Thursday, December 29, 2011
Great Great Great Grandparents (Paternal)
Crick
Thomas Crick (aka Thomas Creek)
Born: 1786 in Tendring, Essex, England
Died: 1838 in NSW, Australia
Amelia (Milly) Francis
Born: 1794
Died: 1874
Children
With Amelia Francis
William Crick: born 1828
Zachariah Crick: born 1831, my great, great, grandfather
Charles Crick: born 1833
With Elizabeth Gosling
Elizabeth Crick: born 1809
Thomas Crick: born 1810
Hannah Crick: born 1814
Maria Crick: born 1813
Simon Crick: born 1815
Jemima Crick: born 1817
Robert Crick: born 1819
Thomas Crick (aka Thomas Creek)
Thomas Crick (or Creek) is my earliest ancestor that I know anything significant about. Born about 1786 (probably) in or around Bradfield in the Tendring area of Essex in England, my great, great, great grandfather appeared to be some sort of rural criminal genius. According to reports in the newspapers of the time, Thomas and his partner in crime, Samuel Barton, were threshing wheat for a local farmer, Benjamin Carrington, and seemingly taking a share of his corn for themselves. They were then selling the stolen corn to the local beer shop owner, William James, at a nice profit.
Then, in a move of epic stupidity, he asked a fellow worker, the 'faithful servant' John Ward, if he wanted in on the racket. Ward promptly ran off to tell the master (no doubt tugging his forelock as he did) who told him to keep his eye out and let him know further developments.
At Whitsunday (seven Sundays after Easter) 1833 Thomas and Barton took another two bushels, secreting it in the straw and coming back at 11pm to pick it up and take it around to James. Thomas bragged about their exploits to Ward the next day and was soon off to the colonies for an enforced seven year holiday, being convicted on 15 October 1833 at the Essex Assizes. Interestingly, Thomas' accomplice Barton rolled over and gave evidence against him and seems to have gotten off without punishment. Not bad considering he'd not long returned from goal.
Thomas is recorded as being removed from Chelmsford Convict Goal at Springfield to the hulk York lying off Gosport (Portsmouth) around 22 November 1833. At the time the British Government was using old warships as prisons to relieve the overcrowding in land-based prisons and as a holding place for convicts sentenced to transportation. The York had been a 74-gun battleship launched in 1807 at Rotherhithe. She was converted to a prison hulk in 1819 and served at Gosport and London from 1820 until 1848. Typically she confined about 500 convicts. She was taken out of service and broken up in 1854.
It seems the Portsmouth hulks looked like slum tenements, with bedding airing between the stumps of the masts, and the gun ports barred with iron lattices. They were cramped and wet inside, dark and apparently vile smelling. As they arrived, each convict was stripped of his clothing and all of his personal belongings. In exchange he received coarse convict garb and a 14-pound iron, riveted to the right ankle as a discouragement to escape by swimming. After the convict was shackled in irons, he was ready to work from dawn to dusk in the nearby government dockyards.
Co-incidentally, another convict ancestor of mine, my maternal three times grandfather, Thomas Gilham or Gillam, a smuggler, was also confined on the York in 1826 before being transported to Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania).
In any case, and fortunately for Thomas, he wasn't too long in the York, sailing on the Surry, leaving Portsmouth on 9 April 1834 for New South Wales. Not that the journey in a convict ship was a cakewalk - convicts were housed below decks on the prison deck and often further confined behind bars. In many cases they were restrained in chains and were only allowed on deck for fresh air and exercise. Conditions were cramped and they slept on hammocks.
After arriving in Sydney he was assigned to a landowner named John Galt Smith at his property Woodville at Paterson about 50km North West of Newcastle. He is then recorded as being buried in 1838 at Christ Church in Newcastle, his abode being recorded as Newcastle Hospital. Quite what Thomas was doing in Newcastle is a bit of a mystery. It is possible he fell ill while in Newcastle while on an errand for Smith, he could have escaped or it is very possible he committed a crime punishable by death while in Smith's service and was transported from the hospital to the church for burial. As I said, a real criminal genius!
It was common practice in England for the bodies of executed criminals to be handed over to the local hospital for use in dissection - maybe this accounts for Thomas' abode being given as the hospital.
In the meantime - again, as reported in the local newspaper - his wife Milly dropped two of her three kids off at the local poorhouse and headed off to live with a stepdaughter from a previous marriage about 20 miles away. The story hit the local paper as the wardens of the poorhouse took her to court for not supporting the children. The case was adjourned awaiting further information and I haven't found a final decision.
There's no doubt things were tough for the families of transportees. Not only did they lose their prime, if not only source of income, they quite often never heard from their family member again. Very, very few wives and families went with their spouse or joined him later. The British Government certainly did not advise families of the fate of their relative. They would not have, for example, advised Milly of Thomas' death in 1838. In 1841 she unaware of Thomas' death and seemed to be under the impression that Thomas might return. She said in court that she had heard from Thomas once in the seven years since his transportation, precluding him being declared dead.
However, back to Thomas, according the list of convicts on the ship Surry arriving in Sydney on 17 August 1834, Thomas was short (5' 6" same height as me), had dark brown hair (same as me), grey eyes (same as me), a dark (same as me) but sallow complexion (hard to see how you could be both, but in any case, not the same as me), a small mole on his left eyebrow and a few teeth missing. Sounds like Thomas and I might have looked something alike - but I'm not planning to repeat his apparent fate!
Things did not go well for the beer shop owner, William James, either. He was convicted of stealing the four bushels of corn he received from Thomas and Barton. He was sentenced to seven years transportation and arrived in Sydney on the Hooghly in 1834. At William's trial, Carrington admitted that he would not have known of the thefts had Ward not told him!
No doubt descendants of William will want to contact me with thanks for the role of Thomas in planting this branch of the James line in Australia!
A Little Bit of History
The world that my great great great grandparents lived in was vastly different to ours. Not yet fully immersed in the Industrial Revolution that transformed England in the nineteenth century, England's economy was largely based on agriculture.
Seven out of ten English folk lived in the country, mostly, like Thomas and many of my ancestors, in one of the thousands of small villages that dot the English landscape. Our ancestors probably lived in a small rented house with few of the amenities we would expect. There was no running water (that came from a communal village water pump), no toilet, bathroom or shower, no electricity and an earth floor. Houses were usually pretty crowded and there was little privacy. Thomas and Milly would have had at least three children with them in what was likely a one room house.
Most of the men in the village would work for a local farmer and were usually hired on a year to year basis.
