Emily Beckwith's Bible

Well it's not been a great year, but I have managed to complete six out of the seven remaining Units I need to complete my Diploma of Family History and I'm looking forward to having more time to spend on my blog. This post is from an assessment for one of the most recent Units "Place, Image, Object", part of which involved identification of inherited objects and placing them in context. I looked at the bible which originally belonged to my great-grandmother, Emily Beckwith.

Sentenced to Transportation - Twice!

[This is a corrected and slightly expanded version of an essay submitted for a Diploma of Family History Unit]

Richard Davey was baptized in Laughton, Sussex, on 25th July 1802, the second last child of James Davey and Sarah née French and brother of John Davey my 4xgreat-grandfather.^1,2 He grew up in a changing society. The “Inclosure Act 1773” facilitated the removal of “Common Right” making smallholders vulnerable and the country population dependent upon waged employment for subsistence.^3,4 The effects had been masked by high demand for men and supplies during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars but after 1815 a severe agricultural depression hit England with the southern counties suffering mass unemployment leading to the “Swing Riots” of 1830.^5,4,6 Tasmanian settler Samuel Guy wrote in 1823 that “I was losing my property” and “every thing I possessed would undoubtedly have been lost”.⁶

All Saints, Laughton⁷

Richard’s childhood was probably secure as his father was employed by Lord Chichester for thirty-two years.⁸ But by 1816 James required parish relief.⁹ Richard had no difficulty finding employment, however. By 1826 he had worked for at least thirteen different farmers.⁸ He needed the work having married Naomi Fowler on 26th April 1821, their first child being baptised on 2nd December.^10,11 He was possibly supporting his parents after they were “removed” from Lewes to Laughton on 25th June 1822.¹²

On 12th January 1826 Richard was tried for stealing beehives, one of them from Thomas Legg at Patcham. He was found guilty and sentenced to seven years’ transportation.^13,14 On 7th February he was received on the hulk Leviathan in Portsmouth harbour.¹⁵ Richard was fortunate that his father was well respected. On 26th July fourteen local farmers, including Thomas Legg, wrote a petition to have his sentence “mitigated”.⁸ It seems clemency was granted and Richard spent the next three years and seven months on the Leviathan, being declared free by servitude on 5th August 1830.¹⁵ During this time he would have performed hard labour in Portsmouth dockyards, but could also receive intimate visits from his wife and conceiving children.^16-18

Prison Hulk, Portsmouth²⁰

Richard was released during the height of the Swing Riots when agricultural work was in short supply. Naomi was living in Brighton and Richard presumably joined her there.^19,21 It appears Richard left Naomi in Brighton and became an itinerant labourer.¹³ On 23rd June 1834 the Assistant Overseer of Laughton Parish advertised a £2 reward for the apprehension of Richard, Naomi having become chargeable to Laughton Parish.¹³ She continued living in Brighton.²¹

On 26th September 1840 Richard “French”, George Arnold and Rachel Harris were arrested and charged with stealing a lamb at Mayfield in north Sussex.¹³ Richard later claimed that he was away from his wife harvesting.²² Why Richard was using his mother’s maiden name is unknown, perhaps to evade the Laughton Overseers, but the authorities soon recognised it as an alias. Probably realising there would be no clemency this time, he arranged to settle his property on Naomi and their children on 17th October.¹² On 19th October he was tried at Lewes, pleaded guilty and sentenced to transportation for life.^13,14

On 4th November 1840 Richard was transferred to the hulk York at Gosport and on 6th April 1841 to the Asia for transportation to Van Diemen’s Land.¹⁵ On 12th April Asia left Portsmouth, arriving at Hobart on 21st August.^23,24 During the voyage he was well behaved and served as a hospital attendant.²⁵ On arrival he was described as 5’4 ¼”, sandy haired and freckled. He had a ring on the middle finger of his left hand.²⁶ By this time the newly introduced Probation System was in operation with compulsory probation periods.^27-29 He was assigned to the Convict Station at Brown’s River for his three years of first stage probation.³⁰

The western side of the Derwent Estuary and D’Entrecasteaux Channel was first occupied by settlers evicted from Norfolk Island in 1808.^31,32 It was not until 1830-5 however that a track was driven through the bush to Hobart.³² Whaling, fishing and timber-getting were the early industries, with farms developing as the trees were cleared.³¹ Timber was extensively cut around North West Bay and Peppermint Bay, the latter being named for the predominant tree felled in the area.³³ By the late 1830s the settlers were pressing for access to convict labour with settler Daniel O’Connor drawing up plans for a station and offering to lease land to the government for it.^34,35 The plans were accepted but not the site, and in July 1841 a party of convicts was assigned to another site purchased on Bonnet Hill to build themselves a Probation Station.³⁴

Richard arrived at Brown’s River on 7th December 1841 and within three weeks he was in trouble, being absent from his hut on the night of the 27th. The punishment was an extra six months first stage probation. This must have shocked Richard because after this he was generally well behaved.²⁵ During probation he worked as a timber sawyer, possibly cutting the timber to rebuild the prisoner barracks which had burnt down in November 1841.^25,34

Brown’s River Station by Thomas Chapman³⁴

Richard finished his first stage probation on 26th February 1845 and on 19th March was employed by Robert Fox of Brown’s River. This was followed by work with George Miles at Peppermint Bay.²⁵ By 1846 there were only eighty-five convicts based at Brown’s River and a decision was made to close the station.^29,34 When Richard finished working for George Miles in February 1848, he returned to the Prisoner Barracks in Hobart.²⁵ With only one exception his employers remained settlers in Brown’s River and southwards, and his ticket of leave was issued for North West Bay starting 16th April 1850. He remained in Kingborough and Coningham parishes until granted a Conditional Pardon on 14th August 1855.²⁵ At this point he disappears from the public record until his death at the age of 80 in the New Town Pauper Establishment on 2nd March 1883.³⁶ With his timber cutting experience, he probably continued to work around North West Bay until age caught up with him.^25,35 We won’t know when that occurred as no records were kept for non-convict invalids until 1901.³⁷

Work locations for Richard French^25,35,38

Richard was thirty-nine when he arrived in Hobart and fifty-three when he was pardoned. Neither successful nor a criminal failure and leaving no descendants in Australia, he is probably typical of a large subset of unstudied convicts, working quietly through their sentences and then forming the backbone of Tasmania’s workforce until too old and frail to continue. By the 1870s, attitudes to elderly pauper invalids were starting to change and he may have been well looked after in his final years.³⁹

