Peasants to Puddles
My Family History - By Nicky Rowberry

The Proberts

Jane Probert was one of my great, great grandmothers. She was born on 10th April 1843 in Weobley, Herefordshire. On 27th February 1865 she became the second wife of James Rowberry, when they married at Hereford Register Office. Although James signed the marriage certificate with only a cross, Jane seems to have signed her name properly, suggesting that she had at least enough elementary education to write her name! Jane & James had 7 children in fairly quick succession, before sadly Jane died in 1874 aged only 31. She was buried on 2nd October 1874 at Hereford All Saints.

Jane's parents were James Probert and Mary Wall. James was a mason at the time of Jane's birth and by 1851 he had risen to Master Mason, employing 1 man. James & Mary had one other child, John (who died aged 1), but then Mary died prematurely in 1845, aged only 25. James & Mary had married only three years earlier in 1842 in Weobley. James then married Ann Walker in 1846 only a year after the death of Mary - possibly because he had a small daughter in need of a mother?

James & Ann were living at Lidgmoor Common, Kings Pyon in 1851, with his daughter Jane and Ann's brother John Walker, who was also a mason, possibly the man James was described as employing. The table below gives a transcription of the 1851 census (HO107/1979 ED7 Folio 349 Page 17)

Parish or Township of		Ecclesiastical District of	City or Borough of	Town of		Village of
Kings Pyon
No. of Schedule	Name of Street, Place, or Road, and Name or No. of House	Name and Surname of each person who abode in the house, on the Night of 30th March, 1851	Relation to Head of Family	Condition	Age	Rank, Profession or Occupation	Where Born
60	Lidgmore Common	James Probert	Head	Mar	27	Mason master employing one man	Pembridge
		Ann Probert	Wife	Mar	30		Canon Pyon
		Jane Probert	Dau	Unmar	7		Weobley
		John Walker	Brother in law	Unmar	26?	Mason	Canon Pyon

By 1861, Jane had moved out and was working as a house-servant in Dilwyn for the family who ran the post office. James & Ann were still living in Lidgmoor in Kings Pyon and James was still working as a mason. By 1871 James & Ann had moved to nearby Holmer and he was described as a bricklayer - whcih sounds a bit of a come-down from the Master Mason he was in 1851. I don't know what happened to James & Ann after that - there is no sign of them in the 1881 census, nor have I managed to find deaths for them.

Both James Probert and Mary Wall seem to have been illegitimate. James was born in 1822 and in his baptism at Pembridge he is decribed as " base born son of Elizabeth Probert, pauper of Pembridge". Mary was born in Weobley and her baptism just states "Mary Wall daughter of Ann Wall of Shoals". I had been stuck at this point for some time, until recently when I obtained James & Mary's marriage certificate. To my surprise, both fathers are named, even though they were not named at the baptisms. James Probert's father is given as John Watkins, whose occupation was also that of a mason. This suggest that John Watkins may have acknowledged his illegitimate son and taught him his profession. Elizabeth Probert appears to have had another child out of wedlock - Edmund baptised 1826. I have no indication yet who Edmund's father was, but poor little Edmund died only 4 months later. Mary Wall's father was named on her marriage certificate as John Meredith, a labourer. With these additional details, I may be able finally to take this branch of my family tree further.

The family tree below summarises what I know about the above generations of the Probert family. It is hopefully reasonably accurate, but if you spot any errors, or any relatives, please feel free to E-mail me

Please click on one of the red links on the tree to move to a different page.

If any of the above is of further interest, please feel free to contact me at: n.rowberry@btinternet.com

Peasants to Puddles - My Family History. By Nicky Rowberry