The Cane Family, in Timberscombe from at least the mid 1600s and beyond
Title
The Cane Family, in Timberscombe from at least the mid 1600s and beyond
Subject
Description
On the 10th of April 2022, the St. Petrock's History Group was contacted by Carol Dougherty seeking information on her husband's paternal family line, asking in particular about George Cane, the young man featured in the top photograph. Mr. Cane was born in Luxborough, where he was baptised on the 17th of March 1861 (1). Ms. Dougherty believed that George Cane's father and grandfather were from Timberscombe. They were indeed and further searching revealed that the Cane family had descendants in Timberscombe from at least the mid 1600s and had married into other families that were also longtime residents of the village.
George Cane was the 6th of 7 children. Their father was John Cane, who was baptised on the 8th of October 1809 at St. Petrock's Church in Timberscombe. An Agricultural Labourer, on the 23rd of April 1837, John Cane had married Emma Taylor at the Church of St. Nicolas in Withycombe. Emma was the daughter of Richard, also an Agricultural Labourer and Anne (nee Pullen) Taylor (3). Emma and her parents listed their birth places as the Parish of Carhampton, with their home located in the nearby hamlet of Rodhuish (4). By the 1841 Census, John and Emma Cane lived in Nettlecombe, where their first son, James, was born. Their second child, Thomas, was born in 1845 at Chapmans Cottage in Luxborough (5). It and Bakers Cottage were post-medieval tenements on the Lyndham Estate. In later years the entire site became Bakers (6) but Chapmans is where the next three Cane children were born. John and Emma's first daughter, born in 1847, was baptised as "Marianne" but came to be called Mary Ann (7), followed in 1850 by John, who died two months later (8). Hannah was born in 1851 (9), after which there was a ten year wait for George. The Cane family had also moved to Hill Cottage in Luxborough, likely by the time George was born. Their seventh child, born on Christmas Day 1863, was also named John, the second namesake living until 1926 (10). John Cane, the father, died in 1892 and Emma Cane died in 1897 and they are buried together at St. Mary's Church in Luxborough (11).
The father of John Cane was James Cane, born in Timberscombe and baptised on the 7th of January 1781 at St. Petrock's (12). John Cane's mother was Mary Skinner, who was baptised 23 May 1779 at St. George's Church in Dunster by her mother, also Mary Skinner (13). On the 26th of December 1801, James Cane was in Dunster to marry Mary Skinner, the daughter (14). They were living in Timberscombe when their first child, Betty, was born in June 1802 (15). Betty had an interesting life, marrying James Burnell, of Exton, at St. Petrock's in 1827 (16). For the next 30 years, they mostly lived in Exton, raising two daughters, Mary and Ann, and four sons, Robert, George, Edwin and Mark (17). Exton is where James Burnell died in 1857 (18). By the 1861 Census, Betty Burnell was living at and running the Ellbridge Tavern in Bristol, employing two of her sons (Edwin and Mark )as porters and a son-in-law, John Hooper, (husband of Ann) as "House Carpenter". At some point before 1870, Betty emigrated to the United States, taking along all of her children (with the exception of Mary, her eldest child) and their families. Betty Burnell died in 1878, at Honey Point, Macoupin County, Illinois (19).
Following the birth of Betty, the first son of James and Mary Cane was also named James and was born at Timberscombe in 1804. John Cane, the father of George Cane, was their third child, preceding Thomas, born in 1812, Mary, born in 1814 and Ann, baptised at St. Petrock's on the 7th of February 1817 (20). On the 14th of July 1819, aged 36 or 37, their father, James Cane died and was buried at St. Petrock's Churchyard (21). On Christmas Day 1824, his widow, Mary, married Robert Chigney, an Agricultural Labourer, 15 years her junior (22). Their son, Charles, was baptised at Timberscombe on 31 July 1825 (23). Mary and Robert Chigney settled in Old Cleeve, where she died at the age of 83 in March 1866 and Robert died in September 1871 (24).