Sources

1. All Saints Church Parish Register, Laughton, Sussex, England, FHL microfilm 1067216 Item 3.
2. St Michael & All Angels Church Parish Register, South Malling, Sussex, England, East Sussex Record Office Ref: PAR 419/1/1/2.
3. The Parliament of Great Britain, 'Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain', 1773 c. 81 (Regnal. 13_Geo_3), Inclosure Act 1773.
4. Neeson, J. M., Commoners: Common Right, Enclosure and Social Change in England, 1700-1820, Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, 1993.
5. Hammond, J. I. and Hammond, Barbara, The Village Labourer 1760-1832, London, UK: Longmans, Green and Co., 1913.
6. Morgan, Sharon, Land Settlement in Early Tasmania : Creating an Antipodean England, Cambridge, England ; Melbourne : Cambridge University Press, 1992.
7. Law, Susan Hilary, photographed 13th July 2016.
8. MS Crime and the Criminal Justice System: Records from The U.K. National Archives: HO 17 Records created or inherited by the Home Office, Ministry of Home Security, and related bodies, Home Office: Criminal Petitions, Series I HO 17/92/138. The National Archives (Kew, United Kingdom).
9. The National Archives, 'Discovery', https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/, Accessed 29 March 2020.
10. All Saints Church Parish Register, Laughton, Sussex, England, FHL microfilm 1067216 Item 7.
11. All Saints Church Parish Register, Laughton, Sussex, England, FHL microfilm 1067216 Item 10.
12. The Keep, 'The Keep Collections', https://www.thekeep.info/collections/, Accessed 10 Apr 2020.
13. Sussex Advertiser.
14. 'England & Wales, Criminal Registers, 1791-1892', ancestry.com.au, Accessed 8 Mar 2020.
15. 'UK Prison Hulk Registers and Letter Books, 1802-1849' ancestry.com.au, Accessed 8th March 2020.
16. Digital Panopticon, 'Convict Hulks', https://www.digitalpanopticon.org/Convict_Hulks, Accessed 30th March 2020.
17. Blog Post 'Carceral Archipelago', https://staffblogs.le.ac.uk/carchipelago/2017/10/10/a-day-in-the-life-convicts-on-board-prison-hulks/, Accessed 31st March 2020.
18. Great Britain Parliament House of Commons, Reports from Committees, Reports from Committees, v. 7, 1831, https://books.google.com.au/books?id=6TJbAAAAQAAJ. Accessed 10th April 2020.
19. St Nicholas Church Parish Register, Brighton, Sussex, England, digitised FHL microfilm 1067108, FamilySearch.org, Accessed 10 Apr 2020.
20. Cooke Edward William, “Prison-ship in Portsmouth Harbour, convicts going aboard [picture],” 1829, http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-135934086.
21. St Nicholas Church Parish Register, Brighton, Sussex, England, digitised FHL microfilm 1067109, FamilySearch.org, Accessed 10 Apr 2020.
22. Indents of Male Convicts, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office.
23. Australian Convict Transportation Registers - Other Fleets & Ships, 1791-1868' ancestry.com.au, Accessed 26th December 2011.
24. Colonial Times.
25. Conduct Registers of Male Convicts arriving in the Period of the Probation System, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office.
26. Description Lists of Male Convicts, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office CON18/1/28 p49.
27. Libraries Tasmania, 'Convict Life', https://libraries.tas.gov.au/convict-portal/pages/convict-life.aspx, Accessed 1 February 2020.
28. Newman, Terry, Convict Systems: Assignment, Probation & Exile (extracts from an early draft of Becoming Tasmania), downloaded from 'Becoming Tasmania, Companion Web Site' http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/php/BecomingTasmania/BTMainPage.htm, Accessed 2 February 2020.
29. Brand, Ian, The Convict Probation System: Van Diemen's Land 1839-1854, Hobart, Blubber Head Press, 1990.
30. Appropriation Lists of Convicts, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office CON27/1/9 p10.
31. Hurst, William Nevin, A Short History of Land Settlement in Tasmania, H.H. Pimblett, Government Printer, 1938, https://trove.nla.gov.au/version/264710625.
32. Internet Archive Wayback Machine, 'Kingborough > Early Settlement', https://web.archive.org/web/20130325082629/http://www.kingborough.tas.gov.au/page.aspx?u=502#, Accessed 28th March 2020.
33. MacFie, Peter, 'Government Sawing Establishments of Van Diemen’s Land, 1817-1832', Australia's Ever-changing Forests V: Proceedings of the Fifth National Conference on Australian Forest History, Hobart, Tas, Feb 2002, Edited by John Dargavel, Denise Gaughwin and Brenda Libbis, 2002, p. 105-131.
34. Taroona Historical Group, Taroona 1808-1986: Farm Lands to a Garden Suburb, Taroona, Australia: Taroona Historical Group, 1988, https://taroona.tas.au/the-taroona-book/taroona-book-digitised/, Accessed 3rd April 2020.
35. Lands and Surveys Department, Tasmanian Archives and Heritage Office.
36. Registers of Deaths in Hobart, Launceston and Country Districts, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office.
37. Records of the New Town Charitable institution, TA888, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office.
38. Householders' Census Returns for Various Districts, Arranged by Parishes, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office.
39. Piper, Andrew Kenneth Shaw, ‘Beyond the Convict System: the Aged Poor and Institutionalisation in Colonial Tasmania’, unpublished PhD thesis, University of Tasmania, 2003.

The Muddled Trail of Mary Ann

According to the birth certificate of my great-grandmother, Emily Beckwith, the maiden name of my great-great-grandmother was Mary Ann Butler.¹ Emily was the second child of Zachariah and Mary Ann Beckwith, the oldest being Mary Ann Beckwith born 1865.²

The first muddle occurs in the maiden names given in the birth registrations of Zachariah and Mary Ann’s children. For Mary Ann, Emily, Alfred (1881) and Zachariah (1883) the mother’s name is given as Mary Ann Beckwith formerly Butler.³ Importantly, on the certificate of Martha Ann (1879) the mother’s name is given as Mary Ann Beckwith late Stevens formerly Butler.⁴ This indicates the existence of a previous marriage, supported by the list of names in Emily’s Bible, which includes Joseph Stevens (1868).⁵ Confusingly in the registrations of the last two children, Arthur (1886) and Elizabeth (1888), the mother’s name is given as Mary Ann Beckwith formerly Fletcher!⁶

End paper of Emily Beckwith’s Bible⁵

The next muddle is in the Beckwith-Stephens marriage certificate.⁷ The bride, who quite correctly gives her name as Mary Ann Stephens, is mistakenly listed as a spinster. Therefore, as far as the clerk is concerned, her father’s name must be James Stephens, mustn’t it? Thankfully the “James” is correct.

Mary Ann and Joseph both appear in the 1871 census with a younger child, George (~1870), with Mary Ann giving her marital status as “widow”.⁸

In the birth certificates of Joseph and George their parents are given as George Stephens/Stevens and Mary Ann Butler.⁹ George senior’s death had occurred on 22nd March 1871, just before the census.¹⁰ But when did Mary Ann marry George Stevens? Given that Mary Ann was born in 1847 and was twenty when she gave birth to Joseph one would expect it to be a year or so before Joseph’s birth.¹¹

It turns out that George Stevens married Mary Ann Butler (daughter of James Butler) on 27th July 1843, when Mary Ann was sixteen (though she gave her age as eighteen).¹² The witnesses were from George’s family. There were no children prior to Joseph in 1868 (shortly after the death of James Butler).¹³ Did James drag Mary Ann back to her childhood home? We’ll never know, but it is possible that George started working for James before James’ death as on Joseph’s birth certificate his father’s trade is given as chairmaker (which was James’ trade).¹⁴

You won’t find Mary Ann Butler or James Butler in the 1861 or 1851 censuses. The family appears under the surname “Fletcher”.¹⁵ Throughout this time the family still registered their children using the surname “Butler”.¹⁶ The reasons behind this are rather involved and will have to wait for another blog, but it seems that somehow the surname “Fletcher” caught up with Mary Ann again, later in her life.

St Leonard, Shoreditch photographed by John Salmon 27th September 2011

The final muddle in Mary Ann’s trail is a clerk’s error in her baptism entry. St Leonard Shoreditch was a busy, crowded parish in the nineteenth century. The clerks were entering multiple entries in multiple registers every day and made mistakes. When entering James Butler’s surname the clerk seems to have accidentally repeated his given name. Thus on 4th April 1847 Mary Ann daughter of James and Fanny Maria “James” was baptised having been born on 1st March.¹⁷ Apart from the surname this matches Mary Ann birth certificate details.

The documentary trail of my great-great-grandmother is muddled, but when pulled together all the parts fit neatly together like a jigsaw.

