Ethel, Mabel and Kit Shepard
Ethel's story
Florence Ethel Shepard 1882 – ????
(Great aunt)
"... It is believed that Ethel emigrated to Australia with her sister Mabel..."
Florence Ethel Shepard born Dorchester Q3 1882 vol 5a page 342. The 1891 census is shown under Reginald James Watts Shepard 1886 – 1951. In 1901 Florence may be working as a servant in Wolborough Devon
Florence Ethel Shepard born Dorchester Q3 1882 vol 5a page 342. The 1891 census is shown under Reginald James Watts Shepard 1886 – 1951. In 1901 Florence may be working as a servant in Wolborough Devon
Florence Ethel Shepard married Henry Charles Andrews in Wells Q2 1908 vol 5c page 1021.
Henry Charles Andrews was born in Mere Q2 1882 vol 5a page 223
Nigel has investigated the emigration records from England to Australia and had identified the following two entries which may have related to Florence Ethel and Mabel Ann Shepard. It is known that they were both in the UK during the 1901 census and evidence exists that Mabel was still here in 1909 It is understood that they travelled together and none of the other entries in the records are possible due to the age of the emigrants
Henry Charles Andrews was born in Mere Q2 1882 vol 5a page 223
Nigel has investigated the emigration records from England to Australia and had identified the following two entries which may have related to Florence Ethel and Mabel Ann Shepard. It is known that they were both in the UK during the 1901 census and evidence exists that Mabel was still here in 1909 It is understood that they travelled together and none of the other entries in the records are possible due to the age of the emigrants
The fact that the entry refers to Ethel would not necessarily preclude them as Florence was recorded as Ethel in the 1891 census.
However subsequent research has thrown serious doubt on the above possibility.
Nigel has discovered an entry in the passenger lists for British passengers to Australia in the early 1900’s which is more likely to be the correct one. This shows an Andrews family immediately followed by a Mabel Shepard. Taking these details together with the known marriage in Wells to Charles Andrews and the birth of Henry R Andrews whose mother’s maiden name was Sheppard in Wells in 1912 these are almost certainly the right people.
However subsequent research has thrown serious doubt on the above possibility.
Nigel has discovered an entry in the passenger lists for British passengers to Australia in the early 1900’s which is more likely to be the correct one. This shows an Andrews family immediately followed by a Mabel Shepard. Taking these details together with the known marriage in Wells to Charles Andrews and the birth of Henry R Andrews whose mother’s maiden name was Sheppard in Wells in 1912 these are almost certainly the right people.
The ship that the family travelled on to Australia is given as Benalla which was part of the P & O fleet. They were part of a group of at least 410 emigrating passengers.
This ship was later to form part of a fleet of transport ships which was leased by the Australian government for the specific purpose of transporting the various troop formations to their respective overseas destinations. When not committed to military transport, these ships were employed to carry various commodity exports to Britain and France. The fleet was made up from British ships and captured German vessels. The HMAT A24 Benalla weighed 11,118 tons with an average cruise speed of 14 knots or 25.92 kmph. It was owned by the P & O SN Co, London, and leased by the Commonwealth until 6 August 1917. The photograph below shows the ship taking on troops at Port Melbourne on the 19th October 1914. The Shepard sisters must have travelled on probably one of the last few sailings between London and Melbourne before she went into service with the Australian government. Fortunately German U-boat attacks on shipping did not start targeting merchant ships until the end of 1914. The attack on the Lusitania happened on 7th May 1915.
Mabel's story
Mabel Ann Shepard 1885 – ????
(Great aunt)
"...There are a few old postcards still in existence sent between Mabel, who was living in Hinckley Leicestershire, and Reginald from 1906 to late 1909. It must have been after this date, when she was aged about 24, that she emigrated to Australia with her sister... She was married in Australia to someone called Andrews and they had five children, May (1909), Ron (1912), Kath (1917), Reg (1919) and Ethel (1923)... ".
Born Dorchester Q1 1885 vol 5a page 347
The 1891 census is shown under Reginald James Watts Shepard 1886 – 1951
In 1901 she is living with a Baptist Minister and his wife in Ottery St Mary Devon with her younger sister Sabina Kate. Also resident is the Davis’s niece Alice Geall who is a teacher and 3 other unrelated children who are boarding in the house.
