the Stembridge Family website

I received the recent note from Chris Ward – a cousin in Australia, and did a little digging on Crewkerne, and found the following (below) from 1850. There are quite a few Stembridges mentioned.

G’day David,

I don’t recall getting the message from Peter Hammett!! I haven’t established the STEMBRIDGE roots back in Bridport although undoubtedly they originated in Crewkerne in Somerset. I did find some reference to some old research done in the United States in the 1950s which suggested there were only two brothers but it was too difficult for me to pursue the story from this side of the world. I have recently seen a note that Kindness BREEDLOVE was born ca 1767 and died ca 1808 and married William STEMBRIDGE Jr. on January 22, 1785.

Chris

HUNT & CO.S 1850 DIRECTORY & TOPOGRAPHY OF THE TOWN OF CREWKERNE. in all places, where there are objects worthy of detail or observation, there should be a short printed Directory, for the use of the stranger. Dr.Johnson.

Is a parish and market town in the hundred of its name, which is derived from a Saxon word, signifying the Cottage on the Cross, it is 10 miles S.W. by S. from Ilchester and 132 W.S.W. from London.; within these last few years it is considerably improved, a handsome building, Stuckeys bank, a National School, and other new houses have been added, and more are in progress. It is a compact, well-built place, reposing in a valley, sheltered on all sides by verdant and richly cultivated hills; from these eminences the varied prospects that meet the eye are delightful and beautiful in the extreme; on Rana Hill, westward of Crewkerne, there formerly stood an ancient chapel, which contained the bones of St. Ranus; and at Haselbury, a celebrated recluse, named Wulfric, led a life of penance and great abstinence, inhabiting a small cave, and clothing himself in a raiment of finely wrought iron; he was visited by many distinguished personages of that time, amongst whom were Henry I. and Stephen. The church, which is cruciform, is of great beauty, its fine gothic proportions, with its elaborately wrought window-frames, and a handsome tower rising from the centre are beautifully detailed, part of the building is surrounded by lofty trees which add considerably to its effect;the living is a perpetual curacy in the gift of the Dean and Chapter of Winchester; there are also chapels for Baptists and Wesleyans. A grammar-school is established here which is very ably conducted; the manufactures are principally girth web, hemp and tow spinning, and rope and twine making,which are carried on to a considerably extent, and employ a great number of hands, a literary and scientific institution has lately been established here with apparent benefit and success; The market-days are Saturdays, and there are great Spring markets for sheep, lambs, &c. in April and May; a fair is held annually on the first of September. In the neighbourhood of the town is Hinton House, the seat of the Earl Poulett, and near the church were formerly the remains of an abbey, but they have been lately removed and a modern building is now erected on its site. At the census taken in 1841, the population of Crewkerne amounted to 4414.

Post-office, East street. Post Master, John Budge. Letters are delivered daily, from London, Bristol, Birmingham, and the north, at 8 a.m. From Bridport, Beaminster and the East at 9 a.m. From Bridport and Beaminster, at 5 30 p.m.

Despatches for Bridport and Beaminster at 7 a.m.; for Bridport, Beaminster, and the east at 4 30 p.m., and for London, Bristol, Birmingham, and the north at 5 20 p.m. Box closes for Bridport, Beaminster, and the east at 4 20 p.m., and for London, Bristol, Birmingham, and the North at 4 40 p.m., but letters may be posted by affixing an additional stamp until within 5 minutes of the despatches.

Money Orders are granted and paid daily ( Sundays excepted ) from 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Photo of stained glass window at First United Methodist Church of Milledgeville, Ga.
photo coutesty my Dad, Roger E. Stembridge!

Home Again

Date: Sep 23, 2003

from: Dr. Roger Stembridge

“… Moore’s Funeral Home finally got Grandmother Clara Idella
Stembridge moved from the farm location to Memory Hill in
Milledgeville. Also little G. M. was moved although they said they could find nothing in his grave. Only part of a skull and part of a leg bone was all they found of Grandmother. Both were placed into a child’s vault and buried at the foot of Grandfather. Asbury Stembridge has slabs prepared to place over two plots. Grandmother at the foot of Grandfather and G. M at the foot of Grandmother Sarah. After Asbury has the slabs in place, we will plan a dedication service.”