Sources

1. England, Bethnal Green Register Office, birth certificate for Emily Beckwith, born 10 Mar 1877; Bethnal Green registration district, Church sub-district
2. England and Wales, birth certificate for Mary Ann Beckwith, born 12 Mar 1875; citing 1c/267/450, Jun quarter 1875, Bethnal Green registration district, Church Bethnal Green sub-district; General Register Office, Southport
3. England and Wales, birth certificate, Mary Ann Beckwith, 12 Mar 1875, citing 1c/267/450, Jun quarter 1875, Bethnal Green registration district, Church Bethnal Green sub-district; England, Bethnal Green Register Office, birth certificate, Emily Beckwith, 10 Mar 1877; Bethnal Green registration district, Church sub-district; England and Wales, birth certificate for Alfred Beckwith, born 9 Sep 1881; citing 1c/261/144, Dec quarter 1881, Bethnal Green registration district, Church sub-district; General Register Office, Southport; England and Wales, birth certificate for Zachariah Beckwith, born 31 Oct 1883; citing 1c/258a/269, Dec quarter 1883, Bethnal Green registration district, Church sub-district; General Register Office, Southport
4. England and Wales, birth certificate for Martha Ann Beckwith, born 1 Jul 1879; citing 1c/288/393, Sep quarter 1879, Bethnal Green registration district, Town sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.
5. Emily Beckwith’s Bible - The Holy Bible (Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 1890)
6. England and Wales, birth certificate for Arthur Beckwith, born 17 Jan 1886; citing 1c/261/86, Mar quarter 1886, Bethnal Green registration district, Church sub-district; General Register Office, Southport; England and Wales, birth certificate for Elizabeth Beckwith, born 4 Mar 1888; citing 1c/264/213, Mar quarter 1888, Bethnal Green registration district, Church sub-district; General Register Office, Southport
7. England and Wales, marriage certificate for Zacharia Beckwith and Mary Ann Stephens, married 25 Dec 1875; citing 1c/839/177, Dec quarter 1873, Bethnal Green registration district; General Register Office, Southport
8. 1871 census of England, London, Bethnal Green, folio 96, page 39, Mary A Stevens; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 29 Apr 2006); citing PRO RG 10/491
9. England and Wales, birth certificate for Joseph Charles Stephens, born 9 Jan 1868; citing 1c/267/270, Mar quarter 1868, Bethnal Green registration district, Green sub-district; General Register Office, Southport; England and Wales, birth certificate for George Stevens, born 23 Mar 1870; citing 1c/279/102, Jun quarter 1870, Bethnal Green registration district, Church sub-district; General Register Office, Southport
10. England and Wales, death certificate for George Stevens, died 22 Mar 1871; citing 1c/249/30, Mar quarter 1871, Bethnal Green registration district, Church, Bethnal Green sub-district; General Register Office, Southport
11. England and Wales, birth certificate for Mary Ann Butler, born 1 Mar 1847; citing II/564/233, Jun quarter 1847, Whitechapel registration district, Spitalfields sub-district; General Register Office, Southport
12. England and Wales, marriage certificate for George Stevens and Mary Ann Butler, married 27 Jul 1863; citing 1c/596/369, Sep quarter 1863, Bethnal Green registration district; General Register Office, Southport.
13. England and Wales, death certificate for James Butler, died 26 Oct 1867; citing 1c/225/288, Dec quarter 1867, Bethnal Green registration district, Town sub-district; General Register Office, Southport
14. England and Wales, birth certificate, Joseph Charles Stephens, 9 Jan 1868, citing 1c/267/270, Mar quarter 1868, Bethnal Green registration district, Green sub-district
15. 1861 census of England, Middlesex, Bethnal Green, folio 70, page 42, James Fletcher; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 8 Aug 2006); citing PRO RG 9/262; 1851 census of England, Middlesex, Bethnal Green, folio 376, page 30, James Fletcher; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 8 Aug 2006); citing PRO HO 107/1542
16. England and Wales, birth certificate for Louisa Butler, born 28 May 1844; citing II/537/304, Sep quarter 1844, Whitechapel Union registration district, Spitalfields sub-district; General Register Office, Southport; England and Wales, birth certificate, Mary Ann Butler, 1 Mar 1847, citing II/564/233, Jun quarter 1847, Whitechapel registration district, Spitalfields sub-district; England and Wales, birth certificate for Charles Henry Butler, born 2 Apr 1849; citing II/625/621, Jun quarter 1849, Whitechapel registration district, Spitalfields sub-district; General Register Office, Southport; England and Wales, birth certificate for Catherine Butler, born 11 Sep 1851; citing II/73/119, Dec quarter 1851, Bethnal Green registration district, Town sub-district; General Register Office, Southport
17. St Leonard (Shoreditch, Middlesex, England), Parish Registers, "London Metropolitan Archives P91/LEN/A/01/Ms 7496/54, Register of baptisms 1846-1848,"  page 91, baptism of Mary Ann "James", 4 Apr 1847; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (www.ancestry.com.au : accessed 21 Nov 2009).

Was Susannah Goddard really Thomas?

Thomas Goddard was the father of Frederick Goddard (baptised on 26th Janurary 1813 in Newtimber, see earlier post).¹ He married Emma Frankland in St Nicholas Brighton on 10th December 1809.² The couple baptised three children in Newtimber (Frederick plus Eliza 1810 and Michael 1815) before moving to Brighton where Thomas Goddard of Newtimber died, aged 30, and was buried in St Nicholas’ Churchyard on 23rd October 1817.³ A posthumous child, Thomas, was baptised on 21st June 1818 in St Nicholas Brighton, with the abode stated to be Richmond Row (later part of Albion Hill).⁴

St Nicholas of Myra, Brighton, photographed by the author 11th July 2016

Emma remarried (at St Nicholas, to Francis Buckle on 29th January 1822) one of the witnesses being Richard Goddard (son of William Goddard & Susannah Peacock baptised in Newtimber on 3rd April 1791).⁵ After initially living in Albourne, Richard Goddard and his wife Sarah baptised two children in St Nicholas Brighton in 1819 & 1822 while living in Richmond Row.⁶ Coincidence or a close family link?

William Goddard & Susannah did not baptise a child named Thomas though there is a baptism for Susanna in 1787. However William had an illegitimate nephew, Thomas son of his sister Sarah baptised 29 Jan 1769 in Newtimber.⁷ This Thomas would have been 48+ when Thomas Goddard of Newtimber was buried in Brighton. This is a big difference from the 30 years old of the burial register and considering that Emma Frankland was literate, signing her name in both marriage entries, it is hard to see how this big a mistake could be made.⁸

St John the Evangelist, Newtimber, photographed by the author 10th July 2016

I was able to track five of the six children to the grave, four of them through marriage(s) and children, but nothing for Susanna! (See Table.)⁹ All those who survived long enough can be found in all censuses up to their deaths.

The documented offspring of William and Susannah Goddard plus Thomas

Name	Baptism	Marriage	Children	Buried
Sarah	24 Jun 1783	5 Jul 1803	Frances (1803), William (1805), Thomas (1806), Susan (1808, Mary Anne (1810), James (1816), John (1821)	30 Mar 1860
William	7 Oct 1784	7 Apr 1817	William (1818), Thomas (1820), Henry (1822), George (1824), Ann (1826), Sarah (1828), Jane (1830), James (1831), Mary (1833), Hannah (1835), Eliza (1837), Frederick (1839)	26 Nov 1854
Susanna	4 Oct 1787
John	6 Sep 1789	6 Apr 1812; 11 Apr 1830	John (1812), William (1814), Walter (1820), Richard Henry (1830), Mary Jane (1832), Elizabeth (1838), James (1839), Sarah (1842)	3 Dec 1876
Richard	3 Apr 1791	22 Jun 1810	James (1810), Mary (1812), Fanny (1815), Thomas (1816), William (1819), John (1822), Elizabeth (1823), Ann (1827)	died 31 Aug 1870
James	11 Sep 1796			22 Aug 1815
Thomas		10 Dec 1809	Eliza (1810), Frederick (1813), Michael (1815), Thomas (1818)	23 Oct 1817

Did Susanna die during the period when the Newtimber registers were not properly kept (see earlier blog post)? Or was the name misinterpreted when transcribed into the register? In the baptism entry for Sarah her mother’s name was also given as “Sarah” (a not uncommon error in parish register entries). The error was repeated for William’s baptism but corrected (faintly).¹⁰ So whoever was keeping the register was not careful. In the notes used to initially record a baptism, given names were often abbreviated. Susannah was usually abbreviated Sh and Thomas was sometimes abbreviated Th. Cursive capital S’s and T’s can be misread (I’ve done it myself). So if the cleric knew the mother’s name was Susanna(h) and misread Th as Sh, he could easily mistranscribe the given name as “Susanna”.

