3^rd Great Granduncle - FFFFU¹

John Couch, my 3^rd great grandmother Salley Couch’s older brother was born in Hanham, to Jonathan and Betty Couch and baptised at Hanham Abbots church on 8^th January 1775².

On 2^nd February 1795³ he married Rachel Nurse, my 3^rd great grandaunt, older sister of my 3^rd 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, which my Aunt Nell has partly transcribed, along with an Account Book.

John’s main occupation was as a Stone Quaryman. This is how he refers to himself in his will⁴, 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 21^st 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 28^th December 1864 and being buried on 2^nd Jan 1865⁹ in Bitton. In his will, which was proved on 15^th 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.

References

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