Narrative Snippets
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As I have an annoying tendency to get overly caught up in details and never actually complete a narrative, I'm trying a new approach - posting snippets as I think of them.
This will, I hope, increase the number of ancestors who are findable via google and thus improve my chances of getting in touch with others researching the same people.
1. That Rare Occurrence - an Illegitimate Child Where the Father is Known
Jane Linquist was born in 1846; her grand-daughters knew she had been born in Poplar, East London, although during their childhood she was living in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire. Her birth certificate names her mother as Sarah Linquist, widow (née Milend) and gives her father as "Robert" (sic).
Following up Robert and Jane through the census brings us to Rickmansworth in 1851, where Robert is a married Farmer of 2 acres with no wife in evidence and no labourers, and Jane L Smith is a Visitor. By 1861, Robert is living with his "wife" Sarah (née Samuel), though I haven't yet found their marriage. Jane is still with her father, this time given her legal name of Jane Linquist, and listed as a Boarder. Also present is Robert's daughter by Sarah Samuel, Sarah Ann Smith born 1854. I originally though Sarah Ann might have been Sarah's daughter by a previous husband - in 1851 Sarah Smith declared herself to be a Journeyman Bricklayer's Wife while Robert called himself a Farmer - but a Births notice in the 27th May 1854 issue of the Bucks Chronicle and Bucks Gazette contains the announcement "On Thursday week, at Leighton Buzzard, the wife of Mr Robert Smith, gardener, of a daughter".
(In 1851 Sarah née Samuel was visiting her brother Richard Samuel at the Cross Keys in Leighton Buzzard; when she was later granted administration of Robert's estate in 1877, Richard Samuel and his son John Birdsey Samuel stood surety.)
By 1871, Jane was married to Jesse Cook; the marriage took place in 1866 and while the marriage certificate names her as Jane Linquist, the notice in the newspaper calls her Jane Smith.
So overall, it's clear that while Robert accepted Jane as his child, he wasn't necessarily keen to broadcast that fact to the census enumerators. On the other hand, she was brought up under the name Smith, keeping her real name for the privacy of the vestry.
Robert Smith was born 1818 in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, 2nd of the 8 known children of Thomas Smith, a Stone Mason, and his wife Ann née Greenwood. I currently have no information on his childhood or his apprenticeship if he served one - his later occupations as Farmer and [Market] Gardener would seem to make this unlikely. I also have no idea when he left Cirencester. I haven't yet found Robert in 1841, but we must assume that he was in Poplar some time between November 1845 and April 1846. (Jane's birth was registered in Q4 of 1846, so she was probably born between mid-August and the end of December of that year).
By April of 1851, Jane's mother Sarah Milend was married again, to a John Flack, and Robert was in Rickmansworth with 4-year-old Jane, calling himself a Farmer of Two Acres. Rickmansworth isn't that far North of a direct line from Poplar to Cirencester, so it remains possible that Robert intended to go home. Of course, we don't know why he left in the first place, and perhaps the idea of turning up with an illegitimate daughter did not appeal.
The odd thing about this part of Rickmansworth in 1851 is that on Robert's page of 20 people, almost all of them farmers of 2-3 acres, the places of birth include 16 different places in 9 different counties* - I don't think I've ever seen that kind of thing anywhere else outside of a major city. Perhaps Rickmansworth was being developed as an area of food supply for London, and there was some kind of incentive for people to move there from all over England and produce food for the capital? Or perhaps - like Robert - these were people who gone to central London for whatever reason and later decided to move out to a quieter area? I haven't yet looked at where any of these people were in 1841.
*Wiltshire [Trowbridge, ?Broeford?], Somerset [Hinton, Stoke ?Yanne?], Gloucester [Cirencester, Bitton, Bristol], Middlesex [London, Poplar], Essex [Waldin], Buckinghamshire [Bletchley, ?Renton?], Northamptonshire [?Greens Mortowe?], Derbyshire [?Alresty?], Lancashire [Wigan, Manchester].
2. Death of a Temperance Campaigner
When Robert Smith died on 7th November 1876 (date from his probate statement), the Bedfordshire Mercury of 18th November 1876 reported his funeral as follows:
Good Templar Funeral - On Saturday afternoon last [ie 11th November] the members of the "Sir Joseph Paxton" lodge of the Independent Order of Good Templars followed to their last resting place the remains of one of their fellow members, Mr Robert Smith, of Lamsey. The Good Templar brass band preceded the funeral procession, playing the "Dead March" in Saul. There were numerous spectators throughout the route from Lamsey to the churchyard, and it was estimated that round and near the grave there could have been no less than 50 persons. The members of the Order wore regalia, with a small crape rosette on the left side. The service was conducted by the Rev M. Pain, curate. On returning from the grave the band played "Come to the Saviour" and "Shall we gather at the river?" This was the first death that had occurred since the institution of the lodge four years ago; the deceased, whose age was 58, was for many years an earnest worker in the cause of temperance, and was greatly respected by a large circle of friends.
