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.

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).

Which William Langridge?

 Documented background

 My 3xgreat-grandfather, William Langridge, married Ann Sansom on 13th October 1834 in St Nicholas’ Church, Brighton.¹ In the 1841 Census, He and Ann are living in Paradise Street in the Kemp Town area of Brighton.² William is stated to be of age 35 and born in Sussex. When filling in the 1841 census, residents were supposed to round their age down to the nearest multiple of 5. This implies that William was born between 1801 and 1806.

 Unfortunately he died before the 1851 census on 26th July 1850, his age being given as 46 years.³ This implies he was born between 1803 and 1804. This is supported by his burial record, his age also being given as 46 years.⁴ Thus we should be looking between 1801 and 1806 for a William Langridge who is not otherwise accounted for, hopefully one in the 1803-1804 range. (Note that the surname ‘Langridge’ and its variants are locally common in Sussex.)

St Nicholas Brighton, photographed by the author, 11 Jul 2016.

Elimination of Candidates

 Seven William Langridges were found with baptisms between 1801 and 1806 in the SFHG Baptism Index.⁵ These are listed in the table below with (where found) later records which account for them.^6-8

Baptism/Parents	Marriage/Spouse	Censuses	Burials
25 Jan 1801, Uckfield Joseph & Alinah		Bexley, Kent 1841: b 1801 Not KEN 1851: b 1800 SSX 1861: b 1799, Fletching
15 Feb 1801, Horsted Keynes David & Sarah	19 Jun 1825, Fletching Caroline Wood	Horsted Keynes 1841: b 1801 SSX, (spouse = Caroline) West Hoathly 1851: b 1802 Horsted Keynes (widowed)
8 Aug 1801, Fletching William & Elizabeth	N/A	N/A	7 Apr 1802, Fletching, ‘infant’
27 Sep 1801, East Grinstead Thomas & Philadelphia	2 Nov 1823, West Hoathly Ann Lampton William bach of East Grinstead
10 Apr 1803, Burwash John & Ruth			None
22 Jul 1804, Fletching Henry & Elizabeth	?N/A	?N/A	24 Oct 1809, Fletching, ‘infant’ (unusual, but not unknown)
28 Jul 1805, Uckfield John & Hannah	6 Jul 1835, Frant Sarah Harris	Westerham Kent 1841: b 1806 not KEN 1851: b 1806, Uckfield

By matching the baptisms to marriages and censuses, we can eliminate all but the ‘1803 Burwash’ and ‘1804 Fletching’ William Langridges. There is, however, a burial for a William Langridge in Fletching in 1809 which is labelled as ‘infant’. There are no other baptisms following the 1804 Fletching baptism to account for this burial, and it is certainly possible that it is of the 1804 William Langridge. It was therefore concluded that the William Langridge baptised in Burwash in 1803 is the most probable candidate.

St Bartholomew Burwash, photographed by the author, 13 Jul 2016.

DNA Matches

Using the 1803 William Langridge in my family tree, William, via his mother Ruth Wickham, becomes a descendent of the Langridges of Burwash and the Wickhams of Wadhurst. In 2019 my father (2xgreat-grandson of William Langridge) took an Ancestry DNA test. In his results there are six DNA matches with a Most Recent Common Ancestor couple (MRCA) of John Wickham and Mary Baldwyn (the parents of Ruth Wickham).⁹ There is also a match where the MRCA is Stephen Langridge and Elizabeth Fuller, great-grandparents of William Langridge (1803, Burwash).¹⁰ This is strong support for the William Langridge who married Ann Sansom in Brighton in 1834 being the son of John and Ruth Langridge baptised in Burwash in 1803.

Sources

1. Marriage of William Langridge & Ann Sansom, married 13 Oct 1834, St Nicholas Church Parish Register, Brighton, Sussex, England, page 204, no. 614, FHL microfilm 1067118, item 3, accessed 17 Mar 2006.
2. Census record for William Langridge, aged 35, Paradise Street, Brighton, Sussex, 1841 England and Wales Census, The National Archives, HO1071123/5/13/18-19, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 19 Aug 2006.
3. Death certificate of William Langridge, died 26 Jul 1850 registered September quarter 1850, Brighthelmston registration district, General Registry Office, England, vol. 7, p. 204, no. 407.
4. Burial of William Langridge, buried 31 Jul 1850, St Nicholas Church Parish Register, Brighton, Sussex, England, page 297, no. 2375, FHL digitised microfilm 1067133, item 3, accessed 3 Mar 2016.
5. Sussex Family History Group, ‘Data Archive on Frontis, Baptism Data’, http://sfhg.frontis.co/bin/index.php, accessed 18 Feb 2020.
6. Sussex Family History Group, ‘SFHG Marriage Index to 1837 (CD)’, Sussex Family History Group, 2005.
7. Sussex Family History Group, ‘Data Archive on Frontis, Burial Data’, http://sfhg.frontis.co/bin/index.php, accessed 18 Feb 2020.
8. UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 18 Feb 2020.
9. Ancestry Australia, ‘Alfred Commons DNA Test: Thru-Lines for John Wickham’, https://www.ancestry.com.au/discoveryui-geneticfamily/thrulines/tree/1808521227:9009:66/for/5C9DF31B-1477-4562-84BC-ED25F3066CCC, accessed 22 Feb 2022 (not accessible without login).
10. Ancestry Australia, ‘Alfred Commons DNA Test: Thru-Lines for Stephen Langridge’, https://www.ancestry.com.au/discoveryui-geneticfamily/thrulines/tree/20074458:9009:66/for/5C9DF31B-1477-4562-84BC-ED25F3066CCC, accessed 22 Feb 2022 (not accessible without login).

