5 The Couch Family of Hanham
In this chapter I will describe the ancestry of Sally Couch, my 3rd great grandmother. She was the mother of 2 of my 2nd great grandfathers - Robert Nurse Section 3.2 the father of Robert Francis Nurse and Samuel Nurse Section 3.3 the father of Sarah Elizabeth Nurse.
I know quite a lot of detail about Sally’s ancestry, and have been able to push one line back to the early 16th century. Figure 5.1 shows the ancestors of Sally’s father, the paternal Couch line as well as links to the Strattons and Connicks of Bristol.
I will start with John Couch. John Couch is not a direct relative, but he is the older brother of Sally Couch my 3rd great grandmother. He is particularly interesting as he wrote a journal some of which was transcribed by my great-aunt Nell (see F. E. Nurse 1953)
5.1 John Couch of Hanham (Born 1775)
3rd Great Granduncle – FFFFU1
John Couch, my 3rd great grandmother Salley Couch’s older brother was born in Hanham, to Jonathan and Betty Couch and baptised at Hanham Abbots church on 8th January 17752.
On 2nd February 17953 he married Rachel Nurse, my 3rd great grandaunt, older sister of my 3rd great grandfather Robert Nurse. John and Rachel did not have any children
I know quite a lot about John’s life (as well as details about his relatives) as he kept a Journal (see Section A.6), which my Aunt Nell has partly transcribed, along with an Account Book (see Section A.5).
John’s main occupation was as a Stone Quaryman. This is how he refers to himself in his will (see Section B.5)4, and in the 1851 census his occupation is reported as Master Quarryman5. This is also made clear in the Account Books where there are many entries for the sale of Wall Stones and Paving Stones.
He apparently owned 3 river barges named Nelson, Aaron and Nancy, as he delivered to a number of places along the River Avon, and even beyond, using the newly opened Kennet and Avon Canal, which linked the River Avon in Bath to the River Kennet in Newbury, which then linked to the Thames at Reading. In addition to running a successful Quarry business he also reports a number of times where he moved furniture for clients, presulmably using his river barges. For example:
1826 By Freight of Henry Creswick’s furniture or Mrs Comley’s from London £3 12s 8d
Some of the entries are quite interesting. John obviously had some difficulties with at least one of his customers - Samuel Whittuck, as he notes in his Account Book
This rogue Samuel Whittuck robbed me of more than a thousand pounds. He was the worst rogue in Bitton Parish.
Mostly his Journal includes assorted news items that were presumably of interest to John himself. For example he records in 1792
About the middle of August J Couch was on London Bridge by himself a little before 4 o’clock in the morning
and in 1817 he records that Robert Nurse’s house was robbed.
Like many of my ancestors who had property he was quite involved in the life of the church, and like his grandfather before him he was often elected as Churchwarden, starting in 1805 he was elected for 7 straight years6.
It is clear that he is quite prosperous as in 1808’s Land Tax Assessments, for example, he is assessed for 3 properties - his dwelling house, Jones Mead and Durstans, and is required to pay £1 16s tax7.
John’s wife Rachel dies on 21st October, 1834 and is buried at Bitton on 29^th Oct^ 18348. In his diary, where he lists deaths belonging to his family he records his wife death.
1834 Rachell Couch died October 21 aged 60 years, put in a lead coffin and buried in a vault at Bitton October 29th
John himself lived another 30 years, dying on 28th December 1864 and being buried on 2nd Jan 18659 in Bitton. In his will, which was proved on 15th May of the same year he leaves most of his estate to his niece Rachel Olds, eldest daughter of Robert and Salley Nurse, and to her children.
John and Sally’s father was Jonathan Couch.
5.2 Jonathan Couch of Hanham (Born 1751)
4th Great Grandfather – FFFFMF
Jonathan Couch was born in 1751 and baptised at St George Hanham on 13th October 1751, the son of John Jeffris Couch and Mary Stratton.
Jonathan married Betty Rawbone at St John’s Keynsham on 22th February 177310. Betty’s younger sister, Sarah, was also my 4th great grandmother, as the following year she married Samuel Willis (see Section 4.2).
Jonathan and Betty had four children, 1 who died in infancy and 3 who grew to adulthood and married. John the eldest, I already covered above (see Section 5.1). Next was Ann who was baptised at Hanham on 4th February 177611, but who died a year later being buried at Bitton on 4th May 177712.
Mary was born in about 1778. I have not found a record of her baptism, but her brother, John in his Journal (see Section A.4), notes that she was 67 years old when she died in 1845. She married James Paris at Bath on 21st January 179813.
