Joseph SNARY (my 4xgt grandfather) and his 1st wife Ann MORRIS
Joseph's 2nd wife - Hannah Price
Very soon after Joseph's first wife Ann's death, on 29 September 1805, Joseph married Hannah Price in Winterbourne, Gloucestershire. Joseph's second wife Hannah died in 1835 and was buried at St P&J on 30 october. She was aged 72 when she died, so would have been born in about 1763, and aged ~42 when she married Joseph.
But clearly Joseph was not a man to enjoy living alone ...
... Joseph soon married his third wife, Sarah Davies, on 1 May 1836 at St Philip and Jacob. Sarah outlived Joseph, and died in Bristol in 1860, aged 83 years. (source Death Certificate)
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Joseph's 3rd wife - Sarah Davies
Although I have still not located very much information about any of Joseph and Ann's children to date, the Inquest report on their son Michael shown on the right is interesting - particularly as the cause of his death (like that of his father) was Asthma ... a condition that seems to have passed down the family, even to current generations!
Inquest report published in the Bristol Mercury on 10 Sep 1842
Obituaries for Joseph Snary produced a surprise ... for some reason, I had not imagined him as a local preacher and was puzzled that he could be a Methodist AND have his children christened at his local Anglican church. But I have now learned that when John Wesley founded the Methodist movement he insisted that his followers continued to attend their existing parish churches.
JOSEPH SNARY lived until the age of 81 and was buried on 19 May 1845 at Bristol St Paul's. He was described as a Butcher of Narrow Plain, and the cause of death was asthma - the death was reported (not by his third wife Sarah) by a Catherine Beauvoir, also of Narrow Plain, 'in attendance'. (source: Death Certificate)
But my additional research in Bristol provided much more information about the SNARYs ...
The first obituary was published in the Bristol Mercury on 17 May 1845 (British Newspapers on Find My Past):
the photo left shows the pulpit in St Philip & Jacob where John Wesley is said to have preached.
The second provided even more information - this was published in The Wesleyan Methodist Magazine, Fourth Series, vol 1, part II, July 1845, p1024 (John Mason, Wesleyan conference Office, London, 1845) – accessed on Hathi Trust.org https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/100783797
Yet another surprising fact about Joseph SNARY came to light when I discovered a letter written by him to the Grand Secretary of the Jerusalem Lodge of Freemasons in August 1804 - as far as I am aware Joseph is the first Freemason I have come across amongst any branches of the family! You can view a larger version of both sides of this letter, along with my transcription if you CLICK HERE
*Many of the baptism and marriage records for this period were initially located on Family Search. Others were sourced on Find My Past's Bristol collection (which also uses Family Search's IGI along with their own transcriptions). In 2019, when researching my final project for the Advanced Family History Skills & Strategies course, I visited Bristol Archives to view the original parish registers to double check all entries shown on this website, and to transcribe all earlier SNARY entries that I was able to locate. Ancestry have also added all the Bristol parish registers (with images), so they are now searchable.
Mastel Family History
Mastel Family History
Joseph Snary was christened in Bristol on 30 April 1765 - the youngest of five known children of Michaell SNARY and Hester (Sergeant) who had married on 3 Oct 1748 at Bristol St Philip and Jacob. Remarkably, Joseph lived until the age of 81 and appeared in the 1841 census, confirming that he was a butcher in Narrow Plain.
Joseph's first marriage was to Ann MORRIS - at St Philip & Jacob on 17 Aug 1783, after Banns. The Register shows that they were 'both of this parish' and though Joseph signed, Ann marked. The witnesses were William Bowne and Ann Byam. I have located a christening for an Ann MORRIS on 11 nov 1765 at St Philip and Jacob - this shows her to be the eldest of five children of Richard MORRIS (no mother is named for the two earliest christenings, but later christenings name the mother as Ann) But I cannot locate a marriage for Richard and an Ann (I will keep searching).
