My Grandpa Hibbitt (Charles George Hibbitt) used to have a boat, a small cabin cruiser, and we spent many hours as a family on the Kingsbridge/Salcombe Estuary. He kept the boat at Frogmore Creek, a short drive from his and Gran's home in the South Hams village of East Allington.


Frogmore in 2010
They say the sense of smell is the most nostalgic of the senses. Every spring when the new season arrives there's a certain smell in the air and it always reminds me of our days out in the boat. Mind you, the smell of two-stroke does the same thing.


Grandpa on his boat
Grandpa had two rowing boats but one leaked so we never used it. The other one would accompany us on our day trip, being towed by the cruiser. The rowing boats were named after my elder brother and I (my younger brother probably wasn't born when the names were first used). It sounds stupid now but I remember being miffed that the leaky boat was the one named after me......Read more »

Upon researching my 2 x great-grandparents, John Gale Hellier & Mary Ann Congdon, I've discovered more about their children.

After one of their twins, May Amelia Hellyer, died under the age of 2, they also lost another daughter, Alice Maud, at 10 months old. A second son (and 10th child), John, was born in April 1890, just a few months before his mother died.

John senior found himself widowed with 8 children whose ages ranged from 12 years to 4 months. It's not surprising that by the following year (1891) two of his daughters, Lily Sarah and Sarah May (my great-grandmother), were living with extended family members. The young boy, John, was adopted by Thomas Simpson (a naval pensioner and perhaps a friend of John's father) and his wife, Mary. Sadly, the boy died at the age of 9 years.

Hibbitt Family Tree section

• Added burial details for John G Hellier & Mary A Congdon together with baptism & burial information for their children.
• Added the name of William Sillick, my 4 x great-grandfather.

Place names: Tavistock and also Devonport in Plymouth, both in the county of Devon.

Resources > Hibbitt Family Tree Biographies section

Amended the biography page for John Gale Hellier.

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I remember my gran (Phyllis Grace Geake, nee Weaver) once telling me what happened the day my grandpa (William Hellyer Geake) arrived home from the second world war, having been away for four years.

It was fairly early in the morning when grandpa got home and his arrival coincided with that of the postman (or it might have been the milkman but I think it was the former). The postman knew grandpa and proceeded to ask him all about his time away in the war and stood at the doorstep chatting for 5 or 10 minutes. How insensitive! All the while, gran was waiting to greet the husband she hadn't seen for such a long time. In addition to this, he'd never even met his 4 year old daughter, who was more than a little coy at the sight of this strange man in their house! Gran said the postman ruined their reunion.


My Grandpa's WWII Service Record
[Why Sentimental Sunday? This phrase has been included in the title in order to take part in Blogging Prompts at Geneabloggers]

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With my new FindMyPast.co.uk subscription, I've been delving into my maternal family, taking advantage of the many Devon records in their databases.

Hibbitt Family Tree section


The Church at Peter Tavy

• Added more notes for my 3 x great-grandfather, Robert Geake (b abt 1797) and added the surname and details of his wife, Jane Dinner. Also added a photo on their family page of a road sign showing Wapsworthy and Cudlipptown, places near Peter Tavy where they lived. Also added a few more children of Robert and Jane Geake together with baptism facts and notes.
• Added Robert Geake's parents, my 4 x great-grandparents, Robert Geake (b abt 1769) and Mary Arscott, with notes, plus a photograph of Wapsworthy on their family page.
• Also added Robert & Mary Geake's other children with notes including Walter and wife Maria with facts, notes and photos of their headstone, Grace who married John Pengelly, and George and wife, Grace nee Walters, with photos of their headstone.
• Placed a photo of a view from Wapsworthy on the family page of my 2 x great-grandparents, George Geake and wife, Maria (nee Dearing).
• Added baptism details for Israel Edward Ball.
• Added Israel's parents, William Ball and Maria Edwards.
(Maria Dearing was born before her parents, Israel Ball and Ann Dearing, married. It is therefore, uncertain whether Israel Ball was Maria's father or step-father. However, there is a possibility that the young Maria was Israel's child, who might have been named after his own mother, Maria nee Edwards.)

• Added the surname of my 3 x great-grandmother, Sarah Sillick, and her marriage details to William Hellier.
• Discovered the baptism of William & Sarah Hellier's eldest daughter, Sarah Hellier, born about 1838.
(Sarah hadn't appeared in the censuses with her family because she was living with her grandmother, my 4 x great-grandmother, Elizabeth Hellier (nee Gale). I'd seen both grandmother and grand-daughter on the censuses before but I wasn't absolutely certain this was indeed my family. This extra information has confirmed the link.)
• Added burial details with notes for Amos Hibbitt & Mahala Hibbitt (nee Newbold), plus for Charles Newbold Hibbitt & Mary Ann Hibbitt (nee Pitcher) and William Amos Hibbitt.
• Also added the marriage of William Amos Hibbitt to Mary Ann Day in All Saint's Church, Hockley, Birmingham. They married in the same church as William's brother, Alfred, but about a week later.
• Added the name of George Day, Mary Ann Day's father.

Place names: Milton Abbot, Marystow, Peter Tavy, Wapsworthy, Cudlipptown, Mary Tavy, Tavistock, Okehampton, Hatherleigh - all in Devon; plus Birmingham and Ireland.

Resources > Family Tree Reports section

Updated the report for the 'Ancestors of William Hellyer Geake'.

[Note: All content on the Hibbitt & Barnes Family History website and blog is copyrighted. Click here for conditions of use.]