I know it's not a leap year . . .

. . . but today's marriage involves my leap-year ancestor.

The Cambridge Independent Press gave the following report on 5th March 1954:-

Diamond Wedding

Mr & Mrs James Culpin, of Fen Drayton, celebrated their diamond wedding on Sunday. Mr Culpin is a native of St Ives and his wife (nee Miss Freeman) was born at Spitalfields, London. They were married at Hemingford Grey Church on February 29th 1894. Mr Culpin, who is 86, was a blacksmith at Fen Drayton for many years and was Clerk to the Parish Council for over 40 years. Mrs Culpin is 85 and they have lived at Fen Drayton for 51 years. Both are in fairly good health. The event was celebrated on Sunday with a family reunion of 26 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Over 50 messages of congratulations were received, including one from the Queen.

James Culpin, born 29th February 1868 in St Ives, was the second son of Millice & Naomi (nee Fordham) and, as the newspaper report says, he kept up the family tradition of becoming a blacksmith.

So far, so simple, but his marriage to Lydia completely confuses the orderly layout of my family tree. How? Well, Lydia was the daughter of James & Eliza (nee Humphrey) and, if the latter couple seem familiar, it's because they are also the parents of yesterday's birthday girl Esther and therefore, if you've been keeping up with the Freeman family genealogy, it will be clear to you that Lydia is the sister of my great-great-grandfather. And James is the brother of my great-grandmother. So the pair of them are from different generations yet James is still a year older than his wife. And they're both related to me twice - each in their own right and also as each other's spouse!

James died later in 1954 and the Cambridge Indpendent Press again gives us more biographical detail:

Late Mr James Culpin

In the death of Mr Culpin, at the age of 86, Fen Drayton has lost one of its lifelong residents. He spent his life until retirement as the village blacksmith and was Clerk to the Parish Council for 48 years, only resigning from this office two or three weeks ago.

Lydia lived for a further nine years, dying in August 1963, still in the village of Fen Drayton - but more about her on her birthday in May.

They had six children, three sons and three daughters, between 1895 and 1907; the first four were born in Hemingford Grey but a quick bit of digital addition suggests that the younger two will have been born in Fen Drayton - another thing I've only just realised.

It's getting more and more useful to re-visit some of these ancestors of mine - and I thoroughly recommend it to anyone who hasn't looked at their own data for a while.

Finally for today, and by no means least - Happy Birthday Mo!

One of each . .

A quick catch-up on yesterday before I disappear to watch the rugby: first the marriage of my g-g-g-g-grandparents in 1799 in Doddington, Cambs - a village synonymous, in my mind, solely for its workhouse where a number of my ancestors have taken refuge over the years. John Carter, the groom, was born in the village and his bride, Mary Franklin, was born in nearby Benwick. Together they produced seven children, all born in Benwick, and the only one I know anything about is George, through whom the line continues.

Yesterday's birthday girl was Esther Alma Freeman, my g-g-aunt, who was born in 1855 at 47 Chester Road, Lambeth, the daughter of James & Eliza (nee Humphrey). I had no problem finding her when she lived at home but that was only one census year; after that I am fairly certain only of the 1901 and 1911 census entries. I am also fairly certain that she went into, and spent a lifetime, in service and that she remained unmarried (her brother mentions her in his Will written in 1908) but finding her in the late 19th century censuses has been a complete nightmare! I mean, how different ways can you spell her name? Well, there's Esther and Ester, not to mention Hester and Hesther . . . need I go on?

Let's leave her in Hampstead in 1911 and retire quietly to the television . . . !

More soon.

Culpin-day

It's a Culpin-athon today, with two birthdays and one wedding from the extended family. Happy Birthday to Alfred James, born today in Swavesey in the 20th century, who died at the same age I am now, in the year I was born.

The next Culpin is Emma, born in 1883 in the Huntingdonshire village of Elton - I sound there as though I know what I'm talking about but I've never been to the place, only seen it in pictures. Anyway, she was the daughter of Richard and Elizabeth and she appeared in the village in the 1891 census. Other than that, I know nothing.