Sally, my 3rd great grandmother was the last child born, and she was born after her father died. She was born on 2nd February 1780 and baptised on 27th February of the same year14.
I had a difficult time confirming Sally’s baptism. From my grandfather’s notes (see W. R. Nurse 1937), I originaly had her birth as 2nd February 1782, but then I found that the man I thought was her father had died in 1779. In her burial record15 her age is stated as 63, so then I realised that she was born in 1780, but I still could not find a baptism that corresponded with a 1780 birth.
Finally I decided to ignore Ancestry’s indexing and search the register, and finally found an entry that I believe is Sally’s baptism. The entry (see Figure 5.7) states that her parents were Jonathan and Betty Bush. While Betty is a common name in the late 18th century both Sally and Jonathan are quite rare and the combination would be rarer still, especially in the same month as both my grandfather and great aunt claimed she was born, so I think that the parish priest of the time wrote the wrong name.
Jonathan died 9th August 1779 at the age of 28 (although his son John claims he was 25 years old when he died) and was buried 11th Aug 1779 at Bitton16.
Not unsurprisingly, as a young mother of 3 children, Jonathan’s wife Betty remarried, to William Selman on 18th Dec 178217. Betty died in 1823 and was buried at St Mary, Bitton on 24th October 182318.
5.3 John Jeffris Couch of Hanham (Born 1717)
5th Great Grandfather – FFFFMFF
Jonathan Couch’s father John Jeffris Couch was born in 1717. His father was John Couch, but his mother’s first name is unknown.
John’s mother’s maiden name might be Jefferis, which would explain the unusual middle name. John’s mother and father had been married the previous year on 28th Jan 171619 at St Philip and St Jacob parish in the City of Bristol and the register entry just refers to his mother as Mrs Jefferis (see Figure 5.8). Usually, this would mean that John’s mother had been previously married to a Mr. Jefferis, but then it would be unusual to use the middle name Jefferis for her and John Couch’s first son. If Jefferis was her maiden name there are quite a number of candidates who were born in Bristol about 1690, as Jefferis (usually spelt Jeffreys today) is quite a common last name.
John was baptised on the 26th December 171720 at St Philip and St Jacob in the City of Bristol. John’s younger brother was also baptised at St Philip and St Jacob just over a year later on 15th January 1718/1921.
John married Mary Stratton at St Andrew’s Clifton on 26th May 174022. Sometime during the 1740s John and Mary settled in Hanham, as 4 of their 5 known children were baptised there, Sarah on 24th September 174923, Jonathan on 13th October 175124, Daniel on 28th September 175525 and Ann on 25th September 175726.
I have not been able to find a baptism for the fifth child George, but according to the journal of John’s grandson John (see Section A.4), he was born in ~1749. There was quite a long time between John and Mary’s marriage in 1740 and the birth of the first children, so it is possible that John and Mary had other children who died in infancy whose baptism records have been lost.
John became active in the church and in 1757 he is recorded as Overseer of the Poor27. In the rate of 1762 that Hanham parish applied to land-owners within the parish for defraying the expenses incurred in church repairs, John is listed as the proprietor of 4 properties - Bickley’s, Castle Inn, Harris’s and part of Wattmores28. In 1765 John was elected Church Warden29, a position he held a few years during the late 18th century.
In a further rate assessed in 1770, John is assessed for 2 additional properties, Lyddiards and Jones Mead30. John was still in possession of those 6 properties, plus one additional property - Huntington’s when the 1775 Land Tax Assessment was recorded (see Figure 5.11)31, where he was assessed £7 3s 2d for them.
Mary died on 9th May 1799 and was buried at St. Mary, Bitton on 14th May32. According to her grandson’s journal, she was 84 years old which would have made her birth ~1715. John died on 23rd February 1802 and was buried at Bitton on 1st Mar 180233. In his will34, John leaves most of his estate to his grandson John, with smaller provisions for his granddaughters Salley and Mary, John’s sisters and the children of his daughter Ann.
5.4 Earlier References to Couch
As I mentioned above I believe John Jefferis Couch’s father to be another John Couch, who married a Mrs Jerfferis in the Bristol city parish of St Philip and st Jacob. In that marriage entry, it states that John is from “ye Castle”, an area of the city due west of St Philip and St Jacob.
I have searched the records of Bristol parishes, to try and find John’s baptism without luck. There are some entries in St Thomas parish to Sarah and Philip Couch in the 1680s and in St Mary Redcliffe parish to William and Jone Couch in the 1670s, but no record of a John.