The Origins of John Beckwith, born circa 1779

 John Beckwith was the father of Thomas Beckwith, my 3 x great-grandfather. John married Ann Lamson in Hackney 1804.¹ He died in Bethnal Green on 6th March 1838 his age being given as 59.² This indicates he was born about 1778-79. There are no Beckwith Baptisms in Bethnal Green before 1800, and only one isolated event in Shoreditch (John Backwith, 1778).³

 There are twelve John Beckwiths or Backwiths baptised in England from the beginning of 1777 to the end of 1780, with baptismal locations including Shoreditch, Middlesex, several in Essex, one in Norwich, Norfolk and others extending as far north as Brough under Stainmore, Westmoreland.⁴ To assist with his identification I looked at the details of John’s life and offspring to see if they would provide any hints.

 From the parish records, John & Ann Beckwith had the following offspring: Ann (1800), John Mitchelson (1802), Thomas (1804), Edward (1808), William Henry (1811), Charles (1817) & Edmund (1818), all christened in either Shoreditch or Bethnal Green.^5,6 However this list is not complete because the informant on the death certificate of Ann Beckwith nee Lamson is her son Ambrose Beckwith, weaver of 17 Robert St.⁷ Ambrose is easily found at 17 Robert Street in the 1851 census.⁸ The entry indicates he was born circa 1806 in Bethnal Green and there is a matching 1806 baptism entry in the registers of Bethnal Green St Matthew: Ambrose s/o Joseph & Ann Beckworth.⁶

 Baptisms were initially recorded in day books, often in abbreviated form, prior to being written into the official register. John would be abbreviated J^no and Joseph would be abbreviated J^os. These could be (and sometimes were) confused and misinterpreted during the transfer to the official register. Ambrose (1806) was the first child the couple baptised at St Matthew, so the parish officials wouldn’t necessarily have been familiar with them as a couple. He also fits nicely into a gap in the regular two-yearly child pattern.

 So the complete list of the offspring of John and Ann Beckwith is:

• 1800 Ann, christened 25th December 1800, Shoreditch St Leonard,
• 1802 John Mitchelson, christened 8th December 1811, Shoreditch St Leonard,
• 1804 Thomas, christened 1st January 1805, Shoreditch St Leonard,
• 1806 Ambrose, christened 16th November 1806, Bethnal Green St Matthew,
• 1808 Edward, christened 22nd June 1809, Shoreditch St Leonard,
• 1811 William Henry, christened 8th December 1811, Shoreditch St Leonard,
• 1817 Charles, christened 23rd March 1817, Bethnal Green St Matthew,
• 1818 Edmund, christened 3rd January 1819, Bethnal Green St Matthew.5,6
  

 Both John Beckwith and Ann Beckwith nee Lamson died in Bethnal Green (in 1838 and 1837 respectively).^2,7 On his death certificate, John’s occupation is given as a weaver and in 1841 his five unmarried sons (John, Edward, William Charles & Edward) are still living in the house in which he died, and are all weavers.⁹ The other three married offspring are also living in Bethnal Green in 1841, with all three households (Thomas & Ann Barton nee Beckwith; Thomas & Sarah Rebecca; Ambrose & Hester) being weaving households with everyone from the age of 11 up giving their occupation as weaver.⁹ By 1841 it was hard to make a living as a weaver, and families worked as a factory with the younger children spinning, threading weights or winding shuttles (see Plummer, page 361).¹⁰ Before 1800 there are no weavers with surname Beckwith in the East End.

