REED family from North Devon

[sarah]

Thanks for the explanation, I shall have to remember that one !

It can't get any better than a good pint, in an English Pub with a log fire after a long walk in the snow.

We had snow here last night ! How about that for April 

Sarah

[Cariad fach]

O.K.  I am new to this.... and this maybe a goosechase...but here goes....

My Great, Great, Great grandfather was William Bateman Reed.....  he had a son named Ralph Newbury Reed, who had a daughter named Blanche Jessica Reed....who eventually leads to me several more generations later...  I know he had married a Mary Dodgeson....or Mary Dodgeson was his mother....not sure there....  I heard he was a builder/Architect in Bristol and that he was given the key to the city for something.... I don't know if he actually lived in Bristol, or that was just where the hotels were located that he built.

that's really all I know....can anyone fill in any blanks?  And anyone relatives now?/

[katpac]

Breakthrough today on my Reed line that gives me a lead/connection to Ilfracombe, Devon.
While I still don't know who Sarah Norman is, this is definitely my 3x GR GF - the marker says in memory of William M. Reed, Master of the Schooner Volunteer who died at sea, Dec 14 1857!!! I also can't quite make out the last name on the market under Mary Jane Fishley, but I can see something Stinson Reed. Stinson is also a name in my family branch (UK and Maine) connected to the Reeds, also mariners. Yay! A little progress! Devon also appears to be a likely birthplace for my William M. Reed.
http://www.gravestonephotos.com/public/gravephoto.php?scrwidth=956&grave=298487&requestee=29800

If anyone has more info or sees a possible connection, please get in touch!

More background:

 I live in California. Looking for more info on my Master Mariner Reed/Reade/Reid line. My 3x Great Grandparents were William Reed (Master Mariner) and Mary Ann Cornish. Mary Ann Cornish was born in North Shields, Northumberland ~1817. Not sure where William was born. They married on 18 Aug 1844 — Toxteth Park, St John the Baptist, Lancashire, England. Apparently, it was a second marriage for both, so her name at their marriage is listed as Mary Ann Tait (first husband Gilbert). Not sure where William was born, who William's first wife was or if they had children. The marriage cert says William's father's name was also William and he was a farmer. It lists Mary Ann's father as Thomas Cornish, also a Mariner. BUT Mary Ann's death record in 1894 in Andover, Massachusetts in the United States, says her father was Richard Cornish (not Thomas) and her mother was an Ann Morgan.

William and Mary Ann had 5 children, Richard Cornish Reed (b. July 1845 in Liverpool, Master Mariner), Maria Reed (b. abt 1847), Annie Reed (b. abt 1849), William Cornish Reed (b.1852 d.1853 in Liverpool) and William John Reed (b. 1854 in Liverpool, my 2x GR GF, Master Mariner).

Would anyone be able to find out more about William's death at sea? Where can I obtain a copy of this will and would it likely fill in some of the blanks?

 15 April 1858
 The Will of William Reed late of Liverpool in the County of Lancaster Master Mariner in the Merchant Service deceased who died 14 Dec 1857 at Sea was proved at Liverpool by the oath of Mary Ann Reed of 16 Upper Stanhope-street Toxteth Park Liverpool aforesaid Widow the Relict and the sole Executrix.