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Shelvock
Location
Geography
& Geomorphology
Origins
of the Family Name
Earliest
origins of the family names
Where
& When?
Occurrence
of the family names from the C16th - present day
A
History of Shelvock Manor
The
place and local environs providing the family name as well as
some other associated families
The
SHELVOKEs
The
story of engineering prowess and how a family name will become
extinct in modern times
The
SHELVOCKs
The
story of one couple's destiny to preserve the original family
name from extinction
A
Brief History of Halesowen
The
town that became the centre for the modern family name of
SHILVOCK
Demography
and Statistics
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the data is telling us
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SHELVOCK
One Name Study:Family Trees (1581-present day)
SHILVOCK
One Name Study:Family Trees (1639-present day)
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SHELVOCK
- The Music
6
sets of instrumental music inspired by the place and
history.
Composed and played by the Webauthor
Contact
Info
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- The
SHELVOCK Story -
How
a English Family Name Almost Became Extinct
Foreword:
Other webpages on this Study
website cover the occurrence of the SHELVOCK family name in more
detail. Apart from some SHILVOCKs who occasionally used the name
SHELVOCK, and those who left England as SHILVOCK and as a result
of US immigration processes founded a whole new branch of
US-based SHELVOCKs, this story applies to those families still in
Shropshire in the C19th and those who can directly trace their
heritage back to Shropshire from present-day Canada, Australia,
Wales & other parts of the UK.
This is mainly the story of John
SHELVOCK & Susannah DAVIES whose destiny was to find each
other, and through their resultant family unknowingly helped to
preserve a family name that was close to extinction in the UK.
Based on available records, the
Shropshire SHELVOCKs seemed in decline through the centuries up
to the C19th. The records from the start of General Registration
still see the family name hanging on in that county and the area
immediately adjacent in Staffordshire. Earlier records suggest a
small cluster of apparently related family groups, especially in
the Oswestry Hundred, which included the traditional family area
between Oswestry and Shrewsbury towns. These families, except
that of John & Susannah SHELVOCK, became extinct as the C19th
progressed, so that all C20th records, with one exception, can be
traced back to the family of John & Susannah. This exception
may be a SHELVOKE or a SHILVOCK, but is yet to be confirmed.
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John
SHELVOCK & Susannah Davies SHELVOCK, his wife, of
Shropshire.
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Research so far has
identified two possible brothers born in the 1790's to
unidentified parents. Candidates for parents who may have been
married by 1794 are sought, unless a common-law marriage. These
may be James SHELVOCK & Sarah LLOYD of Kinnerley.
The "younger brother",
James SHELVICK or SHELVOCK, a Labourer, was born about 1795 and
probably died in Oswestry aged 83 in 1878. He married Mary FURBUR
in 1818 at Whittington, near Oswestry. There were at least 7
children from the marriage, but only two boys: John SHELVOCK
(c1818), Maria SHELVOCK (c1818), James SHELVOCK, Sarah SHELVOCK &
Jane SHELVOCK (in the period around 1830), Mary SHELVOCK (c1835)
& Ann SHELVOCK (c1837). No further records have been found
for John & Maria. James, the son, a Farmer's Servant, died of
Encephalitis in 1855 aged 24; he was unmarried. Sarah died aged
19 of Consumption. In 1850, Jane SHELVOCK married Thomas FURBUR,
possibly a cousin. (The FURBUR family including 3 children were
still in Whittington in 1861). Mary died aged 4 months and Ann
died aged 8 months. Without known issue from John, this line
apparently became extinct.
What possibly links the above
family with the family and descendants of John & Susannah is
that a child of Jane SHELVOCK, then FURBUR, named John, was born
in 1860 and appears to have been adopted by John & Susannah
as a SHELVOCK. Why this is occurred is unclear as Jane was still
married to Thomas FURBUR as evidenced in 1861. No other Jane is
known and a birth record for John (as a son of John &
Susannah seems lacking). There are family stories of a hunchback
named John, and perhaps John & Susannah were better placed to
look after him? It is unclear why no father was mentioned. It
seemed that John & Susannah were suffering from the SHELVOCK
genetic propensity for girls and premature deaths of boys as they
had six girls and no boys by that time. Perhaps it was a family
gesture through adoption to provide a male heir for that side of
the family, or there's an important piece of the puzzle missing?