3. Signing the Pledge
Ruth Bird and her siblings all signed the [Temperance] Pledge in childhood. The information is available on the Castlethorpe Village website and shows that many village children signed the Pledge and that the Band of Hope was very active in Castlethorpe. Ruth was only 6 years old when she signed, and one interesting point to note is that the signings occurred on different days of the week. I had initially assumed they would all have been on a Sunday, for example at Sunday School or Chapel, but apparently not.
4. Extrapolating Links from Various Events
On 31st March 1800, one Hannah Tilsed married a John Gray in Poole. I have never found a christening for Hannah, but I eventually allocated her to John Tilsed, Mariner, 1711-1799, on the following grounds:
(a) John Tilsed's mother was called Hannah (née Pike, married a William Tilsed at Canford Magna 14 Sep 1704).
(b) John Tilsed's second wife - and candidate for Hannah's mother - was called Amy (née Cartridge, widow of Philip Sherborne) and Hannah's only known daughter was called Amy. Amy Cartridge was 40 when she married John Tilsed and would have been 42 at the estimated birth of this Hannah.
(c) Hannah Tilsed and John Gray had an Elizabeth Ebster as a marriage witness in 1800. Elizabeth Ebster was the daughter of Hannah's maternal half-sister Anne Sherbourne (1753 daughter of Philip Sherborne and Amy née Cartridge). She was therefore niece to Hannah, although probably about the same age.
(d) Elizabeth Ebster also witnessed the 1795 marriage of a James Rowthorne to Hannah's presumed first cousin Elizabeth Poole (1765 daughter of Amy Cartridge's sister Ursula).
(e) John Gray and Hannah christened their first-born (1801 William Gray) on the same day as James Rowthorne and Elizabeth christened one of their children (1800 William Rowthorne). 19th April 1801, Poole St James.
(f) In 1820 John Gray, Whitesmith, had to put up sureties for bail for a court appearance. The people standing surety for him were William Gray, tailor, and James Rowthorn, blacksmith. I have found many occasions where people standing surety for bail are close relatives, and one of John Grey's own sons, 1801 William Grey, became a tailor. However at only 19 he seems too young to be standing surety, so perhaps Grey has a tailor brother named William for whom John's son was named and to whom he was apprenticed.
The other surety, James Rowthorn, is either nephew or great-nephew to Hannah's supposed presumed mother Amy Cartridge. (Father and son both named James Rowthorn, both adult in 1820).
5. The Astonishing Incompetence of Some Ships' Captains
I really wish I could remember what I was going to write about here - it sounds interesting!
Return to Narratives
Return to Home Page
Return to Home Page
Return to Narratives
As I have an annoying tendency to get overly caught up in details and never actually complete a narrative, I'm trying a new approach - posting snippets as I think of them.
This will, I hope, increase the number of ancestors who are findable via google and thus improve my chances of getting in touch with others researching the same people.
1. That Rare Occurrence - an Illegitimate Child Where the Father is Known
Jane Linquist was born in 1846; her grand-daughters knew she had been born in Poplar, East London, although during their childhood she was living in Bletchley, Buckinghamshire. Her birth certificate names her mother as Sarah Linquist, widow (née Milend) and gives her father as "Robert" (sic).
Following up Robert and Jane through the census brings us to Rickmansworth in 1851, where Robert is a married Farmer of 2 acres with no wife in evidence and no labourers, and Jane L Smith is a Visitor. By 1861, Robert is living with his "wife" Sarah (née Samuel), though I haven't yet found their marriage. Jane is still with her father, this time given her legal name of Jane Linquist, and listed as a Boarder. Also present is Robert's daughter by Sarah Samuel, Sarah Ann Smith born 1854. I originally though Sarah Ann might have been Sarah's daughter by a previous husband - in 1851 Sarah Smith declared herself to be a Journeyman Bricklayer's Wife while Robert called himself a Farmer - but a Births notice in the 27th May 1854 issue of the Bucks Chronicle and Bucks Gazette contains the announcement "On Thursday week, at Leighton Buzzard, the wife of Mr Robert Smith, gardener, of a daughter".
(In 1851 Sarah née Samuel was visiting her brother Richard Samuel at the Cross Keys in Leighton Buzzard; when she was later granted administration of Robert's estate in 1877, Richard Samuel and his son John Birdsey Samuel stood surety.)
By 1871, Jane was married to Jesse Cook; the marriage took place in 1866 and while the marriage certificate names her as Jane Linquist, the notice in the newspaper calls her Jane Smith.
So overall, it's clear that while Robert accepted Jane as his child, he wasn't necessarily keen to broadcast that fact to the census enumerators. On the other hand, she was brought up under the name Smith, keeping her real name for the privacy of the vestry.
Robert Smith was born 1818 in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, 2nd of the 8 known children of Thomas Smith, a Stone Mason, and his wife Ann née Greenwood. I currently have no information on his childhood or his apprenticeship if he served one - his later occupations as Farmer and [Market] Gardener would seem to make this unlikely. I also have no idea when he left Cirencester. I haven't yet found Robert in 1841, but we must assume that he was in Poplar some time between November 1845 and April 1846. (Jane's birth was registered in Q4 of 1846, so she was probably born between mid-August and the end of December of that year).