 One odd point about the family is that Ambrose is quite a rare given name, but there is a sudden glut of Beckwiths with the given name Ambrose baptised in the East End of London in the early 1900s:

1. 1803 – Ambrose son of Ambrose & Ann, christened 7th August, Bethnal Green St Matthew (buried 17th August 1803, Bethnal Green St Matthew),
2. 1804 – Ambrose son of Ambrose & Ann, christened 12th August, Bethnal Green St Matthew (presumed death before October 1806),
3. 1806 – Ambrose son of Ambrose & Ann, christened 26th October, Bethnal Green St Matthew (buried 18th September 1808, Bethnal Green St Matthew),
4. 1806 – Ambrose son of Joseph & Ann, christened 16th November, Bethnal Green St Matthew,
5. 1814 – Ambrose son of Ambrose & Ann, christened 13th March, Bethnal Green St Matthew,
6. 1832 – Ambrose son of Ambrose & Esther, christened 17th June, Bethnal Green St Matthew,
7. 1844 – Ambrose James son of Ambrose & Maria, christened 5th June, Bethnal Green St Matthew,
8. 1849 – Ambrose Bona son of Henry & Mary Ann, christened 4th February, Bethnal Green St Jude,
9. 1871 – Joseph Ambrose son of Ambrose Bona & Sarah Ann Susannah, christened 2nd October, Hackney St Michael.^3,11,12

 The early baptisms (1, 2, 3, 5) are the offspring of Ambrose Beckwith and Ann nee Cecil (married in 1803, St George in the East).¹³ Ambrose and Ann can also be found in the censuses, and in 1861 he is shown as a weaver, born in Norwich about 1782.¹⁴ This corresponds with the son of Ambrose Beckwith and Ann Wittelton, christened in 1782, at Norwich St Paul.¹⁵

 The 1844 Ambrose James (7) is the grandson of Ambrose and Ann nee Cecil via their son Ambrose (1814, #5) and his wife Martha Bennett.^11,16 The 1849 Ambrose Bona (8) is the grandson of Ambrose & Ann Cecil via their son Henry (1816) and his wife Mary Ann Bona.^11,16 The 1871 Joseph Ambrose Beckwith (9) is the son of Ambrose Bona.

 We have already discussed the first 1806 Ambrose Beckwith (4). The 1832 Ambrose Beckwith (6) is the grandson of John and Ann nee Lamson via their son Ambrose (1806, #4) and his wife Esther/Hester Holloway.^11,16 Ann Beckwith (1800), daughter of John Beckwith who married Thomas Barton in 1824, also named one of her sons Ambrose (Ambrose Barton 1835).^11,16

 So all the Ambrose Beckwiths in the East End of London (plus Ambrose Barton) descend either from Ambrose Beckwith (1782, Norwich) and Ann nee Cecil or John Beckwith (c. 1779, origin unclear) and Ann nee Lamson (see Figure 1). Could John Beckwith and Ambrose Beckwith (1782) be related? After all one of our twelve possible John Beckwiths is from Norwich.

Figure 1: The Ambrose Beckwiths of the East End of London, 1803-1871.

 Looking at the family of Ambrose Beckwith & Ann Wittelton (proven parents of Ambrose born 1782, above), we find that they baptised nine children in Norwich, four of whom died in infancy (see Figure 2).^15,17,18,19 No further records can be found for Ambrose Beckwith (1749), his wife Ann nee Wittelton or any of their surviving offspring in Norwich. There is, however, a burial in 1814 at Bethnal Green for an Ambrose Beckwith of about the right age to be Ambrose (1749).⁶ There is then a marriage for an Ann Beckwith (widow) to James Oldfield (Whitechapel 1816).^6,20 Finally there is a burial for Ann Oldfield of the right age in 1819 at Bethnal Green.⁶ Of the surviving five children two can definitively be identified in the East End of London in the 1851 census (Ambrose Beckwith (1782) and Mary Ann Debarr nee Beckwith (1787), (see Figure 2).^8,21

Figure 2: The Family of Ambrose Beckwith and Ann(e) Wittelton, Norwich-Bethnal Green.

 We are thus missing three offspring: John (1779), Susanna (1786) and Elizabeth (1790). There are possibilities for John and Susanna in Bethnal Green: “Our” John, husband of Ann Lamson (and father of Thomas), and Susanna Beckwith who married John Whiter in Shoreditch in 1806 (see Figure 2), but I have not been able to find any evidence for the fate of Elizabeth.^1,5 All these couples (Ambrose Beckwith (1782) and Ann Beckwith nee Cecil, John Whiter and Susanna Whiter nee Beckwith, and James Debarr and Mary Ann Debarr nee Beckwith) lived in Bethnal Green like “our” John.⁹ Furthermore Ambrose Beckwith (1782), John Whiter, James Debarr and James Oldfield (second husband of Anne nee Wittelton) are also weavers like “our” John.^9,22 In addition a James Oldfield witnessed the marriages of John Beckwith to Ann Lamson in 1800 and Mary Ann Beckwith to James Debarr in 1813 prior to marrying Ann nee Wittelton in 1816.^1,20 He signed all three documents and the signatures are similar.

Figure 3: St Edmund's Church, Fishergate, Norwich, where Ambrose Beckwith was baptised in 1749. Photographed by the Author, 2018.

