Elsie Lilian Timms

Elsie was born in the northern hemisphere summer of 1907. She was the second child and second daughter in her family. At the time of her birth her father was employed as a coachman at Cranford House on Kenilworth Road near Blackdown and Old Milverton, Warwickshire. They lived above the stables in a small coach house.

In the summer of 1926, she celebrated her nineteenth birthday. She is the second youngest in this list of ancestors alive in 1926, and in fifty-nine years’ time she would become my daughter’s great grandmother.

Five years earlier at the 1921 census, Elsie was still in school aged almost fourteen. But by now she will have been working to help her father, a taxi driver, support the family. Working in service was mentioned but no further details as talking about her childhood was not really a place she wanted to spend time in her later years.

The year 1926 though, will have been filled with mixed emotions for the whole family. Elsie was living with her father and siblings at 6 Stamford Place, Milverton. On 14 August 1926 her elder sister was married, there would have been a lot of excitement, fun and planning in the lead up to the big day. But it would also be tinged with nerves, anxiety, and sadness – with a bit of excitement. Elsie’s sister and her new husband were bound for New Zealand where he had been offered a position in Greymouth, on the West Coast.

Laura and Ernie sailed from Southampton on 10 September 1926. Did Elsie and her other siblings travel to farewell them as they sailed? Or perhaps there were earlier tearful goodbyes as they left Milverton to travel to Southampton.

The days and weeks after their departure would have seen Elsie impatiently waiting for mail to arrive with news of their voyage and of their new home.

Mavis Harriett Myrtle Denniss

Mavis was born in mid 1908 in Wollongong, New South Wales. She was the fourth child and fourth daughter in her family, although her eldest sister had lived only a few months.

In May 1926 she turned eighteen. She is the youngest ancestor in this list of ancestors alive in 1926. She would, in fifty-nine years’ time become my daughter’s great grandmother.

The year will have been filled with exciting events for her; there was a wedding to plan and baby to look forward to.

It has been said that she worked as a schoolteacher in Wongawilli, but I haven’t been able to confirm this. Wongawilli was a small settlement with a colliery which had opened in 1916 at the foot of the Illawarra escarpment. It is now considered a rural suburb of Wollongong.

She married Robert Hogg on 14 August 1926. The first electoral roll she appears on is from 1930, where she is recorded as living in Five Islands Road, Unanderra in the Commonwealth electorate of Werriwa and State electorate of Illawarra. Her occupation at that time was Home Duties.

Even if there was an electoral roll available for 1926, Mavis at eighteen would not have been eligible to vote.

What was happening in your family 100 years ago?

I happened across this thought reading a post/article in Substack. Substack is a platform where I have been lurking but have not completely grasped yet. I want to be there; I just can’t work it out. LOL.

A fellow genealogist wrote examining the direct ancestors of her children. Where were they one hundred years ago, in 1926? What was happening in their lives? For her children there were 31 ancestors alive in 1926, some yet to meet and become life partners, others still to emigrate to what would become their new home.

There is a challenge, I thought.

Turns out, my daughter has just 24 direct ancestors who were alive in 1926. I suspect the original poster, and her children are likely older than me and my daughter.

None of my daughter’s grandparents feature in the list. Three of them though would be born by the end of that third decade in the 20^th century, actually all three in an eleven-month space of time. Her fourth grandparent would not be born until near the end of the following decade.

Her living ancestors ranged in age from eighteen to eighty-four and lived in three different countries.

I have pondered how to present them; oldest to youngest, youngest to oldest, location based, generationally, as couples…but have decided on youngest to oldest (I think).

And starting today, if I can keep up, by the end of September you may have met them all.

More than just the 3 R's

A few years ago I made a small photobook about the members of Dad’s maternal grandfather’s family who emigrated to New Zealand in 1841. It’s been in the back of my mind to do something similar for other emigrant/settler families too. I thought I might make a start by jotting down some notes as a Christmas present for him – partly because it’s so hard to know just what to buy a 94 year old.

But in building out the story for the children in this family (his paternal grandfather's line) I came up against the same old dearth of information about education and where they might have gone to school. It’s not even that long ago (in the scheme of things), which makes it more frustrating that there doesn’t appear to be surviving records.

I suspect that they may have attended a church school in either the parish where they lived or a neighbouring parish. They are noted as scholars on the census prior to leaving the country. Then where did they go to school after they arrived in New Zealand in 1862?

I found some clues for the previous generation though.

In the 1841 census, Sarah Norman (12) and her younger sister Caroline (8) are enumerated in the “household” of the schoolmaster at Cutcombe, Somerset. This was likely to be a church school. Great to see girls, the daughter’s of farmers, getting an education. Their elder sisters were above school age on this first census available readily for family historians, but it seems likely they too would have had the opportunity to attend school.

In 1841 schools and schoolmasters were asked to record the names of the children who had attended in the last week as the census was taken very close to the summer holidays beginning (6 June). There were all sorts of rules about who could be recorded and who couldn’t – those with a governess weren’t “at” school so different rules applied. However, if you are lucky you might find the governess enumerated with a family and can then speculate as to which children she taught.

James Davys (15) was enumerated in Barnstaple, Devon at a school led by Elias Bray. It has taken a lot of pondering and searching outside the box, but I have found that this school which I originally thought I had identified as a Free Grammar School was actual Mount View Academy. A boarding school for boys. As the census indicated it was located at 66 High Street, whether this was also the address where the boys lived is unclear. Since finding James there, I have presumed that his elder brother may also have attended there previously and I have often wondered what subjects were taught. Sometimes you can get clues about that in the occupations recorded for some of the teachers, but many of them are just “teacher”, “schoolmaster/mistress” or “assistant schoolmaster”.

Anyway, having recently had some better luck with the search in FindMyPast for British Newspapers since they recently changed it I though I would have another try. And lo and behold!

Mount View Academy was established in 1828 by Elias Bray. He remained the principal until 1856 when he retired and Hugh Gawthrop became principal. But what did they teach? And what did it cost?

North_Devon_Journal_15_July_1841_0002

North_Devon_Journal_23_July_1857_0001

According to in2013dollars a guinea was slightly more value than a pound, but more or less became a pound as we remember it in the pre-decimal world (although people still talked of guineas even in the 1980s! I remember my grandmother mentioning them). One hundred guineas in 1841 would be the equivalent now of almost £13,000, so 25 guineas for a years tuition including board would be around £3000. Interestingly in2013dollars also says that since 1841 the British pound has LOST 99.218% of it’s value, meaning that todays prices are 127.93 times higher than they were in 1841 and that today’s pound can only purchase .078% of what it could then.

That makes the cost of living crisis were are all in currently bite just a little more.

North_Devon_Journal_11_June_1857_0005

North_Devon_Journal_16_December_1858_0005

Examinations at the Academy were held at the end of each term and were public, this makes me think they weren’t written exams, but more like recitals or spelling bees style. Parents and families were invited to attend and prizes were given. Often at the end of year events the boarders presented a gift of thanks (an inkstand, bowl, lamp) to Mr Bray.

