An amateur genealogist from Texas is appealing for help tracing her ancestors who lived in Sutton Benger and Draycot Cerne.

Ria Cabral (nee Humphries) and her husband Michael visited Wiltshire in 2000, spending time in Sutton Benger and going to All Saints Church where her family are buried. They also visited the local family history and records office.

She has managed to piece together some information about her family, helped by Sutton Benger historian Kay Taylor and Tim Couzens, an expert on the Draycot Estate, where her great-grandfather Robert Humphries worked, but she is hoping other people might help her find the remaining pieces of the puzzle.

Robert Humphries was born in 1891 in Draycot Cerne and joined the Hackney division of the Metropolitan Police as a constable in May 1910, retiring as a sergeant in May 1935.

Mrs Cabral, who moved to the US in 2006, has character references written in 1910 by the Draycot rector, the Rev Richard Neville.

Mrs Cabral said: “Tim Couzens told me that my family worked at Mount Pleasant, a smallholding that they farmed on behalf of the vicar of Draycot Cerne. It is therefore no surprise that it was the vicar, Richard Neville, who gave my great-grandfather a reference to join the police, one of the two he received. The second reference is from the Rev RSA Westlake, rector of Sutton Benger.”

Robert died in April 1953 and his ashes were scattered alongside those of his father, Tom Humphries, and his grandparents, Henry John and Mary Ann Humphries, in Sutton Benger cemetery.

Robert was one of three sons. His brothers were Richard and Leonard Humphries. Leonard, who lived in a house opposite Sutton Benger church, died in the Battle of Boulogne in 1919 and is buried at the Terlincthun British Cemetery. His name is on the war memorial stone in the churchyard.

Mrs Cabral’s great-great-grandfather, Tom Humphries, was born around 1860. He was a butcher who married Bessie Chappell. They were gamekeepers on the Draycot Estate for a number of years. Tom died in Chippenham in 1917 but Bessie continued to live at Bell Hatch for a while after the war.

Other family names include a William Humphries and George Edward Humphries, who died in 1852 at just a year old.

Mrs Cabral would also be interested in information about local stonemason W Webb & Sons who were working in the area in 1935.

Mrs Cabral said: “Sutton Benger is just a small place but it is of significant interest to my family and has a special place in my heart.

“Genealogy has been in interest of mine for a number of years. When I was small my grandmother used to lay out pictures of relatives on the table in the shape of a tree so I could understand how they related to each other.

“Knowing my family’s origins gives me a better sense of belonging in the world.”

If anyone can help, Mrs Cabral can be contacted at 2113 Dorman Drive, New Braunfels, Texas USA 78130 or by email at riaandmike@gmail.com