Pillar, Pe(e)loe, Pelow – the origin of Jacob Pillar

 I am descended from Isaac Pillar, son of Jacob and Mary Pillar who was baptised in Great Yarmouth on 25 November 1781.¹ His sister Mary Pillar, daughter and eldest child of Jacob and Mary Pillar, was baptised on 29 December 1775 in Great Yarmouth.² 

St Nicholas, Great Yarmouth, photographed by Susan Law, 2016.

This was the first Pillar/Piller entry in Great Yarmouth registers. Searching the indexes leads to a marriage for Mary’s parents, Jacob Piller and Mary White, who married on 18 June 1775 in St Michael Coslany Norwich.³ This indicates that we should be looking for Jacob’s baptism in Norwich. This is consistent with the surname distribution as until that date the Pillar surname was highly concentrated in Norwich, starting with the baptism of Isaac Pillar in 1695.⁴

St Michael Coslany Church, Norwich. Photographed by Susan Law, 2018.

On the whole the collection of Pillar/Piller entries form logical family groups, but there are gaps. Looking at Jacob’s burial entry in 1836 his age 85 indicates a birth about 1751.⁵ and there is a noticeable absence of Jacob Pillar/Piller baptisms in the appropriate time frame. There are, however, two marriages with no offspring in the records:

• Isaac Pillar and Mary Gregory, both of this parish, married on 19 Novermber 1738 in St Paul.⁶
• Isaac Pillar (widower of St Martin at Palace Plain) married Jane Yestis (of St Michael at Thorn) married on 26 Dec 1748 in St Michael at Thorn.⁷

These are the same Isaac Pillar, Mary née Gregory having been buried on 13 February 1744/5 in St Augustine churchyard.⁸ The next Pillar/Pillar record in St Martin at Palace Plain registers after the Isaac/Jane marriage was Jane Pillar’s burial (Widow, late Yestis) buried 9 July 1786.⁹

To try and cover any really queer spelling, a search was done for baptisms with Isaac and Jane as parents but no surname specified. Five entries in the registers of St Martin at Palace Plain were found:

• 25 February 1749/50, Mary Peeloe.¹⁰
• 10 November 1751, Jacob Peeloe.¹¹
• 20 October 1754, Ann Peloe.¹²
• 22 May 1757, Esther Pelow.¹³
• 3 August 1760, Joseh Peloe.¹⁴

Using the surname variants above to search, a burial for Isaac Pillar was found in the St Martin at Palace Plain records:

• 21 November 1767, Isaac Pelow.¹⁵

St Martin at Palace Plain, Norwich. Photographed by Susan Law, 2018.

This group of records looks like a family with a parish clerk and at least one parent who didn't know how to spell their surname. Not only that, but it has a Jacob born about the right time. The balance of probability is that Jacob Peeloe (baptised 1751) can be equated with Jacob Pillar (married 1775).

Note: This research was primarily done in 2008-2010.

