Chilcott Family Tree -
Val Trickett
The earliest Chilcott so far
researched is one ROBERT CHILCOTT of Beaminster, Dorset, England, who
was probably born around 1640. His son CHRISTOPHER, born in 1665, went
to Oxford at the age of 18 and graduated there in 1687. As a young man
of 27, he went to Tintagel in Cornwall (the mythical home of King
Arthur), and joined the Parish Church of 'St. Materiana' as its Pastor
in 1692.
Christopher married Hannah Langford (a name to be passed down to every
subsequent generation), and they had seven children, five daughters (of
whom two also married Ministers of Religion) a son Christopher, who
died aged six months in 1697. The Chilcott line was continued through
WILLIAM who was born in 1700, the year his father served his turn as
Mayor of the Borough. Hannah died quite young in 1705 and Christopher
was left to bring up his young family alone (the eldest of which was
only 12 when her mother died). He subsequently remarried in 1725, to
Elizabeth Gubbins, but he died several months later, at the age of 60
and was buried in the Church in Tintagel, probably in the Chancel, on
Christmas Day. He had been Pastor there for 34 years..
(*This information taken from "Parish of Tintagel" by Rev. Canner &
I.G.I.)*
Christopher's son WILLIAM, married first Hannah Henwood in 1723 at St.
Endellion, and they had four children ... Christopher, Hannah, William
and Thomas. William then remarried (presumably after Hannah's death) in
1739 at North Hill to REBEKAH WILLIAMS of Poundstock, and the couple
had two more children, CHARLES and Langford. William was a 'Gentleman'
farmer and also acquired lands in Poundstock and St. Genny's through
his second marriage. These and other properties owned by subsequent
Chilcotts are mentioned in the Doomsday Book. William died in 1745,
aged 45, when his two younger sons were only 3 and 4 years old.
CHARLES, William's youngest son and born in 1742, was also a Gentleman
Farmer, and inherited all his mother's property on her death. He
married Mary Jose (daughter of John and Mary Jose), in 1768 at St.
Juliot, and the couple had two children, Langford and Rebecca. Charles
was known as "Charles the Giant" for his gigantic stature and
extraordinary strength. He was 6'4" in height and 6'9" around the
chest, and weighed over 32 stone, and one of his stockings would
contain six gallons of wheat!! He enjoyed being an object of curiosity
and would welcome visitors to his home in Treknow with his favourite
saying - "Come under my arm little fellow" He lived to be 72 and died
at Tintagel in 1815.
(*Information taken from "Some Famous Families of Cornwall",
I.G.I. Index, and Wills).
LANGFORD, born in 1769, followed suit also as Gentleman Farmer. He
married Ann Medling at Tintagel in 1800 and they produced three sons,
CHARLES b. 1800, WILLIAM 1809 and Langford 1803. Langford Senior died
in 1834 aged 65 years and left his various properties to his
sons. (*Info. Will's & I.G.I.)
It was about this time in the Family History that CHARLES and WILLIAM
apparently decided that opportunities were greater in the new land just
being settled over the sea, and they set off in 1829, aboard the
"Marquis of Angelsea" bound for the Swan River Colony in Western
Australia. They were accompanied by Charles' wife Mary (nee Strout),
and their children Charles, Langford and Mary. (You will note the same
names repeated throughout each generation). They arrived at the Swan
River Colony on August 23 of that year, and were amongst the first
settlers to reach W.A., having arrived on only the fourth ship to put
into the Colony, the first being in June of that year .. i.e. 1829.
Charles and William brought with them the following goods:
'a dog, assorted fowls, farm implements and machinery, garden and field
seeds, beef, pork, bread, flour, sugar and sundries, clothes, gun
ammunition, furniture and sundries'.
These commodities were valued at two hundred and nine pounds nineteen
shillings and one penny (£209/19/1) thus entitling them to a
grant of 2800 acres anywhere in the Colony. Charles and his brother
took up their grant and lived there for only twelve months before
leaving for Van Dieman's Land. It is believed that an attack on the
homestead by aborigines could have hastened their leaving and perhaps
news of Tasmania's (VDL) fertile farming land. An interesting point
taken from the book "Land Looking West" in a letter from Sir James
Stirling to his brother on September 8, 1929, he mentioned that his
household consisted of 'a Mrs. & Mrs. Kelly, Mr. & Mrs.
Chilcott, their brother and three children, for outdoor
work, a black cook, a white servant as steward, and a woman to take
care of the children'. The family left Swan River for V.D.L. aboard
"Eagle", and arrived in Hobart Town on September 14, 1830. William
followed them in 1831, married Janet McDonald in 1849 and produced 16
children.
