Troublemaker. aka Black Sheep:James HARVEY & Susannah LUCAS

had initially thought that the prompt was Black Sheep. Because this story has been a troublesome one to write its sub title will be Black Sheep

This prompt could easily be applied to an ancestor that I have already written about.

So where do I start this time? Well there’s the great aunt who was cited for adultery. She isn’t a direct ancestor and all I know are the bare facts. Besides I don’t feel that it is my place to write about her. If she’d been my grandmother…well that would be different, but she wasn’t. Thinking about it, my family has quite a few ‘black sheep’, but show me a family that doesn’t.

So maybe I’ll write about ‘lost sheep’ instead.

Previously I wrote a story about a third great grandfather, James Harvey, in week 22, Uncertain when both James and his wife Susan Lucas were not in the same household on the 1841 census as their children.

James and Susannah marriage took place at Barking Tye, Suffolk, which is about 20 miles 23 km from Wilby.

Is it too much of a coincidence to discover on the 1841 census for Wilby, that Thomas Aldous who Susan goes on to marry on 11 February 1848, eight years after James died, lives right next door to a David Harvey and his family including a child called James and a daughter called Harriot, both of which seem to be family names. Interesting it maybe, but I cannot find a link, yet.

There is a possible James on the 1841 census, but in Worlingworth, Hoxne, which is only about three and a half miles from Wilby (about 3.5 Km), but no sign of Susannah  

On yet another Suffolk census, this time at Brandeston, about ten miles from Wilby is another James Harvey

I thought I was on to something with an 1841 census search for Susannah in Worlingworth which is about 25 miles from Wilby. When I looked at the actual record it was for a nine-year-old Susan Harvey. Again, is that too much of a coincidence to find Harvey in a family of Lucas’s?

The search for my troublesome ‘lost sheep’ is somewhat disheartening, but I do hope one day to be able to solve the mystery of where James and Susannah where on census night

Small: John HALL & Martha WHYMENT

I have already written about those of my ancestors who appear in the few photographs I have of them, so I do not know if they were tall or small, and their families were definitely not small. So, what to write about for this week’s prompt?

I suppose the prompt could be about the small amount of information that I have about more distant ancestors such as William Hall’s parents, John Hall and Martha Whyment who were one of my maternal three times great grandparents. 

The only piece of evidence, as yet, that I have is a parish marriage entry

 I’ve learned from previous experience it’s important to unpick ALL the details on certificates.

John Hall was a widow when he married spinster Martha Whyment. They were married by banns at St Guthlac, Crowland. Witnessed on Tuesday 11 October 1796. Their witnesses, who signed their names rather than with an X, were Ann Ashby and Sheb Beckwith.His name appears on two other marriage entries so is unlikely to be a family member. As yet there has been no proven connection with Ann Ashby. Martha was described as a ‘sojourner’, which means that she was from a different parish. After many years of search, I have still not been able to locate any birth details for her.

I can find the births and deaths of two children born to John and Elizabeth Warren. William who was born in 1787 and died later that year and possibly Robert who has yet to be verified.

John and Martha had another nine children. Between 1797 and 1816.

Martha 1797–1826, William 1799–1804, Thomas 1801–1802, Charles 1802-1802, Sarah 1803–1809, William 1805–1880, Samuel 1807–1809, Elizabeth 1813- ? and Samuel 1816–1816  

Supposing that Marth’s age was twenty she married John in 1796 she would have been born c 1776, making her aged 40 when their last child Samuel was born.

According to another researcher, who had access to parish records, it is thought that John was born in 1763 and died c 1836,  Martha's birth and death dates are still being debated, but is is thought she died in 1826

So, there it is a small, the small amount of information that I have about John and Martha.

 

 

 

 

Large: William HALL

It’s getting harder as the weeks go by, and my ancestors get further away, to write these stories. This week’s prompt is no exception. So, I went to my ‘large’ blue book, as mentioned in week 13, to check which of my ancestors was still waiting to be written about. A couple of weeks ago I wrote about Elizabeth Hinson, this time it’s her husband William Hall, a great great grandfather.

I don’t have an exact birthdate for him, but he was baptised 28 March 1805, St Mary, St Bartholomew and St Guthlac, Anglican Church. 

I had always thought that a baptism and christening were the same thing. But they are not, though these days the two terms are interchangeable, and happen at the same time. In the past a baptism was to ‘wash away sins’ while the baptism was a naming ceremony and a welcoming into the church. In the Church of England these ceremonies were usually on a Sunday. Interestingly in an emergency almost anyone could perform the baptism in order to save the soul. https://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LIN/churchrecs#Baptisms

William and Elizabeth’s lives are documented in Elizabeth’s story, so I thought I’d write a bit about Peterborough and Crowland.

The first census William and his family appear on the 1841, which was ten years after the first infirmary had been built in the town. English census prior to 1841 only recorded the number of people in a dwelling but not the names. By 1851 the population was almost 9,000, going on to reach 17,000 in just twenty years.

Peterborough’s streets were lit with oil Lamps from 1795 which were replaced by gas lit ones in 1830.  A corn exchange, for the selling and buying of grain was built in 1846. The 19th century saw the establishment of an iron foundry and brick making works. A rapid increase in the population was driven by the arrival of the railway in 1845. Town improvements included piped water and sewage system were completed in 1880, and Peterborough’s first public library opened in 1892. 

William and Elizabeth’s lives are documented in Elizabeth’s story, so I thought I’d write a bit about Peterborough and Crowland.

The first census William and his family appear on the 1841, which was ten years after the first infirmary had been built in the town. English census prior to 1841 only recorded the number of people in a dwelling but not the names. By 1851 the population was almost 9,000, going on to reach 17,000 in just twenty years.

Peterborough’s streets were lit with oil Lamps from 1795 which were replaced by gas lit ones in 1830.  A corn exchange, for the selling and buying of grain was built in 1846. The 19th century saw the establishment of an iron foundry and brick making works. A rapid increase in the population was driven by the arrival of the railway in 1845. Town improvements included piped water and sewage system were completed in 1880, and Peterborough’s first public library opened in 1892.