For anyone like me who doesn't like our recent frosty nights, during what in truth is a mild winter, spare a thought for the following article I've found while browsing the Welsh Newspapers site.

Monmouthshire Merlin, 30 December 1870

ROSS.
FROZEN TO DEATH.
On Thursday morning, about seven o'clock, a police-constable, while going his rounds in the parish of Linton, near this town, found a poor old man, 82 years, by name Samuel Holmes, lying dead in the hedge by the roadside. He was quite stiff and cold, and his body white with hoar-frost. It was ascertained that the day previously (St. Thomas's day) he had been carrying out a practice, adopted on that day in this part of the country, of going from house to house for the purpose of getting cider. A boy saw him about five in the evening. He appeared a little the worse for drink, and made a few observations about not being able to get home fast enough. About a quarter of a mile from the spot where the boy saw him he was found by the policeman the next morning as above described.

http://welshnewspapers.llgc.org.uk/en/page/view/3439412/ART11/ross%20veteran

I've tried to find out if the winter of 1870/1871 was unusually cold, this hit gives interesting reading across the whole century, for this particular winter it states;
"A cold winter over western Europe / implied for parts of Britain. (Easton, in CHMW/Lamb). Using the CET record, the overall value for the three 'winter' months of December, January & February was 2.4degC, representing an anomaly of roughly -1.3C on the all-series mean."

So it was "cold" but not particularly severe, but bad enough for an old man unlucky enough to spend the night outside.
http://booty.org.uk/booty.weather/climate/1850_1899.htm

From this site's PRs I find;

Record_ID: 95437
Entry_Number: 758
Year: 1870
Month: Dec
Day: 27
Surname: HOLMES
Forenames: Samuel
Residence: Gorstley
Age_at_death: 82
Officiating_Minister: E Palin
Event: Burial
Cause_of_death:
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: AR91/10
Page_No: 95
Parish_Chapel: Linton
Soundex: H452

I cannot find an Inquest for this death.

It's possible that this marriage MIGHT be his, altho I need to research the Census' to be at all confident, hopefully tomorrow.

Record_ID: 34346
Entry_Number: 27
Year: 1833
Month: Jun
Day: 24
Grooms_Surname: HOLMES
Grooms_Forenames: Samuel
Grooms_Age:
Groom_Condition: Bachelor
Grooms_Occupation:
Grooms_Residence: of this parish
Grooms_Fathers_Surname:
Grooms_Fathers_Forenames:
Grooms_Fathers_Occupation:
Brides_Surname: WADLEY
Brides_Forenames: Hester
Brides_Age:
Brides_Condition: Spinster
Brides_Occupation:
Brides_Residence: of this parish
Brides_Fathers_Surname:
Brides_Fathers_Forenames:
Brides_Fathers_Occupation:
Licence_or_Banns: Banns
Date_of_Banns:
Signature_or_Mark: Both mark
Witness_1: Mark of Rich[ar]d Phelps
Witness_2: Mark of Jane Holmes
Other_Witnesses:
Officiating_Minister: Rich[ar]d Brooke Curate
Event: Marriage
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P188 IN 1/8
Page_Number: 9
Parish_Chapel: Kempley
Soundex_Groom: H452
Soundex_Bride: W340

UPDATE:

The 1861 Census shows him living in Gorsley, Linton herefordshire; so proving the above Marriage.

Given Name Surname Relationship Age Estimated Birth Year Gender Birth City Birth County Birth Country
Samuel Holmes Head 72 1789 Male Ag Labourer Upton Bishop Herefordshire England
Esther Holmes Wife 48 1813 Female Newent Gloucestershire England
Emma Holmes Daughter 20 1841 Female Upton Bishop Herefordshire England
Eliza Holmes Daughter 14 1847 Female Kempley Gloucestershire England
William Holmes Son 9 1852 Male Upton Bishop Herefordshire England

The 1871 Census for shows Esther as the widowed head of her house, along with William.

I'm struggling to find Samuel in the 1851 Census, yet their children's Baptisms show they are at Kempley and then at Corse?

Parents_Surname Child_Forenames Fathers_Forenames Mothers_Forenames Mothers_Surname Residence Occupation Parish_Chapel
1833 HOLMES Hannah, Samuel & Esther, Old Rock Lane Labourer Dymock
1836 HOLMES Lucy, Samuel & Hester, Kempley Labourer Kempley
1838 HOLMES Anne Maria, Samuel & Esther, Upton Bishop Labourer Upton Bishop
1840 HOLMES Emma, Samuel & Hester, Little Tedswood Upton Bishop Labourer Upton Bishop
1843 HOLMES Fanny, Samuel & Esther, Tedgwood Labourer Upton Bishop
1846 HOLMES Eliza, Samuel & Hester, Kempley Labourer Kempley
1851 HOLMES William, Samuel & Esther, Cruse Laborer[sic] Upton Bishop

The PRs show Lucy died aged just 2 months. Cannot find further PRs for Anne or Fanny. Emma marries in Ross in 1862, father Samuel present, William marries Gorsley in 1890, "father de'cd".
Searching 1851 Census for Emma finds;

1851 Census, the Union Workhouse, Albion Street, Ross. (There are abt 150 inmates).
Samuel Holmes Pauper 56 1795 Male Hope Mansell, Herefordshire, England
Esther Holmes Pauper 40 1811 Female Dean Forest, Gloucestershire, England
Ann Holmes Pauper 12 1839 Female Hope Mansell, Gloucestershire, England
Emma Holmes Pauper 11 1840 Female Hope Mansell, Gloucestershire, England
Fanny Holmes Pauper 8 1843 Female Hope Mansell, Gloucestershire, England
Eliza Holmes Pauper 5 1846 Female Hope Mansell, Gloucestershire, England
Hannah Holmes Pauper 16 1835 Female Hope Mansell, Gloucestershire, England

1841 Census, Upton Bishop, Herefordshire;
Given Name Surname Age Estimated Birth Year Gender Birth City Birth County Birth Country
Samuel Holms 40 1801 Male Ag-lab Herefordshire England
Esther Holms 30 1811 Female Herefordshire England
Hanah Holms 8 1833 Female Herefordshire England
Maria Holms 3 1838 Female Herefordshire England
Emma Holms 11 Mo 1840 Female Herefordshire England

Hi Jefff,

I meant to reply to your posting ages ago, but something happened and then it got buried. Anyway, hope you pick this up....

I totally take your point about HOLMES, and you are right to chide me for jumping to conclusions, when I get cross when I see others do it! And yes, I totally agree that names that sound as though they belong somewhere can then crop up somewhere else, even in quite early times. The old view that our ancestors didn't travel or move to totally new areas is certainly not proved by fact, and also, names are not always what they sound.

One point that I made originally however, is I think still quite persuasive (- and I think you may have thought I was pinning my argument on the name Mary, which was not the case. As you say, Mary is a hugely common name.) But as I mentioned in my last post, I think a VERY good candidate for Thomas' wife Mary "is Mary JONES who was christened in Linton on 22 April 1798, and had parents William and Lucy. Looking at Mary and Thomas TEAGUE's children's names, this looks a very likely candidate."

My reasoning is that 1. the D/B would be an excellent fit given all we know about Mary's age, 2. the much more unusual name of Lucy for her mother would read across to the twin they called Lucy, and 3. they called their son William, although Thomas also had a brother William.

Best wishes

Jane