The "older brother",
John SHELVOCK, a pumpmaker, was born about 1794 at
Asbaston/Osbaston. He died aged 61 at Llanymynech in 1855. In
1826 he married Sarah BAGLEY (sometimes recorded as Mary) at
Prees; they had at least 6 children, but again only two boys -
John SHELVOCK (c1827), Martha SHELVOCK (c1828), Thomas SHELVOCK
(c1830), Elizabeth SHELVOCK (1832), Sarah SHELVOCK (c1838) &
Ann SHELVOCK (c1843). Sarah, the wife, died in 1847 as a result
of labour (no child recorded). Of the girls, no history has been
found for Martha & Elizabeth. Sarah, the daughter, died in
1847 around the same time as her mother, and Ann was found as an
unmarried servant in London in 1881. Thomas died of a diseased
shoulder and infection at the age of 14, leaving John SHELVOCK as
the sole heir to carry on the line. It is assumed John is the one
who married Susanah DAVIES and provided the family that is well
recorded in documents. The story leading up to this point remains
open to interpretation.
John SHELVOCK, the apparent sole
survivor of his generation with the SHELVOCK family name, married
Susannah DAVIES at Llanmynech in March 1852. There were no family
witnesses, although one, a John CLEMSON, may have been related to
the Mary CLEMSON who witnessed the marriage of Jane SHELVOCK &
Thomas FURBUR at Oswestry in 1850. We can only speculate how they
met, but Susannah was a daughter of Labourer John DAVIES, and
this is perhaps how the young John SHELVOCK, also a Labourer, met
his future partner. Susannah was heavily pregnant with their
first child, Elizabeth, at the time of marriage. The girl was
born a few months later (Llanfyllin RD), but did not survive the
year.
Shortly after New Year 1853
Susannah became pregnant with their second child, Sarah, who was
born in September of that year, also at Llanfyllin RD. At the
time of the baby's registration John was working as an Ostler
(with horses) and Susannah was working as a help at a Toll Gate
at the village of Llansaintffraid-ym-Mechain on the Welsh
borders. In April 1855 their third daughter, also named
Elizabeth, was born at the farm of Llwyntidmon near Llanmynech.
John was registered as a husbandman, no doubt working on the
farm. Susannah had, by this time, become a full-time mother (no
occupation) but no doubt helped at the farm.
By 1856 John had taken up a
completely new occupation, retail brewing, and the family were to
be found in the village of Blakenhall, part of south
Wolverhampton. In August of that year twin girls Martha Jane &
Mary Ann were born. Mary Ann did not survive. In 1858 a son,
John, was born in Green Lane, Wolverhampton, but died shortly
afterwards. After the brief venture into brewing another change
of direction occurred by 1868. The family were to be found in the
hamlet of Brockton near Worthen, where they settled for the next
couple of decades. John established his long term career in the
local lead mines, a feature of the hills overlooking the Severn
flood plain in that part of the county. Mining in Shropshire goes
back to Romans times, and there are signs that Bronze Age man may
have mined copper at Llanymynech, while the Romans mined lead in
the Shropshire hills more than 1,500 years ago. Surprisingly,
this hard industry (including the risks of lead poisoning, lung
diseases and mine accidents) did not take too much of a toll on
John's health as he survived until nearly 80. He died in 1907.
John & Susannah continued to
be a productive pairing producing many more children. Susannah
was also made of stern stuff as she survived until 1904, not only
taking care of her own brood, but also the many illegitimate
children of her daughters too. Pregnancy seemed to be an everyday
part of the SHELVOCK household, although the environment seemed
to take it's toll on the newborns with many premature deaths.
Mining communities worldwide are notorious for their lawlessness
and "work hard - play hard" mentality, and it seems the
SHELVOCK girls were well caught up in it, either by accident or
by design. What is clear is that the girls pregnancies were
handled within the family, and seemed to be an accepted part of
everyday life in Brocton.
[Social &
Historical Note: Until the law was changed in 1885 raising it
to 16 years, the age of consent in England was only 13 years. Due
to conditions of the times it is unlikely that puberty started as
early as it does today. Modern medical opinion is that
underweight children would have puberty delayed, with the figure
of 7.5 stones given as a minimum weight for puberty in girls.
There is no evidence of the SHELVOCK girls conceiving before
their 19th/20th year.
By the time of 1881
census the Registrar-General noted that one in three girls aged
15-20 were domestic servants. Such girls were subject to both
welcome and unwelcome attentions of males in households in which
they served. It was also noted in the middle of the C19th that
those young people working hardest in the mines, etc. often had
the onset of puberty delayed until their 17th or 18th year. In
certain trades a quarter of working girls had illegitimate
children by the age of 20. Mrs. Beeton's Book
of Household Management (1861) was recommending wages for
domestic servants between £7 10s & £11 per year.
This had increased to £16 in the 1888 edition. Servants in
poorer rural areas would receive less. Men earning more than £500
per year were reckoned as being able to afford three servants.