Some Explanations
Creek or Crick
Court proceedings and Thomas' convict records record his surname as 'Creek' but I believe this was probably a court official's misunderstanding, most likely due to the country accent Thomas would have had. As Thomas was illiterate, he could not correct the record. Thomas' father was known as 'Crick,' and signed his name that way. Thomas' children certainly went by Crick.
The Beer House of William James
As a convict William's occupation given as labourer or farm labourer, no mention is made of his beer house.
My belief is that William probably worked as a labourer during the day and ran his beer shop after the work day was finished. This would make sense as he would have not had many customers during the day when the men were all at work. Also, William may not have actually paid the license fee for his beer shop and may not have wished to reveal this.
Under a banner of "reducing public drunkenness" the Beer Act of 1830 introduced a new lower tier of premises permitted to sell alcohol, the Beer Houses. At the time beer was viewed as harmless, nutritious and even healthy. Young children were often given what was described as small beer, which was brewed to have a low alcohol content, as the local water was often unsafe. Even the evangelical church and temperance movements of the day viewed the drinking of beer very much as a secondary evil and a normal accompaniment to a meal. The freely available beer was thus intended to wean the drinkers off the evils of gin, or so the thinking went.
Under the 1830 Act any householder who paid rates could apply, with a one-off payment of two guineas (roughly equal in value to £159 today), to sell beer or cider in his home (usually the front parlour) and even to brew his own on his premises. The permission did not extend to the sale of spirits and fortified wines, and any beer house discovered selling those items was closed down and the owner heavily fined. Beer houses were not permitted to open on Sundays. The beer was usually served in jugs or dispensed directly from tapped wooden barrels on a table in the corner of the room. Often profits were so high the owners were able to buy the house next door to live in, turning every room in their former home into bars and lounges for customers.
Comment by judge
Benjamin Carrington
Carrington seems to have been a substantial member of the Essex community and perhaps someone Thomas should not have taken on.
If I have it right, Carrington was born about and died in 1853.
In 1810 he owns a farm in Little Bromley and lives there. Little Bromley is about 5 miles from Bradfield. By 1841 he is described as being of 'independent' means and lives in Bradfield. In 1851 he still lives in Bradfield and is described as a retired farmer.
White's 1848 Directory of Essex lists him as the High Constable for Essex.
Australian Royalty
We usually think of punishment for crime being imprisonment or a fine - this was not so in Britain in the eighteenth or nineteenth century, most criminal offenses brought a death penalty, a fine and or whipping. Over 200 crimes were punishable by death, mostly crimes against property such as stealing or even cutting down a tree.
Transportation started during the seventeenth century as a humane alternative to the death penalty. At first most sentenced to transportation were sent to America, but after the American Revolution of 1776 this destination was no longer available. Sentences of transportation were still passed, but convicts were held in prisons which quickly became overcrowded. The overflow was accommodated in 'hulks' (see above) moored around the coast, but they too soon became overcrowded.
The solution developed was to found a new penal colony. After James Cook reported that Botany Bay in New South Wales in Australia was suitable for a settlement it was chosen and on 13 May 1787 the First Fleet set sail for Australia.
Transportation was not formally abolished until 1868, but in practice it was effectively stopped in 1857, and had become increasingly unusual well before that date. During that time about 160,000 convicts arrived in Australia including two of my great great great grandfathers.
For many years Australians were embarrassed by the origins of our country, despite it being one of the most peaceful and crime free countries in the world. Things have rather changed now - one of our most famous actors, Jack Thompson, on learning of his convict ancestry, exclaimed 'Australian royalty'!
Sources:
Elizabeth Gammell Hedquist, Escape from Van Dieman's Land The James Gammell Chronicles
Convicts to Australia website
Unknown, Crown Court, Essex Standard, 26 October 1833
Unknown, Local Intelligence, Chelmsford Chronicle, 22 November 1833
Unknown, Essex Adjourned Session, Chelmsford Chronicle, 29 November 1833
Unknown, Essex Adjourned Session, Essex Standard, 30 November 1833
Wikipedia List of British Prison Hulks
Wikipedia Convicts in Australia
Wikipedia Pubs
The National Archives, Research Guide Transportation to Australia 1787-1868
Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore
Some information on Thomas and Milly Crick thanks to Patrick Denney
Amelia Francis
Died in 1874 at the age of 80, her abode given as Tendring Workhouse.
Thomas Crick (aka Thomas Creek)
Born: 1786 in Tendring, Essex, England
Died: 1838 in NSW, Australia
Amelia (Milly) Francis
Born: 1794
Died: 1874
Children
With Amelia Francis
William Crick: born 1828
Zachariah Crick: born 1831, my great, great, grandfather
Charles Crick: born 1833
With Elizabeth Gosling
Elizabeth Crick: born 1809
Thomas Crick: born 1810
Hannah Crick: born 1814
Maria Crick: born 1813
Simon Crick: born 1815
Jemima Crick: born 1817
Robert Crick: born 1819
Thomas Crick (aka Thomas Creek)
Thomas Crick (or Creek) is my earliest ancestor that I know anything significant about. Born about 1786 (probably) in or around Bradfield in the Tendring area of Essex in England, my great, great, great grandfather appeared to be some sort of rural criminal genius. According to reports in the newspapers of the time, Thomas and his partner in crime, Samuel Barton, were threshing wheat for a local farmer, Benjamin Carrington, and seemingly taking a share of his corn for themselves. They were then selling the stolen corn to the local beer shop owner, William James, at a nice profit.
Then, in a move of epic stupidity, he asked a fellow worker, the 'faithful servant' John Ward, if he wanted in on the racket. Ward promptly ran off to tell the master (no doubt tugging his forelock as he did) who told him to keep his eye out and let him know further developments.
At Whitsunday (seven Sundays after Easter) 1833 Thomas and Barton took another two bushels, secreting it in the straw and coming back at 11pm to pick it up and take it around to James. Thomas bragged about their exploits to Ward the next day and was soon off to the colonies for an enforced seven year holiday, being convicted on 15 October 1833 at the Essex Assizes. Interestingly, Thomas' accomplice Barton rolled over and gave evidence against him and seems to have gotten off without punishment. Not bad considering he'd not long returned from goal.
Thomas is recorded as being removed from Chelmsford Convict Goal at Springfield to the hulk York lying off Gosport (Portsmouth) around 22 November 1833. At the time the British Government was using old warships as prisons to relieve the overcrowding in land-based prisons and as a holding place for convicts sentenced to transportation. The York had been a 74-gun battleship launched in 1807 at Rotherhithe. She was converted to a prison hulk in 1819 and served at Gosport and London from 1820 until 1848. Typically she confined about 500 convicts. She was taken out of service and broken up in 1854.
