Avening Gravestone

Sacred to the memory of
Daniel Harvey, Yeoman
of this parish
who died February 7, 1849
Aged 61 years

While searching for Peter LeChevalier's (died 1806) grave, I found this one, very well preserved. I took a picture of it because I knew that Peter LeChevalier's daughter Anne (b. 1773) had married a Harvey. (She married David Harvey, not Daniel.)

I recently revived my interest in this gravestone. So I did some research on FamilySearch.org to try to find Daniel's parents, spouse, and children. I found a Daniel Harvey, christened 28 Sep 1788 in Avening with only his mother Hester Harvey listed. His baptism and endowment was done through the Extraction program, but he was not sealed to his parents because in that particular record, only his mother was listed.

But I did find that Daniel Harvey's death in 1849 was registered and so today I sent for his death certificate from England.

More About Avening

Avening--pronounced "Av-ning" "Av" has a long A sound.

Peter LeChevalier (the father) bought a mill here in 1766 and owned it until he sold it in 1800.

"Of the three mills recorded in Avening village on the Avening stream, the highest, Avening Mill, (fn. 50 was a cloth-mill. In 1655...Richard's [Remington] son Samuel sold the mill in 1766 to Edmund Clutterbuck for Peter Le Chevalier, an alien. Le Chevalier, who was granted letters of denization in 1770, carried on a baking and malting business at the mill, apparently converting it to a corn-mill. He sold it in 1800 to John Blackwell of Nailsworth, clothier, who reconverted it for fulling and conveyed it to William Overbury of Tetbury, wool-stapler in 1807...In 1972 the four-storey early 19th century buildings were unoccupied." --"Avening: Economic History', A History of the County of Gloucester: Volume 11: Bisley and Longtree Hundreds (1976), pp. 160-62. URL: http://222.british-history.ac.uk/report. Date accessed: 08 Jan 2006 by Eileen Cox




I have found three of his children's christening records here, Jane ( in 1768), Thomas (in 1771), and Anne (in 1773), but I can't find Peter (about 1779) and Francis (about 1764).

Avening Burials

Peter LeChevalier (father of Peter LeChevalier 1783-1809) died in Avening, Gloucestershire, England in 1806. I thought we could find his grave by the church in Avening, but the cemetery was overgrown in most parts and we couldn't find his grave.

Little Washbourne Burials Tip

After we explored the church at Little Washbourne, I wandered around in the rain looking for burial stones, ie cemetery, that seemed to always be right close to the church. I found none. A few minutes later in talking with the owner of the Manor House there, I learned that there were no burials there because the water table was only down 4 feet.

So our ancestor, Peter LeChevalier, who died in Dec. 1809 was not buried in Little Washbourne where he had been renting a farm for the previous six months.