Charles would have applied for and received a grant of land, and as
ARCHIBALD was born at Cressy in 1832, two years later, it can be
presumed that it was there the family first settled. An Assessment Roll
of 1858 listed the Chilcott Family as having acquired quite a deal of
land in the interim, nearly 2000 acres. Charles Snr. was shown as
owning and occupying 1000 acres near Perth, also as tenant of 130a at
Cressy; Charles Jnr, as tenant of 130a at Bishopsbourne and 190a at
Spring: William as tenant at Cressy: and ARCHIBALD as tenant of 153a at
"Trafalgar", near Evandale. Charles snr. and his family lived at
"Trafalgar" (home of the Hart family since about 1860) till about
1856-57, and most of the children were married there. They then moved
to Breadalbane, to his property "Meadowlands" at Cocked Hat. Charles
Snr. died there in 1869 at age 69 and was buried at the Charles Street
cemetery in Launceston. Mary remarried after Charles' death, to a
William Grace. She died a very tragic death on December 9, 1877, when
she was burnt to death at the home of a step-daughter, whilst her
husband was away up country. Charles and Mary had 15 children (13
surviving) .. they were Charles, Langford, William, Archibald,
Christopher, John, Arthur, Joshua, Mary, Rebecca, Ann, Susannah and
Elizabeth. Langford drowned at the age of 20 in the South Esk River.
Ann died at the age of 27 and left several children.
In 1845, the eldest girl, Mary, then aged 17, married John Cubit at the
Wesleyan Chapel at Longford. This couple was to live later in the
Deloraine district, and farm property inherited from John's father,
James Cubit, who had been a very early settler in the Deloraine area in
the 1820's, and had been a stockman, and was at constant war with the
aborigines, and was said to have shot more blacks than any other person
in the colony. John Cubit died at Deloraine in 1874 and Mary later
remarried a William McClure. The Cubit family are still prominent in
the Deloraine district.
Charles Jnr. aged 28, married Sarah Ann Graham in 1851 at his father's
home at "Trafalgar" Evandale. One year later in 1852, ARCHIBALD married
her sister LAVINIA GRAHAM also at "Trafalgar". The Graham sisters were
daughters of Sarah Ruth Gangell and David Graham. Sarah Ruth was the
daughter of Sgt. William Gangell and Mary Skelhorne, a widow, whose
husband John Carryr Skelhorne died and was buried at a little
settlement at Port Phillip in 1803. William was part of a detachment of
Royal Marines who accompanied Governor David Collins when he sailed to
establish a settlement on the Derwent River, Hobart in 1804. William's
troop were in charge of the convicts who accompanied the expedition. He
and Ann were married a month later after arriving at the settlement,
having presumably met at Port Phillip where Gov. Collins stayed a short
while to set up a settlement prior to coming to the Derwent. Their
wedding was the first performed in Tasmania (VDL) and was held at the
newly completed Governor's residence at Sullivan's Cove, and the
service was performed by Rev. Robert Knopwood. The celebration was
reported to have been "with damper and kangaroo as rations were then in
short supply". This service was held on March 18, 1804.
In 1856 Rebecca married William Brumby of Longford and a year later
Susannah followed her sister's example and married John Brumby (sons of
William and Ann Brumby).
1858 saw Christopher wed Sarah Ann Crocker of Launceston and his sister
Elizabeth married Sarah's brother Henry Crocker, a coachbuilder of
Launceston ... so there seem to be three sets of doubles in the family.
Ann married Sam Wright and died at the age of 27 leaving several small
children. John married Isabella McIvor in 1861, Arthur married Mary Ann
Main in 1866 and Joshua married Emma Allen in 1884.
Most of these weddings took palce at the home of Charles Snr. first at
"Trafalgar", then at Breadalbane, and were performed by a Wesleyan
Minister.
Charles Chilcott's Will, drawn up in 1863, six years before his death
in 1869, shows that he had become quite affluent, owning numerous
properties and land, both in the North and on the North West Coast, all
fully stocked with cattle and implements. His eldest son Charles,
living at River Forth (d. Ulverstone 1910), was left the home property
of "Meadowlands" at Breadalbane, with his mother, Mary, to receive
fifty two
pounds (£52) per annum from the property for the rest of her
life, and to be accommodated in the northern wing of the homestead as
long as she lived.
"Green Rises" (131a) at Cressy went to John; 100a farm at Leven to
William; 120a east of Gawler and stock to be held in trust for Arthur
until he reached the age of 21 years; 118a west of Gawler and stock and
84a of allotments on the Township of Ulverstone together with cottage
and buildings thereon, went in
trust for Joshua, till he came of age; and Charles's property at
"Annandale", together with stock and implements was to be sold and
divided into one seventh shares between sons Archibald, Christopher and
daughters Mary Cubit, Susan and Rebecca Brumby, Elizabeth Crocker, and
the children of the late Ann Wright.
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