The hulk York
Co-incidentally, another convict ancestor of mine, my maternal three times grandfather, Thomas Gilham or Gillam, a smuggler, was also confined on the York in 1826 before being transported to Van Dieman's Land (Tasmania).
In any case, and fortunately for Thomas, he wasn't too long in the York, sailing on the Surry, leaving Portsmouth on 9 April 1834 for New South Wales. Not that the journey in a convict ship was a cakewalk - convicts were housed below decks on the prison deck and often further confined behind bars. In many cases they were restrained in chains and were only allowed on deck for fresh air and exercise. Conditions were cramped and they slept on hammocks.
After arriving in Sydney he was assigned to a landowner named John Galt Smith at his property Woodville at Paterson about 50km North West of Newcastle. He is then recorded as being buried in 1838 at Christ Church in Newcastle, his abode being recorded as Newcastle Hospital. Quite what Thomas was doing in Newcastle is a bit of a mystery. It is possible he fell ill while in Newcastle while on an errand for Smith, he could have escaped or it is very possible he committed a crime punishable by death while in Smith's service and was transported from the hospital to the church for burial. As I said, a real criminal genius!
It was common practice in England for the bodies of executed criminals to be handed over to the local hospital for use in dissection - maybe this accounts for Thomas' abode being given as the hospital.
In the meantime - again, as reported in the local newspaper - his wife Milly dropped two of her three kids off at the local poorhouse and headed off to live with a stepdaughter from a previous marriage about 20 miles away. The story hit the local paper as the wardens of the poorhouse took her to court for not supporting the children. The case was adjourned awaiting further information and I haven't found a final decision.
There's no doubt things were tough for the families of transportees. Not only did they lose their prime, if not only source of income, they quite often never heard from their family member again. Very, very few wives and families went with their spouse or joined him later. The British Government certainly did not advise families of the fate of their relative. They would not have, for example, advised Milly of Thomas' death in 1838. In 1841 she unaware of Thomas' death and seemed to be under the impression that Thomas might return. She said in court that she had heard from Thomas once in the seven years since his transportation, precluding him being declared dead.
However, back to Thomas, according the list of convicts on the ship Surry arriving in Sydney on 17 August 1834, Thomas was short (5' 6" same height as me), had dark brown hair (same as me), grey eyes (same as me), a dark (same as me) but sallow complexion (hard to see how you could be both, but in any case, not the same as me), a small mole on his left eyebrow and a few teeth missing. Sounds like Thomas and I might have looked something alike - but I'm not planning to repeat his apparent fate!
Things did not go well for the beer shop owner, William James, either. He was convicted of stealing the four bushels of corn he received from Thomas and Barton. He was sentenced to seven years transportation and arrived in Sydney on the Hooghly in 1834. At William's trial, Carrington admitted that he would not have known of the thefts had Ward not told him!
No doubt descendants of William will want to contact me with thanks for the role of Thomas in planting this branch of the James line in Australia!
A Little Bit of History
The world that my great great great grandparents lived in was vastly different to ours. Not yet fully immersed in the Industrial Revolution that transformed England in the nineteenth century, England's economy was largely based on agriculture.
Seven out of ten English folk lived in the country, mostly, like Thomas and many of my ancestors, in one of the thousands of small villages that dot the English landscape. Our ancestors probably lived in a small rented house with few of the amenities we would expect. There was no running water (that came from a communal village water pump), no toilet, bathroom or shower, no electricity and an earth floor. Houses were usually pretty crowded and there was little privacy. Thomas and Milly would have had at least three children with them in what was likely a one room house.
Most of the men in the village would work for a local farmer and were usually hired on a year to year basis.
Some Explanations
Creek or Crick
Court proceedings and Thomas' convict records record his surname as 'Creek' but I believe this was probably a court official's misunderstanding, most likely due to the country accent Thomas would have had. As Thomas was illiterate, he could not correct the record. Thomas' father was known as 'Crick,' and signed his name that way. Thomas' children certainly went by Crick.
The Beer House of William James
As a convict William's occupation given as labourer or farm labourer, no mention is made of his beer house.
My belief is that William probably worked as a labourer during the day and ran his beer shop after the work day was finished. This would make sense as he would have not had many customers during the day when the men were all at work. Also, William may not have actually paid the license fee for his beer shop and may not have wished to reveal this.
Under a banner of "reducing public drunkenness" the Beer Act of 1830 introduced a new lower tier of premises permitted to sell alcohol, the Beer Houses. At the time beer was viewed as harmless, nutritious and even healthy. Young children were often given what was described as small beer, which was brewed to have a low alcohol content, as the local water was often unsafe. Even the evangelical church and temperance movements of the day viewed the drinking of beer very much as a secondary evil and a normal accompaniment to a meal. The freely available beer was thus intended to wean the drinkers off the evils of gin, or so the thinking went.
Under the 1830 Act any householder who paid rates could apply, with a one-off payment of two guineas (roughly equal in value to £159 today), to sell beer or cider in his home (usually the front parlour) and even to brew his own on his premises. The permission did not extend to the sale of spirits and fortified wines, and any beer house discovered selling those items was closed down and the owner heavily fined. Beer houses were not permitted to open on Sundays. The beer was usually served in jugs or dispensed directly from tapped wooden barrels on a table in the corner of the room. Often profits were so high the owners were able to buy the house next door to live in, turning every room in their former home into bars and lounges for customers.
Comment by judge
Benjamin Carrington
Carrington seems to have been a substantial member of the Essex community and perhaps someone Thomas should not have taken on.
If I have it right, Carrington was born about and died in 1853.
In 1810 he owns a farm in Little Bromley and lives there. Little Bromley is about 5 miles from Bradfield. By 1841 he is described as being of 'independent' means and lives in Bradfield. In 1851 he still lives in Bradfield and is described as a retired farmer.
White's 1848 Directory of Essex lists him as the High Constable for Essex.
Australian Royalty
We usually think of punishment for crime being imprisonment or a fine - this was not so in Britain in the eighteenth or nineteenth century, most criminal offenses brought a death penalty, a fine and or whipping. Over 200 crimes were punishable by death, mostly crimes against property such as stealing or even cutting down a tree.