 To summarize, “our” John Beckwith lived in Bethnal Green, the same area where Ambrose Beckwith (1749) lived prior to his death as did his proven offspring Ambrose Beckwith (1782) and Mary Ann Debarr nee Beckwith (1787). John, his male offspring and his son-in-law were all weavers as were Ambrose Beckwith (1782) and James Debarr, husband of Mary Ann Beckwith (1787). John’s marriage was witnessed by a James Oldfield, who also witnessed the marriage of Mary Ann Beckwith (1787) and subsequently married Ann Beckwith nee Wittelton in 1816.

 The balance of the evidence points to John Beckwith (c. 1779) being the son of Ambrose Beckwith (1749) and Ann Wittelton who was christened 29th August 1779 at St Pauls Church, Norwich.

Arriving in London

Introduction

This short piece was written as a 250-word weekly assignment piece for the Diploma of Family History Unit “Writing Family History”. For this assignment we had to “think about a moment in your ancestor’s life where they arrived in a new place and ask yourself some of the key questions of family history: what? where? when? how? why?”

John Common was baptised in 1779 in Longhorsley, Northumberland. In 1806 his first child by Mary Oldfield was buried in Wapping, London. Given that there were coalmines in Longhorsley and that massive amounts of coal were being shipped from the Northumberland ports (including Newcastle) to London, it is almost certain that John would have made the trip by collier. How would a young man who had grown up in a rural Northumberland village feel as the collier slowly made its way up the Thames estuary?

---

Arriving in London, circa 1800

It was the sheer size which stunned John as the collier drifted up the Thames estuary within sight of the northern shore. A bare, flat shore with just the occasional church tower which the master noted one by one as they passed. Initially John couldn’t make out the southern shore, but then it appeared as a flat hazy line on the horizon. It was so different to the Tyne back in Northumberland, where the estuary showed as a clear gap between the low cliffs.

Gradually the banks edged together, but it was still very wide when the river began to meander, wide sweeping loops between the flat lands. He suddenly felt a longing for the hills around Longhorsley.

At Blackwall they heaved to as a boat rowed out from the old docks to check their cargo and direct them to their wharf. Then they continued left, right, left up a series of long reaches. Gradually small groups of cottages appeared on the flat banks. They made a final left turn and suddenly there were buildings as far as the eye could see across a mass of ships. He gasped and asked the man next to him if that was London. “Nay,” came the answer, “’Tis just Shadwell.”

As they approached the wharf he saw that the houses were just as small, mean and pokey as the cottages he had left behind in Longhorsley and as well just as crowded as Newcastle. Well, he was committed to a future here now.

Sources

1. Parry, Naomi, ‘Module 5 Writing Activities’, HAA004: Writing Family Histories, Accessed 23 Nov 2011.
2. Baptism of John Common, baptised 30 August 1779, Parish Registers of St Helen’s Church, Longhorsley, Northumberland, England, FHL microfilm 252593, item 1.
3. Marriage of John Common and Mary Oldfield, married 27 Jul 1806, Parish Registers of Saint John of Wapping, Wapping, Middlesex, England.
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coal_mining_in_the_United_Kingdom
   https://web.archive.org/web/20160418022803/http://www.cmhrc.pwp.blueyonder.co.uk/nblandcf.htm.
5. http://projects.exeter.ac.uk/mhn/1896-33.htm.
6. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collier_(ship).
7. https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/urban-history/article/abs/industrial-coal-consumption-in-early-modern-london/5777CBD7E2B6D476303AF91CEFBA4D1D.
8. https://historicengland.org.uk/research/inclusive-heritage/womens-history/maritime-women/perils/.
9. https://maps.nls.uk/view/102341461.
10. https://maps.nls.uk/view/102342032.
11. https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Schematic-map-of-the-Thames-Estuary-showing-in-two-parts-up-and-down-estuary-of-the_fig1_226079902.
    

Eliminating Susana Wood

 My 4xgreat-grandparents were married in All Saints Church Laughton on 19th October 1807.¹ Their names were given in the marriage register as John David Davey and Susan Wood. John died in 1831, but Susan survived until late 1851 and completed two censuses.^2,3,5,6 The important census is the 1851 census, the first England census which required an actual age and a place of birth. Susan(nah) gives her age as 67 (implying she was born 1783-4) and her place of birth as “Sussex, Bucksted”. “Bucksted” should probably be equated with Buxted in north-east Sussex, about 12 km from Laughton.

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.^6,7,8 It looked good to me (and it looked and looks good to a lot of other people too). Battle is about 27 km from Laughton.

However doing my due diligence on Susana Wood turned up another marriage, that of George Jupp and Susan Wood in Battle 1809.⁹ The couple moved to Bloomsbury where they registered the birth (in 1811) of a daughter, Mary Susanna Jupp, in the registers of Dr William’s Library in 1812.¹⁰ In this non-conformist birth registration Susanna, the mother of Mary Susanna Jupp, is stated to be Susanna daughter of Daniel & Elizabeth Wood.