Sources

1. St Nicholas (Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England), "Norfolk Record Office PD 28/15, Register of Baptisms/Burials 1777-1783/2," baptism of Isaac Pillar, 25 Nov 1781; FHL microfilm 1,526,328, item 3.
2. St Nicholas (Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England), "Norfolk Record Office PD 28/14, Register of Baptisms/Burials 1771-1777," baptism of Mary Pillar, 29 Dec 1775; FHL microfilm 1,526,328, item 2.
3. St Michael Coslany (Norwich, Norfolk, England), Parish Registers, "Norfolk Record Office PD 16/7(W), Register of Marriages & Banns 1754-1779,"  page 83, marriage of Jacob Piller & Mary White, 18 Jun 1775; digital images(accessed 16 Jun 2010).
4. Family Search (https://www.familysearch.org); British Isles Vital Records Index (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. British Isles Vital Records Index (16xCD ROM). Second Edition. Salt Lake City, USA: Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, 2001.); Norfolk Transcripts Website (http://www.genealogy.doun.org/transcriptions/index.php, now defunct); FreeREG (https://www.freereg.org.uk/).
5. St Nicholas (Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, England), Parish Registers, "Norfolk Record Office PD 18/140, Register of Burials 1831-1836,"  page 240, burial of Jacob Piller, 31 Jan 1836; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 6 May 2012).
6. St Paul (Norwich, Norfolk, England), Archdeacon's Transcripts (Norwich), "Norfolk Record Office AT Dean and Chapter 2, Archdeacon's Transcripts 1706-1811,"  marriage of Isaac Pillar & Mary Gregory, 19 Nov 1738; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ : accessed 25 Jan 2010). 
7. St Michael at Thorn (Norwich, Norfolk, England), Archdeacon's Transcripts, "Norfolk Record Office ANW 13, Archdeacon's Transcript for the year 1748-9,"  marriage transcript, Isaac Pillar & Jane Yestis, 16 Dec 1748; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ : accessed 25 Jan 2011).
8. St Augustine (Norwich, Norfolk, England), Parish Registers, "Norfolk Record Office PD 185/3(S), General Register 1663-1748,"  page 144, burial of Mary Piller, 13 Feb 1744/5; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ : accessed 8 May 2012).
9. St Martin at Palace Plain (Norwich, Norfolk, England), Parish Registers, "Norwich Record Office PD 12/5, General Register 1753-1791,"  burial of Jane Pillar, 9 Jul 1786; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 16 Jun 2010).
10. St Martin at Palace Plain (Norwich, Norfolk, England), Parish Registers, "Norfolk Record Office PD 12/4, General Register 1729-1752,"  baptism of Mary Peeloe, 25 Feb 1749/50; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 16 Jun 2010).
11. St Martin at Palace Plain (Norwich, Norfolk, England), Parish Registers, "Norfolk Record Office PD 12/4, General Register 1729-1752,"  baptism of Jacob Peloe, 10 Nov 1751; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 1 Mar 2010).
12. St Martin at Palace Plain (Norwich, Norfolk, England), Parish Registers, "Norfolk Record Office PD 12/5, General Register 1753-1791,"  baptism of Ann Peloe, 20 Oct 1754; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 16 Jun 2010).
13. St Martin at Palace Plain (Norwich, Norfolk, England), Parish Registers, "Norfolk Record Office PD 12/5, General Register 1753-1791,"  baptism of Esther Pelow, 22 May 1757; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 16 Jun 2010).
14. St Martin at Palace Plain (Norwich, Norfolk, England), Parish Registers, "Norfolk Record Office PD 12/5, General Register 1753-1791,"  baptism of Joseph Peloe, 3 Aug 1760; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 16 Jun 2010).
15. St Martin at Palace Plain (Norwich, Norfolk, England), Parish Registers, "Norfolk Record Office PD 12/5, General Register 1753-1791,"  burial of Isaac Pelow, 21 Nov 1767; digital images, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ : accessed 16 Jun 2010).

“Grandad was a Pastry Cook”

 Thomas John Spall was my maternal great-great-grandfather, born in the Old Bailey area of the City of London in 1862 to Jonathan Spall and Elizabeth Arabella Paine.¹ He was the eldest of four children.²

Thomas John married Elizabeth Mary Rose in 1887 and the couple had ten children, three of whom died in infancy.^3,2 My grandfather (Edward John, 1902) was the second youngest of the seven surviving children.²

My mother seemed to spend a lot of time with her grandmother and remembered the tales her grandmother used to tell of her Indian childhood. (see "A Rifleman of the 60th"). Her grandmother also told her that her grandfather had been a pastrycook.⁴

The truth of this was proven by genealogical research with Thomas’ occupation being given as “Apprenticed to cooking” in the 1881 census and as a cook in the 1891, 1901 and 1911 censuses and the birth registrations of his children.^5,6 So if not a pastrycook per se, he was at least a cook for most of his working life and here the tale may have ended if I had not made contact with a third cousin on my Spall side in 2009.⁷

This lady had a collection of family photos, most of which she was able to identify. However there was one photo which had her stumped. This showed a fairly young man dressed in a full length white gown and a floppy white hat (see image below). I looked at it and immediately thought “cook”!

Photograph of an unknown young man with contacts to the Spall family. Original held by J. Ward.

Two of the keys to dating photographs are fashion and photographer. Fashion cannot help with this photograph, but maybe the photographer can. The photographer’s name on the photo mount is R. Hellis of Notting Hill Gate. Looking R. Hellis up on the internet it seems that one Robert Hellis had a photographic shop in Silver Street, Notting Hill by 1870.⁸ In 1887 the name of the enterprise was changed to Hellis and Son, so the photograph must have been taken before then.

At this time photographs were primarily taken on special occasions, so what special occasion occurred in the Spall family between 1870 and 1887 involving a cook? Well, if Thomas was apprenticed at the usual age (14 years) and had a standard length apprenticeship (7 years) he would have qualified as a Journeyman at the age of 21. This would have occurred in 1883 at the earliest.

