During the mid 1840‘s, John and Hester’s second son, Thomas Clutterbuck (1822-1884), met and married Elizabeth Hobbs in Berkeley. The Hobbs family was a well respected family from Wickwar, with one of Elizabeth's uncles on her mother's side, Joseph Minett, the Mayor of Wickwar for a time in the 1840's. Forty years later, her brother, John George Hobbs, also held this position before becoming proprietor of the Railway Hotel in Wickwar.
About four years after their marriage, Thomas and Elizabeth were settled at a farm in Fretherne of 137 acres where they employed 4 farm labourers, a domestic servant and a nurse maid. Their third born son, Thomas Hobbs Clutterbuck (1850-1906), from whom the Valley Clutterbucks are descended, was born in 1850 in Berkeley, just before this move. During the next 10 years at Fretherne Farm, their family grew to 11 children, 3 who died as infants, and by 1861 they had added a cook, a gardener, a house maid, a general servant and two dairy maids to their employ, as well as the 4 farm labourers.