Last, but probably not the least, today we celebrate the marriage of George Challoner Culpin and May Harriet Fatt who tied the knot in Queensland in 1911. He was the son of Ebenezer and Emily, who emigrated to Australia from Spondon, Derbyshire, in 1887 - one of a number of Culpin ancestors who set out to repopulate the Antipodes.

George and his family travelled on the ship "Orizaba" to Victoria and, at some point, George moved up north to Queensland. Alas, I know absolutely nothing else about anyone in the family. All clues gratefully received!

Trams of Fancy

Soooo, today's offering . . . . Sarah Squires Barrett, the daughter of William and Elizabeth, was born yesterday in 1823 in Little Downham, Cambs, married Millice Culpin in 1846 and they brought up their children in Stevenage. After her husband died, she moved to West Ham, as you do, where I found her in two censuses (censii?). For no apparent reason she was in Ramsgate when she died in 1915 at the age of 91. Maybe (I've just thought of this) she was meeting one of her sons coming back from France . . . ? By way of cross-reference, she was the grandmother of Ernest, who got a mention earlier this month as surgeon and Commodore of a sailing club in Queensland. Aha, I've got it - maybe she was there to meet Ernest, because I know he was in France.

Moving on before I get involved in too many flights of fancy, Sarah's third cousin twice removed (by marriage, but who's counting) was James Culpin who married Alice Ethridge yesterday in 1913 at St Andrew the Less in Cambridge. James and Alice produced just the one child before he sadly died three years later - in Cambridge, I don't think he was involved in the war.

And finally, a birthday boy today in the shape of Frederick Pates, my second cousin twice removed, the son of George and Mary Ann, born in Biggleswade in 1880. By 1901 he had gone to the great Metropolis, boarding in Islington, and listed as a tram conductor. Presumably, these were horse-drawn trams, otherwise I have a vision of him between the cable and the tram, conducting in a whole different way!

Coming back from la-la-land (must be something I ate), Frederick married Florence Elizabeth Davies in 1906 and by 1911 they're still in Islington, with Frederick's younger brother for company.

Later this week, weather permitting, I'm hoping to get to St Ives so, if I remember my camera, I should be able to get some photos of the Culpin heartland!!

Three Counties weddings

A quick blast, today, of wedded bliss across the years, which I thought I'd do in chronological order (just for neatness, you understand).

So, come back with me to 21st February 1774 in the village of Elton in Huntingdonshire for the marriage of Richard Culpin and Mary Hayes, my 5xgreat grandparents. Ten children in fifteen years and only one lost in infancy must mean that Mary was strong and healthy; indeed she lived until 1821 when she would have been about 60 years old - not bad for that era.

The next marriage is at the church of St Mary, in Tuddenham, Suffolk, in 1792, between James Freeman and Mary Haylock. This couple managed fifteen children within the next 20-odd years with no apparent loss in childhood. Some of these ag labs were made of strong stuff!!

On to the Cambridgeshire village of Stretham, same day, 1815, for the union of Alice Langford and Henry Porter. Their claim to fame within the family file is that their great-grandson married the lady who was to become my maths teacher at the High School in Ely - how scary is that?

Finally for today . . . let's stay in Cambridgeshire but go a bit west & south to the village of Willingham, for the nuptuals of Rebecca Bullard and Ephraim Thoday in 1847. This one brought forth three legitimate children before Rebecca's early death at the age of 36. She had a son before marriage who will appear in his own right later in the year but I have to mention the names of his children, born in the village in the 1870s; there was Moses Bullard, Nathan Bullard and, my personal favourite, Manoah Bullard. Sadly, the latter died at the age of ten but it is still a magnificent name!

Happy Birthdays to . .

Loads of birthdays to catch up on so I'll be brief:- Henry Crane, 1st Cuz 6 times removed, was born on 18th February 1797 in Exning near Newmarket; Mary Wright, 4th cuz 7 times removed, was born on the same day in 1738 in Stretham and died in November of the same year.

Slightly less brief:- Nancy Irene Culpin, born 20th February 1907 in St Ives and much closer in terms of relationship - 1st cuz twice removed (her father was my great-great uncle) and I do know a fair bit more about her. However, she has children still living so I shall say no more.