I wonder, did James’ family take up the invitation to attend the examinations and celebrations? How did James travel back and forth at the beginning and end of each term. I don’t believe there was a railway that early, so a carriage or coach must have been the only option. Something to explore another time.

So, this was an interesting little foray into education. What an educated young man my great great grandfather was, and so pleased to see that my great great grandmother also had some formal education a long time before education became compulsory. It hasn’t helped me learn where or how the following generation was educated, but even if they were home schooled they should have all received a broad education from their parents knowledge.

Back to what I had started now, having been pleasantly distracted, and rewarded.

The Family of William Norman and Sarah Vickery

On Friday 19 December 1817 at St Mary Magdalene in the tiny village of Withiel Florey in Somerset a wedding took place. Just three days before the winter solstice. It was the only marriage that year, in fact it was 15 months since a wedding had been celebrated there. Four days earlier William Norman accompanied by his future brother-in-law had been granted a license after swearing an oath to the Lord Bishop of Bath & Wells. William was from Huish Champflower a neighbouring parish to his bride. The license states both bride and groom were upwards of twenty one years…the church record says they were married by license with the consent of parents. Both William and Sarah signed their own names in the register.

Why would consent be required if they were both of age ? Perhaps it was because William and his bride Sarah Vickery were first cousins.  William’s father and Sarah’s mother were brother and sister. Theirs was a family deeply rooted, like many in this branch of my tree, in the parishes on either side of the border between Devon and Somerset on or near the Brendon Hills and Exmoor.

Sarah and William spent the early years of their marriage farming at Tripp Farm in Clatworthy.

It was there in 1818 that their first child was born just three months after the death of Sarah’s mother. In her honour they named their daughter Jane Vickery Norman. They farmed there for at least six years before moving to Treborough where they lived and farmed at Chapmans Farm. By the time they arrived in Treborough they had three children: Jane, Marianne (Mary Ann/Marian) and William. Another daughter Elisabeth had lived just 15 weeks. A further two daughters, Sarah and Caroline completed their family at Chapman’s.

At Chapmans, the census in 1851 recorded that there were 260 acres and that William was employing 3 labourers.

Marianne was the first of their children to marry. On 8 October 1846 she married Thomas Davys of Kingston in the parish of Raddington. Her siblings Jane and William were witnesses to the marriage. Two pages later in the church record, Jane and William were witnesses to another marriage. This time Sarah married James Davys, the younger brother of Marianne’s husband, on 18 January 1849. On the same page, four months later Jane married Joseph Partridge on 12 April. James Davys was a witness this time along with William. Turn the pages a couple more times – 1852 was a popular year for marriages in Treborough and there is Caroline’s marriage to Thomas Langdon Norman, a first cousin, on 24 June. This time George Sutton was the witness alongside William. Thomas Norman’s father was a brother of Caroline’s father, William.

William married Mary Dommett Raddon in Exeter, Devon in 1860, they had one daughter and lived most of their married life in Bristol where William was a publican running the Bell Inn in Hillgrove Street for a number of years before retiring to Nailsea.

After her marriage Jane and her husband farmed at Monkham Farm near Luxborough. They had just two sons before Joseph died in 1853. Jane stayed and ran the farm, her parents came to live there too until their deaths. William died 12 April 1874 and Sarah 1 January 1881. Jane died at Monkham Farm 30 July 1887.

Marianne and Thomas lived at Kingston which he had inherited from his father and grandfather. They had a large family of six daughters and three sons. Two of the sons died young, the third trained as a jeweller and had a business in Truro, Cornwall. They spent some years away from farming in the drapery business in Bristol, but returned to Kingston for the last twenty years of their lives.

James and Sarah lived first at Nethercott Farm in Lydeard St Lawrence. They were there on the 1851 census where James was farming 80 acres of land and employing 1 labourer. On census night Sarah’s younger sister Caroline was visiting and they were parents to one son. Their second son would arrive 6 months later. I had hoped that birth certificates might reveal their places of residence so that I could create a timeline, but no. For the first four children just the parish of their birth was recorded. However sons number 3 & 4 were baptised at Bathealton and their birth certificates state Milverton - which is a sizeable parish - as their birthplace, which suggest that home was no longer Nethercott. They were at Hurstone by 1857 though as the three youngest children are recorded as being born there. On census night 1861 they were at Hurstone with their family of six boys. Just one month after the census they would welcome their first daughter, however Caroline lived just 7 months.

It was Hurstone they left behind, servants and all, when they joined the growing emigration movement, packed up their family and set off for New Zealand in 1862. It has been suggested that James was left £600 by his grandmother, in contrast Thomas as the eldest son was left the lease of Kingston. This endowment, it has been speculated was possibly used to fund the move and establish James and Sarah’s new life in New Zealand.

Their plans did not initially come to fruition, but they were obviously made of tough stuff. Three more children completed the family after their arrival in New Zealand, one born in Auckland and the youngest two in the Coromandel where gold was the lure. Farming was something they knew and they pursued this endeavour in the Tuhikaramea area near Hamilton.

It was in Thames that Caroline, her husband and young daughter joined James and Sarah, arriving in Auckland in 1864. Sadly Caroline died at Shellback Creek near Tararu on the Thames Coast just 5 years later. Caroline & Thomas’ daughter Harriett married her first cousin, James and Sarah’s second son.

Other members of the wider Norman family were also emigrating from England, several cousins and an uncle went to Canada and America – some even fought in the Civil War. I’m sure there are others too – I just haven’t found them yet. 

Drapery was big business it seems and several other members of the Norman family and the Davys family were in this industry in the 1800s – another area I need to research further and record. Time permitting there are more new blog posts under development.

I have some other posts about members of the wider family, or which mention them if you are interested to read them while you wait for me to get organised.  The Great Chatsworth Rail Disaster  . YMCA and Land - there may be others.

I have made a map it still needs a bit of tweaking but for now using the link should allow you to move about the locations I have talked about.

George Henry Cooper

George Henry Cooper was the youngest son of Samuel Cooper &  Elizabeth Hill. He was born in Wellington, New Zealand in March 1843, eighteen months after the family had arrived in the colony.

Again, not much is known about his early life. It is likely he and his elder brothers attended school in Sydney Street, Thorndon, though records to verify this have not been found, perhaps do not even exist.

In June 1868, George’s brother Fred and brother-in-law Michael Twomey advertised in the Evening Post their plan to dispose of their Ginger Beer, Aerated Water and Cordial Manufactury Business on Molesworth Street by lottery. I believe this was the business they had taken on after the death of another of George’s brothers, Thomas in 1867. Two hundred tickets were to be sold at £1 each. A letter to the editor of the Wellington Independent dated 29 April 1867 and published 30 April signed by George indicates that he too was assisting in the business which had been his brother’s.

It appears that either 25 year old George had the winning ticket or that perhaps the lottery did not work and he simply bought the business. Whichever was the outcome, from 1868 George carried on the business, first at Mulgrave Street and then relocating later that year to Thorndon Quay in what eventually became known as the Hotel Cecil block.