Baptism entries of Sarah and William Goddard¹⁰

The only further supporting evidence I have for this is a DNA connection between my father and a descendent of Susannah Peacock’s great-grandparents at Thakefield (Thomas Peacock and Rose Vaughan).¹¹

Sources

1.  St John the Evangelist (Newtimber, Sussex, England), "West Sussex Record Office PAR429/1/1/4, Register of Baptisms 1808-1813," page 3, baptism of Frederick Goddard, 26 Jan 1813; FHL microfilm 991,065, item 2.3
2. St Nicholas (Brighton, Sussex, England), "East Sussex Record Office PAR255/1/1/11, Register of Banns & Marriages 1806-1810," page 138, marriage of Thomas Goddard & Emma Frankland, 10 Dec 1809; FHL microfilm 1,067,106, item 2.
3. St John the Evangelist (Newtimber, Sussex, England), "West Sussex Record Office, PAR429/1/1/4 Register of Baptisms 1808-1813," page 2, baptism of Eliza Goddard, 4 Oct 1810; FHL microfilm 991,065, item 2.3; St John the Evangelist (Newtimber, Sussex, England), "West Sussex Record Office PAR429/1/2/-, Register of Baptisms 1813-1877," page 2, baptism of Michael Goddard, 30 Dec 1815; FHL microfilm 991,065, item 2.4; St Nicholas (Brighton, Sussex, England), "East Sussex Record Office Ref PAR255/1/5/2, Register of Burials 1816-1822," page 76, burial of Thomas Goddard, 23 Oct 1817; FHL microfilm 1,067,169, item 5
4. St Nicholas (Brighton, Sussex, England), Parish Registers, "East Sussex Record Office PAR2551/2/2, St Nicholas Brighton Register of Baptisms 1816-1820 (Folder 004427381, Item 1),"  page 172, baptism of Thomas Goddard, 21 Jun 1818; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 21 Feb 2016)
5. St Nicholas (Brighton, Sussex, England), "East Sussex Record Office Ref PAR155/1/3/3, Register of Marriages 1820-1823," page 177, marriage of Francis Buckle & Emma Goddard, 9 Jan 1822; FHL microfilm 1,067,115, item 2; St John the Evangelist (Newtimber, Sussex, England), "West Sussex Record Office PAR 429/1/1/2, General Register 1733-1808," baptism of Richard Goddard, 3 Apr 111791; FHL microfilm 991,065, item 2.2; St John the Evangelist (Newtimber, Sussex, England), "West Sussex Record Office PAR 429, Register of Marriages & Banns 1754-1848," marriage of William Godard & Susan Peacock, 29 Jan 1783; FHL microfilm 991,065, item 2.5.
6. Baptisms of William (1819) & John (1822) Goddard, Sussex Family History Group, "Sussex Baptisms," database, Sussex Family History Group Data Archive (http://sfhg.frontis.co/bin/index.php)
7. St John the Evangelist (Newtimber, Sussex, England), "West Sussex Record Office PAR 429/1/1/2, General Register 1733-1808," baptism of Thomas Goddard, 29 Jan 1769; FHL microfilm 991,065, item 2.2
8. St Nicholas (Brighton, Sussex, England), "East Sussex Record Office PAR255/1/1/11, Register of Banns & Marriages 1806-1810," page 138, marriage of Thomas Goddard & Emma Frankland, 10 Dec 1809; St Nicholas (Brighton, Sussex, England), "East Sussex Record Office Ref PAR155/1/3/3, Register of Marriages 1820-1823," page 177, marriage of Francis Buckle & Emma Goddard, 9 Jan 1822
9. Sussex Family History Group, "Sussex Baptisms," database, Sussex Family History Group Data Archive (http://sfhg.frontis.co/bin/index.php); Sussex Family History Group, editor, CD-ROM (Lewes, England: Sussex Family History Group, 2005); Sussex Family History Group, "Sussex Burials," database, Sussex Family History Group Data Archive (http://sfhg.frontis.co/bin/index.php)    
10. St John the Evangelist (Newtimber, Sussex, England), "West Sussex Record Office PAR 429/1/1/2, General Register 1733-1808," baptism of Sarah Goddard, 24 Jun 1783; FHL microfilm 991,065, item 2.2; St John the Evangelist (Newtimber, Sussex, England), "West Sussex Record Office PAR 429/1/1/2, General Register 1733-1808," baptism of William Goddard, 17 Oct 1784; FHL microfilm 991,065, item 2.2.
11. AncestryDNA Results for Alfred Commons, "Ancestry Australia" database, Ancestry Australia (https://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 8 Mar 2020), DNA match with Jan Thompson (managed by Malandjan)

The Address in the Bible

[This is a corrected and slightly expanded version of an essay submitted for a Diploma of Family History Unit]

In 1979 when my grandparents died, among their effects was a bible which had belonged to my great-grandmother Susan Orange. Inside it was written a date (9th May 1848) and an address:

John Orange

Butcher

Queens Town

Port Adelaide

S.A.¹

Searches at the time produced an 1849 marriage certificate for John Orange, butcher, and Caroline Hemsley in Adelaide, but nothing else.² Now, with the assistance of online records, we can complete John’s story.

John Orange was Susan Orange’s uncle, the son of Thomas John Orange, weaver of Bethnal Green, and his wife, Susan.³ He was born on 20th June 1823 and baptised in Saint Matthew’s Church on 13th January 1826. The 1841 census shows the whole family working as weavers in a dying industry.^4,5 John does not appear in the 1841 England census – in 1839 he appeared before the Central Criminal Court charged with stealing from his master.⁶

Then aged 15, John worked for a hearth-rug manufacturer in Little Moorfields. On 15th February 1839 he and a fellow employee stole a rug and took it to a pawnbroker to exchange for six shillings. The suspicious pawnbroker refused. Both boys were subsequently arrested, tried and sentenced to seven years transportation.⁶ They were transported aboard the “Runnymede” to Van Diemen’s Land (Tasmania) and Point Puer, a “reform institution” for boys.^7,8,9 On arrival (28th March 1840) John was 5’3”, with dark complexion and hair, pockmarked skin and a swan tattoo on his arm.^8,10 One wonders whether he had that tattoo when he left London. Point Puer was a hard place and John was fortunate in being nearly 17 on arrival and soon assigned to a work gang.¹¹

The Central Criminal Court, photographed by Alan Law of Concord West, NSW, 16th June 2019, reproduced with permission.

By 1840 convict administration was changing from the “assignment” to the “probation” system.^12,13,14 The probation system required convicts to live in “probation stations” while transitioning from work gang assignments to jobs in the community. Unfortunately, this change coincided with a depression in the local economy and a shortage of community employment.^13,14 John was fortunate. In 1841 John was transferred to Oatlands where he worked for Mr J. Lamb.^11,15 Censuses in 1841-48 show that John Lamb lived on High Street Oatlands, being an “other free person”, i.e. an emancipated convict.¹⁶ The most likely candidate is John Lamb, butcher, transported for life in 1821 but awarded a “free pardon” in 1837.¹⁷ The censuses indicate that John Orange did not reside with John Lamb.¹⁶ Probationers were housed in a special station close to Oatlands gaol.¹⁴ Our John stayed in Oatlands learning the butcher’s trade until 1844 when he moved to another location (possibly Port Sorell) perhaps in relation to his Ticket of Leave, as convicts were supposed to demonstrate self-sufficiency.¹¹ In 1845 he was back in Oatlands and granted a conditional pardon.^11,18 The following year (24th February 1846) he was made free by certificate and was able to move to the mainland where pay rates were higher.¹¹

In 1848 he wrote to his family from Port Adelaide.¹ He does not appear on any passenger lists and probably worked his way there.¹⁹ Also in 1848 Caroline Hemsley and her brother James arrived in Adelaide on the “Harpley”.²⁰ On 1st January 1849 John married Caroline in St John’s, Adelaide.² Both gave their address as “New Tiers” (a location near Lenswood in the Adelaide Hills). No children appear in the SA birth indexes for John and Caroline but the couple seemed to prosper.²² By 1859 John is a butcher in Queenstown with enough standing to appear as a witness in a court case.²³ In 1860, he purchased five blocks of land on Glebe Street, Alberton.^24,25

Orange-Hemsley-Moxons family connections

Meanwhile in 1854 James Hemsley married Jane Moxons and had three children (James (1856), Caroline (1857) and Matilda (1860)) before dying on 9th July 1860.^26,27 It seems that in this crisis Jane turned to her prosperous in-laws and possibly moved in with the couple. However it happened, by 1862 Jane was pregnant by John. They moved to Melbourne and on 2nd September 1862 Martha Jane Orange daughter of John Orange (butcher) and Jane nee Moxam was born.²⁸ They claimed to have married in Adelaide in 1849 and have three children (James, 6, Caroline, 4 and Matilda, 2). Possibly rumour followed them, because they soon moved to Hobart and there on 2nd March 1863 Martha Jane Hemsley, a widow’s daughter, died.²⁹ Her heartbroken parents buried her under the surname Orange in St David’s Churchyard.³⁰

She scarcely knew the winter's breath
Sheltered beneath the almighty wing
And though she felt the stroke of death
Blessed baby she never felt the sting
Our child is now a child of bliss
Why should we weep for joy like this

Headstone of Martha Jane Orange, St David’s Park, photographed by Alan Law of Concord West, NSW, 2nd August 2010, reproduced with permission

With no reason to stay, in October 1863 John advertised for creditors to contact him as he was leaving the colony.³¹ The couple returned to Adelaide where further grief awaited them – Caroline Hemsley, daughter of Jane, died “at the residence of her uncle, Mr Orange” on 5th October 1864.³²

