Memoirs of my Devon Ancestors

Chapter 3 in the "Your Stories Matter" series

Profile and Photo by AI:
🌿 Harriett Allery (1817–1888)

Personality:
Harriett likely had a quiet strength born of necessity. Marrying at 17 and raising a family through the turbulent mid-19th century suggests she was resilient, dutiful, and grounded. Having lived in both Dartmouth and Cornworthy, she may have developed a blend of town-and-country sensibilities—practical, resourceful, and possibly protective of her family’s modest stability.

Daily Routine:

• Dawn: Rise early to tend the hearth and prepare a basic breakfast—often bread, porridge, or leftover stew.

• Morning: Laundry by hand (a major task), mending clothes, tending to the garden or hens, and perhaps sending her children off to chores or school if available.

• Afternoon: Preparing dinner, fetching water, and possibly assisting Samuel in seasonal tasks like apple picking or hay drying.

• Evening: Candlelit time spent knitting, darning socks, or sharing news with neighbors or family.

• Sunday: Reserved for church—Anglican services at St. Saviour's in Dartmouth.

I imagined a visit with my 2nd great-grandaunt Harriet Allery in her modest cottage in Totnes in the 1870s, a widow reflecting on a life of rural devotion. I was curious!

1. What was it like to marry at seventeen—were you frightened, excited, or both?

2. How did you manage a household with so little and still raise three children?

3. When you go to the Totnes market, what do you look forward to most?

4. Do you remember a moment in your life when you felt truly proud?

5. What remedies or cures did your mother teach you that still serve your family?

6. How did you feel when the railway came through—hopeful, or wary of change?

7. If you could choose one hymn to be sung at your funeral, which would it be?

8. What do you miss most about the way things were when you were a child?

9. Has your faith ever been tested? If so, how did you find your way back?

10. What do you hope your children remember most about you?

Chapter 1: A Story of Young Marriage

How Harriett became a wife at seventeen and made a life from uncertainty. Harriett married Samuel Goodman in 1834 at St. Saviour’s Church in Dartmouth, Devon.

What was it like to marry at seventeen—were you frightened, excited, or both?

Quote: “I didn’t know much, only that my mother said it was a good match. I was scared, but Samuel was kind.”

I was just seventeen when I stood at the altar of St. Saviour’s Church in Dartmouth, hands trembling and heart pounding. Samuel Goodman, more than twice my age, waited beside me—not a stranger, but not someone I yet understood. Marrying young wasn’t rare then, but still, I hadn’t expected it would come so soon. One week I was playing clapping games with my little sisters, and the next, I was being told how to boil a hen and keep house.

My life in the village of Allaleigh in Cornworthy, was a simple one!

My days began before the cock crowed—lighting the fire, boiling oats, washing Samuel’s shirts with lye that stung my hands. I carried water in tin pails and learned how to keep a stew going all day. Samuel didn’t speak much—his quiet made me nervous at first—but over time, I came to see his kindness. He’d leave wildflowers by the door after market, or place his hand gently on my shoulder when I was stirring the pot. There were moments I missed being a child—especially in the hush of winter evenings, when the wind pressed at the windows and the work was all done. But I found I could carry this life.

I learned to stretch a shilling, soothe a fever with elderflower and vinegar, and trade hens with a firm hand and a friendly word. Love, I discovered, wasn’t always loud. Sometimes it was a bowl of soup left out when your husband came home late from the fields, or the warmth of his boots, waiting near the fire because you’d placed them there without being asked.

Reflection Prompt:

Dear Reader: What do you think it felt like to marry young in a world shaped by duty and survival? Do you know stories of early marriage or quiet partnerships in your own family history?

Notes on Location: from Perplexity

Cornworthy is a small village in the picturesque and well-wooded valley near the confluence of the Harbourn River with the estuary of the River Dart, SSE of Totnes. Its parish contains 554 inhabitants and 2575 acres of land, including the small hamlets of Allaleigh, East Cornworthy, Tideford, and part of Tuckenhay, where there are quays on the River Harbourn and paper and corn mills in the adjoining parish of Ashprington. The surface is rather hilly, and the soil is generally light and fertile, resting on slate and dunstone and, in some places, on limestone. The land is mostly in tillage but has a fair portion of pasturage and a number of extensive orchards, producing excellent cider.

Significant Homes: Allaleigh House.

Allaleigh House, as the principal dwelling of the hamlet, has roots stretching back to mediaeval times, with a succession of ownership among notable Devon families. Its history is intertwined with the broader story of Allaleigh—a settlement that transitioned from a mediaeval manor and village with industry to a rural hamlet by the 19th century.

Allaleigh - a name that has morphed into Hawley - was home to a locally notorious/famous Dartmouth man, John Hawley. The hamlet, however, retained its name and is still the hamlet of Allaleigh.

Privateer and Pirate:

John Hawley is depicted with his two wives on a huge brass memorial to him in St. Saviour Church close to the quay in Dartmouth.
Hawley was one of the richest and most successful privateers of his era, operating out of Dartmouth. Licenced by the crown to attack enemy ships during the Hundred Years’ War, he often blurred the line between privateering and outright piracy, seizing foreign vessels and their cargoes for profit.