In October 1868 George married Elizabeth Carrick (or Calvert), who worked alongside him in the business and also a small shop adjacent to George’s factory where she sold ha’penny cakes, lollies and of course ginger beer. A letter to the editor entitled “Old Wellington” published in the Evening Post 8 September 1934 in response to a previous reminiscent article helps to place these building on the Thomas Ward maps held at Wellington City Archives. (From the maps it would seem that the start/end points of Thorndon Quay & Lambton Quay may have changed over time.) Also in this block and adjacent to Elizabeth’s store was a general store identified as Osbourne’s. The writer also states that prior to being run by the Osbournes the general store had been Stagg’s. This was an exciting revelation as that meant that Frederick Stagg – cousin to all these Cooper boys was living right amongst the family in Wellington.

In 1869, when his mother died George was reputedly in Kaikoura as mentioned in a notice (not yet verified) in the Kaikoura Herald recording the death in Wellington of “mother of John and George Cooper. I’m not sure why George would be in Kaikoura, unless simply visiting his brother. He can’t have been living there as his business was established in Wellington by then.

George and Elizabeth had no children of their own. I have often wondered if they cared for the orphaned children of his brother Thomas. At least one of the children later worked in the bottling and cordial industry and may have had their start working for their uncle. However, when George died of a stroke aged 40 in 1883 he left everything to his wife Elizabeth to be hers and hers alone – free from the control of any future husband she may have. After her death the money obtained from the sale of his real and personal estate and effects was to be divided equally between the children of his brothers John (of Kaikoura) and Frederick (of Wellington). The shares of any of those nieces and nephews not reached 21 was to be held in investment until they were old enough. No mention was made of the children of his other siblings, Thomas, Elizabeth or James.

Elizabeth did remarry, in 1888 to Charles Brodie – another ginger beer manufacturer in Wellington. He seems to have assumed control of George’s business and absorbed it into his own company. Elizabeth died in 1911, her will was dated 14 March 1889 – a year after her marriage to Charles – and left everything to him. He was described in her will as a gasfitter – but at her death his affidavit describes him as a gentleman. A bit of a rise through the ranks of society – I wonder if any of John or Frederick’s children ever did benefit from their uncle’s estate.

Frederick Cooper

Frederick Cooper was the last of Samuel and Elizabeth’s children to be born in England before they emigrated to New Zealand. He was noted as aged 6 months on Samuel’s application for Free Passage to New Zealand in November 1840. After purchasing his birth certificate, his birth date as confirmed as 20 April 1840, and he was baptised on 10 May at St Catherine's, Montacute.

The family were first offered passage on the Lord William Bentinck to sail from Gravesend on 7 January 1841 when Frederick would have been just 8 months old. For some reason they did not take up this offer, reapplying instead and travelling on the Oriental which sailed from Plymouth 22 June 1841.

As with his older siblings, nothing is known of Frederick’s early life in Wellington. His obituary in 1908 seems a little tangled with the lives of his older brothers. He apparently went to the Otago goldfields and then on to Ballarat, returning to New Zealand to marry. The dates don’t seem to make sense to me.

Gold was discovered near Bendigo in 1852 when Frederick would have been 12 years old. From all accounts the goldrush in Otago began in 1861.

It may have been the Otago goldfields that brought his brothers back to New Zealand from the Victorian goldfields but I’m pretty sure Frederick either did not go at all, or perhaps went to Otago very briefly.

In 1860 he had launched his seed and nursery business in Wellington where he first had a nursery at the top end of Taranaki Street. In 1863 he married Ellen Carpenter and the two of them worked at growing the business and established a store on Manners Street near Herbert Street (about where McDonalds is today). In 1864 he applied to be on the electoral roll and gave his address as Wingfield Street and his eligibility as a freeholder owner of a house and land at that address. Wingfield Street itself doesn't exist today. It ran parallel to Fraser's Lane which was pretty much where Aiken Street runs today and could be accessed from Molesworth Street or John Street which ran from Fraser's Lane. John Street today  looks like a delivery entrance running off Aiken Street between the National Library and the now demolished Defence Building and Freyberg Building (but is labelled Guthrie Street on maps). Frederick & Ellen had ten children; eight daughters and two sons between 1864-1879. Two of their daughters died in childhood, one aged 3 years and the other 9 years.

The family run business traded for more than 100 years before being sold in his grandchildren’s generations to their one time business rival business Yates. Frederick had nurseries in Taranaki Street and in Lower Hutt as well as the store in Manners Street. Bijoux Nurseries were in Woburn near where Te Omanga Hospice is today. Frederick traded globally, Cooper’s Seeds being in great demand. An article in the Upper Hutt Leader gives some history about the beginnings and development of the business in its 100^th year.

Frederick left notably the most well known footprint of all his family in New Zealand history. He was recorded on a number of documents throughout his life helping us to paint a better picture of who he was. He was amongst the witnesses at the inquest into his brother Thomas’ drowning in 1867. He also appears to have taken over and run Thomas’ business for a time after his death as mentioned here. His affidavit when his cousin Frederick Stagg died intestate in 1875 was a recent find, which lead to the discovery that other family members had also emigrated to New Zealand.

It was a surprise after all the discoveries of his great business success and legal interactions to learn that he died intestate in 1908 aged 67.

Elizabeth Cooper

Elizabeth Cooper, Betsy, was 10 years old when she and her siblings arrived in Wellington with their parents. She was baptised at St Catherine, Montacute on 17 April 1831.

Six years later, at just 16 she married Daniel Morrison a mariner who was 18 years older than her, just a few months before her elder sister was married. Betsey was the first of Samuel and Elizabeth’s children to marry.

In August 1858, Daniel died from injuries sustained when his ship was wrecked, leaving Elizabeth with their five children aged 2-11. Shortly after his death Daniel Wilson placed notices in the local newspapers asking for donations toward a memorial for Daniel and from September three others placed advertisements for subscriptions to benefit his widow and children who were left “wholly unprovided for”. On 8 November a concert in aid of the widows Morrison and Mackenzie (I don’t know of the connection between these two ladies, perhaps it was just fortuitous timing) was held at the Lyceum Theatre on Lambton Quay with glees, songs and instrumental music. Another researcher some years ago had found information at Alexander Turnbull Library reporting that the monies raised by public subscription enabled the public of Wellington to purchase a house for Elizabeth and her children.

Eleven months after Daniel’s death Elizabeth married Michael Twomey. He too was a mariner, they married at her private residence in Little Ghuznee Street (Now Egmont Street which runs between Ghuznee Street and Dixon Street).

They had a number of children together, possibly 10, although only 5 appear to have survived childhood. To make life interesting, or research tricky, Michael is sometimes recorded as Henry or Michael Henry. This was the case for the birth of one of their sons whose birth was registered by Elizabeth’s elderly mother in 1866.