By 1870 John was back in Melbourne, as a butcher at 231 Swanston Street.³³ Caroline, his wife, was probably with him. On 9th January 1871 John committed her to Yarra Bend Mental Asylum where she died on 2nd February 1872.³⁴ A respectable year and a day later John married Jane at 231 Swanston Street.³⁵ But their trials were not over. In early 1874 John was still a butcher at 231 Swanston Street, but in 1875 he no longer appears in the trade section of Sands & McDougall’s Directory but only in the alphabetical section as James Orange of Errol Street, Hotham (now North Melbourne).³⁶ In December 1874 he had been declared insolvent.³⁷ He managed to sort his finances out rapidly, applying for a certificate of discharge in November 1875 and in the 1876 directory he appears as a butcher at 83 Queensbury Street, Hotham, with a residence on Curzon Street.³⁸ From this point on he seems to have respectably prospered, being a founder of the Hotham Master Butchers’ Association and joining the local Freemasons lodge in 1883.³⁹ In 1887 he acquired more land on Curzon Street.⁴⁰ By 1890 his stepson James Hemsley had joined him in the butchery business, becoming the sole operator by 1895, when John appeared purely as a resident at 68 Curzon Street.⁴¹

John died on 14th September 1896.⁴² He was buried in the same grave as his first wife, a “beloved husband … and beloved stepfather”.^43,44 Jane was buried in the same grave in 1924.⁴⁵

John Orange could be regarded as one of the success stories of the Tasmanian convict system. After committing a crime as a teenager, he took the opportunity to learn a trade then left his past behind by moving to Adelaide. Despite some behaviour which would have been frowned on at the time, the last twenty years of his life seem to have been spent in respectable, loving comfort.

Sources

1. Alfred Commons to Susan Law, email 7 June 2006, original in author's possession
2. Marriage certificate for John Orange and Caroline Hemsley, married 1 January 1849, Adelaide, Office of the Principal Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages, Adelaide. S.A.
3. Baptism of John Orange, 13 Jan 1826, Saint Matthew's Church Baptism Registers Vol 14 1825-28, Bethnal Green, London, England, page 28, entry 221, FHL microfilm 855941 item 3, accessed 22 January 2009
4. Census record for Thomas Orange, aged 45, and family, Hare Marsh, Bethnal Green, Middlesex, 1841 England and Wales Census, TNA, HO107/694/6/5/2, ‘UK Census Collection’, Ancestry.com, Accessed 6 May 2006
5. Alfred Plummer, The London Weavers' Company 1600-1970, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972, Chapter 17
6. Trial Notes for John Orange, Central Criminal Court, 'The Proceedings of the Old Bailey, London's Central Criminal Court, 1674-1913', http://www.oldbaileyonline.org, Accessed 26 May 2007
7. John Orange, Runnymede, 1840, Appropriation Lists of Convicts, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, CON27/1/8, page 34
8. Runnymede on 'AUS-Tasmanian Genealogy Mailing List' http://sites.rootsweb.com/~austashs/convicts/conships_r.htm, Accessed 17 September 2006
9. Terry Newman, Point Puer: boy convicts (extracts from an early draft of Becoming Tasmania), downloaded from 'Becoming Tasmania, Companion Web Site' http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/php/BecomingTasmania/BTMainPage.htm, Accessed 1 Feb 2020
10. John Orange, Runnymede, 1840, Description Lists of Convicts, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, CON18/1/1, page 246.
11. John Orange, Runnymede, 1840, Conduct Record, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, CON31/1/32, page 239
12. Libraries Tasmania, 'Convict Life', https://libraries.tas.gov.au/convict-portal/pages/convict-life.aspx, Accessed 1 February 2020
13. Terry Newman, Convict Systems: Assignment, Probation & Exile (extracts from an early draft of Becoming Tasmania), downloaded from 'Becoming Tasmania, Companion Web Site' http://www.parliament.tas.gov.au/php/BecomingTasmania/BTMainPage.htm, Accessed 2 February 2020
14. Ian Brand, The Convict Probation System: Van Diemen's Land 1839-1854, Hobart, Blubber Head Press, 1990
15. The National Archives, Kew, Surrey, England, HO 10/51, ‘New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters, 1806-1849’, Ancestry.com.au, Accessed 28 August 2007
16. John Lamb, 1842 Census of Van Diemen's Land, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, CEN1/1/35/19-20, Accessed 2 January 2020; John Lamb, 1843 Census of Van Diemen's Land, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, CEN1/1/71/129-30, Accessed 2 January 2020; John Lamb, 1848 Census of Van Diemen's Land, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, CEN1/1/94/57, Accessed 2 January 2020
17. John Lamb, Malabar, #184, 1821, Conduct Record, Tasmanian Archive and Heritage Office, CON31/1/27, page 116
18. The National Archives, Kew, Surrey, England, HO 10/59, ‘New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia, Convict Pardons and Tickets of Leave, 1834-1859’, Ancestry.com.au, Accessed 28 August 2007
19. State Records of South Australia, 'Migrations and Crew', https://archives.sa.gov.au/finding-information/discover-our-collection/migration-and-crew, Accessed 8 February 2020
20. Caroline Hemsley Arrival in Adelaide, State Library of South Australia, 'Bound for South Australia, Passenger Lists 1836-1851', https://bound-for-south-australia.collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/1848HarpleyPassengerList.htm, Accessed 2 Jun 2006
21. Adelaide Hills Council 'History & Heritage', https://www.ahc.sa.gov.au/visitor/history-and-heritage, Accessed 1 Jan 2020
22. Search of South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society Inc., Index of South Australia Births 1842-1928, www.findmypast.com.au, accessed 1 Feb 2020
23. Local Court - Port Adelaide, South Australian Advertiser, 10 March 1859, page 3
24. Real Property Act Notices, South Australian Advertiser, 6 September 1860, page 1
25. State Library of South Australia Flickr Account, Map of Hundred of Yatala, 1957 (https://flickr.com/photos/32600408@N06/23487679250, uploaded 16th December 2015), Accessed 22nd March 2020.
26. Marriage of James Hemsley & Jane Moxons in South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society Inc., Index of South Australia Marriages 1842-1937, www.findmypast.com.au, accessed 1 Feb 2020; James, Caroline & Matilda He(l)msley births in South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society Inc., Index of South Australia Births 1842-1928, www.findmypast.com.au, accessed 1 Feb 2020; Death of James Hemsley in South Australian Genealogy & Heraldry Society Inc., Index of South Australia Deaths 1842-1972, www.findmypast.com.au, accessed 1 Feb 2020
27. ‘Died’, South Australian Advertiser, 11 July 1860
28. Birth Register entry for Martha Jane Orange, 2nd September 1862, The Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria, PRO 1005259159
29. Death Register entry for Martha Jane Hemsley, died 2nd March 1863, Tasmanian Archives & Heritage Office, 'Tasmania Deaths 1803-1933', www.findmypast.com.au, Accessed 19 Jan 2020
30. Richard Lord, Inscriptions in stone, St David's Burial Ground 1804-1872, St George's Church, Battery Point, Hobart, 1976
31. e.g. ‘Notice', The Mercury, 12th October 1863, page 1
32. 'Deaths', South Australian Register, 6th October 1864, page 2
33. Sands & McDougall's Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1870, Melbourne 1870, John sometimes appears as James
34. Mental Asylum Record for Caroline Orange, Public Record Office Victoria, VPRS 7446 P1 Alphabetical Lists of Patients in Asylums (VA 2863) Hospitals for the Insane Branch, Unit 1 (Yarra Bend), 26 Oct 1848 – 11 Nov 1912; Death Register entry for Caroline Orange, 2nd February 1872, The Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria, PRO 606369365
35. Marriage Register entry for John Orange and Jane Hemsley, 3rd February 1873, The Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria, PRO 303778491200161102
36. Sands & McDougall's Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1874, Melbourne 1874; Sands & McDougall's Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1875, Melbourne 1875
37. 'New Insolvents', The Advocate, 19th December 1874, page 15
38. 'Law List - This Day', The Age, 19th November 1875, page 2; Sands & McDougall's Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1876, Melbourne 1876
39. 'The Hotham Master Butchers', The Argus, 6th March 1883, page 6, John Orange Admission in 'Freemasonry Membership Registers', www.ancesty.com.au, 'England, United Grand Lodge of England Freemason Membership Registers, 1751-1921', Accessed 27 Jan 2020
40. 'Transfer of Land Statute', The Argus, 9th March 1887, page 10
41. Sands & McDougall's Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1890, Melbourne 1890; Sands & McDougall's Melbourne and Suburban Directory for 1895, Melbourne 1895
42. Death Register entry for John Orange, 14th September 1896, The Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria, PRO 606369365
43. 'Deaths', The Age, 15th September 1896, page 1
44. John Orange headstone transcription, Genealogical Society of Victoria, 'Victorian cemetery records and headstone transcriptions', www.ancestry.com.au, 'Victoria, Australia, Cemetery Records and Headstone Transcriptions, 1844-1997', Accessed 27 Jan 2020
45. Death Register entry for Jane Orange, 4th August 1924, The Registry of Births Deaths and Marriages Victoria, PRO 1122793109

