“For years, I tried finding where he disappeared to, and did he have family?”

~ Wilfred Gayleard

So what has this all brought me to so far. After many years of off again and on again research I come to a workable theory. So here’s the pitch, all the people with the correct spelling of Gayleard between 1800 and 1885 living in the Portsmouth, Hampshire area are related, with a couple of small exceptions. There were a couple of people that moved into the area as it was a naval base to work and then quickly left. I did find a couple of instances but those people could be traced to have been from a different part of England and then moved away not long after being in Portsmouth. So let’s look at the connections.

William Gayleard, saddler, marries Elizabeth Ashford in 1803 and has several children:

1. Elizabeth, 1804 to 1810
2. William 1805
3. George 1807
4. Elizabeth 1811 to 1812
5. Sarah 1815
6. possibly Thomas 1821
7. and Henry 1825?
8. possibly Charlotte 1817 to 1832

So first off William Gayleard, painter, married to Mahala and then to Harriet Hallett and has a daughter Clara Jessie Gayleard. The age is about right, as ages recorded in census and other records tend to be off by several years William tends to have his age and year of birth roughly from 1804 to 1806. So this looks very correct and all census records say he is born in Hampshire. The only records I could not find was a marriage records stating who his father was as this would remove all doubt. I haven’t found a marriage certificate for him and Mahala and by 1841 they were living together and neither can I find one with Harriet. And so far other people researching this family line believe they did not marry at all. So left to fill in the blank. As he lists he is born in Hampshire and there is a William born at this time frame it must be him.

Next up is George Gayleard, mariner, born 1807, and married to Ann Pearce. This in the one record I have been searching for the longest, the marriage between George and Ann. I believe they most likely got married in the early 1840’s as they start having children in 1846 with Mary Ann Sarah Elizabeth and George Henry John in 1848, and then my great grandfather born in 1857. Like William all of George’s records state that he is born in Hampshire and is the right age to be William and Elizabeth’s second son. Also frustrating is not finding the marriage record of George and Ann as that also would establish the right connection. There is one other odd piece of information to make a connection. In a letter written around 1927 from Mary Ann to William Henry “over quite choked when you or rather Nellie that the baby name was Sarah for one as it took her back at once to her father favorite and only sister she said I bet my brother chose that name for her so she is all excitement now”. It is an interesting clue as William and Elizabeth have 3 daughters but only 1 that survives to adulthood, and her name is Sarah.

This would fit, William and Elizabeth have at least 3 children, William, George and Sarah. Not much is known about Sarah, she marries and not much else is knows. I have believed that Sarah marries someone named Pearce as a Sarah Pearce is present when William passes away and also is living with Elizabeth in the 1861 census. It could be a coincidence and a friend of the family, but age matches up decently.

The next one was the hardest and it took me awhile to put together and that is of Henry Gayleard, mariner 1825 to 1867 and has 1 daughter named Sarah Elizabeth. Henry is also recorded as being from Portsmouth but the only records I could find were his naval record and a couple of records from Crew Lists. He doesn’t marry as far as I know, and I have not found a baptismal record for him either. It is also difficult because he doesn’t show up either in the 1841, 1851 or 1861 census records because he was in the navy or out to sea at the time. However in his navy record it lists him as living on Crown street. William Gayleard is listed as living on Crown street in 1840 at the time of his burial.

The connection is harder to make for his parents…however following the same idea that people spelling the name Gayleard and from the Portsmouth area are all related somehow I began to make some connections. Both George and Henry are not only mariners but also served in the navy at some point in their lives. George names his sons George Henry John, and 2 others William Henry. Henry appears twice so could George be giving his sons the name of one of his brothers? William is also the name of George’s brother, father and father in law. Sarah is also George’s sister and Elizabeth the name of his mom, so Mary Ann Sarah Elizabeth fits in. But not only this, Henry’s daughter is named Sarah Elizabeth and she names her first son, William Henry. He dies very young, but there seems to be a connection. William John Gayleard, 1879 names his first child Sarah after his grandfather’s only sister. And then names his second son Henry. Is there a connection that possibly William John also named Henry after his grandfather’s favorite brother? Possible, but there is one more interesting clue.