Just yesterday I found advertisements in the local newspapers for 1868 where an

“old established GINGER-BEER, AERATED WATERS AND CORDIAL MANUFACTURY BUSINESS”

was to be sold by lottery. 200 tickets at £1 each. The business was being carried on by Messrs Cooper and Twomey on Molesworth Street, and the manager was noted as F Cooper. I have not been aware of this at all, but it would seem that this must be the business of Thomas Cooper who had drowned in February/March 1867, and that his younger brother Frederick and brother in law Michael had taken over to keep it afloat and possibly help to support Thomas' orphaned children.

At some time shortly after the sale Michael and Elizabeth left Wellington with their children. They made their way to the West Coast where Michael was involved in mining. It has been suggested that they may have spent some time visiting with Elizabeth’s brother John’s family in Kaikoura. In 1870 Elizabeth’s daughter Elizabeth from her first marriage was married to a local Kaikoura boy. By 1871 Michael and Elizabeth were in Hokitika area where their youngest two sons were born. They moved back to Kaikoura around 1894/95 and Daniel died there in 1897 described as a gardener.

I have often wondered if anyone in the family might have offered assistance to John Cooper’s wife Mary, who left him and took her three youngest children to Australia, creating a new life with Charles Nicholls there. It has been suggested that they sailed from Hokitika around 1876. Maybe it was Elizabeth. She and Mary would have been contemporaries, quite likely knew each other in Wellington before their marriages. They were two years apart in age and both married husbands a lot older than themselves. Perhaps Mary and the children visited or stayed with Michael and Elizabeth before their departure. Perhaps too, Michael’s network of connections from his time as a mariner helped them find passage on a ship bound for Melbourne. I have only just had these pieces of information fall into place in the timeline in my mind today.

Maybe it’s true, it is mostly conjecture, but it does feel like it could add up.

What stories she could have told. Old enough to remember what life in England was like, old enough to remember her grandmother and aunts and uncles. She experienced travel on an immigrant sailing ship, life in the fledgling Wellington settlement, survived both the 1848 and 1855 earthquakes and was part of the gold rush on the West Coast before returning to the pioneer town of Kaikoura for her final years. Elizabeth died 27 May 1906.

Charlotte Cooper

Charlotte Cooper was Samuel’s 2^nd daughter, but the first for him and his 2^nd wife Elizabeth. She was born on 28 April 1824 and baptised 23 May the same year at St Catherine, Montacute, Somerset.

Since we don’t know anything about Elizabeth before her marriage there are no clues about where the name Charlotte might have come from for their daughter. Perhaps it was her mother’s name, or a sister- hopefully it wasn’t chosen by Samuel to memorialise his first wife.

Not a lot is known about Charlotte’s life either as is often the case with daughters.

She was 17 when the family emigrated to New Zealand and I imagine would have been a great help to her mother on the voyage caring for her younger siblings – the youngest just over a year old.

No marriage or death records have been located for her although it has been suggested by some researchers that she may have died about 1857. Three of her siblings named daughters Charlotte around this time – a clue perhaps ?

John Cooper

John Cooper, my 2 x great grandfather, was born in Montacute, Somerset most likely in the summer of 1822. His baptism is recorded in the church register for St Catherine on 10 June 1822. He was the first born son of Samuel Cooper a tailor, and his 2^nd wife Elizabeth. 

Nothing else is known about John before his arrival in New Zealand, and even that is shrouded in mystery. John was listed on Samuel’s application for passage for his wife and family, first for the Lord William Bentinck and then the Oriental. At the time that the Oriental sailed he would have been 21 years old, perhaps that caused confusion and he should have been recorded separately to the rest of his family because of his age. Whatever happened, he isn’t recorded as disembarking in Wellington with the rest of the family once they arrived after 3 months at sea.

This sailing of the Oriental in 1841 was under charter to the Plymouth Company, ostensibly bringing settlers to settle in New Plymouth in the Taranaki, but arriving by way of Wellington. News of unrest in the Taranaki apparently caused some settlers to abandon their plans to travel on further and some disembarked in Wellington. I am not sure if the Cooper family’s intention was to settle in New Plymouth at all. Since their first application was for a voyage to Wellington, perhaps Wellington was their chosen destination all along. We have wondered though, whether John travelled on to Taranaki after the rest of the family disembarked to survey the situation and report back. However, he is not recorded as disembarking there either. Only recently I discovered that after delivering the remaining settlers to New Plymouth, the Oriental returned to Wellington before preparing to leave to return to England via India. So did John join the crew for the trip to New Plymouth and back and just not get recorded anywhere ?

However, we know he did arrive because we are all here as proof.

Occupationally John followed his father and become a tailor, although on the earliest Jury Lists for Wellington he was recorded as a labourer. In 1860/61 he placed regular advertisements in the Wellington Independent advertising his business on Lambton Quay next to the Eagle Tavern. I have tried several times over the last ten or more years to find out where the Eagle Tavern was situated. No luck at all until last week. Did I choose different search words or just see something I had completely missed before ?

Turns out Lambton Quay didn’t end where it does today, at Stewart Dawson’s corner. For some time it extended around that windy corner into what is now Willis Street – and that was where the Eagle Tavern was; a few building beyond the Commercial (which eventually became the Grand), about opposite Chew’s Lane.

In 1850, John married Mary Ann Barratt. She had arrived in Wellington with her parents and siblings in May 1842. When they married Mary was 17 and John 27. They lived in Wellington until about 1861 when they moved, along with some of Mary’s married sisters, to join her mother and youngest siblings in Kekerengu north of Kaikoura where John had secured a position as a tailor on the sheep station. Their first 6 children were born in Wellington and a further 4 at Kekerengu. About 1871 they moved further south to the township of Kaikoura. It has been suggested by another family historian, that the move to Kaikoura may have been prompted by the Tetley Affair. This involved some mismanagement of finances on the part of the owners of the Kekerengu Station and would likely have had follow on effects for those employed to work there. Another 3 children were born in Kaikoura.

Electoral rolls and jury lists show his occupation as tailor, apart from 1847 where he was listed as a labourer. His death certificate in 1895 records him as a gardener and a photograph has recently been shared with us of him standing outside his shop in Kaikoura where he is “J. Cooper, Fruiterer”.

Charles Cooper

Charles Cooper was the first child of my 3 x great grandfather Samuel Cooper and his 1^st wife Charlotte Hann. He was baptised on 11 October 1818 just 5 months after his parent’s marriage. The cleric made an error with the entry and he is recorded as Charles Hann instead of Charles Cooper – the other details (parent’s names and occupation) are correct.

Not much else is known about him. He is referred to (but not named) in the Churchwarden Accounts for the parish of Montacute several times while the parish contributed financially to his upkeep after his mother died in January 1820. Because residents were not identified by name (unless they were the householder) on the 1821 Survey or Census he hasn’t been identified there. But, he wasn’t recorded as living with his father and does not appear to have been with his paternal grandmother either.

The next entry for Charles in the church records is his marriage to Mary Ann Tavender (sometimes written as Taviner) in 1837. By the time the 1841 census came around, Charles and his small family were living in Middle Street, Montacute. By this time there were two young daughters, Ellen & Jane. Charles was a Chandler; a candle maker or a seller of provisions like groceries.

