Mountjoy was baptized at Drybrook in October 1824, and my Samuel Horobin was baptized in the same register volume, a few years and a few dozen pages apart in the same book.

My uncle quoted him in 1980 without, I think, knowing anything about him. Interesting!

One thought your post set off. I see from the Victoria County History that Mountjoy formed the East Dean Economic Benefit Society at the Baptist chapel in 1854, and that it promoted temperance, and that several Forest friendly societies met at chapels rather than public houses. That sits far more comfortably with my Samuel than a Masonic lodge does — he married at Parkend, and his children were baptized and both his wives buried at Coleford Congregational. A chapel benefit society badge would make sense of the star and the plain ribbon.

Do you know whether the records of those Forest societies survive anywhere, or what their regalia looked like?

Published in 1887 by A Chilver. Length 109 pages. Full Title The Life, Labours, and Deliverances of a Forest of Dean Collier,
Born the 11th Day of September, 1824, on Little Dean Hill, in the Hundred of St. Breveals, in the County of Gloucester, with Many Things He Witnessed as He Journeyed Through Life:

Year: 1824
Month: Oct
Day: 3
Parents_Surname: MOUNTJOY
Child_Forenames: Timothy
Fathers_Forenames: Joseph
Mothers_Forenames: Ann
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Little Dean Hill
Occupation: Lime Burner
Officiating_Minister: H. Berkin
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P109 IN 1/1
Page_Number: 52
Parish_Chapel: Drybrook

1841 Dean Woodside
Rosanna Mountjoy Female 55 1786 Gloucestershire, England
Timothy Mountjoy Male 15 1826 Gloucestershire, England
Amelia Mountjoy Female 9 1832 Gloucestershire, England

1851
Woodside

Timothy Mountjoy Head Married Male 26 1825 Coal miner Gloucestershire, England
Caroline Mountjoy Wife Married Female 25 1826 - Cambridge, Gloucestershire, England

1861 Bilson Green Widower

1871 St John Cinderford
Timothy Mountjoy Head - Male 48 1823 Coal miner Little Dean Hill, Gloucestershire, England
Sarah Mountjoy Wife - Female 47 1824 - Cropthorn, Worcestershire, England

1881 Cinderford
Timothy Mountjoy Head Married Male 56 1825 Beer seller Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England
Sarah Mountjoy Wife Married Female 56 1825 - Cropthorne, Worcestershire, England

1891 Claremont Villa, 2, Commercial Street, Cinderford
Timothy Mountjoy Head Married Male 66 1825 Retired miners agent Gloucestershire, England
Sarah Mountjoy Wife Married Female 66 1825 - Cropthorne, Worcestershire, England

Year: 1896
Month: Nov
Day: 29
Surname: MOUNTJOY
Forenames: Timothy
Residence: Cinderford
Age_at_death: 72
Officiating_Minister: William Barker Vicar
Event: Burial
Cause_of_death:
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P109 IN 1/13
Page_No: 104
Parish_Chapel: Drybrook

Year: 1868
Month: Aug
Day: 1
Grooms_Surname: MOUNTJOY
Grooms_Forenames: Thomas
Grooms_Age: 24
Groom_Condition: Bachelor
Grooms_Occupation: Miner
Grooms_Residence: Claverands Green Clearwell
Grooms_Fathers_Surname: Mountjoy
Grooms_Fathers_Forenames: Thomas
Grooms_Fathers_Occupation: Miner
Brides_Surname: HILL
Brides_Forenames: Annie
Brides_Age: 23
Brides_Condition: Spinster
Brides_Occupation: Servant
Brides_Residence: Clements Tump
Brides_Fathers_Surname: Hill
Brides_Fathers_Forenames: James
Brides_Fathers_Occupation: Collier
Licence_or_Banns: Banns
Date_of_Banns:
Signature_or_Mark: Both sign
Witness_1: Mark of William Hore
Witness_2: Miriam Hore
Other_Witnesses:
Officiating_Minister: Basil A. Galland
Event: Marriage
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P57 IN 1/8
Page_Number: 61
Parish_Chapel: Bream

Year: 1883
Month: Oct
Day: 18
Parents_Surname: MOUNTJOY
Child_Forenames: Arthur
Fathers_Forenames: Thomas
Mothers_Forenames: Annie
Mothers_Surname:
Residence: Sling
Occupation: Miner
Officiating_Minister: H L Perry Vicar
Event: Baptism
Memoranda:
Notes:
Register_Reference: P88 IN 1/2
Page_Number: 83
Parish_Chapel: Clearwell