Memory Hill Cemetary in 1897

Memory Hill Cemetary in 2001

Photos from Memory Hill Cemetary, Milledegeville, Georgia

Date: Mon, 17 Sep 2001

from: Dr. Roger Stembridge

“As everyone knows, our grandmother Clara was discovered to be buried in the J. E. Stembridge Cemetery off Ebony Lounge Road off Hwy 24 off Hwy 22 in Baldwin County. I have had two people to tell me they have been to the cemetery. One had promised to take me there but we could never seem to get together. The second one was there a few days ago and wrote very explicit directions how to fine the cemetery.

This morning, I decided to try to find it. Following Glen’s
directions I walked right to it. I was awesome to see her grave and the grave of Little G. M. Stembridge (about a year and a half old).

Both graves are in poor condition with Little G. M.’s headstone broken and laying down. The slabs (I think concrete) over the graves are intact but have sheaved off and look terrible. Both are covered with rotted leaves and growth. There is a flower pot on Clara’s grave that Glen says was put there sometime during the past 15 years (the best he can remember when he last saw the grave before this time).”

Ebony Lounge Road is now subdivided and there are doublewide homes up and down the road, but the cemetery is a good ways from the Ebony Lounge Road behind the south side of the road. It looks like some surveying has taken place in recent months and some clearing done not too far from the cemetery.

If any of you are down at any time, I will be glad to take you out to see the site. Other than that, I will at some time make some effort to clean up the site and the headstones so that the inscriptions can be read. I could read most of the letters but I think a good cleaning will improve readability. One of the attached pictures is a close-up of Clara’s headstone. The other is an overall picture of her grave.

1870

Population Statistics for Stembridge

Area, Houses and Population

SOMERSET County, southern WALES

The Western Speller by John A. Stembridge
Stembridge’s “The Western Speller” appeared in 1854. This book was compiled by John A. Stembridge, who was born in Muhlenberg in 1813 and died in Greenville in 1872. He was the only son of William Stembridge. His wife was a daughter of Larkin N. Akers. Their son, William junior, died in early manhood. Their two daughters removed to Evansville, Indiana, about 1875, and were connected with the public schools of that city for more than thirty years. John A. Stembridge, like his father, was a schoolteacher.
“The Western Speller” was written in Greenville in 1852 and published in 1854 by J. W. Boswell, of Hebardsville, Henderson County. The printing was done by Hull & Brothers and the binding by Hull Brothers & Caril, of Louisville. The “Preface” and “Recommendations” are here quoted in full:
Preface.
We live in an age of improvement, and as there have been improvements made on almost all theories, the author of this work thought that there could be an improvement made on the Spelling Books that are published by various authors. He had two reasons for writing this Book. The first reason, he saw some defects in all the various spellers. The most important reason was his ill health–not being able, for the last three years and a half, to labor. He came to the conclusion to write a Spelling Book on a new plan, which he has done, hoping that a generous public would examine it, and give his book the preference, as he knows of no other tribunal that would judge more correctly. With these remarks he submits it to the same.
Greenville, Ky., August, 1852.
The Author.
Recommendations.
We have examined the spelling book compiled by Mr. John A. Stembridge, and consider it a valuable book. It contains a great variety of the most useful words, disposed in such order as will much facilitate the learner’s progress in spelling and pronunciation. A large number of proper and Geographical names are appended. We think it an elementary book worthy of the attention of parents and Teachers.
Greenville, Ky., August, 1852.
Rev. John Donaldson, Principal Greenville Presbyterial Academy, Ky.
S. P. Love, Teacher Common Schools, Greenville, Ky.
B. E. Pittman, Common School Commissioner, Greenville, Ky.
Chas. F. Wing, Clerk Muhlenberg Circuit Court.
Wm. H. C. Wing, Clerk County Court.
A. C. DeWitt, See. Louisville Annual Con. M. E. C. South.
W. H. Yost.
Jonathan Short.
Joseph Ricketts.
Jesse H. Reno, P. J.
Edward Rumsey.