There is a possible reference to a John Coock, son of Jefferey Coock, who was baptised on 26th February 1687/8835 at St Mary Redcliffe. The spelling of the name is not 100% clear due to the quality of the document, snd could be Cooch or Coock, but if you expand the search to include variations on the spelling of “Cook” then you find over 200 references to Cook’s in the end of the 17th century.
Next I will turn my attention to the ancestor’s of John Jefferis Couch’s wife Mary Stratton.
5.5 John Stratton (Born ~1700)
6th Great Grandfather – FFFFMFMF
Mary’s father was John Stratton. I have not been able to find out a lot about the Strattons. It appears that they were a non-conformist family, and there is not as good coverage of non-conformist records on Ancestry.com.
Although the register is not clear, I think John married Mary Connick on 2nd May 1717 at Temple Church in Bristol. His wife was certainly called Mary, as she is referenced in the marriage of their son Hugh36, and her last name was also Connick as John is referenced in Mary’s father’s will37, as Hugh’s son-in-law.
While I have not been able to find baptism records for any children, apparently John and Mary had at least 4 children. My 5th great grandmother Mary was born about 1718. In her grandson’s journal, he claims she was 84 years old when she died but if the marriage record is correct the earliest she could have been born was late 1717.
Next was Hugh, who was also born about 1718, as his burial entry says he was 77 years old at the time of his death in 179538. Hugh was apparently the favourite grandchild of his maternal grandfather Hugh Connick, as he received the bulk of his grandfather’s estate when his grandfather died, even taking preference over his grandfather’s surviving sons Interestingly, a significant portion of the estate Hugh inherited was the Malthouse called “The Strattons” which my Nurse ancestor’s later acquired. Robert Nurse, when he first moved to Hanham from Compton Dando initially rented or leased the Malthouse from Hugh, the first reference being in the Land tax Assessment of 1780 when Robert is listed as the occupier and Hugh as the owner responsible for the Land Tax39.
In addition to Hugh, his grandfather’s will mentions two other grandchildren, Hugh’s younger brothers, John and Cornelius. I have found further evidence of John, for example his burial on 23 October 176940, and the baptism of his children, Elizabeth on 1st June 176141, Mary on 27th October 176542 and Esther on 9th April 176943. However, I have found no definitive information on Cornelius, other than the reference in his grandfather’s will.
There is a burial reference to a Cornelius Stratton of Hanham, son of John who was buried in 1727, so there might have been an earlier son, who died before the later Cornelius was born.
John Stratton died in 1754 and was buried in the Bitton Workhouse on 30th May 175444. His wife Mary died in 1756, and was buried at the Workhouse in St Philip and St Jacob parish on 1st August 1756[5.4.10]. Apparently John died Intestate.
While I have not been able to find who John’s parents were, I do know who his wife Mary’s father was.
5.6 Hugh Connick (Born ~1675)
7th Great Grandfather - FFFFMFMMF
Mary’s father was Hugh Connick. I have not found out much about Hugh Connick, but as I have already mentioned he did leave a will, where he left the Malthouse later called The Strattons to his grandosn Hugh Stratton who leased it to my 4th great granduncle Robert Nurse. Robert’s nephew Robert Nurse, my 3rd great grandfather married Sarah Couch who was Hugh’s great-great granddaughter.
In the late 17th century Hugh was living in Brislington, where 3 children were registered, Hew or Hugh, the eldest, was born on 16th December 1685, John on 20th March 1689 and Obediah on 20th Mar 169145. It is interesting to note that all three children were registered as born not baptised, and all of them were registered on the same page. It is possible that all of them were baptised on the same day and as they were not infants, their birthdays were entered, but it is not clear what happened.
I have searched the register of St Luke’s and found no other reference to Connick, so I have not been able to find a baptism for the other two children Mary and William.
Apparently Hugh moved to Bitton as he is mentioned in the 1714 Poll Book for Gloucestershire46. In the early 18th century, you had to have a considerable amount of property to be eligible to vote, so Hugh was quite well off.
Hugh died in 1729. I have found no record of his burial, but his will was proved on 16th October 172947. He only mentions his sons Obediah and William in his will so the other sons, Hugh and John had probably died by then.
Interestingly, his son William tried to get Administration of his Estate by claiming his father died Intestate and he was the rightful heir, as there is a copy of his affadavit made on 23rd August 172948. As the Prerogative Court of Canterbury was the highest probate court of the land, and there was a will proved making Cornelius Stratton and Richard Williams Executors, this would have taken precedence.