The parents of James Cane and great-grandparents of the pictured George Cane were John and Elizabeth (Betty) Cane. The exact birth date of this John Cane, who worked as a Labourer, is more difficult to ascertain but was likely around 1745 and seemingly in Timberscombe (25). His wife, Betty (the name she seemed to prefer) Cane is easier, definitely being born in Timberscombe, where her parents had her baptised (as "Elizabeth" ) on the 12th of September 1742 at St. Petrock's. As "Betty" Huxtable, she married John Cane on the 13th of June 1768 (26). Their first child was baptised as "Jenney" on 9 April 1769 but was buried as "Jane" on 20 February 1780. James (born in 1781) was preceded by Thomas, born in 1775, another John, who was born and died in 1772, and Mary, born in 1778 and died in 1780. AfterJames was another Mary, baptised 20 June 1785 and who was buried by John and Betty Cane at St. Petrock's Churchyard in 1801 (27). John Cane (the father) died around the 15th of March 1806. On the 24th of May 1806, £100 was sworn as probate for "Cane, John of Timberscombe, Somerset ". His executor was his eldest son, Thomas, and he and his mother were the "Legatees" (28). As her husband had been, Betty was buried (aged 75 years and as "Elizabeth") at St. Petrock's on 14 December 1817 (29).
John Cane may be the last member of the paternal side of George Cane's ancestors to be identified with any certainty. It has been suggested that his father was a Mr. Cane born in Somerset in 1725 (30). A Robert Cane was born c. 1724 in the Dulverton district (which extends to Exton and Bridgetown), who died in 1794 (31). A more likely connection is another Robert Cane and his wife, Elizabeth, who buried a son named William Cane in Timberscombe on the 20th of June 1795 (32). Unfortunately there is no further (known) information on any of these possibilities.
The maternal ancestors of George Cane's great grandmother, Betty, can be traced back further. Betty was the oldest child of William Huxtable and Mary Copp--both with the surnames of two of Timberscombe's oldest families. The first Huxtable recorded in the Timberscombe Parish Records was William, Betty's father (33) who had come from Bratton Fleming, Devon where he was born in 1718, the son of John and Mary (nee Hardnell) Huxtable (33). William and Mary Copp married on the 8th of June 1742 at St. Petrock's (34). He worked as a Carpenter, a profession carried on by Huxtable men throughout the following generations (35). After Betty, another daughter, Mary, was born to William and Mary in 1745, followed by three sons, John, Thomas and Richard, respectively in 1749, 1756 and 1760. William Huxtable died at the age of 45 in 1763. His wife lived until 1797 and they were both buried at St. Petrock's (36).
Records of the Copp family in Timberscombe precede those of the Huxtables. The baptism of Mary Copp, William's future wife, was recorded in the Parish Register, on the 5th of November 1723, entered as "Mary, daughter of Benjamin Copp and his wife, Mary" (37). Benjamin Copp had married Mary Eame on the previous 11 April at Carhampton (38). She was his second wife. Benjamin Copp, born and baptised on the 18th of May 1678, at Timberscombe, was the son of Robert and Joane Copp (39). On the 30th of July 1719, Benjamin had married Jane Edbrooke at Bedminster, Somerset (40). Jane died giving birth to a son, christened as "John" just before he also died. Mother and son were buried on the 15th of October 1720 at St. Petrock's Churchyard. Tragically, also written in St. Petrock's Register on the 12th of November 1723, seven days after the birth of her daughter, Mary Copp, were the words "Mary, wife of Benjamin Copp, was buried" (41). Thus Benjamin Copp lost both of his wives while giving birth. Mr. Copp died in 1748 at Treborough, a small village seven miles south of Dunster (42).
Considering the rarity of their surname, Mary Eame may have been the daughter (or at least a relation) of William and Margaret Eame, who lived in Timberscombe. On record, Mr. and Mrs. Eame did have a daughter also named Margaret, baptised at St. Petrock's on the 20th of January 1693. The younger Margaret Eame married John Stenner on 23 April 1719 in Timberscombe. In 1720, she too died after the birth of their child (43).
After the death of his wife, Benjamin Copp would not have had the help of his parents in raising an infant daughter. Joane Copp had died in 1683 and Robert Copp died in 1708 (44). They were buried together at St. Petrock's (45). It has been suggested Robert and Joane Copp were born in Timberscombe c. 1650 , although nothing conclusive confirms that--however it is certainly feasible. Besides Benjamin, they had four other children, Walter, Joane, Joseph and Thomas, all born in Timberscombe, respectively in 1673,1674,1676 and 1679 and all baptised at St. Petrock's Church (46). Elsewhere it has been proposed that Robert Copp's father was a John Copp who died in Timberscombe in 1678, whose father was another John Copp, who died in Minehead in 1616, who was the son of a previous Robert Copp, who died in Dunster in 1586. Only the latter can be verified (47) but without any known connections to the Robert Copp who died at Timberscombe in 1708.