I believe there is a strong possibility that this is a photograph of Thomas John Spall on the occasion of his graduation to journeyman cook, taken in the period between 1883 and 1887. So, to quote my mother, “Grandad was a pastrycook”.

Sources

1. England & Wales Birth certificate of Thomas John Spall, born 27 Oct 1862, citing 1c/39/180, Dec quarter 1862, West London registration district, West London sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.
2. Law, Susan, 'Susan Commons Pedigree View - Ancestry.Com', https://www.ancestry.com.au/family-tree/tree/52067358/family?cfpid=13296141854, Accessed 4 Sep 2023 (private tree, access can be requested).
3. England and Wales, marriage certificate for Thomas Jonathan Spall and Elizabeth Mary Rose, married 25 Sep 1887; citing 1c/262/455, Sep quarter 1887, Shoreditch registration district; General Register Office, Southport
4. Commons, Patricia P. L. M., private communication c. 2007.
5. Census record for Thomas J. Spall, aged 18, 14 Victoria Grove, South Hackney, Middlesex, 1881 England and Wales Census, The National Archives, RG11/0317/39/16; Census record for Thomas J. Spall, aged 28, 86 Mintern St, Haggerston, Middlesex, 1891 England and Wales Census, The National Archives, RG12/249/122/33; Census record for Thomas J. Spall, aged 38, 9 Marian St, Homerton, Middlesex, 1901 England and Wales Census, The National Archives, RG13/220/146/41; Census record for T. John Spall, aged 48, 71 Mintern St, Hoxton, Middlesex, 1911 England and Wales Census, The National Archives, RG14/1358/78/47, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 27 Jan 2009.
6. See e.g. England & Wales Birth certificate of Thomas Henry Spall, born 28 Jul 1888, citing 1c/29/113, Sep quarter 1888, Shoreditch registration district, Holywell sub-district; General Register Office, Southport; England & Wales Birth certificate of Horace William Spall, born 15 Apr 1909, citing 1c/64/482, Jun quarter 1888, Shoreditch registration district, Shoreditch north west sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.
7. Ward, J., email communications, 2011.
8. Brunning, Robert, “Robert Hellis (1835-1895): Photographer & Conjuror”, Friends of West Norwood Cemetery Newsletter, No. 87, Sep 2016, page 9, https://storage.ning.com/topology/rest/1.0/file/get/2804357498?profile=original, Accessed 2 Sep 2023.

Finding Fanny's Family - a Jewish Jigsaw

As we work back through time in our family trees, the availability of “direct” evidence (i.e. sources which directly state the answer to a research question) reduces and we must pull together all the indirect evidence we can find to build a picture of the ancestor being researched (like putting a jigsaw together without knowing the final picture). This problem often depends on the nationality or social group of an ancestor, as different countries or different religions and sects within religions kept different types of record for different life events with differing levels of detail and varying levels of survival. This is particularly so for a Jewish ancestress who married “out of the faith” and was born before registration, such as my 3xgreat-grandmother, Fanny/Frances Common nee Isaacs. Is there any way of working out who her parents were and if she had any siblings? I’ve been fortunate in being able to find a lot of indirect evidence out of which I was able to build a picture of the family Fanny came from.

The Birth Certificate of my great-great-grandfather Henry John Common indicates he was born on 4 May 1844 at 55 Rosemary Lane, Whitechapel to Henry Common and Frances née Isaacks.¹ Further research found that the marriage for Henry Common and Fanny Isaacs took place at St Leonard’s Church Shoreditch on 4 Sep 1843.² Fanny is stated to be of full age, resident in New Inn Yard and the daughter of Hyam Isaacs. The witnesses were Samuel Bailey and Sophia Isaacs. Given the shared surname, Sophia is a possible relative of Fanny’s particularly as Henry and Fanny later named one of their daughters Sophia.

I was unable to find a Fanny or Frances Isaacs in the 1841 census, but Henry and Frances Common appear in the 1851 census living in 3 Mary Street, St George in the East.³ Despite being born only 8 months after the marriage, Henry John is not the oldest child in the 1851 family having an older brother, Simon Robert, age twelve and thus born about 1839. From this I was able to find an 1841 entry for “Francis” Common age 20+ and her son Robert Common, age 18 months.⁴ I was unable to find an entry in the 1841 England and Wales census for Henry Common. Birth registrations and baptisms were found for both Simon Robert and Henry John confirming their relationship to Henry Common and Fanny Isaacs.^1,5,6,7 I was also unable to find an entry in the 1841 census for Hyam Isaacs.

