Thomas Geard (1703 - 1775)

Born 8 Aug 1703 in Montacute, Somerset, England

Husband of Martha Newton — married about 1727 (to 19 Nov 1774) in Lufton, Somerset, England

Descendants

Died 18 Mar 1775 at age 71 in Montacute, Somerset, England

Biography

Thomas Geard, Son of Aaron Geard, of the Parish of Montacute, in the County of Somerset, Taylor, and of Joan his wife, was born August the 8th 1703.Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, Hitchin n.d. Memoirs of John Geard of Hitchin, Herts. Vol 1: Accessed 1 December 2019

Tho. Guard was baptised on 18 Aug 1703 "son of Aaron Guard in his house in Montague" in The Old Meeting-Presbyterian, South Petherton, Somerset, England. He was the son of Aaron Guard. ^{[1] [2]}

He was married in the Parish Church of Lufton, about a mile from Montacute, in or about the year 1727, to Martha Newton.^[3]

Thomas was in his father's tailoring business when young, but took to husbandry in adulthood.

"After my grandfather got up to man’s estate, I believe he left off his father’s business and turned his attention towards husbandry. He was an uncommonly strong man in his youth, being six foot high, or thereabout, and though not fat, yet large in proportion. He was a very industrious man, and chiefly by his own labor, he acquired some little property.' My father was his only child and he put him, when a boy, to learn the Girthwebb business ...

"Before my father got to man’s estate, the Girthwebb business, where he learned it, was to be disposed of, and my grandfather agreed to take it. This treaty had like to have broken off by a very trivial circumstance. Everything was concluded on except one. My grandfather wanted a gun thrown in for nothing, and the person he was in treaty with would not part with the gun without some consideration for it. My grandfather seemed fixed and the treaty was broken off; nor did my grandfather mean to renew it. Thomas Wornell, who worked for the person with whom my grandfather was in treaty for the business, and who told me the circumstance, went to my grandfather and reasoned with him upon the matter, and endeavoured to impress him with the consideration that, if everything else was right but the circumstance of the gun, surely that was not of importance enough to break off the treaty, and that as he had a son that had been learning the business, it was a pity to let the business slip from him for the sake of a gun. My grandfather reconsidered the matter, and agreed to take the business without the gun, or to pay what was demanded for the gun. My father was at that time about 15 years of age, so that that was about 63 years ago, and the business has been in the family ever since, and, I hope, has been, and is likely to be of considerable advantage to some branches of it. On such trivial circumstances do comparatively great events and circumstances sometimes depend. Thomas Wornell worked in the family from the time my grandfather took the business, to the time of his death, which was more than half a century. He was a worthy, good man, and when he died had been a member of the Baptist church at Yeovil, about four miles from Montacute, 60 years or upwards.

"My grandfather, during a part of his life, was concerned with a neighbour, Mr. Parsons, in the timber business. He carried on the Girthwebb business till some years after I was born, and eventually gave it over to my father. He occupied some meadowland which he rented of Edward Phelips Esq. as long as he lived. ... "I shall only add here that my grandfather did not marry this person, but he did about 7 years after the death of my grandmother marry a second wife, whom I remember, and who survived him several years. She died in 1784." Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, Hitchin n.d. Memoirs of John Geard of Hitchin, Herts. Vol 1: Accessed 1 December 2019

1775: "March 23rd, this day I received (136) an account of the death of my honoured grandfather Thomas Geard, who died suddenly in the night of the 18th. This unexpected afflicting intelligence much affected me. As he was born August 8th 1703, he must at the time of his death, be in the 71st year of his age. It was rather remarkable, that, in the month of November 1774, I had two grandfathers and one grandmother living, and before the end of March 1775, in a less compass of time than half a year, I should have no real grandfather nor grandmother. I had a grandmother in law still living, my grandfather Taylor’s second wife, but my own grandfathers and grandmothers were now all gone. My grandmother Taylor was dead a number of years before …….. Pp 137 to 140 missing" Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, Hitchin n.d. Memoirs of John Geard of Hitchin, Herts. Vol 1: Accessed 1 December 2019

Sources

1. ↑ Ancestry.com. England, Select Births and Christenings, 1538-1975 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2014. : Original data: England, Births and Christenings, 1538-1975. Salt Lake City, Utah: FamilySearch, 2013. FHL Film Number: 0825386 (RG4 2351), 0825386 (RG4 43), 0825386 (RG4 4491)
2. ↑ Piece 4491: South Petherton, Old Meeting (Presbyterian), 1694-1725 : The National Archives of the UK; Kew, Surrey, England; General Register Office: Registers of Births, Marriages and Deaths surrendered to the Non-parochial Registers Commissions of 1837 and 1857; Class Number: RG 4; Piece Number: 4491 : Ancestry.com. England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1970 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2013.
3. ↑ NOTE: No registers for Lufton before 1848 in Somerset, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1531-1812. Not recorded in that first book.