CHURCH OF THE HOLY CROSS, AVENING, GLOUCESTERSHIRE
When Carol, Diane, and I were over in England, we felt drawn to Avening and fell in love with this tiny English village. We walked around the churchyard trying to find the grave of Peter LeChevalier (abt 1742-1806) but were unable to find his grave. We walked up the road on the left side of this photo passing under the east window. We probably walked right over Peter's buried and forgotten grave! We explored the graves around the church. What a mess! Long grass, uneven hillside, illegible graves--and no money and workers to clean it up.
Earlier this summer, I found that the Holy Cross Church of Avening (the proper name for the church we found) has a website! So I emailed the archivist, Fred Vening, and asked where Peter was buried. Fred emailed back and said that they were unable to find the map of the churchyard! After some searching, he located the map. But the map was out-of-date. So he changed his plans for his summer project and spent the summer updating the map of the churchyard.
He also spent some time researching Peter LeChevalier in a library. In one of the sources, he found a description of where Peter was buried!
"He was buried in Avening Churchyard near the East window on the left of the pathway." (Lionel Fletcher, "History of Avening", unpublished)
FRED VENING is on the Left and GEORGE BUCHANAN is on the right.
So Fred and George Buchanan, a Church Warden (who Eileen, Carol, and Diane had met and talked with) got out there measuring tools and shovels and went to work. As you can see in the photos, the grave had gotten buried over the years.
STEPHANIE HAMILTON, a Church Warden, and FRED VENING transcribing the grave marker
PETER LECHEVALIER's GRAVE MARKER
I struggled for a week trying to read the digital image of the grave marker and got about 50% read. Then I received a letter through snail-mail that gave me the complete transcription.
WHAT A FIND!!!!!
"This memorial is inscribed to Peter Le Chevalier of this Parish and also to Ann his wife.Peter Le Chevalier was born in the Parish of St. Ouen-de-Perrieres near Caen in Normany on 3rd July 1724. He came to England in October 1749, married Ann Gibbs 12 March 1761. She died 30 April 1790 Aged 56. He died 6 June 1806 aged 82. Like wise [inscribed] to Catherine Mathews their daughter who departed this life January 20th 1796 aged 29."
We now know the following that we didn't know before:
1-Peter's birth date and place in FRANCE!!! We had only estimates of his birth for 1742. He was actually born in 1724!
2-Peter's emigration from France to England in 1749. (He was 25 years old)
3-Proof that Catherine Lechevalier who married Thomas Mathews in Avening was Peter and Ann's daughter!!
Our next step is to find Peter's birth record. The FHL in SLC does not have these records. We need to write to the departmental office in FRANCE! According to my Internet searches, the Parish of St. Ouen-de-Perriers is in the Calvados Department in the Basse-Normandie region of France.
A BIG Thank-you to Fred Vening in Avening, Gloucestershire, England for going to all this work...because I asked.
