52 Ancestors Challenge - Week 11 - Flowers

 

When this theme popped up, I was initially at a loss on what to write about.  Did my ancestors like flowers, grow flowers, or sell flowers?  I have a few photographs of floral tributes from family funerals but thought this was a bit morbid.  My mum loved roses and freesias.  But did I have enough to write about? 

Eventually after mulling this over, I have found one family photograph which shows a relative in her garden with an impressive array of flowers, so I have decided to write about my Great Auntie Liz.

Auntie Liz was my Great -Grandmother Kate’s eldest sister.  They were daughters of George and Sarah Cotton from Hitchin in Hertfordshire.  Elizabeth was born early in 1853 as her birth is registered in the GRO March quarter (GRO 1853 Mar Qtr 3a 223 Hitchin) and she was baptised at St Mary’s church in Hitchin on 4 March 1853.

Elizabeth is recorded in the 1861 census of Hitchin with her parents and siblings.

Census – 1861 – Hitchin Hill, Hitchin

George Cotton                  Head     Mar        29           Shoemaker                         Herts   St Ippollitts

Sarah Cotton                     Wife      Mar        30           Strawplaiter                       Herts   Hitchin

Elizabeth Cotton               Dau                        8            Scholar                              Herts   Hitchin

William Cotton                 Son                         6            Scholar                            Herts   Hitchin

Ellen Cotton                       Dau                      4                                                      Herts   Hitchin

Edward Cotton                  Son                        2                                                      Herts   Hitchin

John Cotton                       Son                        2ms                                                 Herts   Hitchin

 

However, by 1871 she is not living at home and is found lodging a few doors away from her parents and younger siblings.  Perhaps they had run out of room!

You may notice a gap between John and Kate.  There was also a stillborn son born in 1863 who was buried at the council cemetery in Hitchin whom I discovered whilst researching in the grave books at the cemetery many years ago.  Infant mortality did of course touch my family, but most of the many Morgan, Cotton, Moules and Taylor children in Hitchin survived their early years.

Census – 1871 – 1 Bethel Lane, Hitchin

George Cotton                  Head     Mar        39           General Dealer                  Herts  St Ippollitts

Sarah Cotton                     Wife      Mar        40           Straw Plaiter                     Herts  Hitchin

William Cotton                 Son        Unm      16           General Dealer                  Herts  Hitchin

Ellen Cotton                      Dau                      14          Straw Plaiter                      Herts  Hitchin

Edward Cotton                  Son                        12           Labourer                          Herts  Hitchin

John Cotton                       Son                        10           Scholar                            Herts  Hitchin

Kate Cotton                       Dau                        5              Scholar                           Herts  Hitchin

Charles Cotton                  Son                        4                                                       Herts  Hitchin

 

Census – 1871 – 4 Bethel Lane, Hitchin

Robert Douglas                 Head     Mar        39           Whitesmith                  Berwickshire  Coldstream

Margaret Douglas            Wife      Mar        31           Straw Plaiter                 Herts   Hitchin

Robert Douglas                 Son                        2                                                Herts   Hitchin

Annie Douglas                   Dau                      7ms                                             Herts   Hitchin

Elizabeth Cotton               Lodger                  18                                               Herts   Hitchin

 

At No 3 Bethel Lane is living Thomas Cotton, brother of George Cotton and his family. My wider family members all seemed to live next door, a few doors away or in the same area of Hitchin.

Elizabeth married on 6 January 1876 at St Marylebone, London, by Banns.  Her husband was called Edward Cuff who was a coachman¹.   

In the 1881 census, Edward and Elizabeth were found living in Wandsworth in south London, so have moved from the St Marylebone area.

Census – 1881 – St Goar, Stable, Wandsworth

Edward Cuff                       Head     Mar        29           Coachman                           Dorset  Whitchurch

Elizabeth Cuff                    Wife      Mar        28                                                       Herts    Hitchin

 

Edward is still a coachman; I suspect living over the stabling of his employers house with his wife.  This was the usual for coachmen, or later, the chauffeur.

Their son, Edward John Cuff, was born on 28 November 1884 in Putney, London (GRO 1885 Mar Qtr Wandsworth 1d 778).

Edward Cuff senior died on 18 July 1885 at the Union Infirmary in Battersea and Elizabeth was left a widow with a son only a few months old.  Edward jnr was shortly afterwards placed in the care of her sister Mrs Ellen Richardson in Hanwell, Middlesex so that Elizabeth could continue to work.