Oh well, back to the drawing board (and probably another blog post when I sort it out). There are, at least, some Woods in the Buxted parish registers.

All Saints Laughton, photographed by the Author, 13 Jul 2016

 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. Burial of John Davey, buried 23 December 1831, Hanover Chapel, Brighton, Sussex, England, bmdregisters.co.uk, accessed 22 Feb 2008.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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.
6. Sussex Family History Group, ‘Data Archive on Frontis, Baptism Data’, http://sfhg.frontis.co/bin/index.php, accessed 23 Oct 2021.
7. FamilySearch, https://www.familysearch.org/en/, accessed 23 Oct 2021.
8. Birth Registration entry of Susana Wood, born 18 February 1782, The Great Meeting House, Battle, Sussex, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 23 Oct 2021
9. Marriage of George Jupp & Susannah Wood, married 13 Sep 1809, Sussex Family History Group, The Sussex Marriage Index (Up to 1837) (CD ROM). Lewes, UK, Sussex Family History Group, 2005.
10. Birth Registration entry of Mary Susanna Jupp, born 5 June 1811, Dr Williams’ Library Registry, Birth Certificates, 1805-1812 , Ancestry.com.au, accessed 23 Oct 2021.
    

Why is ‘Rosers Cross’ so named?

 John Roser migrated to Waldron in the late 1700s having married at East Hoathly in 1782 and baptised his daughter Martha in Waldron in 1794. So the family had not been long term residents of Waldron before the 1800s.^1,2 However just north of the village centre is a cross-roads (and a recently developed hamlet) named ‘Rosers Cross’.³ The cross-roads is marked with this name in the 1898 Ordnance survey map of the area, but not in the earliest (1813) map.^4,5 So sometime in this period the location acquired its name. Is there any way in which the location where the Rosers resided during this time can be identified to see whether it was in the locality later known as ‘Rosers Cross’?

Rosers Cross from Rosers Cross Lane, photographed by Sue Law, 13 July 2016

 In fact the 1841 Census can be used to roughly locate the Roser residence in June 1841. Census takers were allotted an area to cover (an enumeration district, usually described at the start of the census section) and since they were walking or riding, they optimised their route to minimise the length of their journey. The household schedules thus collected were numbered in the order they were taken. Thus by listing the locations in the enumeration district in schedule order, identifying their modern locations and plotting them out in order, the route followed by the census taker can be illustrated and the rough location of any unknown or poorly specified places can be identified. The Rosers lived in Enumeration District 5 (Waldron Parish) of Framfield Registrar’s District which was part of the Uckfield Superintendent Registrar’s District.⁶ The named locations were censused in the following order:

	1841 census location name	Most recent location name
1	Furnace	The Furnace7
2	Sharps Corner	Sharps Corner3,5
3	Eastons	-
4	Horsham	Horeham/Horam3,5
5	Cards	-
6	Great Tan House	Tanners Manor or Tanners Farm3
7	Lions green House	Lions Green3
8	Foxhunt green	Foxhunt Green3
9	Foxhunt House	Foxhunt4
10	Woodgates	-
11	Shullow Bridge	Scallow Bridge3
12	Shullow Bridge cottage	Probably Scallow Wish7
13	Herringdales	Heronsdale Manor3
14	Holms	Holms Farm7
15	Silver Oaks	Silveroaks Farm7
16	Gowers	-
17	Cutteys Crouch	Catts Crouch Farm7
18	Possingworth Bridge	Not named, but the road to Possingworth Manor House does cross the same stream as Scallows Bridge, so I have assumed that this is Possingworth Bridge
19	Possingworth	Possingworth Manor House8
20	Brickendens	Bryckden Place3
21	(Roser Residence)	Location of the Roser entries in the enumeration
22	Mount Pleasant	Montpellier.4 This is the closest I can find to a “Mount Pleasant”, through there is a street called “Mount Pleasant” in Cross in Hand not far from this location.
23	Siggses	Siggswood9 (on Brittenden Lane)
24	Waldron Cross	I assume this is the cross-roads west of the village
25	Poorhouse	Grove Cottages10,11
26	Owlesbury House	Owlesbury House12
27	Waldron Street	The Street

 

Street sign, Waldron, photographed by Alan Law, 13 July 2016

Plotting these places on Google Earth and linking places 1 to 20 (before the Roser residence) with an orange path and 22 to 27 (after the Roser residence) with a red path, we can see that the census taker took a logical and optimal path around the district. The locations of un-named residences will thus be between the identified locations either side of the census entry.