By searching the GRO indexes it appears that Charles and Mary had four other children by 1850; Matilda, George Owen, Walter Henry and Richmond Tom. To be extra helpful for researchers like me almost 200 years later, Charles and Mary don’t appear to have had their children baptised, at least not in the Church of England.

Charles appears a couple of times in the Churchwarden Accounts living in a rateable property in 1841 and 1847. I haven’t been able to find any further documentation for him post 1850. Did they emigrate too ? And if they did, where did they go ? Or did something else happen ?

The search continues.

Z - Zero, Zilch, Zip, Nada

There are a number of people who could fit in this category.

Great-great-grandfather Julius Fuller for one, who after 50+ years research still only appears on two official records in England before he emigrated to New Zealand in 1859.

But instead I thought I’d choose someone I really don’t know much about at all.

Ann Blackman.

She is my daughter’s 4 x great-grandmother. I haven’t been able to find her baptism in England, arrival in Australia, marriage or the birth/baptisms of the three children her death certificate says she had. That death certificate is only one of two documents I have found for her in 30 or so years of looking. The second is her daughter’s marriage certificate where she is recorded as a parent.

Ann was 64 when she died 3 May 1870 in Queanbeyan, New South Wales. The informant on the death certificate was her adult daughter. The only child I know for sure. But did Sarah REALLY know the details ? Here is what she supplied.

Name and occupation of Father:

____ Blackman, Blacksmith

Name and maiden surname of Mother:

Not Known

Where born & how long in the Australian Colonies or States:

Hastings, Kent, England; 33 years in New South Wales

Place of marriage, age and to whom:

Sydney, Not Known, Joseph Dickinson

Children of marriage:

Living 1 male, 2 females

Eight years later when Joseph Dickinson died, his 2^nd wife was the informant on the certificate and she stated 2 children to a former wife. Very helpful – not. 

The information provided by her Sarah suggests that Ann arrived in New South Wales about 1837. Sarah was born about 1845/1846, deduced from information on her marriage certificate. In 1862 she was 17, her father’s consent was given to the marriage and noted on the certificate. She may have been younger though since at the birth of her 2^nd child in 1864 her husband gave her age as 18. Therefore Ann & Joseph's marriage must have taken place between 1837 and 1846. Joseph Dickinson was a convict, there should be an Application to Marry for him; unless the marriage didn’t take place until after he received his Certificate of Freedom in 1841. There doesn’t appear to be an application – although there is something in that dataset which could do with a bit more investigation. The only Ann Blackman marriage I can find on the NSW indexes is around the right time - but not to Joseph. 

In 1850 Joseph Dickinson was charged with grossly abusing his wife, and later in the year jailed for breaching the conditions set in court. No children were mentioned in the newspaper coverage of the court case.

So far no DNA matches are clearly aligned to this little piece of the tree either. So there you go. 

Zero, Zilch, Zip, Nada.

This brings to a close my A-Z blog challenge for Family History Month 2020. I hope you have enjoyed it, maybe discovered something you didn’t know or maybe even been inspired to give it a go yourself.

 

 

Y - Y.M.C.A

No, this in NOT about the Village People !

This little discovery came when I was scouring newspapers on PapersPast for an article I knew I had seen, but had failed to record where. Let that be a lesson to you all. Document your sources !!

I was looking for the name of a house which my great-grandfather’s brother had built in Cambridge, New Zealand. I found an obituary for his wife instead, which I don’t recall having seen before. Harriett and her husband were first cousins. Their mothers were sisters, so obviously she was my great-grandfather’s cousin too.

Her obituary in the Waikato Independent, 26 August 1939, page 4  gave some details about her family, birth place and arrival in New Zealand. She had come with her parents – who were 2^nd cousins – to Auckland and then the Coromandel. She was their only child. Her mother died at Shellback Creek near Tararu in 1869 when Harriet was about 14. Her aunt and uncle lived at Tararu too so I daresay they helped her widowed father care for her.

Anyway, back to the discovery. One sentence.

“It is of interest to note that Mrs Davys was the second cousin to Sir George Williams, the founder of the Y.M.C.A.”

What ?

If Harriet was his second cousin, then chances were that her husband and his siblings, including my great-grandfather were too. So I had to search and see what I could find.

George Williams was born 11 October 1821 at Ashway Farm near Dulverton. He was the youngest child of Amos Williams and his wife Ann/Betty/Elizabeth (just to be confusing). I didn’t have any other Williams in my tree, apart from an odd one here and there, so who was his mother ? She had to be the key.

Cue flashing lights. 

Wikipedia says his parents were Amos Williams (tick) and Elizabeth Vickery. On the same page Wiki also says her name was Ann “Betty” Vickery. Hmmm. BUT, I do have a bunch of Vickerys mixed in with my Norman paternal great-great-grandmother’s family….and BINGO ! Harriet’s mother Caroline and my great-great-grandmother Sarah were Norman sisters. Harriett’s father was also a Norman (2^nd cousin – remember ?) Jane and Caroline’s mother was Sarah Vickery, who had married her 1^st cousin William Norman. Nothing out of the ordinary it seems in Huish Champflower !

Off I went to find the baptisms on Ancestry and build a tree to look for the link. First I found their marriage to get a starting point to look for baptisms. They married at Withiel Florey on 15 August 1807 and their first child John Vickery Williams was baptised 14 January 1808, in the same parish. The father of my 4 x great-grandmother Sarah Vickery was John. Was this another lightbulb flashing ? A quick diversion to check what siblings I had for Sarah, found she did have a sister Betty Ann baptised in 1785 (the date is illegible on the page of the church record book).

That solved the problem of how Sir George Williams could be the 2^nd cousin of Harriett, and proved that he was also the 2^nd cousin of my great-grandfather. But how did this youngest son from a farming family happen to be the founder of the Y.M.C.A ?

George was the youngest of 7 sons, he also had one sister. As career paths go seventh sons are way down the list. Not much chance of taking over the family farm there. Wikipedia says he attended Gloyn’s in Tiverton, Devon until he was 13 when he began working on the family farm. His family sent him to Bridgwater where he was an apprentice in Henry William Holmes’ draper shop. What is it with drapers and this part of the world ? They keep popping up in all my branches.

In 1837 he left the Church of England and joined the Zion Congregational Church and in 1841 he moved to London where he worked as an apprentice at Hitchcock & Rogers, a draper’s shop. In London he became a member of the King’s Weigh House congregational church. After three years with Hitchcock & Rogers, George was promoted to department manager.

On 6 June 1844, appalled by the terrible conditions in London for young working men, like himself, George gathered a group of 11 fellow drapers in the living quarters of Hitchcock & Rogers to create a place that would not tempt young men into sin. The name Young Men’s Christian Association was agreed on at the suggestion of Christopher W Smith, one of the 11. The aim was to put Christian principles in practice to develop a healthy “mind, body & spirit.” One of the earliest converts and contributors to the new association was his employer, George Hitchcock.