1. First step towards a family group for Fanny

In 2009-10 Ancestry released the London Metropolitan Archives holdings of Church of England parish registers. In the “Marriages and Banns 1754-1938” data set you are able to search for a father’s name. Just on the off chance (after all “Fanny Isaacs” is a rather Jewish name and she might have been the only one of her family to marry “out of the faith”) I ran a search for “Hyam Isaacs” as father of a party and this threw up four matches in addition to Fanny’s marriage:⁸

• 7 Aug 1843 at Christchurch Spitalfields, Betsey Isaacs daughter of Hyam Isaacs married Charles Stephens. The witnesses were Henry Common and Sophia Isaacs
• 8 Dec 1843 at Christchurch Spitalfields, Rosetta Isaacs daughter of Hyam Isaacs married Thomas Watling. The Witnesses were Charles Stephens and Elizabeth Stephens
• 26 Nov 1849 at St John at Hackney, James Isaacs son of Hyam Isaacs married Sarah Gable. The witnesses were John Pogson and Matilda Pogson
• 25 Jul 1862 at St George in the East Church, Elizabeth Stevens, widow age 37, daughter of Hyam Isaacs married Edward Martyn. The witnesses were Petter Halverson and Frances Common

So Sophia Isaacs witnessed the marriages of Betsey and Fanny Isaacs, Fanny’s (at that time de-facto) husband, Henry Common being the other witness of Betsey’s marriage. The recently married Charles and Elizabeth (AKA Betsey) Stephens then witnessed the marriage of Rosetta Isaacs and, after the death of Charles Stephens, Frances (AKA Fanny) Common nee Isaacs witnessed the second marriage of Elizabeth (AKA Betsey) Stephens nee Isaacs. The inference to be drawn from this “cross-witnessing” is that Fanny, Betsey, Rosetta and Sophia Isaacs were closely related in some way, possibly sisters (though we have no evidence as to the name of Sophia’s father). James is another possible sibling, though not tied to the other offspring of Hyam Isaacs by witnesses.

When the same search was performed on parish registers from the City of Westminster Archives (added to the Ancestry site in 2020) a marriage for Henry Isaacs son of Hyam Isaacs to Ann Elizabeth Peach on 21 Mar 1859 at St Anne Soho was found, the witnesses being Henry Common and Frances Common nee Isaacs.⁹ Thus we have another possible sibling for Fanny.

2. Family group with siblings inferred from Church of England marriage records

Further support for the connections above comes from the marriage entry of Fanny’s daughter, Sophia Common, to Conrad Hoffman 24 Feb 1867 at St Leonard Shoreditch, the witnesses being Henry Isaacs and Frances Common.⁸

Leaving aside James Isaacs for the moment, we have a group of people of surname Isaacs who, together with their spouses, are witnessing each others’ marriages. All but one of these Isaacses are stated to be offspring of Hyam Isaacs. The odd one out is Sophia Isaacs. However there is an earlier pre-1837 marriage for Henry Isaacs, also celebrated at St Anne Soho, on 23 Mar 1835 to a Sophia Maishman.⁸ Henry and Sophia then appear together in both the 1841 and 1851 censuses (Henry aged 25+ in 1841 and 38 in 1851).^4,3 This is probably the Sophia Isaacs who witnessed the marriages and she is thus an Isaacs by marriage rather than by birth. (Incidentally Charles and Elizabeth Stevens are living in the same house as Henry and Frances Common in 1851.³)

Fitting this small group of puzzle pieces together we have 4 potential siblings, offspring of Hyam Isaacs (Henry, Fanny, Betsey & Rosetta) plus one probable (James) giving us more lines of research for finding information on Hyam Isaacs.