The next time Elizabeth is found in a census is 1891 where she is working as a Cook in Ealing, Middlesex, northwest of London. 

Census 1891 – The Manor House, 163 Gunnersbury Lane, Ealing

Joseph Flexman(?)          Head     S              61           Living on own means      Bucks  Chesham

Elizabeth                         Sister     S              48                                                    Bucks Chesham

Emily                             Niece    S              25                                                      Australia Melbourne

John                                Nephew S           18                                                        Middx Edmonton

Alice Maberley              Serv       S              24           Housemaid                         Gloucs Cirencester

Elizabeth Cuff               Serv       Wid        31             Cook                                   Herts  Hitchin

 

Edward Cuff is still living with the Richardson’s in the 1891 Census

Census 1891 – 4 Southfield Cottages, Hanwell

Arthur Richardson            Head     M            35           Gardener                            Middx  Acton

Ellen Richardson               Wife      M           34                                                      Herts  Hitchin

Edward Cuff                      Nephew               6              Scholar                             Surrey  Putney

Eliza A. Richardson          Dau                      5              Scholar                             Middx Hanwell

Frank Barnard                    Lodger  S            18           Gardener                            Surrey  Lingfield

 

At 1 Southfield Cottages is living Henry Hearn, a widower with his son Henry, aged 13.

Elizabeth married for a second time on 20 October 1891, at St Mary, Lambeth, by Banns².  Her new husband Henry Hearn a widower, slightly older that Elizabeth, and the same Henry Hearn who lived at 1 Southfield Cottages, a few doors away from Elizabeth’s sister Ellen (Auntie Nell) in Hanwell in the 1891 census.  I suspect this is where they met.  Why they were married in Lambeth is a mystery, maybe Henry was working in that area at the time.  At this time Hanwell was still rural with market gardens and public parks where the husbands of Ellen and Elizabeth, Arthur Richardson and Henry Hearn, both worked. 

Henry and Elizabeth welcomed their daughter Ellen Jane in 1895 (GRO 1895 Mar Qtr Brentford 3a 146) who was baptised 27 Jan 1895 at St Mark, Hanwell.  The family were by this time living at 1 Southfield Cottages, Hanwell, Middlesex, where Elizabeth was to remain until her death. 

Census 1901 – 1 Southfield Cottages, Hanwell, Middlesex

Henry Hearne                    Head     Mar        50           Carter on Farm                  Bucks  NK

Elizabeth Hearne              Wife      Mar        46                                                      Herts  Hitchin

Nellie Hearne                    Dau                        6                                                     Middx  Hanwell

 

Census 1911 – 1 Southfield Cottages, Oakland Road, Hanwell, Middlesex

Henry Hearn                       Head     Mar        62           Carman                             Bucks  Taplow

Elizabeth Hearn                Wife      Mar         58                                                      Herts  Hitchin

Ellen Hearn                         Dau                     16           Laundrymaid                     Middx  Hanwell

 

Henry and Elizabeth’s daughter Ellen (Nellie) was married on 9 February 1918 in Hanwell, Middlesex to Arthur Redman, a sailor, with her half-brother Edward Cuff being one of the witnesses.   Ted Cuff was also in the Royal Navy, in submarines in the First World War, rising to the rank of Lieutenant Commander, by the Second World War.  Ted’s youngest son Vernon, named after HMS Vernon at Portsmouth where Uncle Ted and his family lived, and where my mother had many happy holidays with the family prior to the 2WW, has written a memoir of his dad which you may find if interest⁴.

By 1921, the latest census that we in the UK have access to, Elizabeth is again a widow, still living at 1 Southfield Cottages.  Her daughter Ellen and her young family are also in residence.   My Mum was named after Eva Redman.  Young Teddy Redman was one of the few sailors to survive the torpedoing of HMS Edinburgh in the Second World War.

Census 1921 – 1 Southfield Cottages, Hanwell, Middlesex

Elizabeth Hearn                Head     68 4       F   Widow Herts Hitchin                Gen Domestic Servant

Arthur Frederick Redman Son in law 36  M Warwicks, Kidderminster             Admiralty (out of work)

Ellen Jane Redman          Dau  26   Mar F       Middx,Hanwell                           Home Duties

Eva Daphne Redman      G Dau    1 5  F          Middx, Hanwell                          

Edward Alec Redman     G Son     5ms            Middx, Hanwell

 

Elizabeth died in 1938 at the age of 85 (GRO 1938 Mar Qtr Brentford 3a 248).  My Mum, born in 1925, could remember visiting her in Hanwell.