Transportation started during the seventeenth century as a humane alternative to the death penalty. At first most sentenced to transportation were sent to America, but after the American Revolution of 1776 this destination was no longer available. Sentences of transportation were still passed, but convicts were held in prisons which quickly became overcrowded. The overflow was accommodated in 'hulks' (see above) moored around the coast, but they too soon became overcrowded.
The solution developed was to found a new penal colony. After James Cook reported that Botany Bay in New South Wales in Australia was suitable for a settlement it was chosen and on 13 May 1787 the First Fleet set sail for Australia.
Transportation was not formally abolished until 1868, but in practice it was effectively stopped in 1857, and had become increasingly unusual well before that date. During that time about 160,000 convicts arrived in Australia including two of my great great great grandfathers.
For many years Australians were embarrassed by the origins of our country, despite it being one of the most peaceful and crime free countries in the world. Things have rather changed now - one of our most famous actors, Jack Thompson, on learning of his convict ancestry, exclaimed 'Australian royalty'!
Sources:
Elizabeth Gammell Hedquist, Escape from Van Dieman's Land The James Gammell Chronicles
Convicts to Australia website
Unknown, Crown Court, Essex Standard, 26 October 1833
Unknown, Local Intelligence, Chelmsford Chronicle, 22 November 1833
Unknown, Essex Adjourned Session, Chelmsford Chronicle, 29 November 1833
Unknown, Essex Adjourned Session, Essex Standard, 30 November 1833
Wikipedia List of British Prison Hulks
Wikipedia Convicts in Australia
Wikipedia Pubs
The National Archives, Research Guide Transportation to Australia 1787-1868
Robert Hughes, The Fatal Shore
Some information on Thomas and Milly Crick thanks to Patrick Denney
Amelia Francis
Died in 1874 at the age of 80, her abode given as Tendring Workhouse.
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Great Great Grandparents - Maternal
Gregor
William Gregor
Born: 1842
Died: 1876, Moonta, York Peninsula, South Australia, Australia
Hannah Jane Yelland
Born: 1844, Stoke Climsland near Duloe, Cornwall, England
Died: 1920, Eaglehawk, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia
Children
With William Gregor
William John Gregor: born 1866
Annie Gregor: born, 1868
Florence Gregor: born, 1870
Florence Jane Gregor: born 1871 - my great grandmother
Born: About 1832, place unknown
Died: 3 September 1873, Westbury, Tasmania, Australia
Maria Gillam
Born: 9 February 1838, Westbury, Tasmania, Australia
Died: 14 January 1911, Westbury, Tasmania, Australia
Children
With John Taylor:
John Taylor: born 1867
Thomas Gillam Taylor (Bailey): born 1873 - my great grandfather
With William Bailey
Emily Maria: born 1877
With Laurence Burns or Burnes
Nil
John Taylor
Little is known about John Taylor apart from some basic facts and the details of his tragic death.
Taylor was born in or about 1832, it is not known where. He married Maria Gillam in 1854 - there was a license issued for Maria to marry him at St Andrews Church of England, Westbury on 13 September 1854. He was a farmer, of full age, at time of marriage. His wife was 16 and therefore a minor. Witnesses to marriage were James and Frances Hogben. Frances is very probably Maria's half-sister (b 1828). Keeping the Kent smuggling connection going, Frances had married James Hogben, probably the son of transported Aldington Gang member James Hogben.
They eventually had two children, the first of whom, John, did not appear until they had been married 13 years. My great grandfather arrived on 19 November 1873, a little over two months after John's death
It would appear that they lived in Westbury where John is recorded as a farmer in 1854, 1867 and 1873.
John's death on Wednesday 3 September 1873 is recorded in the Launceston Examiner of the following Tuesday as follows:
DEATH BY BURNING — A fatal case of burning occurred to a small farmer named John Taylor, residing at Thumpup, near Westbury, on Thursday evening last. It appears that Taylor was subject to fits, and it is supposed that on the evening named he was smoking his pipe in bed, when he was suddenly attacked by one of them, and thus unconsciously set fire to the bedclothes. Mrs Taylor, who slept in a separate room, on discovering the accident immediately gave the alarm, and Dr McCreery was shortly in attendance, but the injuries received were so serious that Taylor after lingering a short time expired.
Note:
A number of researchers associate my great great grandfather with a John Taylor who landed in Pt Phillip with his parents and siblings in 1844. This association seems to rely on this John Taylor being the right name and age - hardly convincing. Other researchers have worked out a history for the John Taylor arriving in Pt Phillip that is convincing and evidenced - this John Taylor lived out his life in Victoria.
So, in the absence of further evidence, my John Taylor remains, in my opinion, something of a mystery.
Sources
1. Trove
2. Helen Anderson - www.weepnotforthem.net/Chapters/3%20Thomas%20Gilham.pdf
3. www.kentresources.co.uk/contr-sm.htm
Maria Gillam
William Bailey died at Westbury in July 1885 and Maria married again in June 1887. Her third husband was a Irish labourer named Laurence Burns or Barnes who had arrived in Tasmania about 1848. The couple were married in the Catholic Church at Deloraine. A witness to the marriage was her sister-in-law, Eliza Fawkner, widow of her brother Joseph Gillam.
In April 1887 Maria became the licensee of the Plough Inn at Alveston. In July of the same year she transferred the licence to Laurence Burn or Barnes. Burns died in 1909, leaving Maria a widow when she died in 1911. Her death was reported by the Launceston Examiner of Monday 16 January 1911:
Sudden death Westbury, Saturday. Mrs. Burns, relict of the late Laurence Burns, died suddenly at the house of Mr. Jesse Breward, Westbury, on Saturday morning about 9 o'clock. In the after noon an inquest was held before the coroner, Mr. D. Burke, & verdict was returned in accordance with medical evidence, that the cause of death was Bright's disease and heart failure.
Frederickson
Nothing is known of my Finnish/Swedish great great grandparents.
William Gregor
Born: 1842
Died: 1876, Moonta, York Peninsula, South Australia, Australia
Hannah Jane Yelland
Born: 1844, Stoke Climsland near Duloe, Cornwall, England
Died: 1920, Eaglehawk, Bendigo, Victoria, Australia
Children
With William Gregor
William John Gregor: born 1866
Annie Gregor: born, 1868
Florence Gregor: born, 1870
Florence Jane Gregor: born 1871 - my great grandmother
Kate Gregor: born 1873
Laura Gregor: born, 1875
With Henry Anderson Hunt
Sidney Herbert Hunt: born 1882
Horace Yellend Hunt: born 1884
William Gregor
George Street, Moonta, Sth Australia
More to come
Hannah Jane Yellend
More to come
TaylorMore to come
John Taylor
Born: About 1832, place unknown
Died: 3 September 1873, Westbury, Tasmania, Australia
Maria Gillam
Born: 9 February 1838, Westbury, Tasmania, Australia
Died: 14 January 1911, Westbury, Tasmania, Australia
Children
With John Taylor:
John Taylor: born 1867
Thomas Gillam Taylor (Bailey): born 1873 - my great grandfather
With William Bailey
Emily Maria: born 1877
With Laurence Burns or Burnes
Nil
John Taylor
Little is known about John Taylor apart from some basic facts and the details of his tragic death.