Census taker's route around Waldron, June 1841

 Logically the Roser residence lies in the gap in the path in the area of locations 20, 22 and 23 not far from ‘Rosers Cross’. There is thus a strong possibility that ‘Rosers Cross’ is named after the family of John Roser, his wife Martha and their descendants.

 This technique can be used to locate unknown locations anywhere in the UK with appropriate census records, for example locating named slum “Rents” in the East End of London which were not shown on any map before they were cleared.

Sources

1. Marriage of John Roser and Martha Hook, married 28 October 1782, East Hoathly Parish Register, East Hoathly, Sussex, England, Reprograph obtained from East Sussex Record Office.
2. Baptism of Martha Roser, baptised 6 January 1794, All Saints Waldron Parish Register, Waldron, Sussex, England, Reprograph obtained from East Sussex Record Office.
3. Ordnance Survey, #199 Eastbourne & Hastings, Topographic, 1:50 000, OS Landranger, Southampton, UK, Ordnance Survey, 2017.
4. Ordnance Survey, and Cassini Maps, Eastbourne & Hastings 1898, Matching OS Landranger 199, Topographic, 1:50 000, Cassini Historical Map Revised New Series. Gillingham, UK, Cassini Publishing, 2007.
5. Ordnance Survey, and Cassini Maps, Eastbourne & Hastings 1813, Matching OS Landranger 199, Topographic, 1:50 000, Cassini Historical Map Old Series, Gillingham, UK, Cassini Publishing, 2007.
6. Census record for Parish of Waldron, Sussex, 1841 England and Wales Census, The National Archives, HO107/1118/9 Folios 5-12, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com, accessed 3 Nov 2006.
7.  Streetmap.co.uk, ‘1:25,000 Street Map: Waldron’, http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?x=554678&y=119747&z=120&sv=Waldron&st=3&tl=Map+of+Waldron,+East+Sussex+[Town]&searchp=ids&mapp=map, accessed 10 Oct 2021.
8. Streetmap.co.uk, ‘1:25,000 Topographic Map: Waldron’, http://www.streetmap.co.uk/map?x=554678&y=119747&z=120&sv=Waldron&st=3&tl=Map+of+Waldron,+East+Sussex+[Town]&searchp=ids&mapp=map, accessed 10 Oct 2021.
9. Zoopla.co.uk, ‘Listing for Siggswood, Waldron, Heathfield TN21 0RG’, https://www.zoopla.co.uk/property/siggswood/waldron/heathfield/tn21-0rg/23988774/, accessed 10 Oct 2021.
10. British Listed Buildings, ‘Grove Cottage’, https://britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101183172-grove-cottage-heathfield-and-waldron#.YWNz3xw7YaF, accessed 10 Oct 2021.
11. Mike Wilson, ‘History of Grove Cottages (Waldron Workhouse)’, Maggi and Popsie's Blog, 1 July 2009, http://maggiandmike.blogspot.com/,  accessed 10 Oct 2021.
12. Rightmove.co.uk, ‘Listing for Owlesbury, North Street, Waldron, Heathfield, East Sussex TN21 0QR’, https://www.rightmove.co.uk/house-prices/detailMatching.html?prop=75796126&sale=80659083&country=england, accessed 10 Oct 2021.

The Confusing Coventry Mob

 The Warwickshire section of my family tree can be very confusing, a situation not helped by the damage and destruction caused to the parish records of St Michael’s Coventry when it was bombed during WWII. The surname ‘Fletcher’ keeps cropping up, legitimately and adoptively, and in this blog I will investigate the reasons for this, and whether there is any relationship between the various Fletchers who appear in my tree.

 I have shown in a previous blog how Mary Ann Butler (daughter of James Butler) was listed in censuses as Mary Ann Fletcher when she was young.^1,2 Her mother’s maiden surname was Fletcher, but this was not the reason for the family using that surname.³ Looking at the timeline:

• Edward Butler married Catharine Randal in 1822.⁴
• Their son James was baptised in 1822.⁵
• Edward Butler died in 1826.⁶
• Catharine Butler nee Randal married Henry Fletcher in 1827.⁷
• Catharine and Henry baptise two children in Foleshill.^8,9
• Henry, Catharine and their children moved to Tower Hamlets about 1833.¹⁰
• Henry Fletcher died in 1840.¹¹
• When completing the 1841 census the widowed Catharine Fletcher gave the surname of all her children as ‘Fletcher’, including James Butler.¹²

 James Butler continued to use the surname Fletcher in the censuses right up to his death, though he used ‘Butler’ when he married Fanny Maria Fletcher in 1843 and when he registered their children.^{1,2,3,13,14,15,16} James Butler’s step-father and wife were thus both Fletchers and while Fanny Maria was born in Tower Hamlets, her father was born in Coventry about 1781.^17,18 Both the Butlers and Fletchers maintained strong links with Warwickshire with many members moving back and forth between Tower Hamlets and the Coventry area.

