The 1810 settlement and bastardy examinations of Mary Gidley

Whitestone Church

9 March 1810
Touching the last legal place of settlement of Mary Gidley, single woman.
Now residing in St Thomas, now with child. Told she was born in Whitestone, her parents legally settled there, she went to St Sidwell aged 15 and agreed with the wife of John Reed at 6d a week; received meat, drink, washing and lodging. Worked there almost one year, and told "If you behave well and be a good girl, I will give you 3d a week more", so after one year she had 9d for near two years, then left and hath done no act since to gain a settlement.
The mark X of Elizabeth [sic] Gidley.

On the reverse of the document are listed the costs for, amongst others, the bastardy examination on 23 February 1810 and the removal order on 16 March 1810.

23 February 1810
Bastardy examination
William Goldsworthy of the City of Exeter [St George's Clyst is crossed out] has admitted carnal knowledge at the end of July and at sundry times since, no other person has had carnal knowledge.

16 March 1810
Removal order of Mary Gidley from St Thomas to St Sidwell as actually chargeable to that parish. Her lawful settlement is judged to be St Sidwell.

St Sidwell''s in 1829, as it was before destruction in the bombing of 1942

Mary Gidley is certainly on the Whitestone family tree, but which Mary she is is not quite clear. The baby, Lucy Gidley, was christened in St Sidwell's, Exeter, on 16 May 1810, daughter of Mary Gidley. Mary could be the daughter of John and Mary Gidley of Whitestone, christened in 1783. Mary's mother's name was also recorded as Lucy in the Whitestone parish registers, and it makes sense for Mary to have called her daughter after her mother. But Mary would be aged 27 in 1810, and the account of her working life in the settlement examination doesn't seem quite long enough.
That she is recorded as Elizabeth Gidley as the signee to the examination is probably an error. That  name seems unfeasible, as all the Elizabeths or Bettys on the Whitestone tree are the wrong age, or not born in Whitestone.
And what happened to Mary and Lucy? Of Mary I have found nothing further so far. I think Lucy Gidley may have died aged 18 in 1829. She was buried in Exeter St Thomas and was recorded as being the daughter of John and Mary Gidley, her place of residence being Exwick. The age fits exactly and I can't find other candidates with those parents' names at that time.

The 1820 Bastardy Examination of Mary Scott, single woman

A view of Murchington

7 August 1820
Concerning a female child lately born in Chagford [Devon] of Mary Scott, single woman.
Mary Scott said her child was born on 22nd June, Richard Gidley of Throwleigh being the father.
[She was awarded £1 expenses for the birth and £2 further expenses on the overseer of Chagford's oath.]

Richard Gidley hath appeared before us and judged to be the father. He is to pay the above costs, which include maintenance of the child, to the overseers of the poor of Chagford, also 2 shillings weekly during so long as the bastard child shall be chargeable to Chagford parish. Mary Scott should also pay 1 shilling weekly while the child is chargeable in case she shall not nurse and take care of the child herself.

Richard Gidley of Throwleigh is probably the son of William Gidley and Jane Harris and from the Drewsteignton branch of the Winkleigh family. Care is needed, because there is another Richard Gidley of similar age (a year older) from the same small area. That Richard is the son of Oliver Gidley and Elizabeth May, and there has been great confusion between the two on the public member trees on Ancestry. I think the more likely candidate for "Richard Gidley of Throwleigh" named by Mary Scott as the father of her child is more likely to be the first mentioned Richard. The second Richard does not seem to have had any connection with Throwleigh, as he was christened in 1794 in South Tawton and, I think, buried in 1824 in Chagford. That was, however, Mary Scott's place of residence, so he can't be ruled out.

The first Richard definitely had a connection with Throwleigh. He was christened in Drewsteignton  (more confusion) in 1795, but in 1826 he married Dinah Herbert in Throwleigh. By then Mary Scott's child would have been aged 4, so perhaps he felt able then to take on a legitimate family. In the 1841 census he was a farmer in Murchington, part of Throwleigh parish. In 1850 he was doing well enough to take on an apprentice at the farm, and in the 1851 census he was described as a farmer of 30 acres at Higher Murchington Farm. In the 1850s it all seems to have gone downhill, and Richard and his whole family had emigrated to Sylvania, Lucas county, Ohio by 1860 when he was described as a RR [railroad] hand. His will was proved in 1870 in Lucas county.
Richard and Dinah had 11 children, of whom 3 died in infancy. The remainder, with the possible exception of the oldest daughter who was married in 1849, all emigrated with their parents to Ohio, but at least three of the sons later moved on to Michigan.

And what happened to Mary Scott's and Richard Gidley's illegitimate daughter? She was christened Jane Gidley Scott in Chagford three days after her birth, on 25th June 1822. In 1841 she was probably a worsted spinner in Chagford, where she married the same year, and by 1851 she was living with her husband, Josias Endycott, in Combeinteignhead, Devon. Strangely, in 1841 in the same woolcomber's household was Ann Gidley, a fellow worsted spinner, aged 15. She was probably a second cousin of Jane Gidley Scott, but I imagine most of Chagford was inter-related at that time.

The 1814 settlement examination of Henry Gidley of Tor

Torquay in 1811

Note:- the clerk's spelling was somewhat idiosyncratic.
The settlement examination of Henry Gidley of Tor, tutching [sic] the last legal place of this settlement, taken 12 February 1814.
[He] saieth and belives [sic] he was born in the parish of Dean Prior, as he has heard his parents say, and was bound out as an apprentice with John Rodgers to learn the art of a stone mason till he attained the age of 21 years which time was lawfully served: and then hired himself as a servant with the said John Rodgers for 2 years and then married and took a dwelling house in the pparish of Staverton, the rent being 4-10-0 per year and then removed in the parish of Little Hempson and their [sic] rented a house of Mr Palk at 4-4-0 and then removed in the parish of Tor where he rented a dwelling house of Mr Nic: Mudge at 9-7-0 per year and says he has don [sic] no maner [sic] of Parish Office or any other act so as to gain a settlement by it.

Henry Gidley signed with an X.

Henry Gidley was, I think, born in Dean Prior in 1747, the 5th of 12 children of William Gidley and his wife Elinor Clark. In 1814 I imagine he might have been failing in health, and needing support from the parish, although he didn't die until 1832 in Torquay. He married firstly in 1775 in Dean Prior a second cousin, Joan Gidley. They had two daughters, Margaret and Ann. I believe Margaret is the most likely candidate for the mother of John Gidley, an illegitimate son born in 1804, who married Jane Callicott and became the ancestor of film star Pamela Gidley and actor/singer Bill Gidley. Some other of their Gidley descendants emigrated to New South Wales, Australia.
Henry's first wife Joan died in 1780 and at about this time Henry moved to Staverton and married for a second time, to Ann Preston. They had two daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, and a son, William, one of whose sons, Robert, a chemist, also emigrated to Australia, to Melbourne. I have a note that William Gidley may have been involved in a Plymouth Brethren-type church, established in St Marychurch by Philip Gosse after he moved there in 1857. Its congregation was described as "simple and rustic". (Embley, P L. The origins and early development of the Plymouth Brethren.)

The village of Tor or Torre, was the oldest part of Torquay, which developed quickly after the Royal Navy anchored in the bay during the Napoleonic Wars and attracted large numbers of visitors to the area.