The Scattering of a Dorset Family

A More Modern View of Part of Evershot, Dorset

 Did the fire that swept through Evershot cause the Chubb family to leave the Dorset village? But no, when a fire wiped out a large part of the village in 1865 the Chubb family that I am researching had already left, all except for Sarah Ann, who later became the mother of Harold Chambers. Sarah Ann would have been directly affected by the fire if she was will in Evershot at the time. 

In the 1861 census, Sarah Ann Chubb was a 16-year-old house servant. The head of the household was Samuel Chubb, 21, a cooper, grocer and draper employing one man and one boy. There was also a male lodger. Sarah Ann must have had her hands full as the maid of all work for a houseful of men. Sarah Ann and Samuel shared the same surname as they were related, second cousins sharing the same grandparents, John Chubb and Sarah Conway.

Samuel lost his residence/business in the fire. According to an article from the September 29, 1865 edition of the Western Gazette, at one point it was thought that the whole village would be lost but fire engines came from Melbury House and from the town of Yeovil and the people from the village rallied around to help. In all 20 houses were destroyed. One of them was Samuel's. Did he join in the efforts of the villagers in fighting the fire or was he occupied trying to save household goods and his stock in trade from the flames?

The catastrophic fire may have been the catalyst to drive Sarah Ann Chubb from Evershot or perhaps she had left earlier when Samuel married in 1863. Samuel rebuilt. In the 1871 census he was once again a grocer in Evershot, now a family man with two children and the same lodger as in 1871 who was now revealed to be his uncle. By 1871 Sarah Ann was a boarder and assistant in the household of a draper/mercer in Yeovil, a John H. Ryall whose wife, Annie, was from Adelaide, Australia. (Was this a funny coincidence or a clue since I am exploring Australian connections?)

We have tracked Sarah Ann Chubb, the mother of Harold Strange Chambers, through the 1861 and 1871 census but what happened to the rest of her family? Where was her sister, the mother of Harold's cousins?

The 1861 census places Sarah Ann's father, William Chubb, a cooper journeyman, at 2 New Town Place in Weymouth, Dorset, a much larger place than Evershot. With him were his wife, Eliza, a straw bonnet maker, and his children, Henrietta, 12, and William J.S., 6. Also in the household was a boarder, Thomas Philips, a carpenter journeyman. Perhaps the family had moved from the village of Evershot for more opportunity; more work for the adults and better education and prospects for their children.

So far, the Chubb family members have made their first moves out of their home village of Evershot. Later years will take them much further afield.

 

Sources:

Chubb Family Tree, courtesy of Peter Chubb, my own personal records

Find My Past, 1861 & 1871 England, Wales & Scotland Census Images for Evershot, Dorset; Yeovil, Somerset and Weymouth, Dorset

 

Information about Evershot fire – http://www.evershot.demon.co.uk/everframes/history.htm accessed 5/12/03