Beaford & St. Giles-in-the-Wood, Devon
1690 – 1790
“St. Giles-in-the-Wood is a village and parish in the Torrington union, containing, by the census of 1861, 962 inhabitants, and 4827 acres; in the deanery of Torrington, the archdeaconry of Barnstaple, the hundred of Fremington, and the diocese of Exeter, North Devonshire. It is three miles east of Great Torrington, eight miles southeast of Bideford, and eight miles southwest of Umberleigh Station on the North Devon Railway. It includes the hamlets of Kingscott, High Bullen, Dodscott and Heland.
From the same 1861 census, the vicarage, in the incumbency of the Rev. Charles E. Littledale, M.A., is valued at £130 per annum, with a residence and three acres of glebe land, and is in the patronage of the Hon. Mark Rolle.
The church is an ancient edifice dedicated to St. Giles the Hermit. It consists of a nave, a chancel, a transept, and north and south aisles, with a tower containing six bells. The Hon. Mark Rolle restored it in 1862 at a cost of £2000. Robert Vodden (1815-1893) who was the Churchwarden from 1850 to his death, put in a stained glass window to the memory of his wife, Eliza Matthews (c1813-1881), and daughter, Fanny Vodden (1839-1884).
The Baptists and Wesleyans have places of worship in St. Giles-in-the-Wood, and there are Parochial Schools for children of both sexes. There are four almshouses for aged women which have an endowment of £5 per annum.
STEVENSTONE HOUSE, the residence of the Hon. John Rolle, who is lord of the manor and chief landowner, is a noble mansion, in the midst of a fine park well stocked with deer, and has now undergone a complete restoration. Gas works are also being erected for the use of the mansion. The estimated cost of improvement is £50,000. A pack of foxhounds are kept at kennels here, which are hunted regularly during the season.”
In 1669 Sir John Rolle, KB of Stevenstone had an annual income of £6,000 making him “one of the richest gentlemen in the country”. He died in 1706 seized of more than 40 manors in Devon.
Lawrence (Vawden) VODDEN & Grace MU(Y)LES
Lawrence1 (Vawden) VODDEN was the son of Thomas VODDEN and Christian MU(Y)LES and was born in about 1665 in Roborough, Devon. He married Grace MU(Y)LES, daughter of George William MULES and Grace Blake on April 10, 1694 in Beaford, Devon. He died in 1733 in St. Giles-in-the-Wood, Devon, aged 68, and was buried in the church yard on October 14, 1733.
Grace MU(Y)LES was baptized on October 18, 1671 in Beaford, Devon. She died in 1747 in Beaford and was buried in the church yard at St. Giles-in-the-Wood on February 15, 1746/47.
They had twelve children, six boys and six girls, over the span of thirty-one years, the first four in Beaford and the latter eight in St. Giles-in-the-Wood where they moved between 1699 and 1701.
- Their first born Mary1 was born in 1692 and died when she was only 4 in 1696.
- John1 (my 6x great grandfather) was baptized on February 10, 1694/95 in Beaford. John1 married Christian Brinsmead, assumed to be the daughter of Henry Brinsmead and Mary Sims on December 27, 1717. (Unable to find a marriage record for this couple in their village, a detailed search found a record for a John Yodden and Christian Barinsmate in a nearby town of Bideford. Using phonetics, it certainly sounds like them! They must have run away to be married!) Christian was baptized in the same village on October 25, 1693. They had two children, Mary, who was baptized on August 18, 1718 and John2, who was baptized on March 15, 1718/19. The mother, Christian, was buried on August 16, 1734 and the father, John1, died in St. Giles-in-the-Wood at the age of 65 and was buried there on February 13, 1759, just 3 days after his 65th birthday. Son, John2‘s line will be followed on separate page.
- Their second daughter, they also named Mary1 and she was baptised February 22, 1695/96. She married John Lawday on December 26, 1718 in Atherington, Devon. John was born about 1701. They had three girls all baptized at Atherington; Grace on August 21, 1719, Jane on May 18, 1721 and Susanna on March 11, 1722/23. Mary died at age 25 on March 11, 1721/22. It’s unknown when John died.
- Rachel was baptized April 12, 1699. She married John Clarke, son of George and Hannah Clarke, on June 23, 1719 in St. Giles-in-the-Wood and moved the Yarnscombe shortly after. They had eleven children all baptized in Yarnscombe; Elizabeth on January 1, 1722/23, John3 and Robert on August 1, 1723, Grace on January 25, 1725/26, Richard on July 26, 1726, Thomas on April 5, 1730, Margaret and William on June 13, 1732 (Margaret died at age 2), Lawrence on April 8, 1735, Rachel on May 23, 1737 and Edward in 1738. John, their father, died February 25 1750/51 at age 49 and their mother, Rachel, died at age 72 on February 24, 1771. They were both buried in Yarnscombe .
