Abraham Good and Susan Petherbridge

[4 July 2005]

Note: This page is a work in progress; there may be errors and contributions are solicited.

Our knowledge of Abraham is fairly scanty at this time. We have information on his baptism, marriage and also an 1861 census entry.

Birth of Abraham

From his christening record we find that Abraham was born prior to 10 February 1788 in Barnstaple, Devon, the son of John and Joan Good. The 1861 census entry gives his age as 72 which would point to a 1788 - 1789 birth. His brother Moses was christened at the same time and Moses declares himself as being 73 in 1861. Moses died at age 84 at the end of 1871. This would lead us to believe that Abraham was probably born in early 1788 with Moses being born probably about a year earlier.

"Feb 10 1788 Baptized Abraham & Moses Sons of John & Joan Good"

Birth of Susan

In the 1861 census Susan is registered as having been born in Barnstaple about the same time as Abraham. The location indicated may well be wrong and will need to be verified by further research. Petherbridge (and some spelling variants) is a reasonably common name in south Devon. However it is almost unknown in north Devon in the 1700s and 1800s. A search of the IGI for the surname in Barnstaple does not come up with a match in the first thousand entries. Searching for Susan's birth there is an IGI record in Buckfastleigh (near Torbay)  indicating the baptism of a Susanna Pethebridge, daughter of Joan Pethebridge, in 1788. This is the only IGI entry of 1788 that provides a match. Other matches within 10 years are all also in the vicinity of Torbay.

Marriage of Abraham and Susan

Abraham married Susan Petherbridge on 4 September 1808 at St Andrew, Plymouth, Devon, England. This information comes from the IGI. Slightly less than a month later on 3 October 1808, Abraham's brother Moses was married at Stoke Dameral Church also in Plymouth. Abraham was a witness at Moses' wedding and it is likely that Moses would have been part of Abraham's wdding party; however I have not yet seen the entry for this marriage.

Family of Abraham and Susan

We have, so far, little informaiton on Abraham and Susan's family. From the 1861 census we can speculate as follows:

Children of Abraham Good and Susan Petherbridge

1861 Census^[1]

The entry for the 1861 census is as follows:

Queen Street, Bedminster
St Paul
Somerset

Joseph GILBERT Head Mar 56 Seaman (Merchant Service) b Plymouth
Susan Wife 50 b. Plymouth
Thomas GILBERT Son Unmarried 18 Seaman (Merchant Service) b Bristol, Bedminster
Charles GILBERT Son Unmarried 15 Seaman b. Bristol, Bedminster
Philip John GILBERT Son Unmarried 10 Scholar b. Bristol, Bedminster
Susan Elizabeth GOOD Neice Unmarried 11 Scholar b. Bristol, Bedminster  [Q3 1949, FreeBMD]
Abraham GOOD Head Married 72 Formerly General Labourer b. Barnstaple, Devon
Susan GOOD Wife 72 b. Barnstaple, Devon

[1] RG9/1703 Folio 111 Page 17

The census entry of 1861 suggests that Abraham and Susan are living with a daughter Susan and her husband, Joseph Gilbert,  and that in addition to their children a niece of Joseph and Susan, presumably a child of a brother of Susan's is also at the house on the census night. The birth year of 1811 for Susan (Good) Gilbert ties in well with the marriage of Abraham and Susan. The speculated son whose name is not known could have been born before or after. We see that Susan (Good) Gilbert has children ranging in age from 10 to 18 living with them, but couls well have had other older children

Notes:

[1]

Research Required:

[1] Need to find death registrations for Abraham and Susan.
[2] Need birth entry for Susan

Acknowledgements:

[1] Sue Slater of the Devonshire list for spotting the 1861 census entry.

©Kenneth Scott and others

last modified 13 November 2015