She was buried at Hanwell Cemetery on 5 May 1938 and as this entry in the burial books indicates was still living at 1 Southfield Cottages, Hanwell at the time of her death⁵.

Notes

1.       Edward Cuff was a coachman, son of John Cuff, a coachman.  Elizabeth Cotton was the daughter of George Cotton, a bootmaker.  Both of full age.  Edward Cuff made his mark; Elizabeth Cotton signed her name. Both were living in St Marylebone.

2.     Henry Hearn, 40, Widower, a Carman, of 60 Walnut Tree Walk, Lambeth, son of Robert Hearn dec, a Labourer and Elizabeth Cuff, 35, Widow, of 60 Walnut Tree Walk, Lambeth, daughter of George Cotton, General Dealer.  Both signed their names.  Witnesses – Arthur Richardson, Ellen Richardson (Elizabeth’s sister).

3.       Arthur Frederick Redman, 33, Sailor, of Southfield Cottages, Hanwell, son of Frederick Redman, dec, Cabinet Maker and Ellen Jane Hearn, 23, or Southfield Cottages, Hanwell, daughter of Henry Hearn, Carman.  Both signed their names.  Witnesses: Edward John Cuff, Lilian Edith May.

4.       Cuff, Vernon  ‘21285 Edward John Cuff RN’ in Kinsman, the journal of the Cuffe Research Centre, No Eleven, 2000

5.  City of Westminster Archives Centre; London, England; Westminster Cemetery Registers; Reference: CR/1/1/16

52 Ancestors Challenge - Week 10 - Worship

 

How important was worship for my family? 

My family consider themselves Christian but are not regular churchgoers.  Nowadays we don’t usually go to church apart from Christenings and Funerals, and even the latter is usually conducted at a crematorium chapel.  But, in the past attendance at church once a week was the norm, and if you didn’t it was sometimes frowned upon by your neighbours.

My Dad’s family attended church sporadically.  My Dad and his sister Nellie were never baptised, although the other children from my grandparent’s family were – Alf and Jim in London, with Vi and Dick being baptised at St Faith’s in Walsworth, Hertfordshire as a ‘job lot’. 

St Faith's Church, Walsworth, Hertfordshire

Maybe Grandmother Elizabeth encouraged this as I believe she was a churchgoer, as we have her well-thumbed Hymns Ancient and Modern, and her Bible, in which is proudly inscribed her three Nickels children's birth dates. 

In the 19^th century my paternal ancestors all made sure that their children were baptised in an Anglican (Church of England) church, be this in London or in Suffolk.    Gt Grandmother Elizabeth’s Dorset family worshipped in St James at Poole, or earlier in the Skinner Street Independent church.  So, this family were sometimes Anglican, and sometimes Nonconformist.  Maybe they liked the preacher!

The Nickels’ worshipped in Orford, Tunstall and Wickham Market in Suffolk, all Anglican churches.

In the 18^th century they would have attended the churches in their locality, mostly Anglican, by evidence of baptism, banns, marriage, and burial.  Whether they attended every week, we shall never know.

My Mum’s Hertfordshire family were regular churchgoers, right up to my Mum’s generation.  I have her bible and Congregational hymn book and various certificates she was presented with for attending church related activities, like the Band of Hope.    Mum always watched ‘Songs of Praise’ on TV on Sunday evening as we didn’t attend church regularly. 

I was baptised at the Free Church in Letchworth but later after joining the church choir at St Paul’s in Letchworth was Confirmed into the Church of England by the Bishop of St Albans.  

St Paul's Church, Letchworth, Hertfordshire

I love looking around churches, especially those where my ancestors worshipped, be it Anglican or nonconformist.  The history, the atmosphere and the monuments all fascinate me.  

I attended a Catholic convent school where my fellow pupils came from all sorts of different religions -  Roman Catholic, Unitarian, Church of England, Moslem, Buddhist, Baptist, Methodist and many other faiths.   We were married at All Saints in Willian, a church special to me as relatives from both sides of my family have been baptised, married and buried there.

