My great grandmother was Margaret Joyce Bray (known as Joyce)
She was born on 4th December 1904 in Camborne, the daughter of Richard James Bray and Bessie (née
Wills).
JOYCE'S ANCESTRY THROUGH HER MOTHER'S SIDE
1. John Rowett was born in 1795, in St. Austell. He married Harriet (surname unknown),
who was from Jersey and had at least ten children, the 6th being my great x4 grandmother Eliza Rowett. John had died by the
1851 census as Harriet was listed as a widow, aged 56, living with her 5 youngest children. She was still alive on the 1881
census, in Tywardreath, aged 84.
2. Eliza Rowett was born in 1832, in Fowey, although she and her family lived in
Tywardreath on the 1841 and 51 censuses. She married William Pearce Wills (b. 1822) and had a son, William Henry Wills, on
20th August 1856 in Tywardreath. He was my great x3 grandfather (Joyce's grandfather).
3. William Henry Wills was baptised on 20th August 1856 in Tywardreath. He was Joyce's
grandfather (my great x3 grandfather). He married Elizabeth and can be seen on the 1891 census with their children - including
Bessie Bray, who was Joyce's mother. William died in 1893, when he was young. The 1901 census shows Elizabeth as a widow,
aged 46, with some of her children.
4. Bessie Wills was born in Camborne in 1877. She was 15 on the 1891 census, living
with her parents. She married Richard James Bray in 1896 and had the following children :
1. William James (Jim) Bray (b. 1898, d. in the 1980s)
2. Richard J. Bray (b. 1900, d. in infancy?)
3. Margaret Joyce Bray (1904-1974), aged 69.
4. Seth Bray (b. c1906-killed in WW2, off coast of Singapore)
5. Bessie Sylvia Bray (1908-2001), aged 92.
6. Romilly Bray (killed aged 21 in a motorbike accident).
*of all these children, only Joyce had any children of her own, Trevor and John Cory. She married
Wearne Dunstan Cory on 29th June 1929. Seth had married a divorcée, but was killed at war soon after. His widow was apparently
disowned by the Bray family. They had no children.
Both Uncle Jim and Aunty Sylvia were unmarried.
My grandpa remembered both his grandparents, Richard & Bessie. However, Richard apparently was
sent to a home when he was old, and he was never mentioned in family discussions. Nore is he buried in the Bray family grave
in Camborne. Grandpa remembers Bessie dying during his last year at Truro school, when he was 18, that would have been about
1951.
5. Margaret Joyce Bray was born on 4th December 1904, in Camborne. She married Wearne
Dunstan Cory on 29th June 1929 in Whitchurch, Devon (have no idea why they married here, I think Wearne may have had a cricket tournament
on at the same time !?) They had two sons :
1. Trevor Wearne Cory (1931-2001), aged 70.
2. John Romilly Cory (1932-2002), aged 69.
Joyce suffered from lung cancer towards the end of her life, and died on 24th May 1974, when she
was 69. Wearne outlived her by thirteen years, dying on 26th June 1987. Both are buried in Camborne.
6. John Romilly Cory was born on 11th November 1932 in Camborne. He went to Egypt
for his National Service in the early 1950s, and married Marlene Bennett Pellow at Tuckingmill on 10th November 1956, when
he was 23 (a day short of his 24th) and she was 21.
They also had two sons :
1. Nicholas John Cory (b. 1958)
2. Timothy Ian Cory (b. 1960)
John passed away on 1st October 2002, aged 69. He is buried in Warwick.
7. Timothy Ian Cory was born on 30th May 1960, in Redruth. He and his family moved
up to London in 1974/5, and he married Angela Mary Bates on 26th October 1985, in Harrow.
They had three children :
1. Thomas James Cory (b. 1988)
2. Anna Florence Cory (b. 1990)
3. Helena Ruth Cory (b. 1993)
8. Thomas James Cory (myself) was born on 15th March 1988, in Edgware hospital.
Lived in Oxhey, Hertfordshire.