3. Using Church of England marriages to put Sophia in the right place

Searching the 1841 census for a Betsey and a Rosetta appearing in the same family leads us to the entry for Hyam Issaacs [sic] age 70+ (indexed as Hyam Josaus by Ancestry).⁴ The household includes Catherine age 50+, Betsy age 18, Rosa age 16, Isaac age 16 and Elizabeth age 8. This is almost certainly the family of the parents of Fanny Isaacs. Catherine (age 63) appears living on her own in the 1851 census, Hyam having died on 21 Jul 1849, at Russell Court, Blue Anchor Place, Whitechapel.^3,10 The informant for the death of Hyam was Zuss Isaacs of Spitalfields. We know that Betsy and Rosa had married by 1851, but what happened to Isaac and Elizabeth? Elizabeth is possibly the Elizabeth (age 16) residing with Zuice Isaacs (age 36, = Zuss) and his family, though she is listed as Zuice’s daughter.³ She does not appear with Syes (age 25+, =Zuss) Isaacs and his family in 1841 and is probably too old to be the daughter of Zuss’s wife (Louisa/Rachel, age 34 in 1851).^4,3 Isaac is the right age to be equated with the James son of Hyam Isaacs who married Sarah Gable (age 25 in the 1851 census, c.f. 16 in 1841).^3,4 We now have a potental set of seven siblings: Henry (c. 1812), Zuss/Zuice/Syes (c. 1815), Fanny/Frances (c. 1820), Betsy/Elizabeth (c. 1823), Rosa/Rosetta (c. 1825), Isaac/James (c. 1826) & Elizabeth (c. 1833).

4. After finding the 1841 census entry and death certificate for Hyam

At this point I would have been stuck but for the work of enthusiastic Jewish Genealogists who transliterated and published some of the records of the London Synagogues. From the marriage records of the Great Synagogue came the following two entries:¹¹

• GSM 49b/13 1799 14 July: Isaacs, Hyman s. of Isaac Galaga & Hart Fanny Frumat d. of Hirtz
• GSM 102/49 1806 20 Aug: Isaacs, Hyam: Son-in-law of a Privileged Member: Moshe Chaim; s. of Isaac Pressburg & Levy, Catherine: Daughter of a Privileged Member: Trynla d. of Leib S.G.L.

The second, 1806, marriage could easily be the parents of Fanny and the siblings listed above.

In the marriage records transliterated from the Hambro Synagogue records were the following three entries for people whose father was Hyam Isaacs:¹²

• HSM138 (15 Aug 1827): Myer [Meir] Myers, son of Hyam b. Mordecai of Gravel Lane, Houndsditch = Sarah [Sarah] Isaacs daughter of Mr Hyam Isaacs
• HSM255 (4 Dec 1836): Michael [Yechiel k/a Michael] Isaacs, son of Hayim Isaacs of Rosemary Lane = Leah [Leah] Myers, daughter of Mr Jacob Myers
• HSM257 (30 Mar 1837): Zose [Eleazer Zesman] Isaacs, son of Mr Hayim Isaacs of Rosemary Lane = Rachel [Rachel] Abrahams, daughter of Abraham our father

The last of these can be identified with Zuss/Zuice/Syes who registered the death of Hyam and “adopted” Elizabeth, the probable youngest child of Hyam and Catherine. Michael, whose father was also “of Rosemary Lane”, can be tracked through the censuses and is too old (born c. 1801) to be a child of Hyam and Catherine, but could be a child of Hyam and Fanny Hart.^4,3 By the time of the 1841 and 1851 censuses Sarah Myers née Isaacs had apparently died and Myer Myers had remarried, though three of his children predate his second marriage and must be the children of Sarah.^4,3 We do not have enough data to determine an approximate date of birth for Sarah and must just leave her as a probable child of our Hyam Isaacs.

5. After finding information in some published transliterations of Jewish Records

As these and further transliterations are gradually made available on the internet, I’ve been able to find a few more events, in particular the following curcumcision records:¹³

• 10 May 1809: Samuel (Samuel) Isaacs, son of (Hiam) of Rosemary Lane
• 28 Dec 1810: Henry H (Zvi Hirsh) Isaacs, son of (Hiam) of Ratcliffe Highway
• 21 Nov 1815: Jacob (Jacob) Isaacs, son of Hyam (Hiam) of Rosemary Lane

This Henry can be equated to our Henry who eventually migrated to the USA and who at times uses the middle name “Hyam” (Ratcliffe Highway is not far from Rosemary Lane). In addition to the relationship to “Hiam” of Rosemary Lane, I have also found and purchased the marriage certificates for Samuel (son of Hyam Isaacs to Hannah Lyon, 8 Aug 1838) and a John Isaacs (son of Hyam Isaacs to Mary Solomon, 10 Dec 1837).^14,15 John’s ages in the censuses are variable but it is not out of the ball park to identify him with Jacob.^4,3,16,17 So we now have nine children who are probably the offspring of Hyam and Catherine. In roughly birth order: Samuel (1809); Henry Hyam (1810); Zose/Zuss/etc (c. 1813); Jacob/John (1815); Fanny/Frances (c. 1820); Betsy/Elizabeth (c. 1823); Rosa/Rosetta (c. 1825); Isaac/James (c. 1826) and Elizabeth (c. 1833). We also have a probable son of Hyam and Fanny (Michael, c. 1801)) plus a possible daughter of Hyam, mother uncertain (Sarah). The final family structure built from this mixture of direct and indirect evidence is shown below.