Thu, 8 Nov 2001
Hello there
I haven’t found a kinship between the Webbs and Stembridges, yet, other than as neighbors. It has been in just the last few days that I discovered my relation to the Webbs in Crawford County. In response to a query I posted on the Wood Co., TX list I was contacted by a descendant of the Nichols family from Crawford Co. She gave me a lead and after researching census records
I found my family–Burtis Webb–there. When I contacted her about my finding asking for more information she sent me a wonderful excerpt from the 1932 Dallas Morning News.
Diana Ware(The following article, written by W. S. Adair, was copied from the Dallas Morning News for Sunday, December 11, 1932. It appeared under the title “Early Days in Texas”)”We had the real thing of hard times in the South for several years after the war,” said J. W. Bryant, 1320 Grigsby Avenue. “The war left practically all the Southern states in the condition General Sherman boasted of having left the Shenandoah Valley — so forlorn of vegetation and animal life that a crow flying over it had to take its rations with it. The fence rails had all been burned at Federal campfires, the fields were grown up with sassafras bushes, farm animals and tools and implements had been destroyed, neither garden nor field seeds were to be had, and worst of all, there was nothing in the way of money but the worthless Confederate bills which flooded the land. That was the condition of things in our neighborhood in Georgia, and our locality was a fair sample of what the people was up against in every other part of the once almost fairyland of Dixie. Still the people somehow managed to live, but they gradually gave it up, and as each head of a family abandoned hope, he gathered up what few belongings he had, and set out for Texas, where he was assured there was at least plenty to eat. We stuck it out until 1872, in December of that year my father, W. H. Bryant, and some of our neighbors met, canvassed the situation and decided that they could not make matters worse by any sort of move. A few weeks later a party made up of our family and the families of Daniel Nichols, Ben Nichols, Sam Bundrick, Burtis Webb, Henry Stembridge and William Chapman, assembled at the railroad station, went through a tearful parting from relatives and life-long friends and boarded an emigrant car for New Orleans. Emigrant cars, built especially for hauling the poor people of the South to Texas, were equipped with all the inconveniences of the day, and always so crowded as to aggravate to the limit their numerous other horrifying drawbacks. Each family brought along in a basket, food for the journey, and they ate and slept on the hard plank seats of the cars, which, you may well believe, were not in the best sanitary condition after a few days out. At New Orleans we transferred to the steamer Economist, bound for Shreveport. The Red River had more sandbars than water in it and we were seventeen days rounding our way to our destination. At Shreveport our party separated, to go to friends or relatives, who had preceded them to Texas, and most of them I have never seen since. Our family, consisting of father and mother and six of us children, traveled by rail as far as Longview, then the end of the railroad. From there we went to the home of Joe Webb, an old schoolmate of father’s, in Wood County, near the present site of the town of Hawkins. In the oldest fields of East Texas the stumps had rotted and mingled with the soil, but there were still extensive tracts of woods in both Wood and Upshur Counties and plenty of game. Father, who was an old deer hunter, killed a deer every day while we remained with Mr. Webb. One day he killed two and brought them both to the house on his shoulders. We finally settled near old Starrville, sixteen miles northeast of Tyler. The International-Great Northern Railroad bad been completed to Tyler the year before and the Tyler Tap, a line from Tyler to Big Sandy, also was in operation. Tyler was a flourishing town of 5,000 or 6,000 population and even dreamed of becoming the jobbing center of all north and northeast Texas. Starrville, older than Tyler, had never had a population of more than a few hundred and was already going down in favor of Tyler. The site for Starrville had been donated by Joshua Starr, an early settler, who made the donation with the stipulation that if the place tolerated a saloon the land was to revert to him or his heirs. The result was that Starrville was the only town in the country where a man could not get a drink. When the Cotton Belt Railroad came along and built a station at Winona, four miles away, and got a post office, Starrville died a natural death. We were not long in discovering that we had not left all the hardships of life in Georgia. East Texas was reeking with malaria and it was quite the custom for everyone to throw a chill every other day. It is the peculiarity of their malady for the victim to think while he is wrestling with a chill that he cannot possibly survive it, and to feel the very next day that he never was in better case in his life. I never heard of anyone dying while doing a chill. On the contrary, that is the time when all of one’s energies are up, trying to throw off the poison, and life is at its height. But in time the people became largely immune against malaria, as they did against smallpox and yellow fever. The first year we were in Smith County father borrowed corn to go to mill with and paid it back in kind when his crop matured in the fall. Cotton was the chief crop in East Texas in those days, with a little corn, wheat and oats mostly for home use. The cattle, horses, and hogs looked out for themselves on the open range. The oak woods were full of wild hogs and almost every settler had a claim on them just as he had on the deer and bears and every man with the necessary energy had a full smokehouse. The canebrakes along the rivers and creeks afforded ample winter pasture for grazing animals. Before the public school system was established we had only private schools, and every teacher was his own textbook board and he taught all the grades himself and in one room. The advantage of this was that everyone in the room got to hear all the recitations and that bright pupils in the lower grades made the higher ones by anticipation. Going to school in those days was not what it seems to me to be now. It was a matter of amusement and entertainment and something of a fad and dress affair. The pupil was required to put in seven or eight hours at hard study. When he set out in the morning he dreaded what the day had in store for him as much as if he were going to pick cotton or chop wood, and that was why he looked so serious and why I still have in my mind’s eye such vivid portraits of my teachers at Starrville, Professor George Birdwell and Professor Gathwright. I moved to Hill County in 1892, lived there seven years and came to Dallas in 1899. I have been a member of the Dallas police force twenty-six years, with the rank of sergeant thirteen years.- – – – – – – – – – – End of quote – – – – – – – – – – -47