In 1682, the year before Joane Copp died, a new church bell was recast from an older bell that was in the existing church tower at St. Petrock's (which was rebuilt early in the next century). A pit was dug at the base of the tower and local men were hired to get the old bell down, help with the recasting and then get the new bell hung back up in the tower. During breaks, these men were served beer, the cost of which was carefully calculated and recorded by church officials. One of those beer drinkers was Robert Copp, also named on the record as providing iron for the project (48).
There is no telling how much of his family's history that George Cane would have known, but it is apparent the Cane family made efforts to stay in touch with each other and record some of their memories. Before the 1871 Census, the Cane family had moved again in Luxborough to the house called Overland but when the census was being taken, ten-year-old George was away visiting with his oldest brother, 31-year-old James, now living in Paignton, Devon and who had qualified as a Baking Master. By 1880, 19-year-old George Cane may have been working as a Haulier and living on Prewatt Street in Bristol (49). He married Phoebe Mullard on the 25th of September 1888 at St. Mary's in Shirehamptom, Gloucestershire (50) . By 1911, he and Phoebe were settled at 20 Richmond Terrace in Avonmouth, an outer suburb of Bristol with a dock, part of Bristol's ports, where George was employed as a Gate Keeper. They were then the parents of four girls, Nina Rose, Georgina May, Dorcas Blanche and Edith Lilian (51). George Cane died relatively young on the 17th of December 1914 and was buried at the church where he had married Phoebe (52).
The second photograph is of Nina Rose, the eldest daughter of George and Phoebe Cane. Born in 1893, the photograph catches her at the age of 21 (53). About six years later, in 1920 Nina married Thomas Henry Dougherty, at his hometown in Sunderland, Durham (54). Born in 1896, Mr. Dougherty was an 18-year-old postman in Sunderland at the outbreak of World War I in 1914, at which time he registered with the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (55). In October 1926, Thomas and Nina were living in Wells, Somerset when their son, Kenneth Henry Charles Dougherty was born (56). By the 1939 Register, the Dougherty family were in Bristol where Thomas Dougherty continued work as a Postman. He died in 1986 (57). After his passing, Nina moved to Yatton, North Somerset (eleven miles southwest of Bristol) to be in the same village as Kenneth. Nina Rose Dougherty lived to be 100-years-old, passing away at Weston Super Mare, although her home address remained in Yatton (58).
The photograph of the 21-year-old Nina Rose Cane was a favorite of Carol Dougherty, who donated it in May 2022. She, of course knew Nina as Nina Rose Dougherty, the beloved grandmother of her husband, Alan Dougherty, the son of Kenneth Dougherty who passed away in 2005 (59). And Nina Rose was also the great grandmother of Hannah, the daughter of Carol and Alan Dougherty. During her 100th year, Nina Rose Dougherty wrote down some of her memories, revealing that "my Dad" (George Cane) also had a "baker shop", located at 2 Clegg Street, Canton, Cardiff, a business he had before he married Phoebe (60). Having also been a baker should not be surprise in this family. After all, in 1871, 10- year-old George was staying in Devon with his Master Baker older brother. And beside her father, Nina Rose Dougherty also wrote "My Grandmother lived in a house next to Dunster Castle where they had a Baker Shop & I believe a small farm." Presumably this would be Emma Cane, George's mother. Emma Cane's grandparents (the parents of her father, Richard Taylor), Issac and Ann Taylor were married in Dunster and Dunster is where Mrs. Taylor grew up as Ann Yendle (61). In March 2023, Carol Dougherty confirmed other Cane family members had bakery shops in Dunster and Minehead.
Dunster was the home of others in the Cane family, including a son and son-in-law of James and Mary Cane, the grandparents of George. Their oldest son, James Cane, lived on St. George's Street and worked as a cordwainer (a boot and shoe maker) in the 1840s and 1850s (62). George Geen and his wife, Mary Cane, the sister of James, also moved to the High Street in Dunster by 1841, where they lived for over the next 50 years. Their home, next door to the Horse & Crooks Inn, was also where Mr. Geen worked in the same profession as his brother-in-law---he too was a cordwainer (63).