A bit of a mess - the Baptism of Frederick Goddard

Church of England Parish Registers were valuable manuscripts on the whole carefully kept and were not usually (except for Marriage registers after 1753) brought out into damp, drafty church naves for small ceremonies, such as baptisms and burials.¹ Instead large parishes kept a “day book” (see e.g. Great Yarmouth) in which event details were recorded (often in more detail than the eventual register) before being transcribed into the official register.² In overly-large parishes with lots of curates (like Brighton St Nicholas) the evidence is that each curate kept his own day book and transcribed into the register every few weeks.³ In smaller parishes clerics are reputed to have used scraps of paper. Yes, this is another level of potential transcription error.

The pre-Victorian part of St John the Baptist Church, Newtimber photographed by the author 2nd July 2016

Frederick Goddard is my GGG-Grandfather. He married Mary Ann Isted Upton on 21st December 1837 in The Tabernacle Strict Baptist Chapel, Regency Road, Brighton.⁴ He appears as a resident in Brighton in all the England Censuses from 1841 to 1891 and consistently from 1851 onwards gives his birthplace as Newtimber, Sussex.⁵

Saddlescombe Farmhouse, photographed by the author 2nd July 2016

Newtimber is a small parish on the North side of the South Downs. It’s population in 2001 was 96 and wasn’t much more in the 18th & 19th centuries.⁶ It consists of the church and rectory, Newtimber Place and the farm hamlet of Saddlescombe. The parish registers in the 18th century contain on average 3 entries per year, including, until 1754, marriages. The second parish register was used from 1733 until 1808. The next register (a printed non-conformist registration book) contains entries from 1809 to early 1813 written in one set of handwriting which looks identical (including the ink) and are all “registered” by W. Whistler. It also contains 7 sets of paper slips in a number of different handwritings containing varied sets of events. The parish then bought an official “Rose” Register and the 1813 baptisms were transferred into it.⁷ Entries for Frederick were included inconsistently in both registers and on three of the notes, thus:


1809-1813 Register
1813
Frederick Son of Thos. & Emma Goddard
was born ______ and christened Jany. 26
Registered_________ by me W. Whistler |R|
Notes Set 2, Image 2
1813 January 26 frederick goddard was born Son of Thos Emer

Notes Set 2, Image 2
1813 January 26 frederick goddard was born Son of Thos Emer

Notes Set 4, Image 1
1813
January 2d
Frederic Son Thomas & Sophia Goddard
...
Signed William Tilt Curate

Notes Set 5, Image 1
1813
January 2 6frederick godard was born Son of Thos. & Emer

Baptism Register 1813-1877
Page 1 1813 & 1814
When Baptized Jany 2d
No. 1
Child’s Christian name Frederick 
Parents Names Thos & Sophia Goddard
Abode Newtimber
Quality, trade or profession Labourer
By whom the Ceremony was performed J Tilt Curate

Part of Saddlescombe Hamlets, photographed by the author 2nd July 2016

John Tilt Curate signs the 1813-77 register as “performer of the ceremony” from page 1. Webster Whistler signs an occasional baptism as “Rector” (e.g. in 1828). The only entries with the 2nd January date and the mother’s name as Sophia are signed by John Tilt. Thomas Goddard married Emma Frankland in Brighton in 1809 and John Goddard of Newtimber married Sophia Terry in Poynings in 1812.⁸ I don’t think John Tilt was working in the parish prior to 1813. I think the maintenance of records failed in Newtimber from 1809-13, possibly in the absence of an appointed cleric (lay baptisms could be performed in the absence of a cleric).⁹ I think Webster Whistler made a valiant effort to reconstruct the register, possibly when appointed. I think John Tilt made transcription errors in entering backdated items in the 1813-77 register.

The Frederick Goddard entry on one of the notes (Set 5 Image 1) of entries which could be misread.

My conclusion is that Frederick Goddard was the son of Thomas Goddard and Emma Frankland and was baptised on the 26th January 1813 in St John the Baptist, Newtimber.


Thomas and Emma’s last child (Thomas) was baptised in St Nicholas, Brighton in 1818 (where Thomas Goddard of Newtimber had been buried a few months before). Emma remarried and all her children were brought up, married and died in Brighton. The parentage of Frederick’s father is another matter.

Sources

1. “Marriage Act 1753,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, March 11, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marriage_Act_1753. (Accessed 15th March 2020)
2. St Nicholas (Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England), Parish Registers; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/).
3. St Nicholas (Brighton, Sussex, England), Parish Registers; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/).
4. England and Wales, marriage certificate for Goddard Frederick and Mary Ann Isted Upton, married 21 Dec 1837; citing 7/407/11, Dec quarter 1837, Brighthelmston registration district; General Register Office, Southport.
5. 1841 census of England, Sussex, Brighton, folio 33, page 13, Frederick Goddard; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 24 Apr 2006); citing PRO HO 107/1121/4; 1851 census of England, Sussex, Brighton, folio 806, page 6, Fredrick Goddard; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 24 Apr 2006); citing PRO HO 107/1645; 1861 census of England, Sussex, Brighton, folio 71, page 5-6, Frederick Goddard; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 24 Apr 2006); citing PRO RG9/594; 1871 census of England, Sussex, Brighton, folio 31, page 3, Frederic Goddard; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 24 Apr 2006); citing PRO RG10/1077; 1881 census of England, Sussex, Brighton, folio 91, page 26, Frederick Goddard; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 24 Apr 2006); citing PRO RG11/1080; 1891 census of England, Sussex, Brighton, folio 81, page 22, Frederick Goddard; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 10 Feb 2006); citing PRO RG 12/805
6. “Newtimber,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, March 9, 2020, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Newtimber. (Accessed 15th March 2020)
7. St John the Evangelist (Newtimber, Sussex, England); FHL microfilm
8. St Nicholas (Brighton, Sussex, England), "East Sussex Record Office PAR255/1/1/11, Register of Banns & Marriages 1806-1810," marriage of Thomas Goddard & Emma Frankland, 10 Dec 1809; FHL microfilm 1,067,106, item 2; Holy Trinity Poyings Register of Marriages 1785-1812 (Folder 004428551, Item  18),"  page 8, marriage of John Goddard & Sophia Terry, 6 Apr 1812; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 23 Feb 2016).
9. The Living Church Annual and Clergy-List Quarterly (Young Churchman Company, 1886), https://books.google.com.au/books?id=i0vkAAAAMAAJ (Accessed 15th March 2020)

The wrong Sarah Ayers

When I discovered that Sarah Ayres or Ayers, wife of John Jackman was included in a number of Ancestral Files on FamilySearch (e.g. https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:1:M7RD-MH2) I was delighted.¹ In this file Sarah is Sarah Ayers, daughter of John Ayers and Jedidah nee Chamberlain, baptised 28th October 1764 in St Margaret’s Church, Lowestoft. Since the first baptism for a child of John Jackman and Sarah nee Ayres was in 1784 and there is no marriage in the Lowestoft records this seemed reasonable.²

St Margaret's Church, Lowestoft. Photographed by the author 6th July 2018

Following up, the first thing I did was “kill off the relatives” using the Suffolk Burial Index to find all the Ayers/Ayres burials in Lowestoft.³ There aren’t many that early, but among them is the burial of Sarah Ayres, 7th February 1769, age 4. There is only one person this could be. I was sad to lose Jedidah as an ancestress, but accuracy before wishful thinking.