Lillie Ruby (descendant of Nichols family–yes, all those Nichols in Crawford are kin to me——at least all I know of.)
(Ben Nichols was the son of James Nichols. Daniel Nichols was the son of Vincent Nichols and a nephew of Ben Nichols)

a collection of photographs

the above photographs of Stembridge Mill were taken in July 2004 by Ms. Margaret Mounce, who is the Assistant to Property Manager at the Montacute House in South Somerset which is owned by the National Trust (which owns the Stembridge Mill as well!)

Photo from The Donald W. Muggeridge Collection of Mill Photographs Date of Photograph: 23/07/38

Stembridge Mill – the last remaining thatched windmill in England.

Dating from 1822 and in use until 1910, the mill is prominently situated overlooking the Somerset Levels.

Photo (left) Credit: National Trust Photographic Library/Andy Williams

Photo Right from here:

STEMBRIDGE TOWER MILL
High Ham(TA10 9DJ),Somerset
Tel:01458 250818

WINDMILL
This is Stembridge Mill at High Ham, Somerset, England. (Since I took this photograph, the sails have been painted black.)

Photo by Jeremy Palmer

Photo by Tony Howell

photo by Mark Berry

Postcard and drawing from Windmill World

Abstract of Will of John Stembridge of Lunenburg Co., VA Recorded: 18 Oct 1830

In the name of God amen, I John Stembridge of the county of Lunenburg & state of Va…

1st Just debts be paid…

Item My son James Stembridge my tract of land lying in the county of Mecklenburg which my son John Stembridge died seized of.

Item My son Baker Stembridge and my daughter America Slaughter to them & their heirs one negro woman named Ron [or Ren] with all her increase to be equally divided between them also I give unto them one dollar each.

Item I give unto my daughter Sally Stembridge & to her heirs forever my tract of land lying in the county of Hancock state of Georgia which my son John Stembridge died seized of.