- Their next daughter, Grace, was born in St. Giles-in-the-Wood and baptized on June 23, 1702. She married Robert BRINSMEAD, son of Henry BRINSMEAD and Mary SIMS, on October 14, 1719 in the same village. Robert was also born there on May 6, 1696. All of their children were baptized in St. Giles-in-the-Wood; Mary on March 23, 1718/1719, Henry on January 15, 1720/21, Grace on December, 25 1773, Robert on August 6, 1727, Margaret who was born and died in 1730, and Margaret on September 2, 1731. Robert died there in 1774 leaving his widow, Grace, who died on May 23, 1791 at the age of 90. They were both buried in the St. Giles-in-the-Wood church yard.
- The next daughter, Suzana, was born in 1704. She married Richard Norman, son of Matthew Norman and Salomy Furse on April 13, 1725. Richard was also baptized in St. Giles-in-the-Wood on September 22, 1700. They had two boys, John4, was baptized on October 20, 1728 and Robert on August 21, 1730 both in that village. Richard died in 1734 in Tiverton, Devon but it is not known when Suzana died.
- Elizabeth was baptized on January 16, 1704/05. She was another of the Vodden family who married a Brinsmead as she married Henry, also a son of Henry Brinsmead and Mary Sims. Henry was baptised in St. Giles-in-the-Wood on November 15, 1698. Unfortunately, Elizabeth died in 1727, at the age of 22. Henry went on to marry Frances Clark and had five children with her. He was buried on August 26, 1741 in the village churchyard.
- Their second son, Francis, was born in 1706 and died in 1775, aged 69.
- Learance (Lawrence?)2 was baptized on May 11, 1708. He married Martha Gregory, daughter of Margaret Gregory, in 1737. Martha was baptized in Dolton, Devon on August 19, 1716. They had eight children, all baptized in St. Giles-in-the-Wood; William on October 10, 1742, Grace on February 13, 1743/44, Thomas on June 16, 1747, Lawrence3 on March 29, 1750, Rachael on March 30, 1752, Margaret on April 23, 1755, Elizabeth on January 15, 1758 and John5 on March 4, 1759. Learance2 died at age 60, and was buried on November 2, 1768. Martha died at age 67 and was buried on November 18, 1783, both in St. Giles-in-the-Wood.
- Next came Thomas who was born May 2, 1710. He married Margery Rudge on November 14, 1737 in Barnstaple and their only child, Robert, was baptized there in 1748. He died at age 65 and was buried in the St. Giles-in-the-Wood churchyard on July 15, 1775.
- Robert was baptized on July 14, 1717. He married Jane Palmer, daughter of Christopher Palmer and Mary Keynor. Jane was baptized at Winkleigh, Devon on November 26, 1771. They had five children, three boys and two girls, who were baptized Winkleigh; Thomas on April 11, 1745, Robert on December 5, 1748, John6 on December 10, 1751, Grace on April 28, 1754, and Jane on August 19, 1759. Robert died in 1775 at age 68. The death date for Jane is not known.
- Their last son, William was born in 1723, a late in life baby, and died in 1768 at age 45.
William (Vodden) Vawden & Alice Elliott
William (Vodden) VAWDEN was possibly the son of Thomas VODDEN and Christian MU(Y)LES and was born in about 1668 in Roborough, Devon. He married Alice ELLIOTT on May 12, 1704 in Beaford, Devon. He died in November, 1751 in Beaford, Devon, aged about 83.
We know very little about Alice ELLIOTT. The only records available are her marriage to William and her name is referenced on the baptisms of the children. They had six children, five boys and one girl, over the span of just ten years, all in Beaford.
The eldest was John who was baptised on January 23, 1704/05 in Beaford, Devon.
Their second son they name William after his father. He was baptised in January 1705/06 and died in 1707, aged 1
Their third child was a daughter, Ann. She was baptised in Beaford, Devon on June 7, 1708.
Their fourth and fifth children, two sons, were named Robert and William and they was baptised on December 7, 1711. Robert married Elizabeth MADGE on October 15, 1739 in Beaford. Elizabeth was born in Peters Marland, Devon. They had four children: Elizabeth 1739-1749, died age 10, Thomas in 1740, Anne 1743-1815 and Robert1 1746-1787. This son, Robert‘s1, line will be followed on a separate page.
Happenings around England
There was an outbreak of Smallpox in the 1750’s and Scarlet Fever in the 1770’s. So it’s possible that Robert, Thomas and Francis, since they all died in 1775, perhaps succumbed one of these diseases.
The reigning English monarch was William III, also known as William of Orange, who was the sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Guelders, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from the 1670s, and King of England, Ireland and Scotland from 1689 until his death on March 8, 1702. In 1694 Queen Mary II, wife of William III, died from the smallpox. He was succeeded by Anne (February 6, 1665 to August 1, 1714). She was Queen of England, Scotland, and Ireland from March 8, 1702, and Queen of Great Britain and Ireland following the ratification of the Acts of Union 1707 merging the kingdoms of Scotland and England, until her death in 1714.
Vodden Surname Study 