6. With information from an ever increasing amount of online databases

Further support for this family structure comes from DNA matches for myself and my father. I have identified 18 matches who are descended from six of the eight full siblings of Fanny Isaacs enumerated above, plus one match who descends from Michael.^18,19 According to specialist researchers I am what is known as a “golden nugget” for Jewish Genealogical research.²⁰ Having just one Jewish ancestor (at the 3xgreat-grandparent level) clarifies relationships for relatives with extensive, recent Jewish ancestry where the ancestral lines are confused by endogamy within the Jewish community. To quote Douglas Adams, “glad to be of service”.

7. Support for my work from DNA matches. The green highlighted box is my ancestor, Fanny Isaacs. The yellow highlighted boxes are proposed siblings of Fanny among whose descendants I have been able to trace a DNA match.

I cannot guarantee that there will not be further additions to this family in the future, but I’m reasonably confident that the family group is accurate as far as it goes.

Sources

1. England and Wales, birth certificate for Henry John Common, born 4 May 1844; citing 2/526/491, Jun quarter 1844, Whitechapel registration district, Holgate sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.
2. England and Wales, marriage certificate for Henry Common and Fanny Isaacs, married 4 Sep 1843; citing 2/368/335, Sep quarter 1843, Shoreditch registration district; General Register Office, Southport.
3. 1851 England Census, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 25 Dec 2009.
4. 1841 England Census, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 25 Dec 2009.
5. England and Wales, birth certificate for Simon Robert Common, born 14 Nov 1839; citing 2/102/389, Dec quarter 1839, St George in the East registration district, St Paul sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.
6. St George in the East Parish Registers, St George in the East, London, England, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 19 Nov 2010.
7. Christ Church Watney Street Parish Registers, St George in the East, London, England, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 19 Nov 2010.
8. London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1938, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 25 Dec 2009.
9. Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 26 Sep 2020.
10. England and Wales, death certificate for Hyam Isaacs, died 21 Jul 1849; citing 2/765/448, Sep quarter 1849, Whitechapel registration district, Aldgate sub-district; General Register Office, Southport.
11. Shire, Angela, Great Synagogue Marriage Records 1791-1830, Crediton, 1999.
12. Gent, Frank J., New Synagogue Records CD, Crediton, 2002.
13. Synagogue Scribes, https://synagoguescribes.com/blog/, Accessed 21 Sep 2020.
14. England and Wales, marriage certificate for Samuel Isaacs and Hannah Lyons, married 8 Aug 1838; citing 02/161/11, Sep quarter 1838, City of London registration district, General Register Office, Southport.
15. England and Wales, marriage certificate for John Isaacs and Mary Solomons, married 10 Dec 1837; citing 02/261/6, Dec quarter 1837, City of London registration district, General Register Office, Southport.
16. 1861 England Census, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 25 Dec 2009.
17. 1871 England Census, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 25 Dec 2009.
18. Ancestry ThruLines for Alfred Commons (https://www.ancestry.com.au/discoveryui-geneticfamily/thrulines/5C9DF31B-1477-4562-84BC-ED25F3066CCC?filterBy=all).
19. Ancestry ThruLines for Susan Law (https://www.ancestry.com.au/discoveryui-matches/list/080ab020-82f7-4145-bc9c-3bf177830102).
20. Legacy Family Tree Webinars, 'Dealing with Endogamy', https://familytreewebinars.com/webinar/dealing-with-endogamy/?fbclid=IwAR3GSWO1eKwU4OnenUqMUyUqAOkSjjEbjdSw4bjcoTAPD_iHHYxmjK_tZps, Accessed 13 Sep 2022.

