May I also thank you for posting at what must be such a difficult time for you and your family, we are all very sorry to hear of your loss and you all have our deepest sympathies. Perhaps irrelevant at this moment, but my father, my uncle and father in law all succumbed to that dreadful disease, as I'm sure it touched the lives of too many of this forum. Slowly but surely we've managed to move our lives on, so must you however difficult it seems now. We can only hope the tremendous efforts of those seeking a cure are eventually rewarded, and possibly support them if possible.

As and when you feel able we look forward to helping you again on the Forum, or if you prefer send one of us an email and we'll do our best in whatever way I can. I've often considered moving to France myself as we've holidayed there dozens of times, so I think I can fully understand why you're based in such a beautiful and historic country.

Thanks again and take care.

Jan

http://www.winchcombe.co.uk/about/local-history

It's an ancient Cotswolds town which I believe owes a lot of its growth in more recent times to that area's woollen industry. Anyone trading wool from there towards say the seaports of Bristol or into the Forest & South Wales via Lydney would undoubtedly have visited the enroute town of Berkeley, historically an important town with castle etc.

Berkeley is situated east of the Forest just a mile or so across the Severn immediately opposite Lydney, this flatter area called the Vale is far less populated than the Forest side with no modern industry to speak of, being largely agricultural based. I have agricultural working ancestors in Taynton nr Longhope just within the northern Forest boundary, some of those originate from Berkeley presumably due to this ag-lab similarity. Generally though the Berkeley side of the river has remained largely unchanged since long before and after the Industrial Revolution that so influenced the Forest's sharp population growth. I think this explains why there has been so much "transfer" of families across the River into the Forest in the last few hundred years, especially thro the port of Sharpness, very near Berkeley and the highest navigable point of the Severn for larger ships in those more recent times, and also Frampton upstream across to Awre & Newnham.

This 1904 Ordance Survey map shows this area well, if you look at the bottom lefthand corner you can zoom into it, it's a fantastic site for anyone like myself with an interest in old maps. That said, even a basic road atlas is in my opinion essential when researching family history, to get a good grasp of the area your ancestors lived in. I thought I knew the FoD area pretty well, but in fact I've learnt so much more since I started researching these last few months, especially the area north towards Herefordshire, what nowadays seem insignifcant little villages were important Parish centres only a century or two ago.

http://visionofbritain.org.uk/cgi-bin/iipsrv.fcgi?FIF=/maps/vips/os_medium_1904/1125_14...

Not forgetting of course this (FoD FH) site's own superb FoD maps kindly provided by Slowhands, I think people forget theres so much more wonderful and relevant information available on this website than "just" the PRs & Forum.

http://www.forest-of-dean.net/joomla/the-forest-of-dean/maps-of-the-forest

Look at the "Forest East c1906" map, a good closeup of the Awre/Berkeley area. Note the railway bridge at Sharpness which would undoubtedly have helped make cross-Severn traffic a much more routine event. That said there were of course many ferry boats at say Newnham etc.

Thank you for taking the time to look up this information for me, it is very much appreciated. I do not know the area well and dont know if Winchcombe is close to Berkeley or not. I will now start to try to trace Robert & Ann thanks for providing me with this new info

Jan

Any info on the Rayer family would be very much appreciated

BERKELEY Marriages

Richard SMITH married Ann FRENCH - 16 August 1812

Children christened at Berkeley

John - 20 April 1814 - Richard (labourer) & Ann - address Wanswell

Henry William - 9 August 1818 - Richard & Ann- address Berkeley

George - 21 May 1821 - Richard (labourer) & Ann ***

Mary Anne - 11 March 1824 - Richard (labourer) & Ann

Hannah Davinna - 17 February 1829 - Richard (Mariner) & Ann

Harriet - 3 June 1835 - Richard (Waterman) & Ann

***

Marriage at Awre - 9 October 1844

George SMITH of full age, Bachelor, Mariner, address: Wood End
father: Richard SMITH, Mariner

married

Elizabeth WERTHEY - Minor, Spinster, address: Wood End

father: Henry WERTHEY, Jeweller -

by banns

witnesses: John SMITH & Thomas CADOGAN

Births Jun 1854
MAYO William Coleman Rayer Westbury S 6a 194

PS Ship's Niate should be Ship's Mate!

RAGER - transcribed as

John - 28 - Ship Niate - born Berkeley
Harriett - 28 - born Berkeley
William - 6 - born Glos. Awre
Elizabeth - 3 - born Glam. Cardiff
Jayne - 9 months, born Cardiff

CDLS

another son Rowland RAYER - c 19 February 1857 - died 28 February 1857

?

