Daniel Gumb’s Family Life: The Man Behind the Myths
TL;DR
Daniel Gumb’s personal life was marked by incredible tragedy – he lost his mother, two wives and a child within five devastating years. He had nine children in total, but only three are certain to have survived into adulthood.
While grieving, he also faced complex family dynamics when his elderly father remarried a much younger woman who ultimately inherited the family land.
Through it all Daniel showed remarkable resilience, channeling his energy into building an extraordinary life of intellectual freedom.
Childhood and Early Life
No Silver Spoon, Just Granite Dust
Daniel Gumb was born in Stoke Climsland in 1703. His father, Richard Gumb, was a ‘moorstone mason’ and also farmed land he’d inherited from his own father.
Family Tragedy: Daniel was the third son of Richard and Dorothy Gumb, but both of his older brothers had already died before he was born. Only Daniel and one of his two younger sisters survived into adulthood.
Access to Knowledge: Though from a rural 18th-century setting, Daniel’s background as the son of a mason who farmed land suggests he had reasonable means, which likely included access to books for self-education.
Family Joy and Heartbreak: Love and Loss on the Moor
Throughout his adult life Daniel experienced immense personal sorrow – his is a story of resilience in the face of devastating loss. Daniel was married three times and had nine children, but his first two wives sadly died in childbirth, and only three of his children are certain to have survived to adulthood.
Contrary to popular belief that Daniel rejected the Church, there are official baptism records in Linkinhorne for all of his children.
| Wife | Marriage | Death | Children |
| Joan LittleJohn | April 1730 | 1733, at or soon after childbirth | Daughter, Jane (survival uncertain) |
| Thomazin Roberts | March 1735 | March 1737, in childbirth | Son, Richard (survived to at least 1739, thought to have died by 1746) |
| Florence Brokenshere | February 1743 | 1778 | Seven children; only three are certain to have survived into adulthood (John, Richard, Mary) |
The Five-Year Tragedy: Between 1732 and 1737 Daniel suffered an unimaginable series of losses: his mother, two wives, and possibly his first baby daughter all died, and his father quickly remarried. This period of intense grief would have tested anyone’s spirit and it was six years before he remarried, yet during this time Daniel channeled his energy into building a remarkable life of intellectual pursuit.
See the key events in Daniel’s life in timeline format.
“Folklore often speaks of Daniel raising a large family in the cave, the truth is much sadder as only three of his nine children are certain to have survived into adulthood.”
The Family Dynamics: A Story of Survival and Scandal
While Daniel was experiencing these devastating personal losses, complex family dynamics were unfolding that would compound his struggles and shape his future choices.
A Marriage of Necessity: Just one year after Daniel’s mother died, his father Richard (aged 65) married Grace Pierce, a much younger woman. While the age gap seems shocking today, in 18th-century Cornwall such marriages were often practical arrangements. For a young woman with limited prospects, marriage to a propertied mason and farmer offered crucial security. For Richard, a new wife meant help managing the household.
An Unexpected Blended Family: This created a remarkably modern-sounding blended family. Daniel soon had a half-brother and sister who were younger than some of his own children! Even more strikingly, when Daniel’s second wife Thomazin died in childbirth in 1737, Grace took in the newborn baby Richard to raise alongside her own growing family – an act of compassion to a grieving Daniel as well as to the child.
The Inheritance Dilemma: When Daniel’s father Richard died in 1744 Grace was named as executor of his Will. Daniel was left 20 shillings (roughly equivalent to one small construction job), while Grace inherited all the family lands and tenements. The Will also gifted 5 shillings to Daniel’s only surviving sibling, Jane (who had married a John Pengelley), and 10 shillings to Daniel’s son Richard. It appears that Daniel contested his father’s Will, however the lack of a Will from Daniel leads us to believe that he was unsuccessful. While this seems like a raw deal for Daniel, Grace was a young widow with two small children and a step-grandson to support. In a society that offered women virtually no economic security, this inheritance was her only protection against destitution.
The Land is Lost: When Grace remarried the following year, the land that had been farmed by the Gumb family for at least two generations passed to her new husband. What appears as a family betrayal was likely a tragic collision of 18th century inheritance laws, women’s precarious position in society, and everyone simply trying to survive.