Taylor was born in or about 1832, it is not known where. He married Maria Gillam in 1854 - there was a license issued for Maria to marry him at St Andrews Church of England, Westbury on 13 September 1854. He was a farmer, of full age, at time of marriage. His wife was 16 and therefore a minor. Witnesses to marriage were James and Frances Hogben. Frances is very probably Maria's half-sister (b 1828). Keeping the Kent smuggling connection going, Frances had married James Hogben, probably the son of transported Aldington Gang member James Hogben.
They eventually had two children, the first of whom, John, did not appear until they had been married 13 years. My great grandfather arrived on 19 November 1873, a little over two months after John's death
It would appear that they lived in Westbury where John is recorded as a farmer in 1854, 1867 and 1873.
The Westbury Valuation Rolls for 1872 show Taylor as the owner/occupier of a 32-acre farm in Moore Street. Maria is shown as the owner of twelve acres in Jones Street. In 1874 Maria, as Mrs John Taylor, is the owner/occupier of both properties.
John's death on Wednesday 3 September 1873 is recorded in the Launceston Examiner of the following Tuesday as follows:
DEATH BY BURNING — A fatal case of burning occurred to a small farmer named John Taylor, residing at Thumpup, near Westbury, on Thursday evening last. It appears that Taylor was subject to fits, and it is supposed that on the evening named he was smoking his pipe in bed, when he was suddenly attacked by one of them, and thus unconsciously set fire to the bedclothes. Mrs Taylor, who slept in a separate room, on discovering the accident immediately gave the alarm, and Dr McCreery was shortly in attendance, but the injuries received were so serious that Taylor after lingering a short time expired.
Note:
A number of researchers associate my great great grandfather with a John Taylor who landed in Pt Phillip with his parents and siblings in 1844. This association seems to rely on this John Taylor being the right name and age - hardly convincing. Other researchers have worked out a history for the John Taylor arriving in Pt Phillip that is convincing and evidenced - this John Taylor lived out his life in Victoria.
So, in the absence of further evidence, my John Taylor remains, in my opinion, something of a mystery.
Sources
1. Trove
2. Helen Anderson - www.weepnotforthem.net/Chapters/3%20Thomas%20Gilham.pdf
3. www.kentresources.co.uk/contr-sm.htm
Maria Gillam
Maria Gillam with her second husband, William Bailey (from Lynne's Family Tree on Ancestry.com)
Maria was the second last child of Thomas Gillam and Frances Furner, born in 1838 in Westbury. She married young, being only 16 when she took her first husband John Taylor.
After the tragic death of John, Maria married William Bailey (the informant of the death of John Taylor) in July 1874 at St Mary's Anglican Church at nearby Hagley. William was a widower, and they had one child, Emily Maria in April 1877.
After the tragic death of John, Maria married William Bailey (the informant of the death of John Taylor) in July 1874 at St Mary's Anglican Church at nearby Hagley. William was a widower, and they had one child, Emily Maria in April 1877.
William Bailey died at Westbury in July 1885 and Maria married again in June 1887. Her third husband was a Irish labourer named Laurence Burns or Barnes who had arrived in Tasmania about 1848. The couple were married in the Catholic Church at Deloraine. A witness to the marriage was her sister-in-law, Eliza Fawkner, widow of her brother Joseph Gillam.
In April 1887 Maria became the licensee of the Plough Inn at Alveston. In July of the same year she transferred the licence to Laurence Burn or Barnes. Burns died in 1909, leaving Maria a widow when she died in 1911. Her death was reported by the Launceston Examiner of Monday 16 January 1911:
Sudden death Westbury, Saturday. Mrs. Burns, relict of the late Laurence Burns, died suddenly at the house of Mr. Jesse Breward, Westbury, on Saturday morning about 9 o'clock. In the after noon an inquest was held before the coroner, Mr. D. Burke, & verdict was returned in accordance with medical evidence, that the cause of death was Bright's disease and heart failure.
Frederickson
Nothing is known of my Finnish/Swedish great great grandparents.
Great Great Grandparents - Paternal
Crick
Zachariah Crick
Born: 1819, Tendring area, Essex, England
Died: 1910, Colchester, Essex, England
Emma Nowell
Born: 1835, Pontefract, Yorkshire, England
Died: 1908, Colchester, Essex, England
Children
William Crick, born 1858, Pontefract, Yorkshire, England - my great grandfather
Zachariah Crick
Zachariah Crick is a most intriguing character in the Crick family history - I first found him as a child in the Tendring Workhouse, then later with his half-brother in the Grenadier Guards at Buckingham Palace, the Crimea and Pontefract in Yorkshire, later still as a police constable in Bishop Monkton, Yorkshire and finally as a brickmaker in Old Heath, Colchester, Essex. And that is only part of the story! He is certainly (thanks to Patrick Denney) the ancestor I know most about.
As I said, his story seems to begin in the Tendring Workhouse. He is found there in the 1841 English Census aged 11, listed as a pauper with his brother Charles (aged 9). His other brother, William, aged about 13, was with their mother Milly in Wix about five miles away. Zachariah and Charles had been left in the Workhouse by their mother after their father was convicted of stealing grain and transported to Australia.
Cobbold
William Cobbold
Born: 1819, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Died: ?, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Sophia Wade
Born: 1821, Westhorpe, Suffolk, England
Died: ?, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Children
Emma Cobbold, born 1842, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Hepzibah Cobbold, born 1846, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Susannah Cobbold, born 1848, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Walter Cobbold, born 1851, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Mary Ann Cobbold, born 1855, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England - my great grandmother
Sarah Ann Cobbold, born 1857, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Elizabeth (Betsey) Cobbold, born 1860, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
William Cobbold
Nothing much is known about William, he seems to have spent his life working as an agricultural labourer mostly in or around Cay Hill area near Mendlesham Green. He appears there in the census of 1861 and the census of 1871, living side by side with three of his brothers, Thomas, John and James. By 1881 William is still living next to John and Thomas, but James seems to have moved to Mendlesham. By 1891 John seems to have died, so William lives close by with John's widow, his nephew Henry and the returning James.
