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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