&npsp;I haven’t found a baptismal entry for Henry Fletcher (James’ step-father) but his death in 1840 (aged 32) was registered by his father, another Henry Fletcher (hereafter distinguished as Henry Fletcher Snr) who was living one street away from Catharine Fletcher (nee Randal) at the time of the 1841 census.^11,19 In the 1851 census Henry Fletcher Snr is listed living in Foleshill, stating that he had been born in Coventry around 1785, like John Fletcher.²⁰ There is a late baptism entry for Henry Fletcher Snr in Shoreditch in 1801, giving a 1785 birth date and parents as “Jones” and “Amey”.²¹

 A search for potential parents in the Coventry area, reveals that Jonah Fletcher married Em Barkby in Walsgrave on Sowe in 1767.²² Jonah was born in Walsgrave on Sowe in 1745, the same year and place as Ame Barkby.^23,24 This pair are probably the parents of Henry Snr.

Figure 1: Church of St Mary, Walsgrave on Sowe, photographed by Susan Law 9 July 2019

 Turning back to the other Fletchers, we noted above that Fanny Maria Fletcher’s father, John Fletcher, was born in Coventry about 1781.¹⁸ There is a 1782 baptism entry in the Bishop’s Transcripts for St Michael’s Coventry for a John Fletcher son of “Joseph” and “Emmy”.²⁵ At this period church events were noted initially in day books (or scraps of paper), often in abbreviated form, before being copied into the official register once a week.²⁶ The abbreviated form of both ‘Jonas’ and ‘Joseph’ is ‘Jo^s’. In this case we have a further potential for error in that this surviving record is a Bishop’s Transcript. So it is possible that John’s father was actually a Jonas. ‘Emmy’ and ‘Amey’ are probable variants of ‘Amy’, as are ‘Ame’ and ‘Em’ (above). It is thus a strong possibility that John and Henry Snr are brothers. Supporting this there is another baptism in a surviving section of a damaged St Michael’s Register in 1771 for James Fletcher son of Jonas and Amy.²⁷ He is probably another sibling of John and Henry.

Figure 2: Ruined chancel of St Michael's Church, Coventry, photographed by Alan Law 8 July 2019 (used with permission).

 It is interesting to note that the occupations for both John and Henry Fletcher Snr were given as “soldier” in the baptisms of their early children in 1806.^28,29 Perhaps they were both militiamen? It was after all the time of the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars.

 If John and Henry Fletcher Snr were brothers, then when James Butler married Fanny Maria in 1843 he married his step-father’s cousin (see Figure 3). While this is not consanguineous it has the potential to cause confusion. The relationship complicates the interpretation of DNA results as it is near impossible to distinguish genetically between the descendants of Catharine Randal’s two marriages and the descendents of John Fletcher. Possibly due to the DNA matches, Henry Fletcher, son of Catherine and Henry Fletcher and grandson of Henry Snr (probable brother of John Fletcher) is attached in some trees as a child of John Fletcher and Catharine Squires, despite the total lack of records associating him with the couple (for example never appearing with the family in the censuses).³⁰ These DNA matches do, however, support the thesis that John Fletcher and Henry Fletcher Snr were brothers.