All Saints, Willian, Hertfordshire

My Mum’s parents and all the 6 children attended the Congregational Church in Queen Street, Hitchin.  Most of my aunts were married there.  The church no longer exists, being demolished in the mid-1900s.   The periodical below was the Magazine of the Congregational Church, a bound copy of issues from 1912 - 1913 was gifted to me by an uncle (on the Nickels side of the family!) many years ago.  Together with the moral stories suitable for Sunday reading there is a useful commentary on the clubs and societies run by the church and also births, deaths and marriages.  Full of names for the genealogist.

Mum’s Morgan family have a long association with nonconformity in Hitchin.  I have located burials of my direct ancestors in the nonconformist burial ground in 1809 and 1810, so they must have been part of the congregation back into the 1700s.  They attended the Back Street Meeting and the Tilehouse Street Baptist Church, both in Hitchin.   The Taylor’s, Moules’ and Cotton’s attended the Anglican churches in Hitchin (St Mary), Baldock (St Mary), Willian (All Saints) and in the nearby village of St Ippollitts.  Most of my ancestors attended the Anglican church, but some brothers or sisters did attend nonconformist chapels, mostly Baptist.  How often we will never know, but it was normal to attend worship weekly.

St Mary's Church, Hitchin

Although we don’t now attend church services regularly this does not mean that we are atheist!  We ‘attend’ services on TV, occasionally attend a church service associated with things we are involved with for example the The Battle of Britain Service at Westminster Abbey or the St John's Day Service at St Paul's Cathedral. I also sing with my operatic society choir where we always have a Christmas concert where traditional carols, and Christmas songs, are sung with gusto. 

I guess in the 21^st century there are so many things that occupy our time so that a weekly visit to church is not necessarily priority, but that doesn’t mean that we don’t worship in a personal way.  Perhaps we are more ‘spiritual’ these days. 

For example, we enjoy learning about the history of Christianity and different faiths, investigating the origins of the bible, which gospels were included and which were not, Relics, the Turin Shroud, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and more controversial theories.  This doesn’t make us less Christian, but we would probably have been ostracised or accused of blasphemy in times gone by.  In the past people accepted church doctrine and could recite passages from the Bible without question, nowadays we are perhaps more questioning of that doctrine. 

52 Ancestors Challenge - Week 9 - Females

 

Half of our ancestry is made up of our female ancestors, your mother, grandmothers, great-grandmothers and so on. 

For this weeks #52ancestors challenge I thought hard about this theme.  Should I write about a particular female ancestor?  One of my grandmothers died when I was 2 years old, so I don’t really remember her at all.  My other grandmother died in 1917 – so I certainly can’t remember her.  I remember my aunts well.  My Dad had two full sisters, and one half-sister, whilst my Mum had 4 sisters.   I knew them all and remember them fondly – but that is a topic for later weeks of the challenge. 

All my aunts were supportive of me when I got interested in tracing the family tree and gave me many old photographs of their parents and grandparents, so I have some photos of my great-grandparents.  I have photographs of my maternal grandmother and her mother my paternal grandmother, and her mother.  From the 1910s I have many photographs of the aunties (and uncles) in formal photographer’s studio shots, and as cameras became more portable and commonplace, ‘snaps’ of the family on holiday, and in more relaxed attitudes.  From the aunties I also learnt a about their parents and grandparents and the wider family.  What they did for a living, sayings, stories, and the odd scandal. 

However, they say that the only true ancestry is through the female line as ‘it is a wise man who knows his father’.  This is of course true, but how many of your mothers, mothers, mothers, mothers can you trace with any certainty?

I have been tracing my family for over 40 years, and there are still some lines way back in time that I am still finding out about.

My mother, Eva, was born in Hitchin in Hertfordshire, the fifth of the six children of my grandparents.  Five girls and one boy, hence why I had an Uncle Son rather than an Uncle Ernest.   Mum married my dad late in life and I arrived when she was 40.  Before her marriage she worked in a shoe shop, Pomfrett’s, and before that Freeman, Hardy and Willis, both in Hitchin.  In the 1939 Register she is described as a Machinist, free stitch and zips and general repair work.  Mum always made my clothes when I was a youngster.  She loved sewing and knitting, but she didn’t get on with crochet.  One of the small bedrooms at our house was her ‘Sewing Room’ with the sewing machine etc.