Same name, next door county - Ernest John Culpin (6th cuz twice removed) was born on 18th in Manea in 1889. He went on to marry Lily Bent in the village in 1914 and they had at least two sons, having moved to St Ives. This confused me mightily for months until I was able to sort him out from my "main" St Ives Culpins.

Back to Cambs, remaining on the 18th - Phebe Bigley was born in 1824 in Chatteris, one of many children of John & Mary (nee Smith). She married Edward Wade in 1849 and they went on to have six children in the next ten years. I last saw the family in the 1871 census in Chatteris and I plainly need to go and look for more info on them!

Hemingford Grey 1870 saw the birth of Henry Fordham on 20th February. The son of John and Mary Ann (nee Skinner) he grew up to be a solicitor's clerk, still living in the village but, I guess, working in St Ives which is just a moderately short walk away.

Pause for breath . . . . right, moving on to yesterday in 1870 in the homestead - Tuddenham St Mary, in Suffolk, Arthur John Mace Sparkes was born to William & Agnes. Well, I say William was his father but I just assumed that - he was born before his mother married William but I think the name rather points to his parentage! The last view I had of him was in the 1891 census when he is a railway porter but in the Eastern Hospital in Hackney as a patient. No idea what was wrong with him - no census is that detailed, but I think he survived; at least, I haven't found a death registered yet!

Yet another Culpin - my great-great uncle John Arthur Whatford Culpin, son of Charles & Sarah (nee Whatford), born today in 1853 in St Ives. He grew up to be a carpenter, lived just up the road from me in 1871 and then married Mary Ann Susan Moule in 1880 in Trumpington. They then moved up to Stamford, in Lincolnshire, where their two sons were born. Mary died in 1882 and he remarried - rather quickly, it has to be said, but he did have two young children to look after - in 1884 to Sarah Jennings. Last seen still in Stamford in 1901.

Getting even closer to home, although nothing beats John for "just up the road-ness", Gertrude Ann Murfitt born today in 1873 in Ely and, finally, even closer, Joseph Wolf, born today in 1833 in Girton - about two miles away as the crow flies.

That's it, I've run out of birthdays to catch up on; just a few marriages to think about for tomorrow's entry!!!

Wedding Bells . . .

Today we're going to start in Stretham where, on 16th Feb 1730, my g-g-g-g-g-grandparents were married. Richard Langford & Rebecca Waller then went on to begat ten children in the next twenty years . . . . and that's all I know about them.

Staying in that far-off 5-great grandparent generation but moving to the next county, James Bullard and Mary Hart married on 16th Feb 1756. Again, I have to admit to knowing very little about them other than the number of children they had - that's six.

Moving on one day and nearly 70 years, Elizabeth Webb and William Burden married in Landbeach in 1824 - and promptly disappeared (well, off all the records I've looked at!). Marginally more visible were Ellen Street and William Levitt who married in 1877 in Old Warden, Bedfordshire. She was a straw plaiter and he a brickie's labourer and, by 1891, they were in Kempston with their daughter Maud.

So far today no-one has moved out of the county of their birth and my next offering continues the pattern: Catherine Fordham and Thomas Ingle married on 18th Feb 1807 in Hemingford Grey. I haven't found any children for them yet (I need to get to the Parish Registers) but they don't seem to have left Hemingford Grey before their deaths.

And now . . . ancestors who buck today's trend! Susan Charlotte Staden, born in Herringswell in Suffolk, married James Waugh Read in Bury St Edmunds in 1858. James was a Station Master so their married life seemed to follow the railway tracks around the area:- first to Six Mile Bottom (Cambs), then Needham Market (Suffolk), then Mark's Tay (Essex) and Camberwell (London). Finally, to that mecca of railway towns, Swindon where they appeared to settle down. In the midst of all this moving about, they found time to have eleven children - can you imagine moving house with that lot? Nightmare!

Need to pause now to take stock and consider the eight birthdays for yesterday and tomorrow. More soon . . .