Hi,
I'm trying to trace the genealogical roots of a Bazillio/Basilio Gilardone who was a jeweller and possibly a barometer maker in Exeter, Devon, UK in the early 1800s. He would have been born in approx 1783 and married around about/just before 1810. We know what happened to him after his marriage and he sadly died quite young, but have been unable to find out, so far, where he came from, who his parents were or how he came to be in Exeter.
From his name, we assume he may have been Italian and, having gone through the records of several of the Exeter parishes, there don't seem to have been any other previous generations of Gilardone's based in the area. An archivist has said there were several Italian's known to have gone to work in Exeter around that time, so he could have arrived with them. But we'd love to know for sure about his origins.
If anyone can shed any light or has researched other Gilardone's, I'd love to hear from you.
Many thanks,
Rachel
Gilardone
Re: Gilardone
HI Rachel- Bazilio was my ancestor also-
I researched it years ago but can't see the family tree I had been sent by another distant relative off here- I think his son Joseph was married at St Germains in Cornwall. I'm going there in April and to Exeter where Bazilio is buried to have a look. I haven't found out the name origins either
his daughter Mabel? married John Lavers Pope who worked with him?- I forget now
My father was Colin Burrows whose mother was Margery I think born Pope.
I found this somewhere
styles previously in vogue. The instrument was often as much a status symbol as a means of predicting the weather, and many of the barometers made in the last century are works of art in their own right. To possess one of these scientific instruments in a uniquely beautiful case would stamp a man as having good taste - an attribute much prized in those days.
A retired farmer from Ashreigny in Devon recalls that on his twelfth birthday he went to see his grandfather, who lived a few miles away. The old man had a barometer that was his pride and joy. It bore the name "Gilardone. Exeter", had been made in about 1852, and had hung on the wall of the farmhouse ever since. The twelve-year-old had long regarded the barometer with wonder and envy, and he could hardly believe his ears when his grandfather told him it was to be his. Now that he had reached a sensible age, and would soon be a man, he should take charge of the precious instrument.
Wondering how his grandfather could make such a sacrifice, the boy set out for home, carrying his present. He could not take the short cut across the fields by which he had come, because the old man had told him sternly that he must keep the barometer perfectly upright all the time. By the time he reached home he was drenched with sweat, his legs were aching from his four-mile tramp, and his arms were absolutely dead.
After due consideration, the barometer was hung in the hall, where it remained until, in 1993, it went away for cleaning. It had served three generations over the first century of its existence, and will serve more in the second.
The demand for barometers by ordinary people all over the country was such that in about 1860 the firm of Louis Casella in London produced an agricultural, gardener's or cottage barometer. This was a simple, straight stick type instrument that could be hung in a garden shed as well as in the home. It was made of solid mahogany and cost twelve shillings and sixpence (62 ½ pence in modern coinage) and it became very popular. Other makers followed suit.
The sea-coast barometers were being made by Negretti and Zambra to Admiral Fitzroy's design, as well as his marine barometer ....
Thanks Jane 07360127267
I researched it years ago but can't see the family tree I had been sent by another distant relative off here- I think his son Joseph was married at St Germains in Cornwall. I'm going there in April and to Exeter where Bazilio is buried to have a look. I haven't found out the name origins either
his daughter Mabel? married John Lavers Pope who worked with him?- I forget now
My father was Colin Burrows whose mother was Margery I think born Pope.
I found this somewhere
styles previously in vogue. The instrument was often as much a status symbol as a means of predicting the weather, and many of the barometers made in the last century are works of art in their own right. To possess one of these scientific instruments in a uniquely beautiful case would stamp a man as having good taste - an attribute much prized in those days.
A retired farmer from Ashreigny in Devon recalls that on his twelfth birthday he went to see his grandfather, who lived a few miles away. The old man had a barometer that was his pride and joy. It bore the name "Gilardone. Exeter", had been made in about 1852, and had hung on the wall of the farmhouse ever since. The twelve-year-old had long regarded the barometer with wonder and envy, and he could hardly believe his ears when his grandfather told him it was to be his. Now that he had reached a sensible age, and would soon be a man, he should take charge of the precious instrument.
Wondering how his grandfather could make such a sacrifice, the boy set out for home, carrying his present. He could not take the short cut across the fields by which he had come, because the old man had told him sternly that he must keep the barometer perfectly upright all the time. By the time he reached home he was drenched with sweat, his legs were aching from his four-mile tramp, and his arms were absolutely dead.
After due consideration, the barometer was hung in the hall, where it remained until, in 1993, it went away for cleaning. It had served three generations over the first century of its existence, and will serve more in the second.
The demand for barometers by ordinary people all over the country was such that in about 1860 the firm of Louis Casella in London produced an agricultural, gardener's or cottage barometer. This was a simple, straight stick type instrument that could be hung in a garden shed as well as in the home. It was made of solid mahogany and cost twelve shillings and sixpence (62 ½ pence in modern coinage) and it became very popular. Other makers followed suit.
The sea-coast barometers were being made by Negretti and Zambra to Admiral Fitzroy's design, as well as his marine barometer ....
Thanks Jane 07360127267