Born Dorchester Q1 1885 vol 5a page 347
The 1891 census is shown under Reginald James Watts Shepard 1886 – 1951
In 1901 she is living with a Baptist Minister and his wife in Ottery St Mary Devon with her younger sister Sabina Kate. Also resident is the Davis’s niece Alice Geall who is a teacher and 3 other unrelated children who are boarding in the house.
As explained under Florence Ethel Shepard 1882 – ???? it is believed Mabel emigrated to Australia.
Kit's story
Sabina Kate Shepard 1891 - ????
(Great aunt)
"...She was probably named Sabina after one of her father’s sisters who would have been around 40 at the time. She was only 3 months old when her mother died and only 18 months old when her father passed away... She was certainly living in Ottery St Mary in the mid 1950’s .... Her niece, my Auntie Doreen, also remembers seeing her in Ottery because she and her sister Peggy visited her one summer. She says she was a kind, happy person who loved children. In later life Auntie Doreen says that Kit worked for a well-to-do couple who spent a lot of time in India....".
Born Dorchester Q2 1891 vol 5a page 32_.
In 1901 Sabina Kate is in Ottery St Mary with her sister Mabel Ann.
In 1911 Sabina is still in Ottery with the Davis’s. There is no trace after 1911.
Born Dorchester Q2 1891 vol 5a page 32_.
In 1901 Sabina Kate is in Ottery St Mary with her sister Mabel Ann.
In 1911 Sabina is still in Ottery with the Davis’s. There is no trace after 1911.
The Davis family of Ottery St Mary
In an attempt to determine who the Davis’s are and whether they are related in any way to the Shepard sisters I have gone back to the 1891 census records for Ottery St Mary.
There is a marriage entry for Dorchester Q3 1873 between a Henry Davis and Sarah Woodland vol 5a page 557 which I believe are the ‘Ottery’ Davises.
Tracing Sarah Woodland takes us back to Bradford Peverell where she is living with her elderly widowed mother also called Sarah. Bradford Peverell is the village from which Sarah Davis is said to have originated in the Ottery St Mary census records.
Tracing Sarah Woodland takes us back to Bradford Peverell where she is living with her elderly widowed mother also called Sarah. Bradford Peverell is the village from which Sarah Davis is said to have originated in the Ottery St Mary census records.
There is no sign of the Woodland family in the village in 1881 which is not surprising as Sarah Junior had by then moved to Ottery leaving only her mother who would have been 76 years old. She might well have died by then or be living elsewhere with one of her children of whom there were at least seven. On investigation it transpires that she was in fact living with her oldest son William in Railton Road Lambeth where he has been since his marriage in 1864. I believe that William Woodland married Mary French in Lambeth Q2 1864 vol 1d page 431. I have located a Mary French of the right age born in Ramsden Essex in 1833 who had been working as a servant in London since before 1851. Firstly in Camberwell and then Paddington.
There is a recorded death of a Sarah Woodland aged 78 in Lambeth Q4 1882 vol 1d page 345
William and his family are still living at 46 Railton Road in 1891 and in the house next door, no 48 is Mary Geall and two of her children.
Woodland family in census records 1851 - 1861
Returning to Dorset and looking at the Bradford Peverell records prior to 1871 we find the Woodland family growing up there and in 1861 there is a reference to the Gealls in the form of two grandchildren who are the children of Mary Woodland and her husband James Geall. The full story of the Geall family is shown in the section on the Woodland Family. There is a marriage between James Fowill Geall of Wareham and Mary Tapp Woodland in Wareham Q1 1854 vol 5a page 465. In 1851 prior to her marriage to James Geal, Mary is living with her family in Bradford Peverell. Also in the Tapp Woodland family is Elizabeth aged 17 who was later to marry John Barter. In due course John and Elizabeth Barter had a daughter Mary Jane Barter who married our ancestor John Wesley Shepard.
In the 1841 census there is a Mary Woodland age 60 living in Stratton who appears again with William Tapp Woodland and his family in the 1851 census for Bradford Peverell. Mary poses a problem in that in 1851 she is shown with the relationship of ‘mother’. She is also shown as unmarried. In his researches Nigel Newbery has attributed to her the status of a probable maiden aunt. I had considered the possibility that she is in fact the widowed mother of Sarah who should appear with the name Gaulton if this is the case. The 1841 census providing a Mary Woodland in Stratton who we know from 1851 was born in Stratton means this option is possibly unlikely and that Nigel’s hypothesis is the more likely. The only other option being that Mary Woodland is indeed the mother of William Tapp Woodland and that does not tie in with other researches into his parentage which gave us a mother called Hannah Woodland nee Bow, see below.