1841 Census Awre

Ann SMITH 47 - born in County
Harriet SMITH - 8 - born in County

1851 Census, Glos. Awre

Woodend House.

Ann SMITH - 54 - Mariners wife, born Glos. Uley
Hannah SMITH - age 22 - married daughter, born Berkeley **
Harriot SMITH - age 18 - unmarried daughter - born Berkeley
Henry SMITH - Grandson, age 13 - born. Glam. Cardiff

*** Hannah SMITH married another Sailor, Rueben DAY - 30 December 1851 - one witness was Harriet SMITH

???

this is questionable (but odd)

Marriage at Awre 5 July 1852

John MAYO - full age, Bachelor, Sailor,father : Thomas MAYO Farmer

Married

Hannah SMITH - Minor, Spinster, residence Wood End (is this Hannah's first marriage?)

father: Richard SMITH - Sailor, by banns

mark of Daniel Freeman MEEK/Hannah DAY

You are a source of such good info my John was christened 10/09/1788 at St Mary de Crypt, Gloucester. I now believe his parents are William & Elizabeth

As I live in France I have found great difficulty in tracing my family but you have been an amazing help, thank you so much

JOHN RAYER Pedigree
Male

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event(s):
Birth:
Christening: 10 SEP 1788 Saint Mary De Crypt, Gloucester, Gloucester, England

Death:
Burial:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Parents:
Father: WILLM. RAYER Family
Mother: BETTY

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Messages:
Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record. The source records are usually arranged chronologically by the birth or christening date.
=================================================================================

Also these two:

JOHN RAYER Pedigree
Male

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event(s):
Birth:
Christening: 16 AUG 1790 Cutsdean, Gloucester, England

Death:
Burial:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Parents:
Father: WILLIAM RAYER Family
Mother: MARY

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Messages:
Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record. The source records are usually arranged chronologically by the birth or christening date.
==============================================================================

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


JOHN RAYER Pedigree
Male

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event(s):
Birth:
Christening: 29 MAY 1791 Standish, Gloucester, England

Death:
Burial:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Parents:
Father: WILLIAM RAYER Family
Mother: DINAH

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Messages:
Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record. The source records are usually arranged chronologically by the birth or christening date.

=======================================================

Standish is closest to Berkeley (about 11 miles?)

1841 Census Berkeley

Address: Lynch

RAYER

John - 55 - all born in County - Ag. Lab
Elizabeth - 36
John - 8 **
Rachel RAYER - 75
Ann - 15
Samuel - 13 - Shoe M
William - 10

** christened 9 June 1833 (Berkeley St Mary The Virgin - parents John (labourer) & Elizabeth (only one baptism for John & Elizabeth RAYER) - the only RAYER from 1813 onwards)

Burials at Berkeley

John RAYER - 2 April 1843 age 55 - address: The Lynch

Elizabeth RAYER POOLE - 17 March 1828 - age 5 weeks - christened 9 March 1828 - mother Charlotte (labourer)

----

Baptisms of Harriet SMITH - Berkeley

Harriet - 21 June 1817 - parents James & Sarah : address Breadstone

Harriet - 7 September 1819 - Daniel (blacksmith) & Harriet - address Newport

Harriet - 30 April 1823 - John (Yoeman) & Elizabeth - address Hinton

Harriet Merrett SMITH - 17 February 1824 - parents Rebecca

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


JOHN RAYER Pedigree
Male

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event(s):
Birth:
Christening: 09 JUN 1833 Berkeley, Gloucester, England

Death:
Burial:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Parents:
Father: JOHN RAYER Family
Mother: ELIZABETH

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Messages:
Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record. The source records are usually arranged chronologically by the birth or christening date.

A little bit more info on Scribe's Alcove:

NAME: John Rayer BAPTISED: 9 Jun 1833 at Berkeley

FATHER: John MOTHER: Elizabeth
OCCUPATION: Labourer ABODE: Lynch

Also on Scribe's Alcove:

NAME: John Rayer BURIED: 2 Apr 1843 at Berkeley
AGE: 55 years
ABODE: The Linch

---------------------------------------------

Harriet? There are also earlier ones!

HARRIET SMITH Pedigree
Female

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Event(s):
Birth:
Christening: 03 JUN 1835 Berkeley, Gloucester, England

Death:
Burial:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Parents:
Father: RICHARD SMITH Family
Mother: ANN

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Messages:
Extracted birth or christening record for the locality listed in the record. The source records are usually arranged chronologically by the birth or christening date.