One and a bit

I had two people lined up today but, as I just checked to see if I could update either of them, I found some contradictory info about one of them.

So, let's start instead with Ellen Lowton who was another one to be related to me twice; as my great-great-grandmother's daughter by her first husband (not my gt-gt-grandfather), she is my gt-gt-aunt. But, as I've probably said before, gt-gt-grandma married her first cousin (once removed) so Ellen is also my second cousin four times removed. Easy, innit!

Anyway, today we mark Ellen's christening at the church of St Mary & St Benedict in Huntingdon. She was the daughter of Ellen Layton (gt-gt-grandma) and Thomas Lowton and when her father died (in 1860) Ellen & her younger brother Henry moved to their mother's home town of Cambridge. In 1861 they were staying with their aunt Sarah Layton who was a shopkeeper in Bradmore Street - now right on the edge of Anglia Ruskin University's Cambridge campus.

Ten years later, Ellen was in service - a kitchen maid in St Paul's Terrace, still in Cambridge - and by 1881 she was a servant in the household of W Eaden Lilley. Now there's a name guaranteed to warm the hearts of anyone who used to shop in Cambridge - used to be a family-owned department store, which left Cambridge about ten years ago and only recently closed down its shops in St Ives & Saffron Walden.

But I digress, again, when I should be talking about Ellen . . . . but that's where her story seems to stop for the moment. It's not for want of trying, dear reader, but I simply cannot find her after 1881. I've tried Lowton, Lowson & Loughton; I've even searched for Ellen, born in Huntingdon in 1856. So, any lateral thinking ideas gratefully received!

Moving on . . . . . to the "bit" of the title. I started this evening believing that another member of that side of the family, with a similar dual-relationship to me, was born today in 1895. But then I discovered that Florence Mary Morris Webb might equally be Florence May M Webb; I have her death in 1937 but it's occurred to me before that this didn't really tie in with my uncle's memories of meeting her fairly regularly - he wasn't born until 1930 - so maybe she was the Florence May M Webb who died in 1983.

But, if t'was her, then she was born on 18 July 1895, not January. Then again, where did I get Florence Mary Morris from? I've got a christening date for her, so maybe that's it? I'll have to go back to the Records Office and look it up again - it's going to nag at me.

Hey ho. Think I'll go and have a coffee instead . . . .

More soon.

Forgotten Hammer

In my last entry I promised more details on Victor Watson, so pin back your ears because I've finally gathered those details . . . . .

Victor Martin Watson, my fourth cousin twice removed, was born in Girton (small village just outside Cambridge) on 10th November 1897, the tenth child (of 12) of Philip & Alice (nee Howe). According to the report in the Cambridge News & Crier on 17th December 2009, he lived in Girton nearly all his life - but in 1901 the family was living in Oakington Road, Histon (just up the road).

Victor served with the Cambridgeshires & the Northamptonshires during the Great War; he enlisted in autumn 1914, with his papers showing him as 5 feet 6 inches tall and 18yrs 11 mths old. However, a quick bit of adding on your fingers will tell you that he was, in fact, two years younger.

I can't help but wonder if he was "found out" as he remained in Home Service for some time; his records suggest that he was finally sent to France in 1918. Unsurprisingly, given his future occupation, he fortunately avoided any major injury and also maintained a perfectly clean disciplinary record! When he was demobbed in June 1919, he returned home to Girton and, in 1923, married Kathleen Smith.

He played football for West Ham United in the 1920s and 1930s, scored 326 goals in 505 games, won seven England caps and played in the "White Horse" FA Cup Final in 1923 (West Ham lost 2-0 to Bolton).

There was a photo of Victor in the paper but I think I'd be pushing my luck to reproduce it here . . . . . so I won't!

Hope it was worth the wait.

More soon.

Wing-ing it

A nice bright, cold day outside so snuggle down and read about my great-grandfather's half-sister. Emma Bigley, daughter of my gt-gt-grandmother (ahem, father unknown) was born today in 1842 in the small town of Chatteris in the Fens. In 1851 she's in the Workhouse at Doddington with my gt-gt-grandparents and her siblings (full and half) and in1860 she marries William Wing back in Chatteris.

She and William went on to have eight children before 1876; they then go missing from the 1881 census - well, I haven't found them yet - and then Emma turns up in Narrow Street, Nottingham, as a widow of 48 yrs, with four children living with her (by then, there is also Ellen, born around the time they go missing). It's interesting to contemplate the fact that Emma has, by this time, lost five members of her immediate family: her husband William (presumably), oldest two sons, both John, and oldest daughters Rebecca & Catherine. The former married James Langham in Nottingham in 1887 and died three years later - in childbirth, I guess, as it was very common.

