The harris family at Holbeton

The HARRIS family at HOLBETON

My family can be traced back from South Milton to the South Hams area of South West Devon, in particular to the villages of Holbeton, Aveton Gifford, Bigbury and Modbury in the mid 1500s. Holbeton is a large straggling village on an eminence, west of the Erme estuary, four miles west, south west of Modbury and 9 miles to the east of Plymouth. At that time it was a small parish, and indeed by the time of the 1850 Devon Directory it was described as having 1120 souls, 4623 acres of land extending to Bigbury Bay and including the hamlets of Mothecombe, Creacome and Ford and many scattered farmhouses etc. Lime was burnt there and barges up to 70 tons came up the estuary. Lady Elizabeth Bulteel, lady of the manor, had a large and elegant mansion called Flete House, which was long the seat of the ancient family of Hele, one of whom was created a baronet in 1627. An ancient Harris family, of peerage, also came from this area. In 1850 a William Crimp was the butcher, and Benjamin Wyatt was the Victualler at the Union Inn. Both the Wyatt and Crimp families were related to my Harris line, as will be detailed later. My direct family can be traced at Holbeton back to 1625 when a John Cortes Harris, the illegitimate son of John Harris and Barbara Cortes was born. His father, also John Harris married Gertrude Dadge in the town in 1627- there was a John Harris recorded in the town in 1550. John Cortes Harris married Elizabeth at Stodbury, Aveton Gifford, in 1648 and they had a son John, born in 1649. That John, in 1671, married Joan Shephard in the Town and had at least five children, William in 1674, John in 1677, Richard in 1680. Francis in 1684, and Hugh in 1687. The names of the first four children appear in many latter generations, and whilst Hugh appears in branches of the family it does not appear in my direct line.It is assumed that is because he died at the young age of 39, having named his first son after his father and his second son after his wife's father - as was common practice in those days. The five children of John and Joan Shephard moved around the south Hams area to find work, and met and married their spouses in the towns in which they lived.

William married Elizabeth Gillard and lived at Aveton Gifford before moving to South Huish where their children were born, with the next generation being born at the adjoining town of Malborough.
The second son John married Grace Luke at Modbury in 1700, with four of their five children settling in the Modbury area, with the fifth moving to South Milton. Latter generations of the Modbury family moved to Ermington and Aveton Gifford. and South Milton. At Modbury the Harris family had a close relation with a Wakeham family, at least one of the sons being apprenticed to Ralph Wakeham. The Wakehams also had ties with the Harris family in the late 1700s, owning a farm in South Milton adjoining the properties at which the Harris family lived.
The third son Richard of Aveton Gifford died at the young age of 16.
The fourth son Francis remained in the Holbeton area all of his life, dying at Bigbury in 1760.
The fifth son, Hugh, married Elinor Papestone at Holbeton in 1714 and they had two sons, William and John born who were born at Holbeton. William only lived to the age of 23 however the other son of Hugh and Elinor, John, born in 1717, moved onto Aveton Gifford, marrying Catherine Wyatt there in 1753.
Catherine Wyatt was a child of Francis Wyatt and Catherine, who had married in Holbeton in 1720. She had two sisters, Mary and Frances. Her father Francis was born in Cornwood in 1697, the son of Nicholas and Amy Prediaux who were born in Holbeton in 1696. Nicholas and Amy had two other children who were born at Cornwood and Rattery, Elizabeth and William.
Amy Prediaux was a daughter of William Pridiaux and Tamsing Swaine who married at Holbeton in 1655. The Pridiaux were a local family who can be traced back to the Doomsday records.
John Harris and Katherine Wyatt had three children, John who died shortly after birth at Aveton Gifford, a second John at Holbeton in 1757, and Francis at Holbeton in 1761.
The second John married Elizabeth Pilditch in South Milton in 1788 after moving there to be with his Uncle, Nicholas, who had moved there in the 1760s.

Go to the main web page of Bob Harris (Harris from Devon and the Channel Islands)

Go to the Harris family page for later details of the Harris family at South Milton and other parts of Devon.