A distant cousin and local expert on all things Mendlesham, Roy Colchester, says that they all occupied a single house divided into three, 'The triple dweller cottage at Cay Hill occupied by the Cobbold families was destroyed during the last war by the nearby explosion of a 4000 pound bomb released by a Mosquito. It would now be called a friendly fire incident. The brick foundations are still visible and the present owner is hoping to gain planning permission to erect a house there.'
I've got my fingers crossed that the foundations are still there when I visit Mendlesham again. Having taken a virtual ride down Cay Hill thanks to Google Street view it seems like a green and pleasant place with quite a few older houses and what seems to be farmland surrounding it. I don't think it's changed a lot since the 19th century, except fror the paved road of course.
Sophia Wade
XX
Zachariah Crick
Born: 1819, Tendring area, Essex, England
Died: 1910, Colchester, Essex, England
Emma Nowell
Born: 1835, Pontefract, Yorkshire, England
Died: 1908, Colchester, Essex, England
Children
William Crick, born 1858, Pontefract, Yorkshire, England - my great grandfather
Zachariah Crick
Zachariah Crick is a most intriguing character in the Crick family history - I first found him as a child in the Tendring Workhouse, then later with his half-brother in the Grenadier Guards at Buckingham Palace, the Crimea and Pontefract in Yorkshire, later still as a police constable in Bishop Monkton, Yorkshire and finally as a brickmaker in Old Heath, Colchester, Essex. And that is only part of the story! He is certainly (thanks to Patrick Denney) the ancestor I know most about.
As I said, his story seems to begin in the Tendring Workhouse. He is found there in the 1841 English Census aged 11, listed as a pauper with his brother Charles (aged 9). His other brother, William, aged about 13, was with their mother Milly in Wix about five miles away. Zachariah and Charles had been left in the Workhouse by their mother after their father was convicted of stealing grain and transported to Australia.
Cobbold
William Cobbold
Born: 1819, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Died: ?, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Sophia Wade
Born: 1821, Westhorpe, Suffolk, England
Died: ?, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Children
Emma Cobbold, born 1842, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Hepzibah Cobbold, born 1846, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Susannah Cobbold, born 1848, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Walter Cobbold, born 1851, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Mary Ann Cobbold, born 1855, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England - my great grandmother
Sarah Ann Cobbold, born 1857, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Elizabeth (Betsey) Cobbold, born 1860, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
William Cobbold
Nothing much is known about William, he seems to have spent his life working as an agricultural labourer mostly in or around Cay Hill area near Mendlesham Green. He appears there in the census of 1861 and the census of 1871, living side by side with three of his brothers, Thomas, John and James. By 1881 William is still living next to John and Thomas, but James seems to have moved to Mendlesham. By 1891 John seems to have died, so William lives close by with John's widow, his nephew Henry and the returning James.
A distant cousin and local expert on all things Mendlesham, Roy Colchester, says that they all occupied a single house divided into three, 'The triple dweller cottage at Cay Hill occupied by the Cobbold families was destroyed during the last war by the nearby explosion of a 4000 pound bomb released by a Mosquito. It would now be called a friendly fire incident. The brick foundations are still visible and the present owner is hoping to gain planning permission to erect a house there.'
I've got my fingers crossed that the foundations are still there when I visit Mendlesham again. Having taken a virtual ride down Cay Hill thanks to Google Street view it seems like a green and pleasant place with quite a few older houses and what seems to be farmland surrounding it. I don't think it's changed a lot since the 19th century, except fror the paved road of course.
Sophia Wade
XX
Monday, September 20, 2010
Great Grandparents - Maternal
Fredricksons
Turku, Finland
Eric Fredrickson
Born: ?
Died: before 1919
Charlotte Unknown
Born: ?
Died: before 1919Children
Erik Ernst Fredrickson, also known as Eric Ernest Frederickson, born 18XX, Turku, Finland
At this point nothing is known of my maternal great grandparents except that, according to my grandparent's wedding certificate, they lived in Turku, Finland and they were both deceased by 1919. From their name, they were clearly of Swedish ethnicity, though the family may have been in Finland for many, many years. The fact that my grandfather used the Swedish name for Turku, that is, Abo, on the wedding certificate tends to confirm their ethnicity.
Finland had historically been Swedish for many centuries with Swedish-speaking settlers arriving in some coastal regions during the medieval period. Swedish kings established their rule in 1249 and present-day Finland became a fully consolidated part of the Swedish kingdom. Swedish became the dominant language of the nobility, administration and education; Finnish was chiefly a language for the peasantry, clergy and local courts in predominantly Finnish-speaking areas.
On 29 March 1809, having been taken over by the armies of Alexander I of Russia in the Finnish War, Finland became an autonomous Grand Duchy in the Russian Empire until the end of 1917. This meant my grandfather and my Finnish ancestors were Russian citizens. Indeed my born-in-Australia grandmother had to apply to become an Australian citizen again after her marriage as, at that time, the wife automatically took her husband's nationality.
Due to its location, Turku is a notable commercial and passenger seaport city with over three million passengers travelling through Port of Turku each year to Stockholm and Mariehamn. My grandparents wedding certificate states that my great grandfather was a merchant, perhaps dealing in goods coming through the port. I wonder why my grandfather didn't follow that profession, becoming a sailor instead. Perhaps he was a younger son and didn't inherit the business? Or, maybe he was sent away to learn more about trade?
I remember my grandmother saying in the 1950s that my grandfather still got mail from Finland. It would be very interesting to see if contact could be made with our Finnish family, a task for some future day!
Baileys
Thomas Gillam Bailey (Taylor)
Born: 1873, Westbury, Tasmania
Died: Unknown
Florence Jane Gregor
Born: 1871
Died: 1961
Children
With William Henry Jackson
Lillian Jackson: born 1890
With Thomas Gillam Bailey (Taylor)
Muriel Florence Bailey: born 1898 - my grandmother
Thomas Ormonde Bailey: born 1903
Hilda Gillam Bailey: born 1906
Herbert Osborne Bailey: born 1913
Thomas Gillam Bailey (Taylor)
A view of Westbury, Tasmania in 1895
Though he went by the name Bailey, my great grandfather was actually a Taylor. Born the same year as his father died, 1873, his mother married William Bailey the next year and he seems to have gone by that name. I guess he was named Thomas for his smuggler grandfather.