(The English - A Social History 1066-1945,
by Christopher Hibbert)]
The couples seventh child, also
a daughter, Susannah was born in 1859. With four surviving
daughters and two deceased, they must have wondered whether they
were ever going to have a boy, which maybe where the apparently
adopted nephew John (s/o Jane SHELVOCK/FURBUR, described above)
came in.
For unknown reasons there was a
gap of 6 years before the couple's next child. However, their
first son, Jonathan SHELVOCK, born in November 1866, must have
been a cause for celebration. Within the next four years the
couple had Charles SHELVOCK (1868), then William (1870, who died
after a few months). The remaining children were Margaret Jane
(1872), Alfred (1873, also died after a few months) and finally
Catherine Ann (1876), confirming the tendency for many healthy
daughters and boys who died prematurely. So far, all that is
known about Jonathan SHELVOCK is that he married 38 year-old
widow Mary E. KING formerly ROTHLY in 1910 Merriton, Ontario.
Charles SHELVOCK, who married Sarah VAUGHAN, became the sole head
of the modern Shropshire family as a result.
By the time of Susannah's last
child in 1876, three illegitimate children had been born to her
daughters. Sarah had daughters Elizabeth (1874) and Ruth (1875),
but both died young. Elizabeth had Henry SHELVOCK (1875), who
became the head of the modern Canadian family. Sarah, who
remained at Brocton, went on to have two more illegitimate
children, Alfred William (1880) & Mabel (1882), none of whom
survived more than a few weeks. She then married Henry ROWE in
1883 and went on to have more children who survived.
Elizabeth, who was a Domestic
Servant in Brocton, had a daughter Edith Ethel in 1879 (who
married in 1904), who was also raised by her grandmother.
Daughter Susannah, who in 1881 was a Cook & Dairy Maid for
farmer William SMITH in Baschurch village, had Annie in 1885
(Susannah later married MULLINEX/MOLYNEAUX). Margaret (who
married DELVES) had Rose Ellen in 1893 (who married HARRIS in
1927). Both these granddaughters were also raised by Susannah. Of
all the daughters of the couple, only Martha Jane (who married
PERRY) and Catherine (who married PERKINS) reached their marriage
without apparently having borne pre-nuptial children.
Brocton family summary:
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SHELVOCK
Family Graves, Lakeview Cemetery, Thorold, Ontario
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The modern Thorold
families:
Sarah
Shelvock ROWE
d/o of John & Susannah SHELVOCK
(1908
in Canada)
Shortly after the death of John
SHELVOCK senior in 1908, Henry & Sarah ROWE, and their four
children travelled to Canada to join Henry SHELVOCK who had
settled there in 1898. They had planned to homestead together,
but later land became available in Alberta.
Canadian family summary:
According to family stories
"adopted John" may have gone to Canada for a time,
joining the other family members, but then returned. It appears
John SHELVOCK, then an Agricultural Labourer, married Susan
PALMER in 1887 and had five children. John SHELVOCK (c1887),
Gladys SHELVOCK (1888), Albert SHELVOCK (1889), Sarah SHELVOCK
(1890-1) & George SHELVOCK (1894). John SHELVOCK was born
around the time of their marriage, perhaps before, and is
believed to have had a family in the C20th, but this has not been
confirmed. John SHELVOCK remarried in Pontypridd, South Wales, in
1903 to Phoebe MAY & perhaps married again in 1918 (possibly
the son John?). Gladys married there in 1911, as did Albert in
1914. Albert seemed to have the SHELVOCK genetic propensity for
girls and had three: Phyllis Margaret (1917, married JAYNES),
Joan C (1923, married DAVIES) and Joyce Winifred (1925), all at
Pontypridd. Sarah & George were born at the Lunatic Asylum at
Brocton, where their mother was suffering from "milk fever".
George SHELVOCK remained in the Shrewsbury area, married in 1920
and had one daughter Martha (1921), seemingly to ensure that this
line also died out.
South Wales family summary:
The survival of the modern
family, through Charles SHELVOCK & Sarah VAUGHAN, benefited
from the rare occurrence of four boys in the first five children,
all of whom survived to provide offspring of their own. The
remainder of the eleven were girls!
After three children, their son
Charles Baden SHELVOCK (1902) abandoned his family in England and
went to Australia where he settled. His second marriage there
founded today's small Australian SHELVOCK family and both a park
and street in Koondoola (North of Perth) carry his name. William
SHELVOCK also went to Canada, while the remainder of the family
remained in the C20th Shrewsbury area.
Shrewsbury family summary:
© Mark A S
Grace, Updated October 2008
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