Michael and Martha Weaver

Michael and Martha were first cousins whose fathers were brothers. I wondered if this photograph was taken to celebrate their wedding but it has been dated (by costume dating expert Jayne Shrimpton) to around 1855-57. It was not usual to show any physical contact between a couple in public before they were married but Michael has his arm around Martha so perhaps it was taken to mark their betrothal.

Michael began working as an agricultural labourer but by the 1871 census he was a farmer of 42 acres in Dundry. He died of Senile Decay and Gangrene of the Leg aged 79. Martha was 80 when she died as a result of diabetes which she had had for 6 years.

Sons James and Albert continued on the farms, Spring Farm at Littleton and neighbouring Powdermill Farm at Winford. James and his wife Mary had at least two children. Albert didn't marry and when he died in 1951 Powdermill Farm was sold and the proceeds shared between the children of Sarah and Agnes.

Sarah married Alfred Gillett, a farmer from Bishopsworth, in 1886 and had ten children. Kate married George Gallop, a farmer from Dundry, in 1894. George was a widow with two children and had three further children with Kate.