The Wings are very good at hiding from me as I can only find one of Emma & William's family in the 1901 census - John, their oldest living child - and have had similar results in 1911. Where are they all????

So, in a fit of pique, I'm going to leave them hovering in the Nottingham area and move on to the other anniversary.

Meet Elizabeth Flavel, my first cousin five times removed, who was christened today in 1803 in Landbeach, in Cambs. I was going to wish her Happy Birthday, but then I looked more closely and I saw that I had arbitrarily decided that she was born on the day of her christening. I don't suppose I'll get any closer to her actual birth date as the vicar wasn't kind enough to write it in the register but I'm surprised I made that assumption. So, excuse me while I go back and correct it . . . . . .

Elizabeth was the daughter of Thomas & Martha (nee Webb) and married Thomas Wolf in Landbeach in 1822. They then settled down in Girton, a few miles away, and produced eight children before Thomas's death in 1844. Elizabeth lived on in High Street, Girton, until her death in 1890, having played her part in quite a bit of begatting.

Back in April last year I wrote about Frances Wolf who, with her husband John Watson, started a dynasty of 10 children, 33 grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. Elizabeth was Frances's mother, so we can now start with 8 children before moving the others all down one generation!

Point of interest, which I shall expand on in my next entry: one of Elizabeth's great-grandchildren was Victor Martin Watson who became a very well-known footballer locally and even played for England! Exciting . . . . and I'll tell you about him next time.

More soon.

Oh look, a new decade!

I thought I’d start this year with my gt-gt-gt-grandparents George Frederick Brown & Ann Moore, who married today at Thorpe Episcopal in Norfolk in 1851, but then I noticed that I’d given them the full biog. treatment on George’s birthday.

So, scrub that idea. A brief mention, then, for Gladys Emily Culpin who married Percy John Stubbings 90 years ago at St Andrew’s church, Swavesey. My first cousin twice removed, she was the daughter of Millice Charles & Emily (nee Armes), and she and Percy may have had a son Charles in 1920. I say may because Gladys’s sister Florence married Percy’s brother Reginald three years previously, so it’s anyone’s guess whose child is whose!

Moving on . . . . let me introduce you to my gt-gt-gt-uncle William Cherry, born today in 1807, the son of Thomas & Sarah (nee Bennington). And that’s all I know about him – he’s the first onto this year’s To Do List!

So, short & sweet. A Happy & Healthy New Year to you, dear reader.

More soon.

Just the one . . .

So, here we are, it's next week. And I've only got the one anniversary: my great-great-great-aunt, Sarah Ann Whatford Culpin, daughter of Charles Culpin and his second wife Sarah Whatford, she was born today in 1850 in St Ives.

At the time the family was living in Cromwell Place in the small market town but by 1871, after the death of her father, Sarah and her mother had moved to Priory Road. Both were listed as annuitants.

And then she goes to London. Why? No idea, but she plainly found something to interest her as she married Christopher Stuart Toll in Islington on 24th June 1875. Mr Toll was a Stevenage boy and they seemed to return to the Hertfordshire town as Sarah sadly died there, at the age of just 26, in 1877. There were no children of the marriage.

Persistent as I am, I have found Chris Toll in 1901; still in Stevenage, he was listed as a Relieving Officer. Any clues??

More soon.

Festive Anniversaries

Sorry for the gap; you know what it's like . . . . . .

So, all festive'd up and almost ready to go, let's say happy birthday (155 today) to my second cousin, four times removed, Ellen Street. Born in Old Warden, near Biggleswade, she was the daughter of Thomas and Rebecca (nee Pates) and grew up in the village. By the age of sixteen she was, in common with many of her ilk, a straw plaiter (presumably this was something to do with the hat industry around Luton etc . . . . ?) and, in 1877, she married William Levitt.

Ellen & William had just the one daughter (Maud), born soon after the wedding (no, not that soon . . . ) and the family had moved to Kempston by 1891. I last "saw" them there in the 1901 census, when William was a brickie's labourer and no-one else in the household was gainfully employed.

The only other notable event today was the marriage, in 1856, of Martha Bullard (third cousin, three times removed) to John Foster, in Godmanchester. In 1891 John was working at Jesus College, Cambridge, as a "Gipp" (college servant) and they went on to have seven children.

John died at the age of 50, in 1878, and Martha became a Lodging House Keeper in Malcolm Street (off Jesus Lane) in Cambridge. Te only person I've managed to follow past 1891 is oldest daughter Agnes (born 1857) who went on to marry Alfred Broom and produce four sons - all before 1901, when the Brooms were living in Chesterton.

And that's it for this week, so I'll wish you a Merry Christmas and I'll be back after the weekend.

Mind the gap

Morning!

Just to say that I haven't forgotten you, my faithful follower . . . I've been away. But now I'm back and I'll try to put something up later today.

More soon.