The bottom photograph of a young man leading five sturdy work horses, had also been saved by Nina Rose Dougherty and donated by Carol and Alan Dougherty, when it was described as depicting "a member of her Cane family in the fields of Somerset". By March 2022, Carol Dougherty was able to confirm the young man was Nina's uncle, Thomas Cane, the second oldest of George's brothers. Thomas also gravitated to Dunster where he married Elizabeth Ward, originally from Minehead, on the 30th of April 1877 (64). By the 1881 Census, they were living in Alcombe, possibly at Grove Place on Manor Road, where Thomas listed his occupation as a Labourer. By the 1891 Census, their address was specified as being No. 3 Grove Place, one of nine cottages built in the 1850's, originally to house men working at a nearby quarry (65). No. 3 would have been a small two-bedroom home but here is where Thomas and Elizabeth raised nine children, starting with William, born August 1879 and ending with Thomas John, born January 1897 (66). Elizabeth Cane died at the age of 39 in June 1898 (67). Her husband continued to work as a labourer, a groom--possibly at Dunster Castle (68) and raise his children. On the 1911 Census, 55-year-old Thomas still lived at No. 3 Grove Place with his youngest boys, 16-year-old Henry Thomas and 14-year-old Thomas John. Thomas Cane was still working, now as a Mason's Labourer. He died at the end of the year on 28 December 1911 and was buried in Dunster (69).
By 1861, when the same Thomas Cane was 16-years-old, he had already left Hill Cottage, the Cane family home in Luxborough and was working nearby at Nurcott, a 175-acre farm owned by Mr. Robert Norman. The duties assigned to Thomas were twofold. He was a servant, probably in the house and the farm's "Ploughboy" (70). The job of a ploughboy was to guide farm horses through the fields, therefore doing the same work as the young man-- now identified as Thomas Cane--is doing in this early photograph, which was likely taken at Nurcott Farm. Even if not every detail of that statement is correct, this is a wonderful photograph capturing a specific place and time.
George Cane was the 6th of 7 children. Their father was John Cane, who was baptised on the 8th of October 1809 at St. Petrock's Church in Timberscombe. An Agricultural Labourer, on the 23rd of April 1837, John Cane had married Emma Taylor at the Church of St. Nicolas in Withycombe. Emma was the daughter of Richard, also an Agricultural Labourer and Anne (nee Pullen) Taylor (3). Emma and her parents listed their birth places as the Parish of Carhampton, with their home located in the nearby hamlet of Rodhuish (4). By the 1841 Census, John and Emma Cane lived in Nettlecombe, where their first son, James, was born. Their second child, Thomas, was born in 1845 at Chapmans Cottage in Luxborough (5). It and Bakers Cottage were post-medieval tenements on the Lyndham Estate. In later years the entire site became Bakers (6) but Chapmans is where the next three Cane children were born. John and Emma's first daughter, born in 1847, was baptised as "Marianne" but came to be called Mary Ann (7), followed in 1850 by John, who died two months later (8). Hannah was born in 1851 (9), after which there was a ten year wait for George. The Cane family had also moved to Hill Cottage in Luxborough, likely by the time George was born. Their seventh child, born on Christmas Day 1863, was also named John, the second namesake living until 1926 (10). John Cane, the father, died in 1892 and Emma Cane died in 1897 and they are buried together at St. Mary's Church in Luxborough (11).
The father of John Cane was James Cane, born in Timberscombe and baptised on the 7th of January 1781 at St. Petrock's (12). John Cane's mother was Mary Skinner, who was baptised 23 May 1779 at St. George's Church in Dunster by her mother, also Mary Skinner (13). On the 26th of December 1801, James Cane was in Dunster to marry Mary Skinner, the daughter (14). They were living in Timberscombe when their first child, Betty, was born in June 1802 (15). Betty had an interesting life, marrying James Burnell, of Exton, at St. Petrock's in 1827 (16). For the next 30 years, they mostly lived in Exton, raising two daughters, Mary and Ann, and four sons, Robert, George, Edwin and Mark (17). Exton is where James Burnell died in 1857 (18). By the 1861 Census, Betty Burnell was living at and running the Ellbridge Tavern in Bristol, employing two of her sons (Edwin and Mark )as porters and a son-in-law, John Hooper, (husband of Ann) as "House Carpenter". At some point before 1870, Betty emigrated to the United States, taking along all of her children (with the exception of Mary, her eldest child) and their families. Betty Burnell died in 1878, at Honey Point, Macoupin County, Illinois (19).