"The Woodland family is related to us because their descendants married into the Shepard family. The research has been complicated because, in various records, the surname appears as Tapp/Woodland, Woodland or Tapp. Finding our ancestor Elizabeth Tapp on the 1851 Census revealed that her father was William and that he was born in Stratton about 1801 and that his wife was Sarah. Checking the Baptism records there found William’s parents and the S. & D. F.H.S. traced the relevant marriages. Firstly I asked them to trace the marriage of Thomas Woodland or Tapp to a Hannah of unknown surname, which produced this record from the village of Stockwood, ten miles north of Stratton.
13.02.1798 Thomas Woodland of Stratton = Hannah Bow of Stockwood"
There is a recorded death of a Mary Tupp Woodland in Dorchester Q2 1851 vol 8 page 42. This is almost certainly the same as Nigel found in the burial register for Bradford Peverell
"13.05.1851 Mary Tapp Woodland aged 73. "
The fact that she has the name Tapp included tends to point to the likelihood that this was a given name and not adopted on marriage adding more weight to the maiden aunt theory.
By 1861 Mary Woodland now Geall has married and moved away from Bradford Peverell but her daughter Flora and a John Geall are staying with their grandparents. I have been unable to find a birth record for John Geall who claims to have been born in Cerne Abbas. See the possible explanation for his ancestry under John Geall 1856 - 1862
The two Geall sisters in Ottery St Mary in 1881 are as we know Mary and Alice Kate. They are shown as nieces of Henry Davis and Sarah Davis nee Woodland who is the sister of Mary Woodland who married James Geall in 1854 and who is later found in Poole in 1871. I believe that Alice Geall was born Alice Kate Geall in Dorchester Q3 1874 vol 5a page 332 and that Mary Geall was born in Poole Q2 1863 vol 5a page 303
Initially I had difficulty rationalising how they actually fitted into the Geall ancestry but finally all the pieces fell into place. In 1881 the Geall family are in Dorset so Alice and Mary should be with them aged about 7 and 14. We know that in 1871 Mary was with the family in Poole. It transpires that the Geall family is fairly scattered in 1881 with the father living alone in Poole, the mother and four children living next door to Henry and Frances Sheppard and their children in Stratton while Alice and Mary are with the Davis family in Ottery St Mary.
Another line of enquiry for possible relationships between the two families is provided by the fact that after his marriage to Sarah Ann Swaffield, Amos Shepard with whom the boys were staying lived with his wife and daughter in Bradford Peverell. Sarah Swaffield had previously lived there in 1871. There are only 12 properties physically located between the Swaffield and the Woodland cottages. It is therefore almost inevitable that Sarah Swaffield and Sarah Woodland would have known each other. When Sarah Woodland left to marry Henry Davis in 1873 Sarah Swaffield would have been a girl of 17. There is a strong Methodist/Baptist theme running through the Shepard story and as Henry Davis was a Baptist Minister it is possibly not surprising that the orphaned Shepard girls eventually went to live with him and his wife in Ottery St Mary.
However fortunately having entered all the details of the ancestors and descendants of the Shepard, Barter, Tapp Woodland families into PAF family tree software from www.familysearch.org has actually produced a definitive relationship between Mary Davis in Ottery St Mary and Mabel Ann and Sabina Kate Shepard
Mary Davis nee Woodland is the great aunt of Mabel Ann Shepard and Sabina Kate Shepard
Returning to Dorset and looking at the Bradford Peverell records prior to 1871 we find the Woodland family growing up there and in 1861 there is a reference to the Gealls in the form of two grandchildren who are the children of Mary Woodland and her husband James Geall. The full story of the Geall family is shown in the section on the Woodland Family. There is a marriage between James Fowill Geall of Wareham and Mary Tapp Woodland in Wareham Q1 1854 vol 5a page 465. In 1851 prior to her marriage to James Geal, Mary is living with her family in Bradford Peverell. Also in the Tapp Woodland family is Elizabeth aged 17 who was later to marry John Barter. In due course John and Elizabeth Barter had a daughter Mary Jane Barter who married our ancestor John Wesley Shepard.