Item It is my will and desire that all the rest of my estate both real & personal (not heretofore bequeathed) at my death to be equally divided between my following mentioned children To wit: Betty Townsand?, James Stembridge, Lucy Smith, Polly Roberts and William Stembridge.

Lastly I nominate & appoint my son James Stembridge Exec. to this my last will and testament.

Witnesses: [sig] John [his mark] Stembridge
John S Jeffers [or John L Jeffers?]
Lattney M. Gregory
Drury A. Harris

At a Court held for Mecklenburg County on the 19th day of July 1830 The foregoing last will and testament of John Stembridge decd was this day produced into Court & proved by the oaths of the subscribing witnesses thereto & Ordered to be recorded and at another court held for said county on the 18th day of October 1830 James Stembridge the Executor therein named appeared in court and refused to take upon himself the burden of the execution thereof and on motion of John S. Jeffries who made oath thereto and together with Thomas B. Puryear and John G. Baptist his securities entered to and acknowledge their bond in the penalty of $6000. conditioned according to Law certificate is
granted him for obtaining letter of administration with the will on record in due form. E. L. Tabb

I believe the above John Stembridge who died before his father was the John Stembridge who married in 1802 to Sally Graves. He appears to have lived in the same neighborhood in which our Graves families lived in Mecklenburg as did his brother James Stembridge. I believe that Sally Graves was a daughter of Thomas and Sarah Graves and that she was deceased without issue by the time her father’s will was made.

Does anyone have information on this family ?
Posted by Susan Crawforn on Ancestry.net
Date: 22 Jun 2003

– notes I’ve received from Stembridges all around the world…

From: Margaret Mounce
from Southern Wales
Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2004
David hi,

I took the pics, a couple of months ago, it’s a really pretty place.
Stembridge is a village in Somerset aboout 25 miles inland from the sea (ocean) honestly don’t know the history of the village but it is on what we call the’levels’. Theseup to the middle of the lastcentury (20th) would flood regularly from the seain the winter and become islands. The area is very flat with knolls (hills) dotted around

A lot are named ….something…followed by bridge, often the name of a river but I don’t think there is a river called Stem.
I don’t think the village was named after a person either.
I’ll try to find out more about the village and let you know.
Only know the airport at Atl. having friends in Tn.never been to Augusta but David
(my husband) and I play golf so see it on TV.
Take care.
Kind regards,
Margaret

From: Harvey Stembridge
from the Isle of Man
Date: Wed, 22 Sep 2004

Hi David.

Yep, that family is mine.
The site was hosted on a freeserver which disappeared one day along with the web site!! The family consists of the following

Ben Oliver (son) born in the Isle of Man 11/01/1987 (works in a lumber yard, lives at home) Holly Selena (daughter) born in the Isle of Man 7/6/1985 (works in a bank, lives at home) Belinda Suzanne (wife) nee Craine born in Birmingham (No not Alabama!!!)26/07/1958 works in Ship management
Simon Harvey (Me)born in Birmingham (also not Alabama) 10/03/1958 works
as a bit of shark buys/sells.

My Mum is Syvia Margaret Noble and was born in the Island 5/6/1932 My Dad is no longer with us and was Stuart Harold Roger Stembridge born Edgbaston (birmingham)26/04/1906
His Father was Harold Harvey He was a Stockbroker
His Father was George Edward and he was editor of the Sheffield dailyTelegraph His father was (I have this all written down somewhere but I cant lay my hands on it)

Anyways

My family originates from Bridport Dorset, which seeing as You are in Georgia I`m guessing so does yours, and that we are long distant cousins. So far as I can tell there were the three brothers who went to Virginia and there was 1 who stayed put and moved from Bridport up country to Sheffield in Yorkshire and that was my Fathers Great Grandfather.

If I remember or find where I put the info I will let you have the
missing guy who is the brother who stayed in the UK.

Hope this helps you.

All the best from the cold,wet, Isle of Man

Regards.