Following the birth of Betty, the first son of James and Mary Cane was also named James and was born at Timberscombe in 1804. John Cane, the father of George Cane, was their third child, preceding Thomas, born in 1812, Mary, born in 1814 and Ann, baptised at St. Petrock's on the 7th of February 1817 (20). On the 14th of July 1819, aged 36 or 37, their father, James Cane died and was buried at St. Petrock's Churchyard (21). On Christmas Day 1824, his widow, Mary, married Robert Chigney, an Agricultural Labourer, 15 years her junior (22). Their son, Charles, was baptised at Timberscombe on 31 July 1825 (23). Mary and Robert Chigney settled in Old Cleeve, where she died at the age of 83 in March 1866 and Robert died in September 1871 (24).
The parents of James Cane and great-grandparents of the pictured George Cane were John and Elizabeth (Betty) Cane. The exact birth date of this John Cane, who worked as a Labourer, is more difficult to ascertain but was likely around 1745 and seemingly in Timberscombe (25). His wife, Betty (the name she seemed to prefer) Cane is easier, definitely being born in Timberscombe, where her parents had her baptised (as "Elizabeth" ) on the 12th of September 1742 at St. Petrock's. As "Betty" Huxtable, she married John Cane on the 13th of June 1768 (26). Their first child was baptised as "Jenney" on 9 April 1769 but was buried as "Jane" on 20 February 1780. James (born in 1781) was preceded by Thomas, born in 1775, another John, who was born and died in 1772, and Mary, born in 1778 and died in 1780. AfterJames was another Mary, baptised 20 June 1785 and who was buried by John and Betty Cane at St. Petrock's Churchyard in 1801 (27). John Cane (the father) died around the 15th of March 1806. On the 24th of May 1806, £100 was sworn as probate for "Cane, John of Timberscombe, Somerset ". His executor was his eldest son, Thomas, and he and his mother were the "Legatees" (28). As her husband had been, Betty was buried (aged 75 years and as "Elizabeth") at St. Petrock's on 14 December 1817 (29).
John Cane may be the last member of the paternal side of George Cane's ancestors to be identified with any certainty. It has been suggested that his father was a Mr. Cane born in Somerset in 1725 (30). A Robert Cane was born c. 1724 in the Dulverton district (which extends to Exton and Bridgetown), who died in 1794 (31). A more likely connection is another Robert Cane and his wife, Elizabeth, who buried a son named William Cane in Timberscombe on the 20th of June 1795 (32). Unfortunately there is no further (known) information on any of these possibilities.
The maternal ancestors of George Cane's great grandmother, Betty, can be traced back further. Betty was the oldest child of William Huxtable and Mary Copp--both with the surnames of two of Timberscombe's oldest families. The first Huxtable recorded in the Timberscombe Parish Records was William, Betty's father (33) who had come from Bratton Fleming, Devon where he was born in 1718, the son of John and Mary (nee Hardnell) Huxtable (33). William and Mary Copp married on the 8th of June 1742 at St. Petrock's (34). He worked as a Carpenter, a profession carried on by Huxtable men throughout the following generations (35). After Betty, another daughter, Mary, was born to William and Mary in 1745, followed by three sons, John, Thomas and Richard, respectively in 1749, 1756 and 1760. William Huxtable died at the age of 45 in 1763. His wife lived until 1797 and they were both buried at St. Petrock's (36).
Records of the Copp family in Timberscombe precede those of the Huxtables. The baptism of Mary Copp, William's future wife, was recorded in the Parish Register, on the 5th of November 1723, entered as "Mary, daughter of Benjamin Copp and his wife, Mary" (37). Benjamin Copp had married Mary Eame on the previous 11 April at Carhampton (38). She was his second wife. Benjamin Copp, born and baptised on the 18th of May 1678, at Timberscombe, was the son of Robert and Joane Copp (39). On the 30th of July 1719, Benjamin had married Jane Edbrooke at Bedminster, Somerset (40). Jane died giving birth to a son, christened as "John" just before he also died. Mother and son were buried on the 15th of October 1720 at St. Petrock's Churchyard. Tragically, also written in St. Petrock's Register on the 12th of November 1723, seven days after the birth of her daughter, Mary Copp, were the words "Mary, wife of Benjamin Copp, was buried" (41). Thus Benjamin Copp lost both of his wives while giving birth. Mr. Copp died in 1748 at Treborough, a small village seven miles south of Dunster (42).
