Rev. 24 Dec. 1996, Gen. 269

DESCENDANTS OF JAMES GRAVES OF COTTENHAM, CAMBRIDGESHIRE, ENGLAND

GENERATION 1

James Graves (1) was born in 1731 and died in 1804. He married ‑‑‑‑‑‑. Nothing is known of his wife and children other than the one son listed below. In 1789 he acquired a house, land and orchard from Thomas and Mary Salmon. By a Deed of Surrender dated 5 March 1803, he transferred 3 acres and 1 rood of arable land in the manor of Cottenham to his son Thomas Graves. He died a year later.

There may be a connection of this James Graves with William Graves and Mary Peck of Cottenham (gen. 648). There may also be a connection with James Graves of Haddenham, Cambridgeshire (gen. 139), since that place is only about 5 miles north of Cottenham.

A map of this area of Cambridgeshire is below. (R‑1)

Children - Graves

+2. Thomas Graves, b. 1781, m. ‑‑‑‑‑‑, d. 4 May 1859.

GENERATION 2

CHILDREN OF JAMES GRAVES (1)

Thomas Graves (2) was born in 1781 and died in 1859. He married ‑‑‑‑‑‑. After a modest inheritance from his father, Thomas benefited from the Enclosure of 1842 and was able on his death to leave almost 100 acres of land in Dunstal Field, Mitchell Hill, Holme and Undertakers fields between his 3 sons.

At the 1851 census, Thomas was a farmer, aged 70, widower, living at High Street, Cottenham, with Rebecca, Sarah, Rebecca’s son Jonathan, and one servant. He died 4 May 1859 and was buried in the Dissenters Cem., address at death Green End, Cottenham. The house itself was left to Stephen and Jacob, and was demolished, to be replaced by the two houses that stand today. (R‑1)

Children - Graves

+3. Rebecca Graves, b. 1807, never married, d. 1853.

+4. Stephen Graves, b. 1811, m. Elizabeth ‑‑‑‑‑‑, d. 1868.

+5. Jacob Graves, b. 1813, m. Mary Spackman, 10 June 1845, d. 1886.

+6. Isaac Graves, b. 1818, m. Elizabeth Collins, 1847, d. 1863.

7. Sarah Graves, b. 1822.

GENERATION 3

CHILDREN OF THOMAS GRAVES (2)

Rebecca Graves (3) was born in 1807 and died in 1853. She never married, and lived with her father all her life. She only had one child. (R‑1)

Children - Graves

8. Jonathan Graves, b. 1836.

Stephen Graves (4) was born in 1811 and died in 1868. He married Elizabeth ‑‑‑‑‑‑. They lived at High Street, Cottenham. (R‑1)

Children - Graves

9. Elizabeth Graves

10. Edmund Graves

11. Walter Graves

12. Agnes Graves

13. Hannah Graves

14. Frederick Graves

15. George Graves

Jacob Graves (5) was born in 1813 and died in 1886. He married Mary Spackman at the Ebenezer Chapel, Chesterton, on 10 June 1845. She was born in 1821 and died in 1899.

In 1851 he was a carpenter, living at High Street, Cottenham. In successive directories, he is described as carpenter, builder, and farmer. His will in 1878 records holdings in High Street, The Holme, Church and Dunstan fields, and 7 acres at Mitchell Hill. (R‑1)

Children - Graves

+16. Ann Graves, b. 1847, m. Fred Gautrey, d. 1893.

17. infant, d. 1855.

+18. Wright Graves, b. 1856, m. Kelza Chivers, 22 Nov. 1881, d. 1942.

+19. Mary Elizabeth Graves, b. 1861, m. Fred Gautrey, June 1902, d. 1944.

Isaac Graves (6) was born in 1818 and died in 1863. He married Elizabeth Collins in 1847. Father and all three children were wiped out by illness in 1863. Only the mother survived, alone for another thirty years. (R‑1)

Children - Graves

20. Ethel Jane Graves, b. 1859

21. Annie Graves, b. 1860.

22. William Graves, b. 1863.

GENERATION 4

CHILDREN OF JACOB GRAVES (5) AND MARY SPACKMAN

Ann Graves (16) was born in 1847 and died in 1893. She married Fred Gautrey. After Ann died, Fred married her sister, Mary Elizabeth, in June 1902. He died in 1923. (R‑1)

Children - Gautrey

23. Florence Kate Gautrey, b. 1885, m. Clifford Morgan. Their descendants still live in Fred’s old house.

24. Lizzie Beatrice Gautrey, b. 1888, d. 1906.

Wright Graves (18) was born in 1856 and died in 1942. He married Kelza Chivers on 22 Nov. 1881 at Chesterton Baptist Chapel, Histon. Kelza’s family were the Chivers of Histon, her father Thomas a County Councillor and Guardian of the Poor. Wright and Kelza lived at Histon at what is still called ‘Prime’s Corner’. Uncle Archie said: “Thomas was born there. After about 6 years Tom Ivatt shot himself after building Dunstal House, and Wright bought it. Percy and I were born there.”

Although Wright’s profession was a veterinary surgeon, he steadily amassed landholdings. By the time of the 1933 Kelly’s Directory he was one of the four principal landholders in Cottenham — the others being Horace Gautrey, Cambridge County Council, and Christ’s College.

Archie and Percy continued to farm in Cottenham. Their families still farm there. (R‑1)

Children - Graves

+25. Thomas Chivers Graves, b. 1883, m(1) Eveline Dorothy Lang, m(2) Kathleen Sykes, 1933, d. 1964.

26. Archibald (“Archie”) Graves, b. 1890, d. 1982.

+27. Percy Clifford Graves, b. 1896, m. ‑‑‑‑‑‑, d. 1965.

28. Hubert Graves, d. 1899 (in childhood).

Mary Elizabeth Graves (19) was born in 1861 and died in 1944. She married Fred Gautrey in June 1902. This probably explains the birth of a son to Fred in March 1902. Fred was a prosperous market gardener. He died in 1923. (R‑1)

Children - Gautrey

29. Reginald Stewart Gautrey, b. March 1902, d. April 1903.

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