Wilmot Gidley who married John Yealland in 1699

 

Gidley Bridge, the boundary between South Brent and Dean Prior

Photo taken by Derek Harper and licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons licence. Gidley Bridge is situated in Harbourneford, west of Rattery, Dartington and Dean Prior.

Many thanks to Ruth Waldron, one of Wilmot Gidley's descendants, for raising a question about Wilmot Gidley and finding the original recognisance for Wilmot in the Devon Heritage Centre. She has sent me a copy of the original document but copyright restrictions mean it cannot be published on the internet. The catalogue reference is to Willmott Yalland of Rattery, widow, guarantors being William Gidleigh of Dartington, yeoman, and Robert Gidleigh of Rattery, yeoman, S/4/1741/MIDSUMMER/RE/14.

Ruth says:

I am descended from Wilmot Gidley, who married John Yealland in Dean Prior in 1699. I have been unable to find a baptism record for Wilmot but I visited the Devon Heritage Centre whilst on holiday in Devon last week and came across a 1741 Quarter Sessions record which linked Wilmot Yealland to a William Gidley of Dartington and a Robert Gidley of Rattery (all 3 were charged £10 each and bound over on condition that Wilmot attended the next Quarter Sessions on suspicion of felony - I think!). Wilmot Yealland died only a couple of months later.  Based on the death dates I have found for the two men, I think they may have been Wilmot's brothers and wonder if all 3 were children of Hercules Gidley of Buckfastleigh.

So, was there a Robert and a William who could be linked with Rattery and Dartington at about the right time? The ones I came up with who spanned all three criteria were:

1. Robert Gidley christened in Dean Prior in 1712, son of William Gidley and wife Mary Winter. Robert was described as "of Dartington" when he married Margaret Burt in 1738, and a Robert Gidley was buried in Rattery in 1771.

2. Robert's father William, christened in Buckfastleigh in 1686, was buried in 1750 in Rattery, when his residence then was Dartington, according to the burial record.

Wilmot's guarantors were probably close family. Could they be brother and nephew of Wilmot? 

William Gidley christened in 1686 in Buckfastleigh was the son of Archilaus Gidley and his wife Joan Lane, who married in Staverton in 1671. There was then a gap before I found children between 1678 - 1692. Wilmot could well have been born in that 1671-1678 gap if she married in 1699. And one of the other children of Archilaus and Joan was a Robert, christened in 1686. I found nothing definite further on him, and he would have been very old if he were the Robert Gidley buried in Rattery in 1771. Not impossible, but but it was such a common name amongst the Gidleys of that branch, that he could well have been confused on the family tree by me with another Robert Gidley, or his burial may not have been  recorded.

So I conclude that Wilmot was almost certainly a child of Archilaus and Joan. Whether Archilaus and Hercules were the same person I think is quite possible, as I have seen Hercules recorded as Harculas in parish registers, but it's not conclusive. And that William and Robert, her guarantors, were probably her brothers, but Robert was possibly a nephew.

The lane to Gidley Bridge, taken by Derek Harper, licensed for reuse under the Creative Commons Licence