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Family Connections » North Bovey
North Bovey
There is every indication that there were Miltons around Dartmoor from the early 1600`s at least.
Around the County there are many Parishes where the name "MILTON" appears, the name coming from a corruption of the words "MILL TOWN". The surname would often indicate someone coming "from the Mill Town". Earliest references to the name are believed to be around 1273.
The earliest direct link so far is to the village of NORTH BOVEY (G.R. 740840) situated about 1½ S.W. of Moretonhampstead and 6 miles North of Widecombe in the Moor.
North Bovey is regarded as one of the most picturesque and unspoiled villages in Devon and centres around its Church and Green. Some of the thatched cottages are of 17th Century and earlier.
The Ring of Bells pub dates from the 13th Century and is, again, thatched.
By 1800 the population was around 500 but this has dropped to nearer 250 in recent times, with the growth of mechanisation and the trend away from the land. Rectors of the Church are known back to 1279 and the present buildings date back to the 13th and 15th Centuries. So the Church is the same building as used by the Miltons for their baptisms and weddings, and, possibly, burials. Equally, if any of the Miltons of North Bovey partook of a drop of "Mead" then they had a choice of only one pub, and that choice is still available today. (Phone 01647 440375).
North Bovey Parish and three of the existing farms in it are mentioned in the Doomsday Book in 1086 and old pubs and churches are to be found in virtually every village On the moor itself hut circles date from before 1000BC and stone circles and granite crosses abound.
MILTONS OF CHAGFORD
Chagford is a small village on the North East fringe of Dartmoor (GR 701877). It is around 3 miles North West of North Bovey, and there are Milton connections at the Parish of Chagford back to at least 1601 when a Jonas Milton married Joan Splat.
Like another good pedigree ours also appears to start with JOSEPH and MARY.
WILLIAM MILTON 1787 to 1839 aprox
Our earliest definite, proven Milton link is to a WILLIAM MILTON, who, at the age of around 390 married ELIZABETH WALDRON at NORTH BOVEY, on 26th March 1826, when they both made their mark on the Register. William was a Farm Labourer, which was the most common occupation in the area (with Servant being a close second).
It appears likely that our William was the second son of Joseph Milton who had married Mary Dodd at nearby Chagford on 9th May 1784. Joseph & Mary had 5 children baptised at Chagford, being:-
James (1785, William (1787), John (1789). Elizabeth (1791) and George (1792)
When William & Elizabeth produced a son, JOHN MILTON, he was baptised at NORTH BOVEY Church on 24th March 1833. At this time the family lived at BARROWMORE BRIDGE.
William died before 1850. He may well be the William Milton of Millands buried at North Bovey on 25th September 1839.
His widow, Elizabeth lived until she was over 80, spending her later days with son JOHN and his family.
JOHN MILTON 1833 - sometime after 1873
SON of WILLIAM & ELIZABETH
As we have seen, JOHN was baptised in 1833 at North Bovey. By the time he was 18 he was employed by the Smirdon family as a House Servant at their 46 acre farm of ELLOTSHILL, Buckland in the Moor (G.R. 720730). No doubt his duties would include labouring on the farm as well as domestic chores. Three years later, aged 21, he married MARY CONEYBEAR at ASHBURTON Parish Church, on 19th November 1854. She had been born at POUNDSGATE, a couple of miles away in the Parish of Widecombe and was probably working ,in service, herself. (112 years later, to the day, Marjorie Milton was marrying Neville Wiseman at St. Marys Church, Blackpool.)
The Coneybears
The name CONEYBEAR comes from the word "Coney" meaning rabbit, and the word "Bear", a Devon word meaning "Warren", giving Rabbit Warren. In Devon, communities had commonly built large soft mounds, to encourage rabbits to breed, and thus provide an abundant free supply of food. Those living near such a burrow, or possibly overseeing a burrow, would be called Coneybear because of their association. This would go back a few hundred years, to the time surnames were first used.
The name can be spelt variously, including Conebear. Conebeare. Conebie. Coneby. Conebeer. Coneber. Conebere. It must be remembered that many, if not most, were unable to write their name, so it was spelt by those who kept records, as it sounded, or in the way that they themselves guessed it to be.
