Peasants to Puddles
My Family History - By Nicky Rowberry

The Rowberrys

Page 15

This branch of the family begins with Lydia (or Lidia as it was written at her baptism) Rowbery or Rowbry. Like so many women in the 18th century, there are very few records for her. I've only found her mentioned three times. Her baptism in 1718 and burial in 1785 are both recorded in Thornbury.

The only other mention of her is from 1759 when she had an illegitimate child (John) baptised in Thornbury. Lydia would have been 40 by then and whoever the father was, he didn't marry poor Lydia. Hopefully her family helped support her, as the child did at least survive. Lydia survived just long enough to see her son married and her first grandchild born.

Lydia's son John married Mary Wilcox in 1784 in nearby Tenbury. Their first 3 children were born (or at least baptised) in John's home parish of Thornbury. Around 1790 the family moved to Greete in Shropshire, about 10 miles away. The rest of their 9 children were born there. The spelling of the surname varied greatly around this time - Rubry, Rowbery, Rowberry and even Rowborough. The family seem to have stayed at least until the 1820s. So far I've not managed to find burial records for John, but Mary was buried in Greete in 1821.

John & Mary's youngest son Richard married Mary Cox and settled in the Shobdon area. You can read more about his family here.

John & Mary's oldest son John Rowbury moved to nearby Little Hereford and raised a large family there with his wife Elizabeth Roberts. I've not found anything in the records to tell me what John senior did, but this John Rowbury was a labourer. John junior died in 1837 aged just 50. His widow Elizabeth outlived him by more than 30 years, remaining in Little Hereford for the rest of her life.

The younger son John's youngest son was Edward Rowberry or Rewbury and he married Ann Mound in Ludford in 1851. Edward & Ann had 6 children and I've been lucky enough recently to have been given these images from a family bible, listing all 6 children. Many thanks to Kelda for letting me share these images.

There must be quite a lot of descendants from this branch of the Rowberrys out there. If anyone wants to add anything to this part of the tree, do feel free to get in touch: E-mail me

The family tree below summarises what I know about the above generations of my Rowberry family. It is hopefully reasonably accurate, but if you spot any errors, or any relatives, please feel free to E-mail me

Please click on one of the red links on the tree to move to a different page.

If any of the above is of further interest, please feel free to contact me at: n.rowberry@btinternet.com

© Nicky Rowberry 2026

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Peasants to Puddles - My Family History. By Nicky Rowberry