He may well have grown up believing he was Bailey's son as he gives William Bailey of Westbury, Tasmania, carpenter, as his father on his marriage certificate.
According to his wedding certificate, he was a miner, but later electoral roll information indicates that he worked as a builder.
According to one side of the family, Thomas was originally English (clearly not the case) and after he returned from serving in World War 1 he and Florence 'didn't get on' and went their separate ways. There's a grain of truth in that, but as usual with family stories the real story is somewhat different.
According to a statement Thomas made in a government document in 1917, he'd been working full time in the Melbourne's inner city of (around Sth Melbourne, Port Melbourne and Richmond) for at least three years. Whether he and Florence had separated about 1914 or he had gone to Melbourne in search of work is unclear, but by 1917 he was living at 45 Howe Crescent, Albert Park. This is a pretty up-market part of the city now, but must have been of a quite different nature in those days.
We know this because Thomas applied to participate in a scheme whereby Australia sent munitions workers to Britain to assist in the war effort. Oddly, Thomas, who was a carpenter, applied to work on building airplanes using his carpentry skills.
He was accepted, arrived in England on 19 July 1917 and initially began work at Sopwith Aviation in Kingston on Thames (near London). He doesn't seem to be have been a happy camper, requesting that someone from Australia House come to hear complaints from him and other Australians about the conditions at Sopwith. He also seems to have been unwell claiming to have had pleurisy, saying that he could not stay at Sopwith 'as I have been ill all the time I have been here'.
He was subsequently transferred to United Aircraft Co in Gosport in February 1918. This doesn't seemed to have resolved matters for Thomas and by May he was again requesting that someone be sent to hear his complaints.
The rest of his file contains mainly correspondence regarding his irregular support for his wife and family. Florence stated to the local police constable that she had only received 7 pounds from him since he left for England and that she had run up debts of around 10 pounds.
Towards the end of his stint in England Thomas requests that at the end of his work agreement he be allowed to stay in England as it would be 'very much against his interest to return now'. Following that up he states that he wants to bring his family to England.
This was news to Florence it seems who said 'I have no thought of going with the family to England, and as regards where he terminates his agreement he can please himself, but I hope he will make some provision for there are the children to be cared for'. (In my mind I can hear her saying this in that broad, laconic Australian accent that used to prevail before we all became speakers of mid-Pacific English.)
In any event he returned to Australia on 21 March 1919, disembarking on 7 May 1919 at Port Melbourne and being discharged on the day he disembarked. Thereafter he disappears. In answer to a query from the Department of Neglected Children and Reformatories the Department of Defence says his last known address is care of the post office at South Melbourne. Looks very much like he didn't want to be found - further work to be done!
Florence Jane Gregor
Eighteen ninety (1890) was a tumultuous year for my great grandmother. She'd moved pretty recently from her birthplace of Moonta in Sth Australia to Broken Hill and married a young miner, Wiliam Henry Jackson, aged 24, in the Wesleyan Parsonage on 29 March. By year's end, Florence had lost her husband to a mining accident around August, moved to Eaglehawk in Victoria and bore her dead husband a daughter, Lillian May, there in December 1890. All in all, quite a year!
It was natural for great gran to move to Bendigo. Her elder sister Annie (and her husband) had been there from at least 1888. Her sister Kate and her mother Hannah also moving there in the 1890s or early 1900s. The family congregated in the Eaglehawk area.
Bendigo would also have been attractive to great gran as a mining town with a thriving Cornish community. Originally a series of sheep runs known as Bendigo's Valley (Sandhurst was the official designation before a plebiscite in 1891 in favour of Bendigo settled the matter), the city grew quickly out of the Victorian gold rush from 1851. Large numbers of miners were attracted to the diggings from New South Wales, Tasmania and Sth Australia. The Sth Australian contingent included many miners of Cornish heritage who had been working in the copper mines at Burra Burra.
Once the initial gold rush was over, many Cornish miners were encouraged to stay in Bendigo as their expertise in underground hard rock mining was valuable when the mining of gold switched from 'diggings' to deep quartz mining. The local Cornishmen were supplemented by many thousands of direct immigrants from Cornwall. The Cornishmen, of a clannish nature, tended to stick together in the Eaglehawk, Long Gully and California Gully area of Bendigo.
In 1898 Florence married Thomas Gillam Bailey, a carpenter from Tasmania, in the Bible Christian Parsonage in Long Gully, Bendigo. The Bible Christian Church was a Methodist church founded by William O’Bryan, a Wesleyan Methodist preacher, on 18 October 1815 in North Cornwall. Primarily concentrated in Cornwall and Devon, the church sent missionaries all over England and then the world. By 1850 the church reached Australia, carried by Cornish settlers.
Eventually Florence and Thomas were to have four children together, including my grandmother, Muriel, in 1898. A family story has it that Thomas served in World War 1 and that on his return, he and Florence parted and he disappeared. However, there is no record in the National Archive of him serving in WW I.
On her death certificate, it states that she was a widow, so perhaps she was aware of his fate, but this might just be an assumption.
I don't know too much more about Florence, indeed I didn't know or had forgotten that she'd been alive in my lifetime until I got her death certificate and found that she'd passed away in 1961. However, thinking about it, I believe I saw her at least once. I remember my parents, my grandmother, perhaps my grandfather and my Uncle Cliff taking a trip to Bendigo (a two hour trip from Melbourne) in the 1950s to visit two old ladies in a house out the back of Bendigo in Eaglehawk. Looking out from the back door of this house you could see the mullock heaps from mining in the area. One of the old ladies I knew, Auntie Hilda (my gran's sister), from her visits to our home in Yarraville. The other lady was unknown to me, but I now think she was my great grandmother and this was her long term home in Eaglehawk.
Apart from the mullock heaps, I remember two things about the visit. One was stopping along the way to eat cold pasties my gran had made - they were delicious even cold. Uncle Cliff said they were called 'tiddy oggies' in England (actually, in Cornwall). The other was the old lady saying she had found a snake under her bed recently - this fired up my ophidiophobia and made me very unwilling to go into the backyard of the house.
I also have a very vague memory of being on a country train with my mum and gran one time. I remember asking mum where we were going and being told we were going to a 'back to Eaglehawk' celebration and that mum and gran had been born in Eaglehawk. I can't remember anything else about the visit.