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JAMES CONEYBEAR married CATHERINE WILCOCKS, both of the Parish of Widecombe in the Moor, married at their Parish Church on 4th April 1830. Like most men in the area James was a labourer for the whole of his life, although by 1835 he is listed as a Yeoman, indicating that he may have been operating a small area of land to himself. By that date they had moved to PARKLAND, in the parish of Lydford, to the west.
In the year following their marriage, JAMES & CATHERINE baptised a son, John, and on 26th February 1833 daughter MARY CONEYBEAR was baptised. At this time the family were living at POUNDSGATE (G.R. 705721). Both children were baptised at the Cathedral on the Moor, being St. Pancras Church, WIDECOMBE. Even after the birth of the next child, James, in 1835, they trekked across, or more likely, round the moor, for his christening.
The parish of Widecombe-in-the-Moor is the second largest in Devon, comprising around 11.000 acres much of which is moorland used for rough grazing by sheep and cattle. The highest the population reached was 1106 at the time of the 1841 Census. It is nearer 600 currently. The church is again of great age, dating from the 14th century, with even older churches on the same spot before that date.
On 21st October 1638, during afternoon service, a severe thunderstorm broke out, the north east pinnacle of the church tower was struck and fell through the roof, killing four and injuring several others. Local superstition ascribes the storm to a visitation by Satan, coming to claim a man who was to be his.
The landlady of the Inn at POUNDSGATE (where the Coneybears were later to live), testified that on that same Sunday afternoon a horseman called for a drink, and she noticed that as the ale passed down his throat it sizzled as when water is poured on to hot iron. Thus she knew WHO was riding to Widecombe. Arriving at the Church the Devil hitched his horse to one of the pinnacles, found his victim, dragged him to the top of the tower and, in loosing his horse, knocked off the pinnacle, and vanished amid thunder and lightening.
JOHN MILTON AND MARY CONEYBEAR
We have already noted that John and Mary had been baptised within a month of each other in 1833. Following their marriage in 1854 at ASHBURTON Parish Church (G.R. 755 698) John and Mary continued to live in that Parish (in which John was working at that time.) They were married after the usual banns, and Mary is given as a spinster. They moved around from farm to farm as work dictated, John was being variously described as "Labourer", "Farm Labourer", and "Agricultural Labourer".
The 1861 Census of April that year records:-
BOWDLEY COTTAGE. (1 1/2 miles N.W. of Ashburton G.R. 744722).
Name Position Status Age Occupation Born
JOHN Milton Head Married 28 Agr. Lab. N.Bovey
MARY Milton Wife Married 28 Widecombe
William Milton Son 3 Scholar Ashburton
James Son 2 Ashburton
John Son 1 Ashburton
ELIZABETH
Milton Mother Widow 67 N.Bovey
Fortunately, for the present generation of Miltons, John and Mary had not completed their family, and another 6 children had yet to appear, of which the last, HERBERT, would be the link.
HERBERT MILTON was born on 15th May 1867 at WOOLSTON GREEN (G.R. 779 661), in the Parish of Staverton which adjoins that of Ashburton.
IN April 1871, the family were at ADAMS HILL COTTAGE, still in the parish of Ashburton. The Census records:-
JOHN Milton Head Married 38 Ag. Lab. N.Bovey
MARY Milton Wife Married 38 Widecombe
William H. Milton Son 13 Ag. Lab Ashburton
& Groom.
John Milton Son 11 Ashburton
Elizabeth A. Milton Dau. 9 Ashburton
Mary J Milton Dau 8 Ashburton
Edwin Milton Son 6 Ashburton George Milton Son 5 Ashburton
HERBERT Milton Son 3 Staverton
ELIZABETH Milton Mother Widow 70 N.Bovey
The second son James is not recorded as living at home. If he was still alive he would be aged 12 and could well have been living elsewhere as a servant or Labourer.
Yet another 10 years on, being 1881, saw John and his wife Mary, now aged 48, living at BRIMRIDGE FARM, TORBRYAN (G.R. 820 669), around 5 miles from Ashburton. The family had seen one more addition, a late arrival, Frederick, in 1872. The only children at home were Frederick, Elizabeth 19, and George 15.
Our HERBERT MILTON was now making his own way in the world. A way that was eventually to take him to Cumbria.