In the 1841 census there is a Mary Woodland age 60 living in Stratton who appears again with William Tapp Woodland and his family in the 1851 census for Bradford Peverell. Mary poses a problem in that in 1851 she is shown with the relationship of ‘mother’. She is also shown as unmarried. In his researches Nigel Newbery has attributed to her the status of a probable maiden aunt. I had considered the possibility that she is in fact the widowed mother of Sarah who should appear with the name Gaulton if this is the case. The 1841 census providing a Mary Woodland in Stratton who we know from 1851 was born in Stratton means this option is possibly unlikely and that Nigel’s hypothesis is the more likely. The only other option being that Mary Woodland is indeed the mother of William Tapp Woodland and that does not tie in with other researches into his parentage which gave us a mother called Hannah Woodland nee Bow, see below.
"The Woodland family is related to us because their descendants married into the Shepard family. The research has been complicated because, in various records, the surname appears as Tapp/Woodland, Woodland or Tapp. Finding our ancestor Elizabeth Tapp on the 1851 Census revealed that her father was William and that he was born in Stratton about 1801 and that his wife was Sarah. Checking the Baptism records there found William’s parents and the S. & D. F.H.S. traced the relevant marriages. Firstly I asked them to trace the marriage of Thomas Woodland or Tapp to a Hannah of unknown surname, which produced this record from the village of Stockwood, ten miles north of Stratton.
13.02.1798 Thomas Woodland of Stratton = Hannah Bow of Stockwood"
There is a recorded death of a Mary Tupp Woodland in Dorchester Q2 1851 vol 8 page 42. This is almost certainly the same as Nigel found in the burial register for Bradford Peverell
"13.05.1851 Mary Tapp Woodland aged 73. "
The fact that she has the name Tapp included tends to point to the likelihood that this was a given name and not adopted on marriage adding more weight to the maiden aunt theory.
By 1861 Mary Woodland now Geall has married and moved away from Bradford Peverell but her daughter Flora and a John Geall are staying with their grandparents. I have been unable to find a birth record for John Geall who claims to have been born in Cerne Abbas. See the possible explanation for his ancestry under John Geall 1856 - 1862
The two Geall sisters in Ottery St Mary in 1881 are as we know Mary and Alice Kate. They are shown as nieces of Henry Davis and Sarah Davis nee Woodland who is the sister of Mary Woodland who married James Geall in 1854 and who is later found in Poole in 1871. I believe that Alice Geall was born Alice Kate Geall in Dorchester Q3 1874 vol 5a page 332 and that Mary Geall was born in Poole Q2 1863 vol 5a page 303
Initially I had difficulty rationalising how they actually fitted into the Geall ancestry but finally all the pieces fell into place. In 1881 the Geall family are in Dorset so Alice and Mary should be with them aged about 7 and 14. We know that in 1871 Mary was with the family in Poole. It transpires that the Geall family is fairly scattered in 1881 with the father living alone in Poole, the mother and four children living next door to Henry and Frances Sheppard and their children in Stratton while Alice and Mary are with the Davis family in Ottery St Mary.
Another line of enquiry for possible relationships between the two families is provided by the fact that after his marriage to Sarah Ann Swaffield, Amos Shepard with whom the boys were staying lived with his wife and daughter in Bradford Peverell. Sarah Swaffield had previously lived there in 1871. There are only 12 properties physically located between the Swaffield and the Woodland cottages. It is therefore almost inevitable that Sarah Swaffield and Sarah Woodland would have known each other. When Sarah Woodland left to marry Henry Davis in 1873 Sarah Swaffield would have been a girl of 17. There is a strong Methodist/Baptist theme running through the Shepard story and as Henry Davis was a Baptist Minister it is possibly not surprising that the orphaned Shepard girls eventually went to live with him and his wife in Ottery St Mary.
However fortunately having entered all the details of the ancestors and descendants of the Shepard, Barter, Tapp Woodland families into PAF family tree software from www.familysearch.org has actually produced a definitive relationship between Mary Davis in Ottery St Mary and Mabel Ann and Sabina Kate Shepard
Mary Davis nee Woodland is the great aunt of Mabel Ann Shepard and Sabina Kate Shepard