Figure 3: Relationships among the Confusing Coventry Mob

Sources

1. Census record for James Fletcher, aged 25, 3 Fleet Street, Bethnal Green, Middlesex, 1851 England and Wales Census, The National Archives, HO107/1542, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 8 Aug 2008.
2. Census record for James Fletcher, aged 38, 8 Horse Ride, Bethnal Green, Middlesex, 1861 England and Wales Census, The National Archives, HO107/1542, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 8 Aug 2008.
3. Marriage certificate of James Butler and Fanny Maria Fletcher, married 5 June 1843, registered June quarter 1843, Shoreditch registration district, General Registry Office, England, vol. 2, p. 376, no. 182.
4. Marriage of Edward Buttler and Catharine Randle, married 18 February 1822, St Laurence’s Church Parish Register, Foleshill, Warwickshire, England, page number not known, No. 412.
5. Baptism of James Butler, baptised 25 August 1822, St Laurence’s Church Parish Register, Foleshill, Warwickshire, England, page number not known, No. 412.
6. Burial of Edward Buttler, buried 28 July 1826, St Laurence’s Church Parish Register, Foleshill, Warwickshire, England, Page 136, No. 1085.
7. Marriage of Henry Fletcher and Catharine Butler, married 10 Jun 1827, St Laurence’s Church Parish Register, Foleshill, Warwickshire, England, page number not known, No. 115.
8. Baptism of Henry Fletcher, baptised 17 February 1828, St Laurence’s Church Parish Register, Foleshill, Warwickshire, England, Page 30, No. 238. FHL Film No. 559233.
9. Baptism of Hannah Fletcher, baptised 27 February 1831, St Laurence’s Church Parish Register, Foleshill, Warwickshire, England, Page 81, No. 646, FHL Film No. 559233.
10. Baptism of George Henry Fletcher, baptised 3 August 1834, Christ Church Parish Register, Spitalfields, Middlesex, England, Page 227, No. 1809. London Metropolitan Archives Microfiche No. X024/002.
11. Death certificate of Henry Fletcher, died 26 December 1840, registered December quarter 1840, Whitechapel Union registration district, General Registry Office, England, vol. 2, p. 439, no. 3.
12. Census record for Catherline Fletcher, aged 37, Quaker Street, Spitalfields, Middlesex, 1841 England and Wales Census, The National Archives, HO107/710/3/24, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 15 Sep 2008.
13. Birth certificate of Louisa Butler, born 28 May 1844, registered September quarter 1844, Whitechapel Union registration district, General Registry Office, England, vol. 2, p. 537, no. 304.
14. Birth certificate of Mary Ann Butler, born 1 March 1847, registered June quarter 1847, Whitechapel registration district, General Registry Office, England, vol. 2, p. 564, no. 233.
15. Birth certificate of Charles Henry Butler, born 2 April 1849, registered June quarter 1849, Whitechapel registration district, General Registry Office, England, vol. 2, p. 625, no. 629.
16. Birth certificate of Catherine Butler, born 11 September 1851, registered December quarter 1851, Bethnal Green registration district, General Registry Office, England, vol. 2, p. 73, no. 119.
17. Baptism of Fanny Maria Fletcher, baptised 29 September 1811, Christ Church Parish Register, Spitalfields, Middlesex, England, Page 171, unnumbered. London Metropolitan Archives Microfiche No. X024/001.
18. Census record for John Fletcher, aged 70, 5 Greenwood’s Rents, Bishopsgate, Middlesex, 1851 England and Wales Census, The National Archives, HO107/1524/521, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 22 Aug 2006.
19. Census record for Henry Fletcher, aged 58, 13 Fleur de Lis Court, Spitalfields, Middlesex, 1841 England and Wales Census, The National Archives, HO107/710/13/10, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 12 Sep 2021.
20. Census record for Henry Fletcher, aged 66, Lockhurst Lane, Foleshill, Warwickshire, 1851 England and Wales Census, The National Archives, HO107/2066/229, UK Census Collection, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 12 Sep 2021.
21. Baptism of Henry Fletcher, baptised 15 January 1801, St Leonard Parish Register, Shoreditch, Middlesex, England, unpaginated, unnumbered, London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812, Ancestry.com.au,  accessed 3 Sep 2011.
22. Marriage of Jonah Fletcher and Em Barkby, married 28 December 1767, St Mary’s Church Parish Register, Walsgrave on Sowe, Warwickshire, England, Page 22, No. 88, Warwickshire, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1910, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 8 Mar 2016.
23. Baptism of Jonah Fletcher, baptised 18 August 1745, St Mary’s Church Parish Register, Walsgrave on Sowe, Warwickshire, England, unpaginated, unnumbered, Warwickshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 20 Oct 2010.
24. Baptism of Ame Barkby, baptised 5 May 1745, St Mary’s Church Parish Register, Walsgrave on Sowe, Warwickshire, England, unpaginated, unnumbered, Warwickshire, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812, Ancestry.com.au, accessed 20 Oct 2010.
25. Baptism of John Fletcher, baptised 19 October 1782, St Michael’s Church Bishop’s Transcript, Coventry, Warwickshire, England, unpaginated, unnumbered, Warwickshire County Record Office microfilm DR0090/13.
26. Burke, Arthur Meredyth, Key to the Ancient Parish Registers of England & Wales, The Sackville Press, London, 1908, https://www.familysearch.org/library/books/records/item/430032-key-to-the-ancient-parish-registers-of-england-wales?offset=4.
27. Baptism of James Fletcher, baptised 16 July 1771, St Michael’s Church Parish Register, Coventry, Warwickshire, England, unpaginated, unnumbered, Warwickshire Baptisms, www.findmypast.com.au, accessed 30 Sep 2017.
28. Baptism of Martha Fletcher, baptised 13 April 1806, Christ Church Parish Register, Spitalfields, Middlesex, England, Page 110, unnumbered. London Metropolitan Archives Microfiche No. X024/001.
29. Baptism of Ann Fletcher, baptised 7 December 1806, Christ Church Parish Register, Spitalfields, Middlesex, England, Page 118, unnumbered, London, England, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812, ancestry.com.au, accessed 12 Sep 2021.
30. Ancestry Australia, ‘Susan Law DNA Test: Thru-Lines for John Fletcher’, https://www.ancestry.com.au/discoveryui-geneticfamily/thrulines/tree/1333931960:9009:66/for/080AB020-82F7-4145-BC9C-3BF177830102, accessed 1 Sep 2021 (not accessible without login).