Transcript

of

John Creed. [Obituary]

Harpley, W. Trans. Devon. Assoc. 11 (1879). p. 54..

Prepared by Michael Steer

A history of the Creed family is presented in Chapter IV of Houses and Families, The Abbotskerswell Village History Series 2,: The Creeds were the most influential family in Abbotskerswell throughout the entire 19th century. Their story begins in Kingskerswell with Abraham, a landowner, who lived there in the mid-18th century. His son William, was born there in 1762 and in 1799 married Elizabeth Steer in Bovey Tracey. It was at this time that he acquired a property in the village, since their first child, Martha, was born in the parish in 1800. She was followed in the next 14 years by William, Elizabeth, Mary, Susannah, Thomas, John and Elizabeth; all born in Abbotskerswell. In 1809 within a five day period Martha, Elizabeth and Susanna all died; it is likely from one of the childhood illnesses, for example, scarlet fever or measles. In 1831, the Whiddon estate owned by the Codners came up for sale. Its purchase allowed William to become a landowner of substance since Whiddon House was the major house of the village and the only one mentioned on the Donn Map of Devon houses in 1765. Following William’s death in 1846, John (1812-1878) continued to live at Whiddon with his mother and sister Mary, whose brief marriage to George Wills only lasted 3 years. His death in 1841 was followed shortly afterwards by that of their only son, George. John was a Gentleman land holder’ who spent his life working within the village.The article, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

John Creed was born at Abbotskerswell on the 1st of September, 1812. He was for many years an active member of the Newton Abbot Board of Guardians, whose meetings he regularly attended. He was also for some time Chairman of the Newton Abbot Highway Board. He joined the Association in 1866. He died at his residence at Whiddon, after a long illness, Dec. 28th, 1878, and was buried at Abbotskerswell.