Harvey Stembridge

From:

Thomas Stembridge
from Plymouth, England
Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2004

Hi David,

My name is Thomas Stembridge, from a Stembridge family living in plymouth, england and I thought i’d send you a mail.

Yourpage is fantastic andoffers some great infoof thehistory of the name. My dad, Peter Stembridge, is from salford manchester and his father was called Evan Stembridge. My mother was born in scotland and i have two brothers called Martyn and Mark.

Mark has recently become a father and added the latest addition, William Stembridge.

I hope this bit of info is helpful to you in any way and i hope to hear from you soon,

Thomas.

Land Deed Genealogy…page 112.
“Page 449:  3rd December 1796,  Osborn Brewer of Hancock County to John Stembridge of same place for the sum of thirty pounds sterling for a tract of land in Hancock County containing one hundred acres lying on the waters of Log Dam Creek of the Oconee River adjoining Matthew Hawkins’ line and Roberson’s pine corner and by Hinson and Roberson’s.  Signed by Ozburn Brewer.  Wit:  R. Greene, Tully Choice and John Smith.  Rawleigh Green, witness” Hancock Co., Ga.  Deed Book B (1794-1798)

Page 259. “Page 207:  5th June 1801.  Andrew Borland of Hancock County to William Stembrige of same place for the sum of one hundred dollars for a tract of land in Hancock County on the waters of Buffalo Creek, containing eighty seven and a half acres, being a part of a tract of two hundred eighty seven and a half acres granted to said Andrew Borland on 16th November 1791. Wit:  Leo Abercrombie and Jno. Wm. Devereauz, J. P.  Reg:  15th 1801.” Hancock County Deed Book E (1798-1802)

Page 168. “Pages 321-322:  28th February 1798,  Jesse Warrren of Hancock County, Georgia to John Stenbridge of same place for sum of four hundred dollars for a tract of land in Hancock County, GA on Log Dam Creek and joining Harthorn’s line and Mattlock’s Land.  Containing 189 1/2 acres.  Wit:  Rawleigh Green, Martha Grteene and Jeremiah Warren.  REg:  25th April 1800”.  Hancock Co. Deed Book C (1798-1800)

from:Mary Ann Willoughby

From:Roger W. Stembridge, Jr.. June 14, 1999

Stembridge road was also engineered by my father,
Roger W. Stembridge, Sr. Daddy was a West Point Graduate, fought in W.W.I and W.W.II. He engineered the road about the start of W.W.II so I am told. Daddy was the resident Engineer at old Milledgevile State Hospital until his death, September 28, 1960. His wife, Mildred Cox Stembridge lived until May 4, 1995. For the longest Stembridge Road was called the Lower Sandersville Road, and in the 1970’s it was changed to
Stembridge Road to honor my father.

From: David Stembridge
February 2, 1999When my Dad moved back to georgia, and bought a house down in Hancock Co., He began finding links to our past. One of the many net finds is Stembridge Rd, in Baldwin Co. This was once a driveway to the Stembridge Farm. The farm property is still owned by cousin Roger Stembridge, the house burned burn within the last 10 years or so. My dad’s paternal Grandmother (my Great-Grandmother), Clara I’Della Stembridge is buried on the farm. She has a stained glass window dedicated to her at the Milledgeville United Methodist Church. Stembridge Rd. is about 7 1/2 miles long, a number of people live on the Road.

Monday 2/2/99
from: David Stembridge

In East Hancock Co., there is a town that has declined in population through the years. There once were several Hotels, 3 Doctors, a Cotton Mill, and many other businesses. Devereaux still has an active church community, and lively farming community. My Father, Roger Stembridge is an active member of Devereaux United Methodist Church. I attended there in late January with my son Dylan. Even with the declining population, this is still a community of God!

Devereaux, Ga (former town square)

Old Cotton Mill

Old Abandoned business in the town center area

Gas Pump overgrown with weeds

One of the many older unique-styled abandoned homes in Devereaux