I was wondering if anyone knows of any Wilce family gravestone transcriptions/photos from the Ruardean St John the Baptist churchyard. I am particularly looking for John and Hannah Wilce and their descendents.

It seems that Gloucestershire Family History Society has a transcription available on CD:
http://gfhs.org.uk/products-page/cddvd/clearwell-ruardean-mis/

Mike

I have John Wilce 1786 & Hannah Gagg 1786 in my Family Tree. John would be my 5th cousin 4 times removed. My main area of research is the Marfell family and John's great grandmother was my 2nd cousin 7 times removed Susanna Marfell 1706/1792 who married Thomas Wilce 1707/1754 on 15th October 1730 - 9 children.

I have been to Ruardean churchyard many times taking photographs of gravestones. I always photograph those that I know might be in my Family Tree and as I have 253 Wilce's in my Family Tree I would have been sure to photograph any Wilce gravestones. I know I haven't got one for John or Hannah Wilce, if I had I would know when they died and that detail is not in my Family Tree. On one visit to Ruardean there was a handwritten index of graves on a table, so after gaining permission I photographed it, I have just checked and John & Hannah Wilce are not mentioned.

Although it is common practise to remove gravestones after 100 years or so, in the case of Ruardean a lot were removed when they widened the road that runs past the church, these are placed against the wall, but are stacked, so not all names are evident.

There are two Burials in the Parish Records for Ruardean that could be John & Hannah based upon their age at death, but I cannot be sure and have therefore not entered this in my Family Tree. These are John Wilce buried Ruardean 11 March 1849 aged 61, Hannah Wilce buried Ruardean 5 Feb 1865 aged 80.

I have a copy of the Gloucestershire Burial Index on CD from the Gloucester Family History Society and it does list the 11 March 1849 burial for John, but not the 5 Feb 1865 burial for Hannah, perhaps the Memorial CD mentioned in Freshwinds posting will illicit more information.

Do you know when they died ?

Jim Ashton

This site has the Bigland Transcripts for Ruardean, they only include the following Wilce transcripts, which presumably predate those you're looking for, ancestors of John & Hannah perhaps ?.

"In Memory of
THOMAS WILCE, who died
June 22, 1754, Aged 49 Years.
SUSAN, his Wife,
died March 14, 1792, Aged 87 Years."

http://www.forest-of-dean.net/joomla/resources/17-memorial-inscriptions/27-bigland-tran...
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/downloads/Bigland_Transcripts/Ruardean_

The Churchyard plan which Jim kindly supplied is also available within this site
http://www.forest-of-dean.net/downloads/Miscellaneous/Ruardean_Churchyard_Burial_Layout...

Jeff

The Thomas Wilce and Susan are in fact the Thomas Wilce 1707/1754 and Susannah nee Marfell 1706/1792 mentioned in my post.

Jim Ashton

Hi Jim,
yes I'd realised that, apologies for confusing things, by apparently replying to your post. My post was intended to be a non-specific reply to Wilcefamily, just in case they hadn't seen the resources I mentioned, which I knew you'd be very well acquainted with. Like you I don't know how relevant Thomas & Susan are to the aforementioned "John & Hannah" until more information becomes available, especially with so many John Wilce PRs on record.
atb Jeff

Thank you for that. I was thinking of joining the society to see if they had any details.
Deirdre

Thank you Jim for all that information. The reason I was hoping to find a gravestone for them both was to confirm which John Wilce, Hannah Gagg married in 1810. I had him down as dying in 1840 because he wasn't on the 1841 census with Hannah and two of their children. Hannah died in 1865. Hannah and John are my G G G Grandparents.

Thank you for the details of sites to look at, but there doesn't seem to be any information about John and Hannah. I will have to try the Family History CD, I think.

Deirdre

Hi My Husband and I recorded and transcribed the Memorial Inscriptions at Ruardean Churchyard. There is a book which has been published. I have a copy in my possession. There are several Wilce names in this book. Let me know if you have any names I could look up for you.
Janet

Thank you very much for that, Janet. There is Hannah Wilce who died in 1865 and John Wilce who died in 1840 and also John and Elizabeth Wilce, John Wilce's mother and father, but I am not sure when they died. It would be great if they were on the same gravestone as it will confirm birth dates.

Deirdre

Hi the only one that may relate to John and Elizabeth reads:-
C20
JAMES WILCE DIED NOVEMBER 9TH 1813 AGE ..
TRYPHENA WILCE DIED DEC 21ST 1830 AGED 8 MONTHS
URANIA? WILCE DIED DEC 21 1847 AGED ..
JOHN WILCE DIED MARCH 25 1848 AGED 31? YRS.
ELIZABETH ..3 1848 AGED 29 YEARS.
JOHN WILCE, FATHER OF THE ABOVE .. 1849 ..
The .. are unreadable on the stone.

There are other Wilces in the book some are in the 1900 and others which do not relate to either a John or Elizabeth.
My sisters husband is a Wilce and some of his family are buried in Ruardean Churchyard. Some died in action during W.W. 1

HI janger
Thank you so much for that information. It is fabulous. I have looked at the baptisms and these are definitely my family. Unfortunately there are two John Wilces that died in 1849, one 10 March and the other in May, but the one in May says Westbury and he seems too old, so it must be the one in March.
There are four missing, Sarah,Selina, William Gagg (who is my G G Grandfather) and their mother Hannah (nee Gagg). I don't know anything about Sarah, but the other three were in Newmans Bottom in the 1841 census. Hannah was buried in Ruardean on 5 February 1865, Selina was buried in Ruardean on 20 June 1857, (her husband was Thomas Wilce) and William Gagg disappeared in Hay on Wye after assaulting his wife. I was thinking that maybe Hannah Wilce was buried with her family, the Gaggs.
Thank you so much for doing this.
Deirdre

Hi
Hannah and the other members of your family may have been buried at Ruardean, but either they did not have a Memorial stone erected or the stone has now disappeared.
All stones visible were recorded and transcribed. The project was completed about 4 years ago.
If there is any other help within the book please do not hesitate to contact me.
Janet

Hi, I have just spoken to my sister, and she informs me that her husband is a relative of Tryphena and some of the other Wilces. This would make them a diatant relative to you. If you would like to answer this privately and send me your e mail address, I will forward it on, and they may be able to supply you with other information.