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Davidson Family Home Page
(Family names: Derrick, Graham, Barrs, Lucy, Fry)
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My last name "Derrick" is
an uncommon one in Canada. It is much more common in southwest England, where
my grandfather was born. Mike Attfield , a Derrick descendent, has created
The DERRICK
Family Name Page. He has compiled descriptions and notes
for hundreds of Derrick families living from the 16th to the 19th
centuries. At the top of that page you will see the family crest:
"on a spear-head a savage's head couped and dripping blood".
You will also find information on some famous Derricks, including the most
famous of all:
Derrick the Hangman
Probably the most famous Derrick is Derrick the Hangman. He lived in London during the Elizabethan era, and has the honor of being mentioned in several plays and documents of that time. He was so proficient at building scaffolds that he gave his name to the structure, a term which has become adapted to the derrick of our time, such as in oil drilling. From Mike Attfield in The DERRICK Family Name Page, see link above.
We wrote this Java Applet to give an idea of how quickly the number of descendants can grow. Generation one is the first person (the spouse is not counted). Enter the average number of children born to him or her and to each descendent, and the number of generations. Then click on "Calculate" to find the population of the latest generation.
Ernest Thomas (1908)
My father, Ernest Thomas Derrick, was born in Dead Creek, New Brunswick,
Canada on October 13, 1908. His mother Sarah Ann Barrs was born in Wolverhampton,
England. His father Thomas Derrick was born July 31, 1876 at 2 Waters Court
in Clifton, a subdistrict of Bristol, England.
Thomas (1876)
Thomas was just a boy when his father died. As an orphan he was sent to work
as a farm labourer in New Brunswick, Canada. He arrived in 1890 at the age
of 14. A few years later he made his way back to England. He found his mother
living in Bath, Somerset. She had remarried and had two young daughters.
One of the daughters described the homecoming to me: "He was dressed
in white and wore a white stetson. He looked very handsome. When mother saw
him she fainted out cold."
Thomas went to school in Bath and in 1903 he married Sarah Ann Barrs, a young lady who worked in the laundry with his mother. His love of fishing and the rural New Brunswick way of life drew him back to Canada with his wife and baby daughter in 1906. The remoteness of the place and the deep snow caused Sarah to exclaim, "Oh, Tom! Where have you brought me?" but she lived out her life there, raising four children. She often sang Rolling Home to Dear Old England to them as a lullaby.
William Thomas (1835)
The parents of Thomas Derrick were William Thomas Derrick, a coal porter,
and Catherine Lucy, originally from County Cork, Ireland. His father, William,
as baptized on January 24, 1835 in Clifton, Bristol, England. On September
2, 1856 he married Sarah Ann Willcox. They had at least five children: William,
James, Emily, Edwin, and Sarah.
After his wife, Sarah, died, William married Catherine Lucy. They had six children: Thomas, Richard, Ernest, James, Edmund, and George. These boys were still children when William died. All except George, were sent, one or two at a time, to foster homes in New Brunswick, Canada, to work as farm labourers.
Daughter Sarah (1870) also emigrated to Canada when she was a young woman. She took with her the orphaned children of her sister, Emily. They settled in western Canada, travelling across the country by train and stopping to visit her brothers in New Brunswick as she passed through.
Thomas (c. 1811)
This Thomas was born in St. Philips, Bristol. He became a shipwright and,
with his wife, Ann, of Hotwells, he raised three sons: William(1835), John(1842),
and Samuel(1845). They lived on Hotwell Road, and later, at 5 Waters Court,
Clifton. Ann worked as a laundress. (Two other children: Charlotte (1835)
and John (1838) were baptized and died in infancy.) Thomas died in the 1860s.
Thomas (c. 1775)
The earliest information we have about this Thomas is the record of his marriage
to Anna Fry in 1800. The wedding took place in the town of Winscombe, which
is about seventeen miles southwest of Bristol. Witness to the marriage was
George Derrick, a baker. Besides George, who stayed in Winscombe, married
Ann Hawkins, and had four children baptized there, we have no other records
of Derricks in Winscombe.
Thomas and Anna had a child, Eliza, baptized in Winscombe in 1802. Anna (1808), Elizabeth (1810), and William (1813), were baptized in St. Philip and Jacob, to Thomas and Anna. The occupation of Thomas was listed as baker. Another child, Selia (1819), was baptized in Winscombe.
William (1813) became a baker like his father. He and his wife, Ellen,
kept a General Shop on Hotwell Road, and raised a large family.
This is a first attempt at a chart to summarize the information we have on our Derrick relatives in the 1800s.
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