Bayswater Road and Kensington Palace.  Bark Place still has substantial terrace houses with many chimneys.

The underground railway from Paddington through Kensington opened in 1863.  The first department stores opened in Oxford Street in 1864. There were immigrants from Europe: Italians in Holborn and Clerkenwell. Smallpox in 1871 caused 8,000 deaths. 

By 1871, Jane was living at 48 Judd Street, St Pancras Parish.  This is near Regent Square, north of the Foundling Hospital.  Regency era terrace houses in Judd Street were built between 1808 and 1816.  Thanet Street workmen’s cottages between 1812 and 1822.  The 1871 map shows individual houses, set back from the street.  Judd Street had comfortable housing quality in 1898, but there were poor areas in the back streets and This area was redeveloped into large blocks of flats.  Nearby are Regents Square and St George’s Gardens and in 2024 the University College London Language and Speech Science Library.

Jane moved east of London by 1881 to Back Street, 3 Stamford House, Brentwood.  I cannot find this address in this hamlet.  She was living with her daughter Mary and her husband Thomas Howe.  Mary, age 60 (born about 1821) in Hampshire, was a teacher of music.  Thomas age 70 (born about 1811) was a professor of languages.  Jane died in 1889 in Billericay, Essex.  This is a town east of Brentwood.  She was 95 years old, indicating she was born in 1794.  Her previous Census ages in 1841 and 1851 estimated her birth in 1791.  Mary and Thomas were the beneficiaries of her will. Mary and Thomas were married on 30 August 1841 at St Mary Islington.  Jane Fitzpatrick was the spouse’s mother.

Wincanton, Somerset

Thursday 19 September 2019. Glastonbury to Wincanton

In Glastonbury we walked through Market Square then up High Street to the Post Office next to the Wool Shop.  St John's church was being renovated so we just took photos from outside and walked back to the Town Hall to wait for the bus to Wincanton.

The driver of bus 77 to Yeoval told us we did not need to change at Ilchester, but could continue to Yeoval and change there to bus 58 to Wincanton.  We travelled through Street town with the Clark shoe factory, and Somerton, just after we caught a glimpse of the old railway bridge which might have been a Brunel construction.  

This would have been on the closed Somerset and Devon railway line.  

There were some views over the valley, but mostly narrow rural roads lined with high hedges, just missing trucks and tractors on the other side.  The lanes through the villages were also very narrow, houses with doors opening onto the footpath.  There were several one-lane sections with traffic lights for road works.  Finally, at 10:50am we arrived at Yeoval to discover that the bus 58 to Wincanton left at 10:45 and the next bus would be two hours later at 12:45. This was disappointing, as we would have arrived in Wincanton at 11:15am if we had changed buses in Ilchester.  So we bought a replacement for Frédéric’s old bag, and ate takeaway sandwiches in the square before going back to the bus.

Wincanton town hall, Church Street on the right
Photo by Diana Heins, 19 September 2019

We arrived at Wincanton after about 55 minutes.  The Information Centre at the Town Hall was closed until 2pm, so we took photos of the Market Square and walked up High Street to find the top car park bus station.  Back at the Information Centre the staff searched for photos of old schools while Terry collected maps of walking tours around town.  

Wincanton Cemetery (lower left), St Peter and Paul church (middle), old school house (red pin)

Old School House, Church Street, Wincanton

We walked down Church Street and found the Old School House.  Jane Goodfellow ran a school in Church Street in 1841 and 1851 and by 1851 was also running the Berlin Wool depot.  Could this be the school?

Church Street, Wincanton, towards Town Hall on right

Sts Peter and Paul church was attended by the Goodfellow family for baptisms and marriages.  We did not realise that the front is more imposing than the back along the pathway through the church yard.  The staff at the Information Centre had given us a list of Goodfellow names and plots in the Cemetery.  Fortunately, they also gave us directions to go through the churchyard and across the zebra crossing.

One of the walks showed us Cemetery Lane, so we discovered the River Cale and walked through the park to the Cemetery. 

On the way back we remarked at the embankment with new houses near the river.  We read later that these houses were built on the old railway embankment.

Terry and I searched for Goodfellows: I found two graves, one Julia Goodfellow in 1956, but we could not find plot 318 with Henry and Jane.  Many were indecipherable. We took photos of the graves and the cemetery. The weather was sunny and very warm 22 degrees, in shirt sleeves, with hat and sunglasses in the Cemetery.

High Street Wincanton.  Quaker Meeting House on the right.
Photo by Diana Heins 19 September 2019

 On the way up High Street hill to the bus a man asked us if we had found the plots; he was one of the workers, who could have told us where they were.

  

Wincanton Town in 1840

By then it was too late and we explained that we were content walking where my ancestors would have walked in the town and taking photos of the old buildings in streets they would have known.

The 666 bus left at 3:45pm and travelled a circuitous route around Bruton, collected private school pupils, narrowly avoided trucks, gave way at several red light one-lane sections, could not fit between cars on one street, arrived 12 minutes late at Castle Cary railway station and sped along straight sections.  At Street town we alighted at Crispin Hall and crossed the road to catch the 367 double-deck bus to Glastonbury.  

There are historical photographs of Wincanton:

https://www.picturesofengland.com/England/Somerset/Wincanton

Wincanton photographs

and information for visitors:

Somerset Council