There is another Sarah Ayers in the Lowestoft area, Sarah daughter of Jonathan Ayers and Alice nee Pashly, baptised at All Saints, Pakefield 8th December 1754.⁴ Jonathan was the brother of John Ayers, so the two Sarahs were cousins. What supporting evidence could there be for the Pakefield Sarah being the wife of John Jackman. I decided to hunt for her burial. She was not buried in Lowestoft, despite she and John baptising all their children there. From research I had found that all of the Jackman offspring had moved to Great Yarmouth.

The thatched church of All Saints & St Margaret, Pakefield. Photographed by the author, 6th July 2018

The Great Yarmouth registers had not been indexed, but Norfolk Record Office allowed the LDS to digitise all the films, so I was able to search through all the burial registers page by page. I found a burial for John Jackman M.M. age 55 on 12th February 1805.⁵ Sarah Jackman died 14 years after her husband age 64 and was buried on 7th November 1819. This gives a birth date around 1755, close to the age of the Pakefield Sarah.⁶

Minster Church of St Nicholas, Great Yarmouth. Photographed by the author, 5th July 2018

Final confirmation comes from the entry for the 1769 burial on the Find A Grave website (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/142656017).⁷ Sarah is buried in her father’s grave. The headstone reads:

“Here resteth the body of John Ayers, the husband of Jedidah Ayers, who departed this life Sept the 23rd 1767 aged 43

also 1 child, an infant

and also Sarah, their daughter, who died Feb 1st 1769 aged 4 years

also Jedidah, his beloved wife who died Nov the 7th 1775 aged 49 years”

Unfortunately there is no way to correct the record in Ancestral Files, and every relative I have come into contact with has the wrong Sarah in their tree. How do you start the conversation - “Hello, sorry to mention it but your tree is wrong...”?

Sources

1. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, "Ancestral File," database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/2:1:M7RD-MH2 : accessed 8 March 2020), entry for Sarah AYERS (2T2Z-PL); submitted by cpchamberlain618958.
2. St Margaret (Lowestoft, Suffolk, England), Parish Registers, "Norfolk Record Office PD589/2, General Register 1650-1786,"  baptism of William Jackman, 1 Feb 1784; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ : accessed 6 Mar 2010).
3. Suffolk Family History Society, Suffolk Burial Index, CD-ROM (Ipswich, England: Suffolk Family History Society, 2005).
4. All Saints & St Margaret (Pakefield, Suffolk, England), Parish Registers, "Norfolk Record Office PD 551/2, General Register 1748-1812,"  baptism of Sarah Ayres, 8 Dec 1754; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ : accessed 6 Mar 2010).
5. St Nicholas (Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England), Parish Registers, "Norfolk Record Office D 28/136, Register of Burials 1801-1806,"  burial of John Jackman, 12 Feb 1805; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 3 Mar 2010).
6. St Nicholas (Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England), Parish Registers, "Norfolk Record Office PD 28/138, Register of Burials 18 June 1819 - 1 November 1825,"  page 19, burial of Sarah Jackman, 7 Nov 1819; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 3 Mar 2010)
7. Find A Grave, database and images (https://www.findagrave.com : accessed 08 March 2020), memorial page for Sarah Ayers (unknown–1 Feb 1769), Find A Grave Memorial no. 142656017, citing St Margaret Churchyard, Lowestoft, Waveney District, Suffolk, England ; Maintained by Our Family History (contributor 47719401)

Top Secret

I was born in the 1950s in a Royal Air Force Hospital in Cold War West Germany. I have two legitimate birth certificates, one from the RAF and one from the British Consulate in Dusseldorf. I was (according to my mother) baptised at St Hubertus, the CoE Chapel on the RAF base at which Dad was serving.

Fifty years later my mother started handing over bundles of documents and in 2006 I started sorting them out and extending the collection. Amongst the papers I eventually sorted was a certificate of baptism for my brother. There was no such certificate for me. However in the “Unser Kind” family photo album there were photos of me in the knitted christening gown my mother had made for my brother’s christening labelled to the effect “Susan February 1955".

Cute Sue, photographed February 1955 by the station photographer (who lived in the flat upstairs). Photograph in the possession of the author.

While researching various other aspects of my family I always kept an eye out for British Forces baptisms, after all the British Forces birth register indexes were publicly available. No luck. So in 2011 I started emailing every possible institution I could find on the web. Eventually the Armed Forces Chaplaincy Centre referred me to a lovely gentleman at “DBS-KI-RecordsReview 5", based at HM Naval Base Portsmouth. This lovely gentleman was assessing classified Cold War military-related documents for de-classification. The religious records for the British Armed Forces in Germany were being de-classified in preparation for handing over to the UK National Archives!
The lovely gentleman found my baptism and posted me a photocopy.¹

Baptism entry for Susan Hilary Commons.¹

As you can see, the entries are all military and contain the rank, unit and base of the father. This sort of information could have been used by a hostile intelligence service to build a fairly complete picture of the British Armed Forces deployment across Germany at that time.

Sources

1. Baptism of Susan Hilary Commons, 13 Feb 1954, Trinity House C of E Leadership Centre, “H.Q., 2.T.A.F. Command Register 1948-”, page 4

A Family Historian’s Nightmare

I’ve traced my Commons/Common line for a hundred years in Tower Hamlets from Albert Edward Common (Why Chris Locke?) to the marriage of John Common and Mary Oldfield on 27th July 1806 at St John of Wapping Parish Church.¹ By various pieces of evidence I have identified the groom as John Common baptised 30 Aug 1779 at St Helen’s Longhorsley Northumberland.²

The Ruins of St Helen's Church, Longhorsley, photographed by Sue Law 27th June 2019

In 2009 I ordered the FHL film covering the Longhorsley registers. Using these I was able to track the Common line back to the marriage of William Common and Isabel Robson on 9th June 1719.³ During this time the family married into other local families, especially the Robsons, Hills and Prudlocks.

Unfortunately on page 2 of the first register is written:

“This oldest Register, belonging to this Parish was falling to Pieces for want of attention & was given by the Vicar abt 1761 to an illiterate Parish Clerk to revew. The Clerk copied only such names as he himself could decypher & burnt the Original Register imagining it of no use which is the reason of this being so imperfect.

The above is from the report of several responsible Persons who remember the circumstance inserted by me March 8, 1803,
Richd. Oliphant, Curate.”

Just to make things worse the extant Bishop’s transcripts for Longhorsley only start in 1769.⁴

One fairly solid brick wall, though I think I may be lucky with the Commons, as the records seem to indicate that William was the first Common to move to Longhorsley.

A Common family headstone in St Helen's graveyard, photographed by Sue Law 27th June 2019

  Sources

1. St John of Wapping (Wapping, Middlesex, England), "London Metropolitan Archives P93/JN2/018, Register of Marriages 1803-1812," page 38, marriage of John Common & Mary Oldfield, 27 Jul 1806; LMA microfilms X089/160, London Metropolitan Archives, London.
2. St Helen (Longhorsley, Northumberland, England), "Northumberland Archives EP 145/1, General Register 1667-1670; 1695-1723," page 46, baptism of John Common, 30 Aug 1779; FHL microfilm 252593, item 1.
3. St Helen (Longhorsley, Northumberland, England), "Northumberland Archives EP 145/1, General Register 1667-1670; 1695-1723," FHL microfilm 252593
4. Holdings of Bishop’s Transcripts from St Helen’s Longhorsley, Durham University Library Special Collections Catalogue GB-0033-DDR/EA, Durham Diocesan Records: episcopal administration,  (http://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=ark/32150_s1gf06g2666.xml#DDR-EA-PBT-2-t, Accessed 21st February 2020)

The Family of Edward and Louisa Orange

One of the first challenges I came across in my research was the identity of one of my great-great-great-grandmothers on my mother’s side. There is also confusion about the number and names of the children she had.

On the birth certificate of my great-grandfather (Thomas Walter Pillar, born 21st August 1876) his parents are identified as Thomas Walter Pillar and Susan nee Orange.¹ Walter Piller and Susan Orange were married in St Thomas’s Church, Bethnal Green on 29 May 1876 with Susan being a 20-year-old spinster, the daughter of Edward Orange.² Thank goodness for the censuses, because official documentation for “Susan Orange” prior to her marriage doesn’t exist. Thank goodness also that there was only one Edward Orange of the right age in Tower Hamlets at that time. While happy to chat to the Census taker, the relationship of Edward and his wife to religious institutions was non-existent and their relationship to the Register Office was intermittent and unreliable.