Joseph and Ann are known to have had nine children - six of whom died in childhood:
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Michael SNARY, chr 26 Dec 1785 (St P&J); he died of smallpox and was buried 21 sep 1787 (St P&J)
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Michael SNARY, chr 17 aug 1788 (St P&J) - after being apprenticed in 1802 to John Davis a tinplate worker, Michael became a 'tinman' and went to work in London, where he married Ellen Barry in 1836 in Marylebone and they had a daughter Elizabeth born in about 1839 in Middlesex. But Michael was taken ill in London in 1842 and the family returned to Bristol where Michael died on 5th Sep - see Inquest Report below. His widow Ellen returned to London where she died in 1865 and was buried at St Pancras on 18 May 1865.
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Ann SNARY, chr at St P&J on 16 jan 1791 - Ann died at the age of 5 years of a cold, and was buried at St P&J on 12 jun 1796
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Joseph SNARY, chr at St P&J on 2 Jun 1793 - he died of smallpox and was buried on 27 Feb 1795 at St P&J
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Joseph SNARY, chr at St P&J on 23 Aug 1795 - he died of fits and was buried on 25 oct 1795 at St P&J, aged 10 weeks
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John SNARY, chr at St P&J 2 Oct 1796. John married Louisa Warren on 5 Nov 1838 at Bristol St James and the couple are known to have had at least three children. John is shown as a labourer and the family were living in Ann's Place in 1841 and 1851 census.
see note below regarding the next three children
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Hester Price SNARY, chr at St P&J on 10 mar 1799 - Hester died of small pox at the age of 19 months and was buried at St P&J on 23 nov 1800
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Isaac SNARY, chr at St P&J on 9 Aug 1801 and married to Harriot EVERSON in 1819 - see previous generation for more about this couple
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James Price SNARY, chr at St P&J on 24 Jun 1804, James died of 'decline' at the age of six months and was buried at St P&J on 6 dec 1804
Joseph's first wife, Ann (Morris), died at the age of 40years of consumption and was buried at St P&J on 26 jun 1805. Of their nine children, just three survived to adulthood:
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Michael, chr in 1788
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John, chr 1796
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Isaac, chr 1801
Note: Initially, before I had located Ann's death, I had wondered if Joseph's first wife, Ann, had died before the births of the last three children and that they might have been children of Joseph and Hannah (Price) see below - but after viewing the parish register entries at Bristol Archives, it is clear that ALL the above children were born to his first wife Ann (every entry states that they were the children of Joseph and Ann, butcher, of Narrow Plain); and I have also located Ann's burial in 1805. So I still need to establish why two of the later children hold the middle name PRICE.
SNARYs in the 1841 census:
living at Narrow Plain, St P&J, Bristol -
Joseph SNARY, 75, butcher, born Gloucs
Sarah SNARY, 65, born Gloucs
Joseph's eldest surviving son Michael was living in London - in Crown court Westminster:
Michael SNEARY, 50, tinman journeyman
Ellen SNEARY, 35, b. Ireland
Elizth SNEARY, 2, b. Middx
Joseph's middle son John was living in Ann's Place, St P&J:
John SNARY, 38, lab, b. Gloucs
Louisa SNARY, 30, b. Gloucs
Elizabeth SNARY, 2, b. Gloucs
Joseph's youngest son Isaac was living in Narrow Wine St:
Isaac SNARY, 35, brazier, born Gloucs
Harriet SNARY, 40, born Gloucs
Isaac SNARY, 10, born Gloucs
John JOHNS, 15, brazier's appr, born Gloucs
And Joseph's grandson (son of Isaac), Joseph, was living in Riddles Court:
Joseph SNARY, 25, tinman, b. Gloucs
Eliza SNARY, 25, born Gloucs
Mary SNARY, 3, b. Gloucs
Isaac SNARY, 4m, born Gloucs
NOTE: All baptism, marriage and burial entries shown on this page have now been confirmed against the St Philip & Jacob parish registers at Bristol Archives.
SNARYs in the 1851 census:
living in an Alms House in Old Market St, St Philip and Jacob:
Sarah SNARY, 73, widow, born Gloucs
Joseph and Ann's son John and his wife Louisa were living at 2 Ann's Place, St P&J (all born Bristol):
John SNARY, head, 50, laboure
Louisa SNARY, wife, 40, laundress
Elizabeth N SNARY, dau, 18, servant
Charles SNARY, son, 9, scholar
(see previous generation for details of Isaac and Harriet and their children)