“…William Dunnet came over to Canada working for the Hudson’s Bay Company back in around 1800. He married a native woman had many children…”

~ Wilfred Gayleard

Here is a picture taken quite a while ago, the interesting part is that both my family and another family have the same copy of the photo. The difference being that my family was told that this is William John Gayleard as a baby in 1879 and the other of the granddaughter of Sarah Elizabeth Gayleard born in 1900. The biggest thing that struck me was that we both had copies of the same photo yet way back when you didn’t see a lot of multiple copies of the same photo. So there had to be a connection to the families and at first I thought they had to be friends. However, it makes more sense once you put together that George and Henry are brothers and that William Henry and Sarah Elizabeth are cousins. Mary Ann and Sarah Elizabeth would have been born a year apart. Sarah Elizabeth’s mother dies in 1855 when she is 10 years old and Henry dies in 1865 when she is 20. Was George’s family there to help out? George himself dies in 1867 when William Henry was only 10. Yet, Ann and William Barnes are witnesses to Sarah Elizabeth’s 3rd marriage in 1876. So there must have been a strong enough bond to exchange a photo in either 1879 or 1900 and for those families to keep them. So at this point I believe that George and Henry were both brothers and were close as both families were both in the navy and in the merchant navy.

To put this all together, it would look something like this.

William Gayleard, saddler marries Elizabeth Ashford in 1803.

They have several children, Elizabeth, 1804 to 1810, William 1805 to 1871, George 1807 t0 1867, Elizabeth 1811 to 1812, Sarah 1815 to ?, Henry 1825 to 1865, and possibly Thomas 1821-1821.

William Gayleard born 1805 to 1871, marries Mahala, she passes away 1859, and he moves in with Harriet Hallett/Peachy. They have one daughter named Clara Jessie Gayleard born in 1862. Clara Jessie marries Thomas Henry Hills and they have several children in live in Surrey.

George Gayleard born 1807 to 1867, marries Ann Pearce and they have 5 children, Mary Ann Sarah Elizabeth, 1846, George Henry John, 1848 to 1908, William Henry 1850 to 1850, Robert Bath 1854 to 1854 and then my great grandfather 1857 to 1930.

Henry Gayleard never marries, he is actually a sailmaker in the navy and ends up taking at least one very long voyage to Tahiti. However he does have 1 daughter named Sarah Elizabeth Gayleard with Amelia Savers. Sarah has 3 children that I can find, George Holmes, 1867 with her first husband, Agnes Rosina Brown, 1870 with her second husband and John Charles Shaw Haines 1878 with her last husband.

The Next Step

Some time in during 2020-2021 a few of my relatives got interested in genealogy or at least curious to how far I have gotten. So I took it once again. On my mother’s side a cousin of hers has done a huge amount of work, so I haven’t spent a lot of time on that. On my father’s side my grandmother I have had a lot of information for awhile now being that William Dunnet came over to Canada working for the Hudson’s Bay Company back in around 1800. He married a native woman had many children, lived in what would become the province of Manitoba. The name of course changed spelling to Dennet, Denith and eventually to Dennett.

However it was the Gayleard records and infomation I was always missing and looking for. The biggest is when did George Gayleard marry Ann Pearce and where is the marriage certificate or parish record? Also until this last year what happened to their oldest son, George. I know what that my great grandfather had letters and pictures from Mary Ann (Aunt Polly) but what happened to the oldest son? I knew he was also a mariner and it wasn’t until this year when I stumbled upon the records from New Zealand. For years, I tried finding where he disappeared to, and did he have family. Well now at least I know. But the hunt is still on for George and Ann’s marriage certificate…I think eventually I will find something. And hopefully it will have their father’s names on it so I know for certain who they are related to.

I am still searching though, at this point I am looking into the other branches. I haven’t really gotten far, I know Clara Jessie is married and has family but I haven’t really searched further. Sarah Elizabeth has 3 children, the last John Haines marries and has a family that moves to Canada. The first George Holmes dies on a fishing boat when he was young, however I just found out he married and had a daughter. Sarah Elizabeth’s daughter, Agnes Rosina Brown I have found very little so far as I have just started researching. The only evidence so far is her birth and that she is in the 1871 census with both her parents.

And then there is the slow process of digging through church records of baptisms, marriages and burials. It is a slow process looking through each page hoping to see a name spelled similar to Gayleard. But it did turn up Thomas Gaylard buried 1821 of Oyster street and the burial of Robert Bath Gayleard in 1854. So hopefully one day soon I will find the marriage of George and Ann and the baptism of Henry Gayleard. And then perhaps the search for earlier records of William Gayleard and Elizabeth Ashford.

Who knows, hopefully you have enjoyed this so far.

Continue Reading: 7. Those Missing Gayleards