1901 Clearwell Meand
Thomas Mountjoy Head Married Male 56 1845 Coal miner West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Annie Mountjoy Wife Married Female 56 1845 - West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Harry Mountjoy Son Single Male 19 1882 Coal miner West Dean, Gloucestershire, England
Arthur Mountjoy Son Single Male 17 1884 Coal miner West Dean, Gloucestershire, England

I suspect in 1910 1920 1930 and possibly 1940 he is in Sharon Ward 4, Mercer, Pennsylvania, United States
He appears to marry in 1911 in Lawrence, Pennsylvania, United States

The second part of your reply is interesting. The names you list — Mountjoy, Kear, Brain, Virgo, Gwilliam — are new to me as a group, and they change how I have been thinking about the emigration. I had been treating my family as individuals who happened to leave; a documented current of Forest families into Allegheny County for the mines and the iron is a different thing altogether.

Mountjoy particularly. My uncle, who compiled a family history in 1980, quoted Timothy Mountjoy on the hard times in the Forest — the passage about a great depression having visited them, the poor in a state of starvation, and many having left for other colonies. It had not occurred to me that Mountjoys were among those who went to the same corner of Pennsylvania my family did.

Is there a published account of that migration, or is it local knowledge? I would be very glad of a reference if one exists.

For what it is worth from this end: Samuel Horobin sailed from Bristol on the SS Devon, arriving New York on 12 April 1881, in a list carrying several other English colliers and a miner. His daughter Edith and her husband James Aston followed from Liverpool on the SS Wyoming in October 1882. Both ended up at Beadling, in Allegheny County.

Interesting that Allegheny took a lot of families from Wales and England, including the Forest, for their labour/ Iron/ Steel / Mining / Timber experiences - Mountjoy, Kear, Brain, Virgo Cinderey Gwilliam etc from the FoD.

https://drive.proton.me/urls/V3ZCZC4FKM#aSU4aeHCgiPF

One detail that may help: it isn't a sash worn across the body. It's a plain pale ribbon, about the width of the medal itself, hanging straight down from it on the left breast. No apron or collar is visible.

I've also asked the Museum of Freemasonry, and I'll post whatever they say here.

Good to have the Buffaloes ruled out; I hadn't known their regalia carried a buffalo. And thank you for the point about the pentagram and freemasonry — I had been leaning away from the family's Masonic attribution, so it is worth my testing properly rather than dismissing.

I have since found that the Royal Forest of Dean Lodge No. 1067 was warranted in May 1865 and consecrated in June 1866, meeting at the Town Hall in Coleford and at the Speech House — about a mile from where Samuel lived. It moved to Newnham-on-Severn from 1869, which would have been a long walk from Coalway Lane End. A search of the Grand Lodge membership registers returns three possible entries under Horobin and Harobin, though I cannot see the details without a subscription, so I have asked the Museum of Freemasonry whether any of them relate to a Gloucestershire lodge.

If they come back with an answer I will post it here, in case it is of use to anyone else.

Might I ask one thing: do you know whether the friendly societies in the Forest — the Oddfellows, the Foresters, or local benefit or burial clubs — used a five-pointed star in a circular badge? The one in the portrait hangs from a broad plain ribbon on the left breast, with no apron or collar.

With thanks,

Lottie Aston

there is a long association of the Pentagram - Pentacle when circled, with freemasonry. https://www.freemasonry.bcy.ca/anti-masonry/pentagram.html

Other groups like -The Buffaloes (RAOB) (a society that my FoD family were involved with) typically had a buffalo in their regalia.

regards

I'm researching my Forest ancestors from California, and I'd be grateful for local eyes on a family portrait.

The sitter is Samuel Horobin, baptized at Drybrook on 13 March 1831, son of Thomas Horrobin, collier, of Coalway Lane End. Samuel married Mary Ann Hale at Parkend on 29 May 1852; he was a collier and appears at Coalway Lane End in the 1851, 1861 and 1871 censuses. He emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1881.

The portrait is large — about 4½ by 5½ feet. His daughter Edith took it to America, and it is still in the family here.

He is shown standing in a studio interior, in a dark three-piece suit, wearing a badge on his left breast: a five-pointed star inside a circular medal, hanging from a broad plain ribbon. Our family notes call it Masonic, but I wonder whether it is more likely a friendly society or temperance order — Foresters, Oddfellows, Rechabites, Good Templars, or perhaps a local benefit or burial club.

Has anyone seen this badge in photographs of Forest men in regalia? I'm happy to email photographs and close-ups to anyone able to take a look, or to post them here if attachments are possible.

Many thanks,

Lottie Aston