Twice an Ancestor

Nathaniel Partridge is my ancestor twice over.  I am descended from two of his children – yes, there is some inbreeding in the family.

Baptised 18 Apr 1773 in Miserden Parish Church, Gloucestershire, Nathaniel was the fourth child of Thomas Partridge (son of John Partridge) and Margaret Arkwell.  His siblings were Joseph, John, Elizabeth and Margaret.  The family were almost landed gentry, with Nathaniel’s grandfather John Partridge having inherited the family manor house not long before Nathaniel’s birth.

In 1789, aged about 16, Nathaniel Partridge was apprenticed to Thomas Price of Duntisbourne Abbots, Gloucestershire, as a wheelwright and carpenter.

Duntisbourne Abbots is next to Miserden, in a beautiful part of the Cotswolds.  An apprenticeship typically lasted seven years.  Shortly after he must have finished his apprenticeship, on 4 Jul 1796, Nathaniel Partridge, as master, took on an apprentice, Richard Merriett.

A year later, 1797, Nathaniel had an eventful year.  On 9 February, Nathaniel married Mary Abel by licence in Duntisbourne Abbots.  Mary must have been about seven months pregnant at the time, as their son, Thomas (my ancestor) was baptised on 18 April 1797.  Presumably he was born a short time before that, perhaps around the time that his grandfather, also Thomas Partridge, died.  Thomas Partridge senior was buried 3 Apr 1797.

Over the next twenty years, Nathaniel and Mary had another six children: Mary Ann, Charlotte, Maria, Harriet, William and Margaret (my ancestor).

There are family stories that the Partridge family were Plymouth Brethren.  The movement spread through England in the 1830’s, so Nathaniel and his family may have become Plymouth Brethren at that time.  The family may have been non-conformists before that as some of Nathaniel’s children married in the parish of Hempsted after saying they lived in the extra parochial parish of Littleworth to avoid having to get a marriage licence or banns in their own parish church.  Further supporting this, several members of the extended family born in the 1840’s do not appear to have been baptised.

According to the 1841 census, Nathaniel was still living in Duntisbourne Abbots, with his wife Mary, and working as a carpenter.

During the 1840’s, Nathaniel Partridge was on the electoral roll as he owned a freehold house and garden in the village of Duntisbourne Abbots.  This meant that he was one of the more privileged members of society at the time.

In the 1851 census, Nathaniel and Mary were living with their spinster daughter, Harriet.  I wonder whether she had moved home to look after her aging parents; perhaps not, because Nathaniel was apparently still working as a carpenter.

Nathaniel died about 80, a good age, and was buried 2 Apr 1853 in Duntisbourne Abbots.  By this time, he was grandfather to about 30 grandchildren and was also a great grandfather.  The signature on his will dated 11 February 1853 looks very shaky, so perhaps he was ailing for some weeks before his death.  Nathaniel left substantial property to his wife and sons in his will, including three cottages in Duntsibourne Abbots, in addition to the one he was living in with his wife, and a timber yard.  My double ancestor seems to have lived a good life.

Notes on Lineage 1: Me > Dad > Helen Francis Ruth Akeroyd > Florence Ruth Kirby > Oscar John Kirby > Margaret Partridge > Nathaniel Partridge

Notes on Lineage 1: Me > Dad > Helen Francis Ruth Akeroyd > Florence Ruth Kirby > Harriet Partridge > Thomas Partridge > Nathaniel Partridge