[Weller History home page] [Weller family tree]
It is a little, home-made book about 5 inches by 3 1/2, used by Elizabeth, my 2-greats-grandmother, mainly to record the comings and goings of her family, but it proved to be of great importance in tracing our family. It begins 'Rt went to Mr. Lovegroves August 15 1834' and continues in this rather cryptic style. Later she records that 'Mother died Feb 27 1835 ', this would be her mother, Mrs. Shackell. The first of real importance to us was 'Mrs. Weller died at Penn May 21 1845'. We deduced that this was her mother-in-law and went to Penn to look for the grave. We were very lucky to find it because most of the headstones had been removed and this one went quite soon. It bore the inscription;
‘TO THE MEMORY OF THOMAS WELLER OF THIS PARISH WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE JUNE 20th. 1823, aged 62 years. ALSO CHARLOTTE HIS WIFE WHO DIED MAY 21st. 1845 in the 80th. year of her age.’
Also recorded were their daughters Mary Treacher and Elizabeth Prindible.
When we found in the Amersham register of marriages 'Thomas Weller, butcher, of Amersham, married Charlotte Morris of Penn, at Penn, April 4th. 1786' we were sure they were the same.
Elizabeth's last entry was 'Stephen came to Wycombe Oct 19th 1847', then her husband wrote 'Elizabeth Weller my beloved wife died Dec. 13th. 1847 buried on the 17th. same month.'
We have not been able to find her grave, probably it was in the churchyard at High Wycombe where most of the stones have been removed. The next diary entry, in Stephen's writing, is 'Edward Weller died at Turnham Green August 7th. 1850 Aged 60 years. Buried at Amersham August 13th. 1850'. So I went to Amersham and found the little group of Weller graves by the North wall of the Church, surrounded by a low fence. Edward' stone is a horizontal one and I had to scrape the moss off the surface before I could read the inscription, which was ‘EDWARD WELLER SON OF JOHN AND KATHERINE DIED 7th. August 1850 aged 59, also CAROLINE HIS WIFE DIED 13th. November 1874 age 81’. Stephen (who was the eldest son of Thomas and Charlotte) added details of the births and baptisms of his children and the marriages of two of them, and the book ends with the following entry - writer unknown - 'Elizabeth Jane Weller married James Dover 28th. Sep. 1876 - died 13 Dec. 1908.'
Elizabeth Jane, a daughter of Stephen and Elizabeth, was 60 when she married, 92 when she died. Her epitaph, in High Wycombe Cemetery, is -'With length of days will I satisfy her.' Sadly, James died in 1885 after only nine years of marriage.
[Weller History home page] [Weller family tree]