Samuel Nurse of Hanham (Born 1748)

4^th Great Grandfather – FFFFFF¹

The first reference to a Nurse family living in the Hanham Abbots area of Hanham was the baptism of William Dolman son of Samuel and Rachel Nurse on 12^th April 1779 at St. George’s Hanham, a chapelry of the Parish of St Mary, Bitton. Interestingly, while the Bishop’s Transcripts² for the parish records William’s baptism as 12^th April 1779, the Parish Register³ records it as the 22^nd Aug 1779 (aged 6 months).

Just to confuse matters even further, the Parish Register has the following entry for 12^th April 1778 - “William Dolman Son of Samuel & ….”. Ancestry’s digitisers have assumed that the father’s name was Dolman, but it seems very suspicious given that the date is exactly the same as the Bishop’s Transcripts except a year earlier⁴

If we assume that the Parish Register has the year right then it is possible that the first entry for 12^th April 1778 is for a child that died in infacncy, and, as is quite common Samuel and Rachel named their next child William Dolman Nurse also.

As mentioned in an article on his father Robert, Samuel and his wife Rachel (nee Dolman) had been married in the neighboring parish of Keynsham on the 11^th October 1772. ⁵

Samuel was born in Compton Dando, Somerset, the neighbouring parish to Keynsham to a Robert and Sarah Nurse. He was baptised in Compton Dando on 24^th February 1747.⁶ He was one of 6 children, 4 boys and two girls. Samuel’s older brother Robert and his younger sister Sarah, all ended up moving to Hanham. Robert witnessed Samuel’s marriage as well as that of his sister Sarah, six months later on 29^th April 1773⁷, to Robert Ashley of the parish of Burnett, another neighbouring parish.

Samuel and Rachel initially settled in Keynsham as their first child, Rachel was baptised there on 3^th July 1774.⁸ However in 1776 they were living in the City of Bristol, on Unity Street in the Parish of St Philip and St Jacob, where a second daughter, Sarah, was born and Samuel’s profession is registered as Maltster.⁹

Samuel moved to the Hanham area sometime between 1776 and 1778, when the first son William Dolman Nurse was baptised (see above). Apparently, Samuel’s older brother, Robert also moved to Hanham at around that time and took a job as a servant to Henry Creswicke of Hanham Court. The Creswickes were the main land owning family in the area living at Hanham Court next to the Church, and when Samuel Creswicke died in September 1778 he left Robert 5 guineas in his will. This was a significant amount in those days, possibly enough to start or buy a business.

Also I give unto Robert Nurse (late servant of my said brother Henry Creswicke) the Sum of 5 guineas.¹⁰

According to my great-Aunt Nell’s notes (Nurse 1953) Robert and Samuel moved into Pickwick House at Hanham Mills. Also according to my great-aunt Nell’s notes, Samuel worked as a quarryman in a large quarry at the back of their premises called “Sam Nurse’s Quarry” (Figure 3).

It is not clear when the brothers started the malting business or whether they purchased an existing business, but by 1780, Robert is listed as the occupier/tenant of part of Wadmore, owned by Hugh Stratton.¹¹ Wadmore was the land behind the Malthouse at “Strattons”, and in 1792 he is listed as the occupier of “Strattons” according to the Abstract of Title.

While I believe that both brother’s had a share of the business, it appears that Robert was the main operator of the business.

Robert, in particular was quite involved in the life of the local church, acting as Chapel Warden many times between 1794 and 1811.¹² He is also listed as an assessor on the 1786 Land Tax return¹³.

Figure 5 shows a map of Hanham Abbots. The quarry is clearly shown at the bottom of the map. Pickwick House, where Samuel and his family lived is just below the quarry. Stratton’s, where Robert lived and worked is shown as Hanham Green Bewery. Hanham Court, the ancestral home of the Creswicke family, where Robert Nurse served as a servant, when he first arrived in Hanham is shown next to the church.

Over the course of the next fourteen years eight more boys were born to Samuel and his wife Rachel (see Figure 6), all of whom were baptized at St. George’s Hanham.

Although there is no direct evidence, it appears that at least four; Sarah, Robert, Thomas and Thomas (and maybe five, William) of Samuel and Rachel’s children died in infancy. Most of them were buried at St. John’s Keynsham, Rachel’s ancestral home. Sarah died and was buried on the 21^st September 1777. Although the entry only says an “infant” of Samuel Nurse of Bristol, I believe that infant was Sarah. This entry indicates that by September 1777 Samuel was still resident in Bristol.¹⁴

Rachel, William, Robert, Joseph, Samuel and James stayed in the area, married and had their own family. Rachel, William, Samuel and Robert were all married at Bitton Parish Church - apparently the chapelries of Hanham and Oldland were not licensed for weddings or burials.

Rachel being the eldest was first to marry on 2^nd February 1795 to John Couch,¹⁵ the son of Jonathan and Betty Couch. John Couch was a Stone Quarryman. This occupation was very common in the Hanham area. Rachel Couch died in 1834 and was buried at St. Mary Bitton on 29^th August 1834.

As described in another article, Robert Nurse, the eldest surviving boy, married Salley Couch at Bitton Parish Church on the 15th March 1803.¹⁶ John and Salley (or Sarah) were brother and sister. John Couch was born in late 1774 or early 1775 to Jonathan and Betty Couch and baptized on the 8th January 1775¹⁷.

William Nurse married Mary Willis on 20^th July 1800.¹⁸ The registers of Hanham Church are full of references to the Willis family - there appears to have been 4 or 5 branches of the family living in the area in the late 18th century. Mary died in 1826 and was buried at St. Mary Bitton on 3^rd September 1826.¹⁹ Two years later William married Ann Selman, the half-sister of John and Salley Couch. William died in 1839 and was buried at St. Mary’s Bitton on 5^th March 1839²⁰.

Samuel married Lucy Bishop on 17^th November 1818 at the ripe old age of 33²¹. They had nine children over the next 13 years. Samuel was also a Quarryman, and three – at least – of his sons were Stone Masons.^22,23 Samuel and Lucy lived at Hanham Mills in Pickwick House which Samuel inherited from his uncle Robert²⁴. Samuel died in 1857 and was buried at Christ Church, Hanham on 30^th December 1857.²⁵

The other child of Samuel and Rachel, Joseph was not married in the parish, but he and his wife Martha had a large number of children (seven) baptised in Hanham Church (between 1810 and 1832). Joseph’s occupation is not known, but he was probably also a Quarryman, as two of his sons were both Quarrymen. Joseph died in 1839 and was buried on 15^th December 1839²⁶ at St. Mary Bitton.

Martha outlived her husband for almost 30 years, dying in 1868. She was buried at Christ Church, Hanham on 17^th December 1868. Martha was a launderess²⁷ – she probably took up this occupation when her husband died. The family, at least from 1841 on lived at Riverside²⁸.

Samuel Nurse (the elder) died and was buried at Keynsham on 13^th September, 1810²⁹. He must have been considered somebody of some importance in the area as he was buried in the church itself, rather than in the churchyard. His wife Rachel, died some 21 years later and was also buried at St. John’s Keynsham on 9^th August 1831³⁰

Samuel apparently died without a will so his share of the malting business presumably passed to his eldest son Robert. Samuel’s brother, Robert died a few years after him and was buried at St. Anne’s Oldland on 14^th December 1819³¹. His will³² gave his two thirds share of the malting business to his nephew Robert, so Robert became the sole owner of the business, on his uncle’s death.

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