Background to using DNA

 As a trained scientist I have no difficulty understanding the basics of the science and mathematical statistics underlying genetic genealogy, but I also do not believe in re-inventing the wheel, so I started looking for websites which demonstrated techniques to use. This blog post is a list of the sites I have found most useful and why. This is not intended to be a one-time blog post, but hopefully will grow as I come across more useful sites.

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Diahan Southard's "Your DNA Guide"

 This really set me on the right track in organising my DNA matches, grouping them by "Most Recent Common Ancestor(s)" (MRCA). Yes, I bought the book. If you want to and don't want a solid copy I would suggest purchasing the PDF version from the web site. In particular I would suggest reading the following blog posts on the site:

• DNA Triangulation: explains how to use shared matches (in Ancestry and other sites) to identify MRCAs without ploughing down to segment level,
• What is a Genetic Network: explains the concepts underlying DNA Triangulation

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DNA Painter

 Online visualisation tools for getting your head around your DNA matches (particularly for a very visual person like me). It has tools to help people with recent "non-parental events" locate themselves within a potential family tree and for those people who want to dig down to segment level in their analysis. The section I use most often is:

• The Shared cM Tool: based on the work of a group of genetic statisticians, this allows to isolate the possible relationships a certain level of common cMs can cover.

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The Genetic Genealogist

 One of the pioneers of genetic genealogy (and yes I've purchase one of his books), his blog ranges widely over the uses of DNA in genealogy. He was one of the founders of:

• The Shared cM Project: a statistical analysis of relationships and the variations in shared cM which can occur. This is the data underlying "The Shared cM Tool" (above)

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The Leeds Method

 A method for sorting out your high cM matches into genetic networks, and seeing if you have any recent pedigree collapse. Plenty of explanatory blog posts to help you.

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DNA Explained

 I've only just come across this blog via one of the best coverages of ThruLines^TM I've seen:

• ThruLines Suggests Potential Ancestors – How Accurate Are They?: explains how the "potential ancestors" feature of Ancestry trees is used to create a ThruLine, and how to use these suggestions.

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 That's all for now, folks. Good luck with your DNA matches.

The Parentage of Susan Wood

 My 4xgreat-grandparents, John Dav(e)y & Susan Wood, were married in Laughton on 19 Oct 1807.¹ John had been born in Laughton, but Susan was a "foreigner" from another village.²

Hunting through the indexes, there is only one Susan Wood baptism in the correct era – Susana Wood daughter of Daniel & Elizabeth, was born18th February 1782, her birth being registered by the Wesleyan Great Meeting House in Battle in their non-conformist register in 1789.^3,4,5 However as I've shown in another post, this is not the Susan Wood who married John Davy in Laughton.

The following documentary evidence exists for Susan Dav(e)y nee Wood:

1. Marriage 19 Oct 1807, Laughton (Approximate age 21+) > born before 1786¹
2. Census 6 Jun 1841 Brighton (age 50(-54), born Sussex) > born 1786-91⁶
3. Census 30 Mar 1851 Brighton (age 67 born "Bucksted") > born Mar 1783-Mar 1784⁷
4. Death 7 Aug 1851 Brighton (age 68) > born Aug 1782-Aug 1783⁸
5. Burial 11 Aug 1851 (age 68) > born Aug 1782- Aug 1783⁹

Susan's age is reasonably consistent implying she was born between 1782 and 1786. The change of age between the 1851 Census on 30 Mar 1851 and her death/burial in Aug 1851 (informant was her son William) could mean that she had a birthday between the census and her death.

There is only one source (the 1851 census) which gives a birthplace for her: "Bucksted". This can be identified with Buxted which is quite close to Laughton (the shortest distance between the parish boundaries pre-1844 is about 5 km from Little Streele to Terrible Down).¹⁰ Checking the SFHG index, there is a Wood family producing children in Buxted at this time (Thomas & Sarah) but no baptism for a Susan. The identified children are listed in the table below.^3,11

Child No.	Christening	Died Young?	Next Child	Gap between Baptisms
1	Philadelphia, 20 Jan 1782	No	2 Thomas	21 months
2	Thomas, 16 Oct 1783	No	3 John	33 months
3	John, 30 Jul 1786	No	4 Samuel	16.5 months
4	Samuel, 9 Dec 1787	No	5 Charlotte	22 months
5	Charlotte, 4 Oct 1789	No	6 James	19.5 months
6	James, 25 May 1791	No	7 Charles	17 months
7	Charles, 28 Oct 1792	No	8 Sarah	14.5 months
8	Sarah, 5 Jan 1794	No	9 Lucy	13 months
9	Lucy, 2 Feb 1795, bu 7 Mar 1795	Yes	10 George	27 months
10	George, 5 Jul 1797, bu 15 Jul 1797	Yes	11 George	15 months
11	George, inf bu 20 Oct 1798	Yes	12 Henry	15.5 months
12	Henry, inf bu 9 Feb 1800	Yes	13 Sarah	26 months
13	Sarah, inf bu 20 Jul 1802	Yes	14 Harriet	49 months
14	Harriet, private baptism 30 Aug 1806	No	N/A	N/A