Mum

My grandmother Sarah, always known as Sally, married young, at 17, with my eldest auntie arriving mere days after the marriage.  If the rumour is true, she also had an earlier child which was adopted – naughty girl!  Sarah had just the one brother, Arthur.  Sarah was a housewife, who supplemented the family income with sewing.  Exquisite sewing, of which we have some examples kept in the family.  She made all the children’s clothes. Granddad received a World War 1 Pension, and worked as a Plate Layer on the Railway.

Sally, aged about 16

Sarah’s mother, my great-grandmother, was called Kate.  She married late and had just the two children, Sarah and Arthur.  She was a hard-working lady who ran a successful Laundry at her home.  My Mum and her sisters could remember helping with the washing, mangling and ironing.  In the 1911 Census of No 4 Hitchin Hill Path¹, Kate is a Laundress, employing her daughter Sarah and her husband’s niece, Daisy, who she helped to bring up when her mother died. Her husband Arthur is a Railway Carpenter.  Kate’s maiden name was Cotton, she was the daughter of George and Sarah Cotton and was born in 1865 in Hitchin.  Granny Taylor was a character and had some very ‘colourful’ sayings which have come down in the family.

Arthur and Kate Taylor 

Kate’s mother, my great-great- grandmother was called Sarah.  I presume that my grandmother was named after her.  Sarah was a housewife, bringing up her large family.  She and her husband George, a coal dealer, also lived in the Hitchin Hill area of Hitchin.  In earlier census records Sarah is a straw plaiter, a not uncommon occupation in Hitchin in the mid to late 19 century. George and Sarah are buried at the main council cemetery in Hitchin. 

Sarah’ s maiden name was Muncey.  She was the daughter of Charles and Amey Muncey and was baptised 24 September 1830 at St Mary’s, Hitchin.  She and George Cotton were married 11 May 1850 at St Mary’s, Hitchin.  

Sarah’s mother, my Great-great-great-grandmother, was called Amey.  Amey was born in about 1811 in Hitchin and was the daughter of a Sarah Parkins who is aged 55 and living with Amey and her husband and family in the 1841 Census of Hitchin.  Sarah by this date is a widow.  Charles and Amey had six children, 3 sons and 3 daughters.

Further research in the parish registers for Hitchin found a marriage for a William Parkins and a Sarah Poulter on 26 December 1806.  William could sign his name; Sarah made her mark.  More research is needed to find out more about this couple and their family.  

There is a Sarah Poulter who was the daughter of Joseph and Sarah Poulter, baptised in Hitchin on 5 April 1782.  Joseph was a labourer.   I wonder if she is my great- great-great-great-grandmother?

The name Sarah features often in my female line ancestry.  I wonder how far back I can go.  I’m lucky that so far, my direct female ancestors have not strayed far from Hitchin!

 

1.      1. The National Archives of the UK (TNA); Kew, Surrey, England; Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911, Ancestry.com. 1911 England Census [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2011. Last accessed 27/02/2022.

52 Ancestors Challenge - Week 8 - Courting

 This weeks #52ancestors challenge got me thinking  - where did my ancestors meet?

In the 20^th century, my parents met at the local dance halls, attending the weekly ‘shin-dig’ at the Hermitage Halls in Hitchin and The Icknield Halls and The Wilbury in Letchworth.   These were the main places for young people to meet in the 1930s and 1940s, with the added attraction of servicemen from nearby Bassingbourn and Chicksands.  There were also village halls that held dances and church events.  Other places to meet your future spouse were at work, or even earlier, at school.   The social parameters for meeting your future consort were usually a bike, bus, or train ride away from home, with further afield possible if someone owned a car.  When my parents were young, if a chap owned a car, it could be a magnet for the young ladies! 

In the early 20^th century, my Hertfordshire maternal family did not travel very far away from Hitchin when they chose their partners.  My Grandparents attended the same school, The British School, in Hitchin with their families living close to each other in the town. 

The Morgan family worshipped in the Congregational Church in Queen Street, alas now demolished, as did my Mum and her siblings.  They went to church every week. The Morgan’s (paternal) had been nonconformist since the early 1800s, which added a different dimension to my family research.  The Taylor’s (maternal) were Church of England, worshipping at St Mary’s in the town.  You attended the church of the male member of the marriage, hence my grandparents attending the Congregational church with their 6 children. 