Considering the rarity of their surname, Mary Eame may have been the daughter (or at least a relation) of William and Margaret Eame, who lived in Timberscombe. On record, Mr. and Mrs. Eame did have a daughter also named Margaret, baptised at St. Petrock's on the 20th of January 1693. The younger Margaret Eame married John Stenner on 23 April 1719 in Timberscombe. In 1720, she too died after the birth of their child (43).
After the death of his wife, Benjamin Copp would not have had the help of his parents in raising an infant daughter. Joane Copp had died in 1683 and Robert Copp died in 1708 (44). They were buried together at St. Petrock's (45). It has been suggested Robert and Joane Copp were born in Timberscombe c. 1650 , although nothing conclusive confirms that--however it is certainly feasible. Besides Benjamin, they had four other children, Walter, Joane, Joseph and Thomas, all born in Timberscombe, respectively in 1673,1674,1676 and 1679 and all baptised at St. Petrock's Church (46). Elsewhere it has been proposed that Robert Copp's father was a John Copp who died in Timberscombe in 1678, whose father was another John Copp, who died in Minehead in 1616, who was the son of a previous Robert Copp, who died in Dunster in 1586. Only the latter can be verified (47) but without any known connections to the Robert Copp who died at Timberscombe in 1708.
In 1682, the year before Joane Copp died, a new church bell was recast from an older bell that was in the existing church tower at St. Petrock's (which was rebuilt early in the next century). A pit was dug at the base of the tower and local men were hired to get the old bell down, help with the recasting and then get the new bell hung back up in the tower. During breaks, these men were served beer, the cost of which was carefully calculated and recorded by church officials. One of those beer drinkers was Robert Copp, also named on the record as providing iron for the project (48).
There is no telling how much of his family's history that George Cane would have known, but it is apparent the Cane family made efforts to stay in touch with each other and record some of their memories. Before the 1871 Census, the Cane family had moved again in Luxborough to the house called Overland but when the census was being taken, ten-year-old George was away visiting with his oldest brother, 31-year-old James, now living in Paignton, Devon and who had qualified as a Baking Master. By 1880, 19-year-old George Cane may have been working as a Haulier and living on Prewatt Street in Bristol (49). He married Phoebe Mullard on the 25th of September 1888 at St. Mary's in Shirehamptom, Gloucestershire (50) . By 1911, he and Phoebe were settled at 20 Richmond Terrace in Avonmouth, an outer suburb of Bristol with a dock, part of Bristol's ports, where George was employed as a Gate Keeper. They were then the parents of four girls, Nina Rose, Georgina May, Dorcas Blanche and Edith Lilian (51). George Cane died relatively young on the 17th of December 1914 and was buried at the church where he had married Phoebe (52).
The second photograph is of Nina Rose, the eldest daughter of George and Phoebe Cane. Born in 1893, the photograph catches her at the age of 21 (53). About six years later, in 1920 Nina married Thomas Henry Dougherty, at his hometown in Sunderland, Durham (54). Born in 1896, Mr. Dougherty was an 18-year-old postman in Sunderland at the outbreak of World War I in 1914, at which time he registered with the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (55). In October 1926, Thomas and Nina were living in Wells, Somerset when their son, Kenneth Henry Charles Dougherty was born (56). By the 1939 Register, the Dougherty family were in Bristol where Thomas Dougherty continued work as a Postman. He died in 1986 (57). After his passing, Nina moved to Yatton, North Somerset (eleven miles southwest of Bristol) to be in the same village as Kenneth. Nina Rose Dougherty lived to be 100-years-old, passing away at Weston Super Mare, although her home address remained in Yatton (58).
The photograph of the 21-year-old Nina Rose Cane was a favorite of Carol Dougherty, who donated it in May 2022. She, of course knew Nina as Nina Rose Dougherty, the beloved grandmother of her husband, Alan Dougherty, the son of Kenneth Dougherty who passed away in 2005 (59). And Nina Rose was also the great grandmother of Hannah, the daughter of Carol and Alan Dougherty. During her 100th year, Nina Rose Dougherty wrote down some of her memories, revealing that "my Dad" (George Cane) also had a "baker shop", located at 2 Clegg Street, Canton, Cardiff, a business he had before he married Phoebe (60). Having also been a baker should not be surprise in this family. After all, in 1871, 10- year-old George was staying in Devon with his Master Baker older brother. And beside her father, Nina Rose Dougherty also wrote "My Grandmother lived in a house next to Dunster Castle where they had a Baker Shop & I believe a small farm." Presumably this would be Emma Cane, George's mother. Emma Cane's grandparents (the parents of her father, Richard Taylor), Issac and Ann Taylor were married in Dunster and Dunster is where Mrs. Taylor grew up as Ann Yendle (61). In March 2023, Carol Dougherty confirmed other Cane family members had bakery shops in Dunster and Minehead.