Edward appears in all the censuses from 1841 to 1891.³ Until 1861 he is living with his parent(s). In 1861 he is living at 7 Turk Street, Bethnal Green, with a wife, Louisa (age 34, born Bethnal Green) and four daughters: Martha (age 8), Susan (age 6), Ann (age 3) and Eliza (age 4 months) all born Bethnal Green.⁴ In 1871 he is living at 11 Old Nichol Street, Bethnal Green with Louisa (age 45, born Bethnal Green) and five children: Martha (age 17), Susan (age 16), Eliza (age 11), Thomas (age 5) and Caroline (age 2) all born Bethnal Green.⁵ So we have 6 children over the 2 censuses: Martha (~1854); Susan (~1855); Ann (~1858); Eliza (1860); Thomas (~1856); and Caroline (~1869) with Ann disappearing before 1871.

Louisa Orange wife of Edward Orange died on 3rd March 1878, the informant for the registration of death being her daughter, Susan Piller.⁶ This tells us we have the right Edward Orange and that his wife’s name was Louisa in 1861, 1871 and 1878. But was it the same Louisa for all that period?

There is no marriage registered for Edward Orange and a Louisa between 1851 and 1878. There are no missing entries because I’ve searched the Tower Hamlets index (when it was on line) and the Tower Hamlet parish registers. Tower Hamlets Register Office were really nice. When you found a possible birth entry in their index, you could email them and they would tell you the given name of the father. This way I found four birth registrations: Ann (19th June 1854, 7 Virginia Row); Eliza (5th March 1856, 7 Virginia Row); Eliza (6th December 1860, Workhouse); and Edward John (8th January 1864, 7 Turk Street).⁷ The parents names were Edward Orange and Louisa née Goodman. This gives me a name for the woman living with Edward as his wife and that it is the same woman between at least 1854 and 1863, but only one of the children match the names and ages given in the census. A search for deaths, turns up Ann (died 17th August 1863, age 5, at 7 Turk Street) which fits nicely with the 1861 census data, but not with the 1854 birth certificate.⁸ It also turns up another Eliza (died 1st October 1860, age 7, at 7 Turk Street).⁹ This Eliza would have been born in 1852-3 and is too old for the 1856 Eliza. Given the lack of a marriage, registration under the surname “Goodman” is possible, but there are no relevant index entries.

Birth Certificate for Eliza Orange issued by Tower Hamlets Register Office

One other bit of evidence is relevant. In the admission records for Turin St School is an entry for Thomas Orange son of Edward, born 6th February 1865.¹⁰

A search of cemetery records finds matching entries for the Ann (1863) and Eliza (1860) deaths in Victoria Park Cemetery, plus a burial for Elizabeth Louisa Orange, age 9, of 7 Turk Street on 2nd July 1858.¹¹ Given that “Old Virginia Row” and “Turk Street” were interchangeable names for the same thoroughfare, this must be another child from the Orange-Goodman household.¹² The age would give a birth date of 1848-9, while Edward was still residing with his mother. I postulate that this may be a child from a former, undissolved marriage of Louisa’s. I can find neither Louisa nor the child in the 1851 census, but the existence of such a marriage would explain why Edward and Louisa never married. Cohabiting out of wedlock was condemned by the churches but you could live with that. Bigamy was a criminal offence which carried a jail sentence. Why were they so erratic in registering births and deaths? We’ll probably never know, but at least they talked to the census takers.

So trying to make some sort of coherent picture of the records, it appears that Edward and Louisa probably had seven children:

1. Eliza, born about 1853, died 1st October 1860
2. Ann/Martha, born 19th June 1854
3. Eliza/Susan, born 5th March 1856, married Walter Pillar, 29th May 1876,
4. Ann, born about 1858, died 17th August 1863
5. Eliza, born 6th December 1860
6. Edward/Thomas John, born 8th January 1864 or 6th February 1865
7. Caroline, born about 1868

Louisa appears in the 1841 census, age 14 and living with Thomas and Mary Goo(d)man.¹³ She was born on the 26th February 1827 in Bethnal Green and baptized in St Matthew’s on the 18th March 1827.¹⁴ Her parents were not born in Middlesex, but the tracking down of the Goodmans is another tale.

I'm still trying to convince myself that I've got this right and enter it all into my family tree.

Sources

1. England, birth certificate for Thomas Walter Pillar, born 21 Aug 1876; Bethnal Green registration district, Town sub-district. Photocopy of original in possession of Jennifer Commons
2. England and Wales, marriage certificate for Walter Piller and Susan Orange, married 29 May 1876; citing 1c/695/280, Jun quarter 1876, Bethnal Green registration district; General Register Office, Southport. Original courtesy of Jennifer Commons
3. 1841 census of England, Middlesex, Bethnal Green, folio 5, page 2, Thomas Orange; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations, Ancestry Australia (https://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 23 Apr 2006); citing PRO HO 107/694/6; 1851 census of England, Middlesex, Bethnal Green, folio 259, page 29, Susan Orange; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 27 Mar 2006); citing PRO HO 107/1539.
4. 1861 census of England, Middlesex, Bethnal Green, folio 125, page 10, Edward Orange; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 4 Feb 2006); citing PRO RG 9/263.
5. 1871 census of England, Middlesex, Bethnal Green, folio 23, page 40, Edward Orange; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Unlimited Company, Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 28 Mar 2006); citing PRO RG 10/474.
6. England and Wales, death certificate for Louisa Orange, died 3 Mar 1878; citing 1c/207/138, Mar quarter 1878, Bethnal Green registration district, Town sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.
7. England, birth certificate for Ann Orange, born 19 Jun 1854; Bethnal Green registration district, Hackney Road sub-district; England, birth certificate for Eliza Orange, born 5 Mar 1856; Bethnal Green registration district, Hackney Road sub-district; England and Wales, birth certificate for Eliza Orange, born 6 Dec 1860; citing 1c/282/33, Dec quarter 1860, Bethnal Green registration district, Green sub-district; General Register Office, Southport; England, birth certificate for Edward John Orange, born 8 Jan 1864; Bethnal Green registration district, Town sub-district.
8. England and Wales, death certificate for Ann Orange, died 17 Aug 1863; citing 1c/233/488, Sep quarter 1863, Bethnal Green registration district, Town sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.
9. England and Wales, death certificate for Eliza Orange, died 1 Oct 1860; citing 1c/210/177, Dec quarter 1860, Bethnal Green registration district, Town sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.
10. Turin Street School, Bethnal Green, "Admission and Discharge Register for Boys," p. London Metropolitan Archives LCC/EO/DIV05/TUR/AD/001, Admisson and Discharge Register for Boys, Admission #367, Thomas Orange; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations Unlimited Company, "London, England, School Admissions and Discharges, 1840-1911," Ancestry Australia (http://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 9 Feb 2013).
11. Victoria Park Cemetery “Register of Burials at Victoria Park Cemetery 1857-59", The National Archives RG8/Piece 44_2, Burial of Elizabeth Louisa Orange, 2 Jul 1858, The Genealogist, “Non-Parochial BMDs, 1581-1970" (https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk, Accessed 12 Dec 2008); Victoria Park Cemetery “Register of Burials at Victoria Park Cemetery 1860-63", The National Archives RG8/Piece 45, Burial of Eliza Orange, 11 Oct 1860, The Genealogist, “Non-Parochial BMDs, 1581-1970" (https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk, Accessed 12 Dec 2008); Victoria Park Cemetery “Register of Burials at Victoria Park Cemetery 1863-66", The National Archives RG8/Piece 46, Burial of Ann Orange, 22 Aug 1863, The Genealogist, “Non-Parochial BMDs, 1581-1970" (https://www.thegenealogist.co.uk, Accessed 12 Dec 2008);
12. "Bethnal Green: The West, Shoreditch Side, Spitalfields, and the Nichol," in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 11, Stepney, Bethnal Green, ed. T F T Baker (London: Victoria County History, 1998), 103-109. British History Online, accessed February 16, 2020, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol11/pp103-109.
13. 1841 census of England, Middlesex, Bethnal Green, folio 8, page 10, Thomas Goodman; digital images, Ancestry Information Operations, Ancestry Australia (https://www.ancestry.com.au/ : accessed 9 Nov 2007); citing PRO HO 107/694/5.
14. St Matthew (Bethnal Green, Middlesex, England), "London Metropolitan Archive P72/MTW/019, Register of Baptisms Vol 14 1825-28," page 142, baptism of Louisa Goodman, 18 Mar 1827; FHL microfilm 855,941, item 3.