At that time most working class women would breast-feed their children, a practice which resulted in fairly regular gaps between children of about 2 years.¹² One of the causes of short gaps between children is death of a child in infancy. There is no evidence of infant burials for any of the first eight children of Thomas & Sarah. However the next five children, starting with the ninth, all die in infancy, some so soon after birth as to not be baptized. Therefore it makes sense to look at the gaps until the birth of the ninth child (i.e. the first eight gaps) excluding gaps after the infant deaths start. Looking at the offspring of Thomas & Sarah, they are baptising a child approximately every 18 months, but there is a nearly 3-year gap from October 1783 to July 1786. To see if this is enough for an extra child I analysed the gaps between baptisms as follows:

• The average value of the first eight gaps is 19.6 months. 
• If we exclude the 33 month gap, the average of the seven remaining gaps drops to 17.6 months. 
• If we assume that there is an unrecorded baptism during the 33 month gap, then we have nine gaps for an average of 17.4 months between children.

Thus at the average rate for gaps between children borne by Sarah, there is almost certainly enough time for an extra child in the 33 month gap. The fact that this gap overlaps with the inferred range of years for the birth of Susan Wood means there is no familial obstacle to her being the child of Thomas and Sarah.

To conclude, given that Susan Wood was born in Buxted between 1782 and 1786, then there is an opportunity for her to be a child of Thomas and Sarah Wood born about March 1785 (plus or minus a few months). There is weak support for this identification from DNA because my father has a 12cM, single segment match with a descendant of Thomas's sister, Mary.¹³

Sources

1. Marriage of John David Davey and Susan Wood, married 19 October 1807, All Saints Laughton Parish Register, Laughton, Sussex, England, FHL Film 1067216.
2. Baptism of John  Davy, baptised 16 April 1786, All Saints Laughton Parish Register, Laughton, Sussex, England, FHL Film 1067215.
3. Sussex Family History Group, ‘Data Archive on Frontis, Baptism Data’, http://sfhg.frontis.co/bin/index.php, accessed 22 Apr 2021.
4. England & Wales, Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers, 1567-1936, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 31 Oct 2021.
5. Birth Registration entry of Susana Wood, born 18 February 1782, The Great Meeting House, Battle, Sussex, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 23 Oct 2021.
6. Census record for Susan Wood, aged 50, 27 Crescent Cottages, Brighton, Sussex, 1851 England and Wales Census, The National Archives, HO107/1644/244, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 11 Feb 2007.
7. Census record for Susanah Wood, aged 67, Crescent Cottages, Brighton, Sussex, 1841 England and Wales Census, The National Archives, HO107/1123/5, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 11 Feb 2007.
8. Death certificate of Susannah Davey, died 7 August 1851, registered September quarter 1851, Brighthelmston registration district, General Registry Office, England, vol. 7, p. 203, no. 94.
9. Burial of Susannah Davey, buried 11 Aug 1851, St Nicholas Brighton Parish Register, East Sussex Record Office, PAR 255/1/5/10, East Sussex, England, Church of England Deaths and Burials, 1813-1995,  Ancestry.com.au, accessed 8 Jan 2023.
10. Cockin, T. C. H., The Parish Atlas of England, Malthouse Press, Barlaston, 2017.
11. Sussex Family History Group, ‘Data Archive on Frontis, Burial Data’, http://sfhg.frontis.co/bin/index.php, accessed 22 Apr 2021.
12. World Alliance for Breastfeeding Action, 'Breastfeeding & Birth Spacing', https://waba.org.my/archive/healthcare-research/breastfeeding-birth-spacing/, accessed 8 Jan 2023.
13. Ancestry ThruLines for Alfred Commons (https://www.ancestry.com.au/discoveryui-geneticfamily/thrulines/5C9DF31B-1477-4562-84BC-ED25F3066CCC?filterBy=all).