Further back in time my Hertfordshire ancestors mostly lived within a 20-mile radius of Hitchin, so really haven’t moved very far at all in hundreds of years. Several siblings of my Great Grandmother Morgan, maiden name Moules, moved to Keighley in Yorkshire for work, and some of the sisters of my Great Grandmother Taylor, maiden name Cotton, moved away once they married.  But, on the whole, my family largely ‘stayed put’.  In north Hertfordshire, the county boundary with Bedfordshire is very close so I do have some Bedfordshire ancestry too. 

 

Lack of work in a largely rural county like Hertfordshire caused some people to move further away.  With the advent of the railway in Hitchin in the 1850s London was only a train ride away.  My grandfather Morgan worked on the railways as a plate layer, with this father-in-law, Arthur Taylor being a carpenter on the railways, both based at Hitchin station.  Economic forces were the main catalyst for people moving away from their family roots in my family, and also marriage, with females moving with their husbands to another part of the country.

My Suffolk Nickels family, my dad’s family, are a little more interesting.  As previously mentioned in these #52ancestors blogs, my dad was born in 1916 in the First Garden City of Letchworth in Hertfordshire.  His father moved to Hertfordshire in about 1910 to work on the building of Letchworth.  There are still examples of his creative leadwork at The Cloisters in Letchworth.  He also worked for the company who installed the plumbing at The Spirella in Letchworth, and at George Bernard Shaw’s home at Ayot St Lawrence. 

My Dad’s brothers and sisters, however, were born in different places. The 1911 Census helped me work out where the family were living between 1901 and 1911. My grandparents, Alf and Alice, met in London and were married in 1901. Their first child Alf was born in 1902, in Walworth, London.  Jim was born in 1903, with Violet appearing in 1907 whilst the family were living in Camberwell Green.  The next child, Dick, was born in Walsworth, Hertfordshire in 1911, with Nellie and Nick (Dad) born in Letchworth in 1914 and 1916.  Basil and Bella, from Grandad’s second marriage were also born at the family home, 76 Shott Lane, Letchworth, in 1919 and 1921.

My grandad Alf’s parents, Alfred John and Elizabeth were living in Hertfordshire by 1899 as he was Licensee of The Willian Arms pub in Willian, Hertfordshire, near the new Garden City site.  Their journey to Hertfordshire is more interesting.  Alf was born in Suffolk in 1850, with Elizabeth born in Dorset in 1838 – quite an age gap!   They met in London. I guess both had gone to the metropolis in search of work.  

From my research, Alfred John already had two brothers who had gone to live and work in London before he too moved there.  Elizabeth was working in service after she was widowed, initially in Dorset, so may have travelled to London with her employer and decided to settle there.  Her teenage daughter, Mary, who had been brought up by her grandmother and aunt whilst Elizabeth worked was living with her mother by 1871.  Alfred John and Elizabeth married in the early 1870s.

The Nickels family were from Suffolk.  They had lived in Orford, Wickham Market, Sutton, Badingham and the surrounding area since at least the 17^th century. My ancestors would have met their future partners in their towns, at the market, in the pub (most probably), at work or at church.  Most spouses came from the same town or village, or one a few miles away, certainly within walking distance on a market day.  My Nickels family have successive generations who were publicans, from Gt-Gt-Gt Grandfather William Nickels, who died in 1844, right up to my uncle Basil.  As ‘Mine Host’, they would have been well known in the town or village.  Strong ladies, such as William Nickels’ wife Elizabeth, would take over the licence of The Chequers at Wickham Market when William died, with her daughter Louisa taking over from her.  A supportive wife who was happy to ‘muck in’ was essential. Daughters and nieces are found to have worked as barmaids  -  another way of meeting young men.  Oh, how I’d love to do a ‘pub crawl’ of all the pubs my relations ran! 

With my main line of Dominey’s from Poole, Dorset, they seem to have met their spouses locally, most probably via the church.  The family worshipped at both St James’ and as Skinner Street Independent, now the United Reformed. 

One ancestor was Parish Clerk at Lytchett.  Occasionally with this family, I have found a spouse coming from elsewhere, usually when they are in the army or navy and posted to the area or town of my ancestral family.  It must be remembered that Poole was a port, so there would have been opportunities to meet people from different places.  One branch of the Dominey's had a connection with Newfoundland and Canada.