By April of 1851, Jane's mother Sarah Milend was married again, to a John Flack, and Robert was in Rickmansworth with 4-year-old Jane, calling himself a Farmer of Two Acres. Rickmansworth isn't that far North of a direct line from Poplar to Cirencester, so it remains possible that Robert intended to go home. Of course, we don't know why he left in the first place, and perhaps the idea of turning up with an illegitimate daughter did not appeal.
The odd thing about this part of Rickmansworth in 1851 is that on Robert's page of 20 people, almost all of them farmers of 2-3 acres, the places of birth include 16 different places in 9 different counties* - I don't think I've ever seen that kind of thing anywhere else outside of a major city. Perhaps Rickmansworth was being developed as an area of food supply for London, and there was some kind of incentive for people to move there from all over England and produce food for the capital? Or perhaps - like Robert - these were people who gone to central London for whatever reason and later decided to move out to a quieter area? I haven't yet looked at where any of these people were in 1841.
*Wiltshire [Trowbridge, ?Broeford?], Somerset [Hinton, Stoke ?Yanne?], Gloucester [Cirencester, Bitton, Bristol], Middlesex [London, Poplar], Essex [Waldin], Buckinghamshire [Bletchley, ?Renton?], Northamptonshire [?Greens Mortowe?], Derbyshire [?Alresty?], Lancashire [Wigan, Manchester].
2. Death of a Temperance Campaigner
When Robert Smith died on 7th November 1876 (date from his probate statement), the Bedfordshire Mercury of 18th November 1876 reported his funeral as follows:
Good Templar Funeral - On Saturday afternoon last [ie 11th November] the members of the "Sir Joseph Paxton" lodge of the Independent Order of Good Templars followed to their last resting place the remains of one of their fellow members, Mr Robert Smith, of Lamsey. The Good Templar brass band preceded the funeral procession, playing the "Dead March" in Saul. There were numerous spectators throughout the route from Lamsey to the churchyard, and it was estimated that round and near the grave there could have been no less than 50 persons. The members of the Order wore regalia, with a small crape rosette on the left side. The service was conducted by the Rev M. Pain, curate. On returning from the grave the band played "Come to the Saviour" and "Shall we gather at the river?" This was the first death that had occurred since the institution of the lodge four years ago; the deceased, whose age was 58, was for many years an earnest worker in the cause of temperance, and was greatly respected by a large circle of friends.
3. Signing the Pledge
Ruth Bird and her siblings all signed the [Temperance] Pledge in childhood. The information is available on the Castlethorpe Village website and shows that many village children signed the Pledge and that the Band of Hope was very active in Castlethorpe. Ruth was only 6 years old when she signed, and one interesting point to note is that the signings occurred on different days of the week. I had initially assumed they would all have been on a Sunday, for example at Sunday School or Chapel, but apparently not.
4. Extrapolating Links from Various Events
On 31st March 1800, one Hannah Tilsed married a John Gray in Poole. I have never found a christening for Hannah, but I eventually allocated her to John Tilsed, Mariner, 1711-1799, on the following grounds:
(a) John Tilsed's mother was called Hannah (née Pike, married a William Tilsed at Canford Magna 14 Sep 1704).
(b) John Tilsed's second wife - and candidate for Hannah's mother - was called Amy (née Cartridge, widow of Philip Sherborne) and Hannah's only known daughter was called Amy. Amy Cartridge was 40 when she married John Tilsed and would have been 42 at the estimated birth of this Hannah.
(c) Hannah Tilsed and John Gray had an Elizabeth Ebster as a marriage witness in 1800. Elizabeth Ebster was the daughter of Hannah's maternal half-sister Anne Sherbourne (1753 daughter of Philip Sherborne and Amy née Cartridge). She was therefore niece to Hannah, although probably about the same age.
(d) Elizabeth Ebster also witnessed the 1795 marriage of a James Rowthorne to Hannah's presumed first cousin Elizabeth Poole (1765 daughter of Amy Cartridge's sister Ursula).
(e) John Gray and Hannah christened their first-born (1801 William Gray) on the same day as James Rowthorne and Elizabeth christened one of their children (1800 William Rowthorne). 19th April 1801, Poole St James.
(f) In 1820 John Gray, Whitesmith, had to put up sureties for bail for a court appearance. The people standing surety for him were William Gray, tailor, and James Rowthorn, blacksmith. I have found many occasions where people standing surety for bail are close relatives, and one of John Grey's own sons, 1801 William Grey, became a tailor. However at only 19 he seems too young to be standing surety, so perhaps Grey has a tailor brother named William for whom John's son was named and to whom he was apprenticed.
The other surety, James Rowthorn, is either nephew or great-nephew to Hannah's supposed presumed mother Amy Cartridge. (Father and son both named James Rowthorn, both adult in 1820).
5. The Astonishing Incompetence of Some Ships' Captains
I really wish I could remember what I was going to write about here - it sounds interesting!
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