Nine years later in 1853 he married the owner’s daughter and was taken into the business as a partner. The business was renamed George Hitchcock, Williams & Co., and when George Hitchcock died in 1863 George Williams became the sole owner. George and his wife Helen had seven children. One son Albert went on to marry the granddaughter of Thomas Cook who had founded the travel agency Thomas Cook and Son. George’s nephew John Williams married the only child of Matthew Hodder of the publishing business Hodder & Stoughton. Matthew had been George’s lifelong London friend.

George Williams was knighted by Queen Victoria in her 1894 Birthday Honours, this same year was the silver Jubilee of the Y.M.C.A and the year he received Freedom of the City of London. He died on 6 November 1905 at the Victoria and Albert Hotel in Torquay aged 84. His funeral was attended by 2,600 mourners at St Paul’s Cathedral on 14 November 1905 and he was buried there. After his death he was commemorated by a stained-glass window in the nave of Westminster Abbey. A blue plaque is at No. 13 Russell Square, London where he lived from 1879-1905 and another plaque can be found on the façade of Ashway Farm where he was born. His portrait can be found at the National Portrait Gallery, London.

The things I wish I had known when I was in London !

Now here are a couple of other things I discovered in the search. 

When I was adding the baptisms of George’s siblings to my tree in Family Tree Maker a message popped up for one. “Is this Robert Williams the same Robert Williams married to Betsy Davys ?” A little bit of checking and yes, he is. Uh-oh, now I’m related two ways. Betsy was a daughter Thomas Davys and Patience Palmer…Thomas was a younger brother of my 4 x great-grandfather. This Robert is the father of George's nephew who married the daughter of Matthew Hodder mentioned earlier,

When I first found the Wikipedia entry for George Williams in April 2020 it was called “George Williams (YMCA)” and included the comment that he was the 4 x great-grandfather of Boris Johnson, the current British Prime Minister. Today, the entry is retitled “George Williams (philanthropist)” and that comment is no longer included. However, I was able to verify that that was the case, by checking his family’s well documented entries in Wikipedia, a BBC Who Do You Think You Are episode and church records.

Just the other day on facebook I saw a post from someone who had bought a Bible in a thrift store. The flyleaf said it had been presented to the original owner by Sir George Williams. She had done a little research and discovered who George was. She had also found his will where he requested Bibles to be given to the members of his family. I think that might be a will I need to find and read myself. I wonder if any such Bible made it’s way to New Zealand to his family there ? I haven’t heard of one, but who knows ?

 

 

X - Marks the Spot

Look at this great map of Somerset !

I know it is crooked, but I didn't scan it so I'm not accepting any griping about it, I found it on Reddit after a Google search. Apparently it could have been inspiration for Game of Thrones. But I just love it. Dating to the mid 17^th century, with the parishes named and represented by church icons in varying sizes…or are they manor houses ?

There is this one too which dates from about the same time, but has slightly clearer writing - also from Reddit.

A lot of my family came from Somerset to New Zealand, and all had lived in particular areas for generations. Funnily enough they were all living near borders which moved and were not static until fairly recently. The Davys’ in the parishes on either side of the Somerset Devon border and the Bartletts and Coopers near the Somerset Dorset border.

I was surprised to see how closely the Bartletts and Coopers lived to each other. The same names pop up in both parishes. When you consider how widely the Davys family travelled and moved in their little part of Somerset, it is amazing that the Coopers and Bartletts don’t seem to have done the same thing. We did get a couple of DNA matches who descend from a Cooper person who married a Bartlett cousin of my great-great-grandfather in 1862. But as far as I can see that Cooper family is from the same area as the Bartletts – for generations. Maybe mine were too, maybe one of them just left at some point and went a bit further north over the Hamdon Hills…time will tell.

When I am trying to find people in my research I often refer to maps. I love the digitised Ordnance Survey maps at the National Library of Scotland. Great detail and easy to zoom in and navigate. Often when reading a census I look for a map as close to the time period and find the street. Sometimes the footprint of the buildings is marked on a map and if you are lucky the same shape is still there today when you look at a google map of the area. The streets might have changed a little, laneways disappeared, but by comparing the current map and the old you can often work out where things used to be. If it looks like the building is still there, street view is my next step. Until I can work out a way to teleport to the other side of the world, walking down streets looking at buildings and countryside courtesy of a google camera car is the best alternative. Sometimes I just walk down country lanes, unchanged in centuries, to “feel” what it was probably like for my ancestors who trod the same paths or rode along them by horse and cart.

I also use the Phillimore Atlas maps to check neighbouring parishes. These can give me an idea of where else to search when a marriage, baptism or burial isn’t recorded in the parish I expect it to be. My Davys’ and their cousins, for instance, married and baptised their children in almost every parish from Morebath, Clayhanger and Ashbrittle in Devon to Luxborough, Monksilver, Lydiard St Lawrence and Taunton in Somerset.

Lots of local libraries and museums have maps too. It was on such a site that I found an Insurance map for part of Melbourne and was able to identify the house where my great-great-great-grandmother had lived. Also, on another site I found similar maps for Sydney and could work out – with the help of a street directory of the time – where my daughter’s great-great-great-grandparents had lived in Surry Hills. Some maps, particularly in America even show who the landowners were. Sometimes the maps at local libraries haven’t been digitised and you need to go there. A bit of a pain at the moment with the COVID-19 pandemic and its associated restrictions curtailing many of those visits.

You can make your own map too, to record where a family moved to, mariner’s voyages, family farms, schools attended. You name it, you can do it.

W - Whanga-nui-a-Tara, Te

Te Whanga-nui-a-Tara, the great harbour of Tara, Wellington Harbour, Port Nicholson, Poneke.

Tara was a son of the Polynesian explorer Whatonga whose descendants lived in the area. Māori tradition tells that Kupe first discovered the harbour when he visited in the 10^th century. There are a number of places within the harbour whose names commemorate Kupe; Te Tangihanga o Kupe or Te Raranga o Kupe (Barrett Reef) and Te Aroaro o Kupe or Te Ure of Kupe (Steeple Rock). Kupe also named the two islands within the harbour; Mākaro (Ward) and Matiu (Somes). 

Legend tells that the harbour itself was once a lake in habited by two taniwha (guardian spirits). Whātaitai and Ngake. Whātaitai lived in the north of the lake where the harbour now is and the water was calmer, like his nature. Ngake, lived further south and was a little more cantankerous. He didn’t like being confined to the lake and could hear the waters of Raukawa Moana (Cook Strait) pounding to the south. He decided he would escape to reach the tumultuous sea. To gather speed he spun around at the north of the lake and headed off rapidly to the south, where he crashed into and through the rocks at Te Turanga o Kupe (Seatoun) and headed out in to the pounding sea. Whātaitai watched and then tried to follow Ngake but instead of taking the same route he chose a different path. The water was rushing out of the lake into the sea by this time and Whātaitai hadn’t built up as much speed as Ngake. He got stuck on the sand and stayed there for many generations until he was lifted high onto the land by a great earthquake. His soul left in the form of a bird Te Keo and flew high above the harbour and wept for the taniwha. Today the suburbs on the hills immediately below Tangi Te Keo (Mt Victoria) is named Hataitai.

