On This Day: 21 July

21 July 1744 was the marriage date for my great great great great great great grandparents: Gideon MURCH and Elizabeth BASTIN.  And it was a Tuesday.

Gideon was born in Ottery St Mary, Devon, in 1721, in the last few years of George I's reign.  He lived through the reigns of two more Georges, but only a year after Gideon and Elizabeth's marriage came the attempt to put Bonnie Prince Charlie on the throne.

In later records, Gideon is described as a weaver.  Throughout his lifetime, there were several improvements in looms and weaving in general: one of the first was the 'flying shuttle', which made its appearance in 1733.  John Kay, who invented it, placed a shuttle at each end of the loom, and one single weaver could knock the shuttle back and forth with amazing speed (previously it had been pushed backwards and forwards, and often needed two weavers).  Gideon would have been 12 when the 'flying shuttle' appeared, and was probably an apprentice.

Further innovations in weaving came throughout Gideon's life; he saw the beginnings of how everything had to go faster, be bigger.  The 'spinning jenny' came in 1764, the 'water frame' shortly afterwards (a powered textile machine). 

Gideon appears in numerous nonconformist records, baptising his children as Protestant Dissenters.  He was definitely looking for something.  I wonder what his wife thought?

Fearless Females 2013: Day 10: Religion

I am participating in the Fearless Females theme to honour National Women's History Month.  Today we were asked what role religion played in our families; as far back as I have researched on the MURCH line, women either married into a Nonconformist religious atmosphere, or were searching for the truth themselves.  Here they are in Ottery St Mary, Bovey Tracey, and Chudleigh (all in Devon), beginning with my 6th great-grandmother::

• Elizabeth Bastin: bap 1720, married Gideon Murch 21 July 1744
• Margaret Marshall,: b abt 1749, mar Samuel Murch, previously married Richard Littley (very religious family who appear regularly in the Nonconformist records) on 26 December 1774
• Eleanor Bending: bur 1834, married to Samuel Murch 14 March 1791 (2nd wife after Margaret died)
• Mary Bending: baptised on Boxing Day 1785, married Samuel Murch 16 September 1799
• Johanna Yeates married Samuel Murch 5 August 1828
• Johanna Murch and John Haywood, married 30 September 1869 in Independent Meeting House, Ottery St Mary, Devon, UK.

This post originally appeared in Fearless Females 2011 on this blog.

Once again, in honour of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.  I know this is really US-centric - but that's not going to stop me honouring my own Fearless Females...

Fearless Females: Generations of religious women in Devon, UK

I am participating in the Fearless Females theme to honour National Women's History Month.  Today we were asked what role religion played in our families; as far back as I have researched on the MURCH line, women either married into a Nonconformist religious atmosphere, or were searching for the truth themselves.  Here they are in Ottery St Mary, Bovey Tracey, and Chudleigh (all in Devon), beginning with my 6th great-grandmother::

Elizabeth Bastin: bap 1720, married Gideon Murch 21 July 1744
Margaret Marshall,: b abt 1749, mar Samuel Murch, previously married Richard Littley (very religious family who appear regularly in the Nonconformist records) on 26 December 1774
Eleanor Bending: bur 1834, married to Samuel Murch 14 March 1791 (2nd wife after Margaret died)
Mary Bending: baptised on Boxing Day 1785, married Samuel Murch16 September 1799
Johanna Yeates married Samuel Murch 5 August 1828
Johanna Murch and John Haywood, married 30 September 1869 in Independent Meeting House, Ottery St Mary