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Who is the Mother of James and Samuel Oliver?
The Oliver
brothers, (James 1805-1886) and (Samuel Oliver
1819-1873), arrived in New Plymouth, New
Zealand, on the barque 'Amelia Thompson' on the
3rd September 1841.
Their mother was
thought to have been Grace Brayley. However,
revelations from Katia and Tim Oliver in 2021,
have concluded she was not their mother. In
fact, it was a Grace Lane. This, after extensive
and thorough research that included going
through a myriad of new records that were
scanned at the Devon Record Office as recently
as 2020.
Tim Oliver is a
x3 great grandson of James and Ruth Oliver, his
grandfather being Ivor James Clark Oliver
(1907-1989).
In an email dated
4 January 2021 from Katia and Tim Oliver, they
recorded their research. They started by writing
down in chronological order from baptism
records of children who were born from parents
John and Grace Oliver from 1798 to
1822. Some of the children of John and
Grace were baptised, and possibly born, within a
few months of each other in 1808 and 1810 which
raised alarm.
They then divided
them by locations of baptism, and came up with
two separate families. And, both families were
headed by a John and a Grace Oliver!
The children from
the first family were baptised in Ashwater and
in Halwell, locations 5 miles apart in the
County of Devon. The children in this family
correspond with the names in the Will of James
Brayley whose daughter was Grace Brayley and
married John Oliver. And, Grace Brayley was born
in Halwell on 9 January 1774, married John
Oliver of Ashwater in Halwell on 18 September
1796 and died on 20 February 1821.
The second family were
baptised in Holsworthy, St. Giles in the Heath,
and Pyworthy. Holsworthy and Pyworthy are just
over two miles apart. St. Giles in the Heath is
a little further away at nine miles. However, we
know, that the Grace that married our John
Oliver was born in St. Giles in the Heath. This
from the 1851 census. And, the children match
those listed in our John Oliver's Will.
So, the conclusion is, there were
definitely two families headed by a John and a
Grace Oliver. One based around the Ashwater
and Halwill area. The other is our family,
children baptised predominantly in the
Holsworthy and Pyworthy area to the north.
Who is Grace
Lane?
Katia and Tim
have found a baptism record dated 29 Sep 1776
for a Grace Lane in the Parish of St Giles in
the Heath. (We know from the 1851 Census that
our Grace was born in St Giles in the Heath).
Interestingly, this baptism date matches the age
on our Grace Oliver's headstone in Boyton that
reads, "Also of Grace his wife who died February
1st 1860 aged 84 years". Now, if Grace was
baptised at the time of her birth, she would
have been only 83 years old. However, if she was
seven months old or more when baptised, she
would have been aged 84 years at time of her
death.
(In fact this
would be the same for husband John Oliver who
would of been only 77 if baptised at the time of
his birth. However, if he was a couple of weeks
old or more when baptised, he would match the
aged 78 years on his headstone).
Note - the dates
we had for Grace Brayley never matched. So, it
is pretty convincing that Grace Lane is most
likely the mother of our brothers James
(1805-1886) and Samuel Oliver (1819-1873).
And, we now also have
a record of the marriage between John Oliver and Grace
Lane. This in a followup email from Katia
dated 10 January 2021. The original entry from
the Luffincott Parish Marriage Register Book
shows the date of marriage as 1st April 1800.
Luffincott is only five miles North of St Giles
in the Heath where Grace was baptised.
Devon Map Showing Locations
We welcome any
correspondence on this intriguing research.
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