My Sutch’s from London, my paternal grandmother’s family, were more adventurous with their connections with the music hall stage and music in general, but, their choice of partner seems to be very much local to their family home even though London, offers possibilities for meeting people from all over the place.  There was the story that Grandad Sutch had married beneath him when he married Jane Woodman.  He was on the stage, and doing quite well, she was a butcher’s daughter, but there seem to have been some troubles within her family.  I wonder how they met?  Probably the pub, or maybe even the stage door.  Their families both lived in the same area of London, near to St Martin in the Fields and Bond Street.  After their marriage they moved to South London, Walworth, Kennington and Camberwell.

With my direct family lines, there are not any surprises with choices of spouses.  Most were living in the same place, or nearby.  Many families had lived in the same location for many years. 

I have connections with London with my paternal family who initially moved from Suffolk and Dorset to London and then to Hertfordshire, moving because of work opportunities with expansion in the metropolis and with the new Garden City in Hertfordshire.    

My Hertfordshire family didn’t move far.  They were mostly agricultural labourers, publicans (again) and working in trades in Hitchin like the railway and also diversifying to driving carts for businesses, laundresses, coalmen, and of course straw plaiters.  Hitchin is near to Luton in Bedfordshire, a centre for straw hat making.  I have found whole families of straw plaiters, wives and big families of children, supplementing the wage of the head of the household.  Not just the girls either, many small boys, my granddad included, learn how to straw plait.

As I have found with my family, there are be multiple connections with families who have long lived in the same location.  Cousins marrying, siblings marrying siblings and the intermarrying of families over many generations.  Many years ago whilst talking to some friends, family connections came into the conversation and my mum and a business colleague of my dad worked out that they were cousins through a marriage within their respective families.  Similarly, a work colleague and I found out that were both descended from Edward and Dinah Hunt from Orford, Suffolk¹.  It's a small world.

Notes

1.      Nickels, Jane ‘Was it Coincidence or Fate?’ in Suffolk Roots, Volume 20, No 4, February 1995.

Bi

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52 Ancestors Challenge - Week 7 - Landed

 

This week’s theme promptly took my thoughts off to the reference works available for those who have connections with or are researching the landed gentry.   These are those families that are not Peers, but slightly lower down in the social scale, but still significant in their locality.  The local squire living in the manor house, or the vicar, who was often of a good family, but not the eldest son.  There is the old saying that eldest son inherits, one son goes in the Army or Navy and another the Church.  Allied with the narrative genealogies contained in such tomes as Burke’s Landed Gentry, Walford’s County Families and Fox-Davies’ Armorial Families, there are also the older county histories which often give a narrative of the descent of a manor through inheritance, sale, or gift.  Allied with this is the monumental 19 century Owners of the Land volumes.  For the 16^th and 17^th centuries there are also the Heralds’ Visitations which record those people in a county who used coats of arms and in many cases also include a pedigree, sometimes on 3 generations, sometimes considerably more.

Although these tools are marvellous and so informative, it must be remembered that the information was often supplied by the person paying for the entry, so, sometimes people are left out, deliberately or otherwise.  Later editions of the same serial do not always contain such detail as earlier editions, especially with descents of younger children and daughters.  Some family members do not appear at all in later editions.   This is like the Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage volumes published by Burke’s, Debrett’s and others since the 1700s.  In the case of Burke’s, they circulated a ‘questionnaire’ to family members to fill in, so the data is only as good as manuscripts the family may have in their possession and family memory.  Sometimes generations are muddled, left out entirely, or successive editions contradict.

Many of these works have now been digitised and are available online to browse, but there is nothing quite like browsing a real book.  Whilst to research an initial family, you will usually find notes and connections to other families listed in the volume, or in other books such as the Peerage.  I find that a hard copy is much easier to browse that a digital version.

If you live near to a Library with good genealogical or heraldic collections, it may be worth visiting and looking at a series of differently dated serial volumes to compare the information included.  If, like us, you love collecting books that will be useful for genealogical and heraldic research, keep your eyes peeled in antique fairs, bookshops, or online auction sites.  The books are heavy and can be huge, but think of all the information they contain.

The intertwining of the landed families with peers and even royalty is fascinating.  As has been shown on the popular TV programme, Who Do You Think You Are? if a family can prove its descent from a landed family, by going back a few more generations you may find a link to a younger child of a peer.  Once you get into peerage territory there is a possibility that an advantageous marriage will link the family you are tracing with a so called ‘gateway ancestor’, usually a female, who is your key person for pushing your family back to a possible royal descent.