Dunster was the home of others in the Cane family, including a son and son-in-law of James and Mary Cane, the grandparents of George. Their oldest son, James Cane, lived on St. George's Street and worked as a cordwainer (a boot and shoe maker) in the 1840s and 1850s (62). George Geen and his wife, Mary Cane, the sister of James, also moved to the High Street in Dunster by 1841, where they lived for over the next 50 years. Their home, next door to the Horse & Crooks Inn, was also where Mr. Geen worked in the same profession as his brother-in-law---he too was a cordwainer (63).
The bottom photograph of a young man leading five sturdy work horses, had also been saved by Nina Rose Dougherty and donated by Carol and Alan Dougherty, when it was described as depicting "a member of her Cane family in the fields of Somerset". By March 2022, Carol Dougherty was able to confirm the young man was Nina's uncle, Thomas Cane, the second oldest of George's brothers. Thomas also gravitated to Dunster where he married Elizabeth Ward, originally from Minehead, on the 30th of April 1877 (64). By the 1881 Census, they were living in Alcombe, possibly at Grove Place on Manor Road, where Thomas listed his occupation as a Labourer. By the 1891 Census, their address was specified as being No. 3 Grove Place, one of nine cottages built in the 1850's, originally to house men working at a nearby quarry (65). No. 3 would have been a small two-bedroom home but here is where Thomas and Elizabeth raised nine children, starting with William, born August 1879 and ending with Thomas John, born January 1897 (66). Elizabeth Cane died at the age of 39 in June 1898 (67). Her husband continued to work as a labourer, a groom--possibly at Dunster Castle (68) and raise his children. On the 1911 Census, 55-year-old Thomas still lived at No. 3 Grove Place with his youngest boys, 16-year-old Henry Thomas and 14-year-old Thomas John. Thomas Cane was still working, now as a Mason's Labourer. He died at the end of the year on 28 December 1911 and was buried in Dunster (69).
By 1861, when the same Thomas Cane was 16-years-old, he had already left Hill Cottage, the Cane family home in Luxborough and was working nearby at Nurcott, a 175-acre farm owned by Mr. Robert Norman. The duties assigned to Thomas were twofold. He was a servant, probably in the house and the farm's "Ploughboy" (70). The job of a ploughboy was to guide farm horses through the fields, therefore doing the same work as the young man-- now identified as Thomas Cane--is doing in this early photograph, which was likely taken at Nurcott Farm. Even if not every detail of that statement is correct, this is a wonderful photograph capturing a specific place and time.
Creator
Anonymous /
Anonymous /
Anonymous /
Anonymous /
Anonymous /
Date
undated, perhaps c. 1890
c. 1914
likely the 1860s
c. 1914
likely the 1860s
Language
English
Identifier
George Cane, perhaps c. 1890, possibly taken in the Bristol area / Nina Rose Cane , c. 1914, possibly taken in the Bristol area / Thomas Cane with five work horses in "the fields of Somerset", seemingly at Luxborough, undated but likely 1860s
Acquisition Date
2022
2022
2022
2022
2022
Acquisition Method
Gift
Category
PEOPLE : Named / Timberscombe (and Luxborough)
PEOPLE: Named / Timberscombe (and Avonmouth, Bristol)
FARMING
PEOPLE: Named / Timberscombe (and Avonmouth, Bristol)
FARMING
Condition
Good
Condition Notes
entered by Tom Sperling
Condition Date
2023
Dimension Type
W X L
Dimension Units
cm
Dimension Value
14 X 10
16.5 X 11
12 X 19.5
16.5 X 11
12 X 19.5
Institution Name
St. Petrock's History Group
Notes
(1) 1861 England Census and Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms 1813-1914 (2) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (3) 1841, 1851 and 1861 England Censuses and Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 (4) 1841, 1851 and 1861 England Censuses and Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms , 1813-1914 (5) England & Wales Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 and 1841 England Census (6) Historic Environment Record, Exmoor National Park, MSO7486 (7) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914 and 1841, 1851 and 1861 England Censuses (8) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914, England, Select Baptisms and Christenings, 1539-1915 and Somerset, England, Church of England, Burials, 1813-1914 (9) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1837-1915 and Somerset, England, Church of England Burials, 1813-1914 (10) on the 1861 Census, the Cane family had relocated to Hill Cottage, Luxborough, where George Cane was listed as two months old and England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1856-1995 (11) UK and Ireland, Find a Grave Index, 1300s-Current (12) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (13) Somerset, England, Church of England , Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812. (14) Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 (15) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914 (16) Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 (17) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914 and 1841 and 1851 England Censuses (18) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 (19) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current, Illinois, U.S. Wills and Probate Records, 1772-1999, US, Find a Grave Index, 1600s-Current and Illinois and U.S. Deaths and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1999 (20) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Indexes, 1837-1915 and Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914 (21) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current. (22) Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 (23) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, 1813-1914 (24) 1851 and 1861 England Censuses and England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Indexes, 1837-1915 (25) Find My Past. com, Results for England Records, National Burial Index for England and Wales and 3 Canes in Canada, 145,John 4PGGFCane: Schultz Family Tree, Gwendolyn Schultz, John Cane, Ancestry.com (26) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (27) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (28) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current and Web: UK, Death Duty Registers Index, 1796-1914 (29) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current (30) 3 Canes in Canada, 145, John4PGGFCane: Schultz Family Tree, Gwendolyn Schultz, John Cane, Ancestry.com (31) Find My Past.com, Results for England Records, Somerset Burial Index (32) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 and UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current (33) "TIMBERSCOMBE PARISH REGISTER", transcribed by T.L. Stoate, Harry Galloway Publishing, 1995 and England, Select Births and Christenings, 1738-1975 (34) Somerset, England, Church of England , Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (35) Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 and among his ancestors, John Huxtable, Frank Huxtable and Dudley Huxtable were all carpenters, 1911 England Census and 1939 England and Wales Register (36) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current (37) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (38) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (39) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (40) England, Select Marriages, 1538-1973 (41) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (42) Find My Past. com, Results for England Records, National Burial Index of England and Wales (43) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (44) Find My Past.com, Results for England Records, National Burial Index of England and Wales and Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (45) UK and Ireland, Find A Grave Index, 1300s-Current (46) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (47) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 (48) "The Church Bells of England", by George W. Massey, Somerset Archaeological Nature History Society, 2011, pages 670-672 (49) UK, Midland and Various UK Trade Directories, 1770-1941 (50) Bristol, England, Church of England, Marriages and Banns, 1753-1937 (51) 1911 England Census (52) Bristol, England, Church of England, Burials, 1813-1994 (53) 1939 England and Wales Register and as recalled in 2022 by Carol Dougherty (54) England & Wales, Civil Registration Marriage Index, 1916-2005 (55) UK, Postal Service Appointment Books, 1737-1969, Web: UK, Royal Naval Division Index, 1914-1919 and Web: UK, Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Index, 1903-1922 (56) England & Wales, Civil Registration Birth Index, 1916-2007 (57) England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1856-1995 (58) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 and England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations) 1856-1995 (59) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (60) as confirmed by Carol Dougherty in March 2023 (61) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1531-1812 and Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 (62) 1841 and 1851 Censuses (63) 1841, 1851, 1861, 1871, 1881 and 1891 England Censuses (64) Somerset, England, Marriage Registers, Bonds and Allegations, 1754-1914 (65) Grove Place, mineheadspiritulistchurch.co.uk (66) Somerset, England, Church of England, Baptisms,1813-1914, England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915 and 1871 and 1901 England Censuses (67) England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007 (68) as recalled by Carol Dougherty in March 2023 (69) Somerset, England, Church of England, Burials , 1813-1914 (70) 1861 England Census
Storage Location
St. Petrock's History Group Archive
Storage Date
2023
Storage Notes
St. Petrock's History Group PHOTOGRAPHS
Item Reference
SP-287
Technique
Copies
Citation
Anonymous /
Anonymous /
Anonymous /, “The Cane Family, in Timberscombe from at least the mid 1600s and beyond,” St. Petrock's History Group, accessed April 18, 2024, https://stpetrockshistorygroup.omeka.net/items/show/3580.
Comments