European settlement began in earnest in 1840. It was into this harbour that two branches of my family sailed after four months at sea, The Coopers in 1841 and the Barratts in 1842. We used to joke that they had got blown in the harbour by a good southerly and couldn’t get back out. Turns out it could have been true. In Jenny Robin Jones’ book “No Simple Passage”, the London, arriving in May 1842 with my Barratt ancestors on board was in sight of land but had to turn back and sail away to ride out or avoid a storm.

The New Zealand Company led by Edward Gibbon Wakefield bought from Te Atiawa chief Te Wharepouri around 160,000 acres. Known as the Port Nicholson Purchase. This was 90% of the land surrounding the harbour. The remaining 10% known as the Wellington Tenths was seat aside for Maori and today more than 4500 descendants of the original "tenths" owners have their interests in the land managed by the Wellington Tenths Trust. Settlers were allocated two properrty lots; an acre in the township and another back country block worth £1 per acre. Maybe this is why I have often found my ancestors on two electoral rolls at the same time - once against their "town" address and additionally at an address outside the outskists of the main part of town. Unsurprisingly many were not happy with their share, apportioned sight unseen - and if you know Wellington, most likely not flat or arable ! 

Samuel Cooper was a tailor, his son John followed him into the same trade and had business premises on Lambton Quay next to the Eagle Tavern at one time. A couple of John's brothers ventured into the soda manufacturing business. Thomas reputedly was the first in Wellington to establish such a business. Another brother Frederick established a plant nursery and Cooper's Seeds. He was possibly assisted in this enterprise by his brother James who had a similar set up in Invercargill. Importing plants from Australia. DNA suggests this link, I have yet to confirm it. Their cousin Frederick Stagg ran a grocery business on Lambton Quay.

Wellington certainly gets some wicked weather and is the brunt of non-Wellingtonian’s jokes. I imagine my ancestors wondered on some days why they had chosen to come to such an inhospitable place. But then there are those great days, the harbour is like a millpond, the breeze just a gentle zephyr…You can’t beat Wellington on a good day.

Coolest little capital in the world.

 

V- Vose

Edward Vose was born in Liverpool, Lancasshire on the 12 April 1798 and baptised at Our Lady & St Nicholas on 20 May. The church record notes that he was the first child for his parents Thomas and Mary (nee Ellis), and that they had been married “in this chapel”. At the time of Edward's birth the family lived at Cheetham Brow and his father was a joiner. Eighteen months later at his sister Elizabeth’s baptism they were living in Vernon Street.

Nothing else is known of Edward’s early life. His military record indicates that he joined the Royal Engineers (later the Corps of Royal Sappers and Miners) as a Bugler in 1815. The period of service from 31 December 1815 to 12 April 1816 did not count towards his service as he was under 18 years of age. He eventually became a Private.

Edward married Elizabeth Weller at All Saints Church, Frindsbury Kent on 12 November 1819. Not much is known about Elizabeth’s early life either, however as she was born in Gillingham, Kent it is likely that her father was also in the military. I haven’t yet found a baptism record for the child I believe is their first born. John Frederick Vose was born in 1820 and is recorded on the GRO Regimental Indices 1761-1924. By 1828 when my great-great-grandfather Edward Mark was born the family were living in Omagh, Tyrone, Ireland where Edward Snr and his regiment were employed on the Survey of Ireland.

At this time the family included four sons, with the possibility of a fifth child, looking at dates, whose existence has been lost to time. Two more children George Ellis and Mary were also born in Ireland. When son Henry was born in 1834, the family was back in England, living at Woolwich. Their youngest son, Cornelius Augustus (who also liked to call himself Augustus Cornelius) was born in October 1840.

Edward was discharged as medically unfit due to chronic rheumatism 4 April 1837; with no pension. It was noted that he had first been attacked by rheumatism in 1828 while in Ireland, in his back and limbs and had been subject to the complaint ever since. He was 39 years old. His total service was 21 years and 5 days.

At the census in 1841 the family were living at New Road, Woolwich. Edward was a Labourer. Missing from the census family group were sons John Frederick and George Ellis. John may have been in the military; he certainly was in 1851. The 1841 census did not enumerate ships in port, so he may have been on board a naval vessel or deployed overseas. George had died in 1838 aged 9. On this census, William is also marked as having been born in Ireland, but Mary is not.

In 1851 they were living in Ann Street, Plumstead and Edward’s occupation was recorded as Labourer Chelsea Pensioner. Edward (my great-great-grandfather) was 22 and a Labourer at the Royal Arsenal. This time he and Mary were recorded as having been born in Ireland. Eldest son John was living in Sculcoates Yorkshire with his wife Ellen. They had married in Chatham in 1847 and John was a Private with the same Royal Sappers and Miners. John and Ellen had returned to Woolwich by the end of the year, and that is where John’s death occurred. Charles and William weren’t living with the family in 1851 and I haven’t found them on the census so far. William married in August that year and Charles in April 1853. Mary died in mid 1854.

By 1861 Charles and his growing family were living in Toronto, Canada where he was a Painter. William was settled with his own family in Plumstead. I’m not sure where Henry was, or even if he was still alive, I have a possible death for him in 1860; the age and location seem correct. Cornelius was enumerated on board HMAS Hornet in Aden. Edward and Elizabeth though were still living in Ann street with their son Edward. Edward senior is recorded as a Blacksmith while son Edward was still a Labourer at the Royal Arsenal.

On Christmas Day 1862 their son Edward married Sarah Ann Daniels who on the 1861 census was Nursemaid to the children of Walter Mitchell, Assistant Clergyman at St Bartholomew’s Hospital. Sarah was born in Wiltshire but had obviously moved to London for employment. I wonder how they met ? Edward died  in JAnuary 1870 and was buried at St Margaret's churchyard in Plumstead. By the time the 1871 came around Elizabeth was living alone in Villas Road. Her sons William, Edward and Cornelius were living in Mile End Town, Erith and Plumstead.

In February 1879 Edward and Sarah left England with their 4 children and emigrated to Canterbury, New Zealand. Elizabeth was back in Ann Street living with Cornelius, his wife and children on the 1881 census. She moved with them to Upper Earl Street and then Bramblebury Road where they were living at the 1891 census.

When Elizabeth died in 1892 she had 25 grandchildren living on three continents. She was buried with Edward in the St Margaret’s Plumstead Churchyard.

U - Uriah

Uriah Cooper has been sitting in my tree for some time. I feel that he fits. The fact that makes some people less convinced is his supposed date of birth.

As I see it, he is a younger brother of my great-great-great-grandfather Samuel Cooper. Samuel too has a pretty fluid date of birth, somewhere between 1789 and 1801 depending which document you are reading. I’ve not yet been able to find a baptism for Samuel, but I believe he (and Uriah) are the sons of John Cooper and Ann Pullman who married in Stoke sub Hamdon, Somerset in June 1784. It appears from the church register that a sister of John’s also married that day.