An example:

On our bookshelves we have a short ‘run’ of Burke’s Landed Gentry volumes, dated 1879 (2 vols), 1906, 1937, 1952 and 1965 (3 vols).  The oldest one is the tattiest. We’ve also got a few Peerages too.

For example, the Corbet of Adderley Hall family appear in 3 of the books, in 1879, 1906 and 1937.  By looking at each entry, earliest first, a pedigree of the family can be constructed as well as further clues found as to their earlier lineage and marital connections.

1879

This entry shows that the family is connected to a Baronetage family and refers the reader to Burke’s Peerage and Baronetage for the earlier pedigree and armorial bearings.  Henry Corbet’s wife was the daughter of a Baronet and he himself the nephew of another Baronet.

1906

In this entry there is the addition of an illustration of the family coat of arms, taken form a seal.  There is also more information about their armorial bearings.  The eldest son of Henry Corbet, Reginald, is now heading the pedigree, with his younger brother Bertram’s issue also listed.

1937

The family is still headed by Reginald Corbet and his issue, a daughter.  The younger brother Bertram’s issue is included, a son who died in 1918 and a daughter with the details of her marriage.

A family left with no male heirs.  Many other gentry families were in the same situation after the first world war, a time of change in the social order, a time that saw the abandonment of large family houses and estates for want of a male heir.  There are of course still the well to do families, but there is a blurring of the defining lines of the class structure.  There has always been the nouveau riche, the tradespeople who have risen up the social ladder with advantageous marriages, as well as the younger sons of well to do families who have had to work for a living as an apprentice in a trade, in the Army or Navy, in business, the Church or the Law.  You never know, with enough digging you may find that your family can link with a gentry family.  

You may find it interesting to research the families that they might have worked for, as a servant.  My own great grandmother was a cook for the Delme-Radcliffe family of Hitchin Priory in Hertfordshire UK.  Their family archive is held at the Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies (HALS) in Hertford, Hertfordshire UK.

52 Ancestors Challenge - Week 6 - Maps

 

Maps are fascinating and can be used to enhance the family story by looking at the wider location of your family.  Did your ancestor live in a village or a town?  When they lived there was there a transport network like a railway or regular coaches which could have taken them further afield.   In England, did they live near to a main travel route, such as the Great North Road, the Icknield Way or within a day’s travel of larger towns from which they could travel to different parts of the country. For example, how easy would it have been to travel from Dorset to London and Suffolk to London, as my Great Grandparents did?

Looking at my family in Hertfordshire, my main town of interest is Hitchin, but I have relatives who lived in other towns and villages which were within walking distance on a market day, such as Willian, Baldock, Norton, St Ippollitts and Kings Walden.  Slightly further afield we also find family in Stevenage (before the new town was built), Wheathampstead and Redbourn, still not too far away if you managed to hitch a lift on a cart.

With my London relations, maps have been useful in working out where the members of the family lived in relationship to each other to work out possible churches where baptism and marriage could have taken place.

Maps are tactile.  Poring over an old map if your locality you can visually see the changes in housing, roads, and development.

There are now several good websites where you can see the development of localities by comparing maps of different dates.

https://www.oldmapsonline.org/

https://maps.nls.uk/os/6inch-england-and-wales/

https://www.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/about/history/historical-map-archives

But, although these are very useful, there is nothing like an actual map.   These can be in various formats – a flat sheet, folded, in an atlas or a smaller book. 

For family history, the older the better. One very useful book for family historians in the UK is the Phillimore Atlas and Index of Parish Registers.  This book is useful for working out which parishes your ancestor may have lived in, apart from the ones where you have already found their baptisms, marriages, and burials.  Plotting possible ways of travel can be helpful.  Tithe, Estate and Enclosure maps are especially useful. 

Ordnance Survey maps, in various scales, can be picked up at flea markets, charity shops, bookshops and via online auction sites such as Ebay.  The larger scale older maps are useful for finding specific named farms, houses, and fields.

One of my favourite books, which I inherited from my cousin, who found it at an antique fair, is Bartholomew’s Handy Reference Atlas of London & Suburbs which she paid the princely sum of £2 for. 

The 4^th edition is dated 1921, and has coloured maps, a useful index of streets, population figures and plans, railways, and postal districts.   So useful at this date with the 1921 Census just being released, and before much was bombed in the second world war.