There aren’t many Cooper families around this area so I think they have to all be connected. John and Ann had several children baptised in Stoke sub Hamdon and by 1797 had moved to Montacute where they had some more before John died in 1810. John was a tailor according to one story I read attached to someone's tree. My great-great-great-grandfather Samuel and his son John were both tailors too, so this new revelation seems like it could have an ounce of truth to it. My Dad and I spent a lot of Saturdays at the National Library in Wellington reading the microfilm copies of the church records for Montacute about seven years ago. We even managed to find evidence for my great-great-great-grandmother’s maiden name, but still haven’t been able to convince everyone who has it wrong in their trees to make the correction.

But back to Uriah. He is thought to have been born between 1798 and 1807. His death certificate in 1878 gives his age as 80, but who knows ? I remember being reminded recently about the literacy levels of our ancestors and that their numeracy skills were likely low too. Did they really remember which year they were born in, if they couldn’t write it down or have a document to refer back to ? And what were their addition skills like ? 80 might just have been a fair assumption made by his wife, the informant…who signed with an x.

My ancestor Samuel emigrated to New Zealand in 1841. Uriah had however left two years earlier and sailed on the Asia to Adelaide with his wife Elizabeth (nee Hockey) and three children. Some sources have only documented 2 children. He appears to have had a run in with the law before leaving England and spent some time in Ilchester Gaol.  He and his brothers may even have been involved in a riot which occurred in Montacute in the 1830s. I wonder if their wives and sisters were involved in the women led riot that occurred around the same time. You can read about the riots here. 

Uriah & Elizabeth stayed in South Australia for about 3 years before moving to Launceston, Tasmania. There they had six more children before moving again to Melbourne where their last two children were born. Uriah appears on the 1856 Electoral Roll living in Hawthorn, Melbourne. I am unsure where they lived in South Australia but it should be noted that there is a small settlement there, in the Adelaide Hills named Montacute after the birthplace of a financier of the Copper mine established there in 1843. I wonder if Uriah & Elizabeth knew John Baker ?

There is also a Montacute in Tasmania, near Hobart. This settlement was also established by a former Montacute resident. Captain William Langdon RN was the son of a former vicar of St Catherine’s in Montacute. He had been granted land in Tasmania in 1823, he regularly traded between London and Hobart and is reputed to have owned his own sailing ship. Other former Montacute residents are thought to have joined him there as well. Uriah though seems to have been further north. Uriah was a sawyer by trade and I imagine he would have had no shortage of work as settlers arrived and timber was required for building.

Uriah and Elizabeth had at least 13 children, not all of whom survived infancy, but many of who went on to marry and have families of their own.  He died at his home in Highett Street, Hawthorn. I know that the church records make the connection look pretty sketchy, but DNA matches are certainly pointing in the right direction. We all have matches coming up with descendants of Uriah, through at least 5 of his children and we and they also share matches with the descendants of their sister Ann. Contacting some of them is my next priority to compare information and see where can help each other.

T - Thomas

There are a fair few Thomas’ in our tree. It is a name which appears both as a first name and a surname. As a first name it is well represented across many families and many generations. Some families seemed to choose their children’s names from a very short list of names; so each Thomas might have an uncle Thomas and at least 3 cousins called Thomas as well ! As a surname, it is spread across many counties, provinces, states and countries.

I have a Thomas family I would like to find out a bit more about eventually. I’ll tell you what I know (or think I know).

John Thomas was born about 1790 in Llanfechan, Montgomeryshire, Wales. This information comes from census’ he is recorded on with his family. His wife Ann (maiden name uncertain) was born around the same time in Llanshaidr, Denbighshire, Wales. I have found them on the 1841, 1851 and 1861 UK census’. With a name like Thomas, in Wales you can never be entirely sure you have the right family, but I am fairly confident that I have the right one.

I found them when looking for the family of my 4 x great-grandmother Ann Thomas who I knew had married Henry James (another GREAT name to research !) in Brimfield, Herefordshire in 1843.

For a long time we didn’t do much research with this branch – I mean where do you start with Thomas’ and James’ ? We had Henry and Ann’s marriage certificate, and the birth certificates of both their daughters; Elizabeth & Mary who were born at Broadward Bridge near Clungunford, Shropshire. It wasn’t until we discovered that Ann had had another daughter prior to marrying Henry that the search began. We had been searching for a long time to find when Elizabeth (Aunt Lizzie) had emigrated to America. That turned out to be much earlier than the story relayed to us by Nana, and the passenger record indicated she was travelling to live with her brother-in-law...which meant she had another sister.

Finding Ellen then became the focus. She was about 5 years old at the time of the 1841 census. My cousin Jackie in the States had found what appeared to be the most likely record of baptism; in Llanymynech/Carreghofa in 1836. Below is the family in the parish of Llandrinio, Montgomeryshire. This was in the registration district of Llanfyllin and sub district of Llansantffraid.

 

John THOMAS         48      Sayer (sic)    Y

Ann                        48                          N

Richard                  21                          Y

Hugh                      11                          Y

Edward                   7                            Y

Evans                     6                            Y

Harriot                   16                          Y

Elen                        5                            Y

I am fairly confident that I have identified their daughter Ann as a servant at Jay House in Heath & Jay Herefordshire – just a hop step and a jump from Leintwardine & Bucknell which her (then future) husband gave as his birthplace in various census’.

In 1851 & 1861 John and Ann can be found in Domgay, still in the Llanfyllin registration district where John is a Sawyer, which ties in with the occupation given for him on the marriage certificates for two daughters. In 1851 their daughter Ann, her husband and two daughters were living in Dudley with the Duffill family. Another daughter of John and Ann, Mary, was married to Thomas Duffill, a tailor. Mary was in fact wife #4 of 5. Ellen hasn’t been confirmed on this census, she was likely to be in service elsewhere aged, about 15. By 1861 she had returned to Dudley and was married to John Duffill, her aunt’s stepson. Ellen’s birthplace on the census was transcribed as Slangyowich, which turned out to be Llanymynech !

Mary had died by 1861 and Thomas Duffill had married again. Ann and her family haven’t been located as yet (years of searching) on the 1861 census, but in 1871 Henry was a widower. We have a death certificate for Ann, not entirely sure it is the right one, but the age, location and date seem most likely. Ann was the informant on her sister Mary’s death certificate in 1859. If I could find the 1861 census, it would help make the 1865 death even more likely.

After the death of wife #5 the entire Duffill family, including Ellen, her husband and young children emigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, where “Aunt Lizzie” would join them 40 years later.

Ellen’s marriage certificate records her father’s name as Thomas Thomas (!), her death certificate states John Thomas (her grandfather’s name). Her baptism record implies that her father may be Edward Owens. But that is another puzzle, for one day. The Thomas’ seem to all vanish from records after 1861 too.

In amongst our DNA matches there are some glimmers of hope – people who have Thomas in their trees, or who have Duffill which for us can only mean a link to the Thomas’.