Great gran lived in Job's Gully Road from at least 1909 until her death. Her death certificate lists her address as 20 Job's Gully Road. I visited the area in October 2010, but couldn't identify her house as there is now no number 20. There were several Victorian or Edwardian style houses in the low numbers, whether one was the Bailey homestead I can't say, but I assume that great gran would have known these houses and the people who lived in them.
It's a very quiet place, in the fifteen minutes or so that we were there, we saw no-one, not even a dog or cat. I was hoping to see an older resident who might remember great gran, but no luck!
She died on 6 February 1961 at the age of 90 in Bendigo Hospital and was buried in the Eaglehawk Cemetary.
Methodism
Bendigo
Bendigo as little Cornwall
Sources
Thanks to Kellie for some of the family information in this article.
Some of the information on Bendigo is from Wikipedia.
Philip Payton: The Cornish Overseas
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Great Grandparents - Paternal
Jackamans
Mary Ann Cobbold (courtesy of John Jackaman)
George Edward Jackaman
Born: 1849, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Died: 1903, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Mary Ann Cobbold
Born: 1854, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Died: 1951, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Children
Florence Emily Jackaman, born 1874, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Rosetta Jackaman, born 1878, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
George Jackaman, born 1879, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Ella Augusta Jackaman, born 1880, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
George Edward Jackaman, born 1882, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Lilian Jackaman, born 1885, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Nimrod Jackaman, born 1886, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Canon Jackaman, born 1888, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Martin Jackaman, born 1890, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Bessie Jackaman, born 1892, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
Cyril Jackaman, born 1893, Mendlesham, Suffolk, England
George Edward Jackaman
George was one of a long line of Jackamans who seem to have been in Mendlesham at least since the 1500s. It was quite an experience for me in 2010 to stand at the font in that church knowing that the Jackaman part of my family have worshipped, married, been baptised and left this earth in the same 12th century church for at least 4 to 500 years.
St Mary's Mendlesham, font to altar
Old George was a cordwainer (a particular sort of shoemaker) and poultryman as well as the parish clerk or sexton at that church in the late 1800s and early 1900s. A sexton is a church officer charged with the maintenance of its buildings and/or the surrounding graveyard. The parish clerk, in those times, recorded births, marriages, deaths and funerals and could, I gather, charge a small fee for doing so.
I don't know much more about my great grandfather, but this little snippet from a 1959 article by Walter Tye, a contemporary of George's, brought him to life a little for me.
'The most enjoyable sing-song of the year was that f'ollowing the Church Choir tea, when Vicar, wardens choristers, bell-ringers, and organ blower, met at the Royal Oak Inn for their annual Christmas party. Supper over, everybody was in convivial mood, ready to take an active part in the evening's entertainment. No need for a printed programme, for the same songs, speeches, tales, etc, were repeated, and asked for, year after year. The Village Schoolmaster, Arthur Mayfield, was the only one to offer variety.
'Sutton Bendall, the young Miller, usually started the evening with his unique little song, "I really can't sit still". This suited the boys, who joined in the chorus with vigour. Then followed the Village Sexton, George Jackaman, who, although old and tremulous, never failed to get a clap for his rendering of Tim Flanagan’s Ball.'
While the building that was the Royal Oak is no longer a pub, it is still there. Apparently it was also the local courthouse as well.
Former Royal Oak public house
Mary Ann Cobbold
Again, I don't much about my great grandmother, except that she was long-lived. Born in 1854, she died at 96 in 1951. Ironically, that was same year her daughter, my grandmother, died. When I visited Mendlesham in 2009 and 2010, I tried, unsuccessfully, to find her grave.
A Canadian cousin of mine, John Jackaman, has the following memories of Mary Ann.
'My great-grandmother, then in her 90’s, lived in the village and we visited her from time to time. She must have been a grand old girl as I can still hear the family admonishing her for balancing on a stepladder and whitewashing her own kitchen despite her advanced years. My sister hinted that great-grandmother was a kept woman at one point in her life, but I never heard any details of such naughty goings on.'
Mary Ann Cobbold at the back door of the Front Street house, 1936 (courtesy Sheila Culbertson)
She certainly was an attractive lady in her younger years, as the picture at the head of this article shows.
Mendlesham
Mendlesham in about 1908
While the village doesn't appear in the Doomesday Book, it would appear that people have been living in the locality for thousands of years as archeological finds indicate the probable presence of Neolithic and Roman settlements. Scandinavian settlers are indicated by the village name and a silver crown, weighing 60 ounces, supposed to have belonged to a king of East Anglia, being dug up in the late 17th century. A runic (that is, Scandinavian) gold ring also was found in 1758.
There has been a church in Mendlesham for over 1,000 years, but most of the current structure dates from the 1200s. Dedicated to St Mary, the church includes some Norman arches; consists of nave, aisles, and chancel, with lofty tower; and was restored in 1864-6. The Church enjoys a glorious heritage with splendid mediaeval brasses and benches, an Elizabethan Holy table and a Jacobean pulpit and font cover. Over the North Porch is a fine armoury with its unique collection of Tudor armour. The parish register dates from 1558.
St Mary's Mendlesham
(Marian martyrs)
(Spanish Armada)
(Grocer's coin)
(There is a record of an Elizabeth Jackman being born in Mendlesham on 29 September 1567 - I assume an ancestor.)
Around 1870 the village was described as consisting mainly of two long streets (Front and Back [now Market] Streets), parallel with each other. It was formerly a market town, but by the 1870s the market had long been discontinued, however, there was a pleasure fair held annually in October. In the 1800s the Jackamans and their related families (especially the Finbows) seemed to congregate in this area.
(Spanish Armada)
(Grocer's coin)
(There is a record of an Elizabeth Jackman being born in Mendlesham on 29 September 1567 - I assume an ancestor.)
Around 1870 the village was described as consisting mainly of two long streets (Front and Back [now Market] Streets), parallel with each other. It was formerly a market town, but by the 1870s the market had long been discontinued, however, there was a pleasure fair held annually in October. In the 1800s the Jackamans and their related families (especially the Finbows) seemed to congregate in this area.
The land was said to have clay subsoil and to be productive. The air was said to be ‘salubrious.’ In 1900 the chief crops were wheat, barley, peas and roots.
There were chapels for Independents and Baptists, a national school and an endowed grammar school. There were also three public houses, the Kings Head, The Oak Inn and the XXX.
In 1891, the population of the parish was 1,198.
Close by is the hamlet of Mendlesham Green. Though the green was distant only about 1½ miles from the village, the cultural gap seems to have been greater. Our contemporary observor, Walter Tye, tells us the story of Mendlesham's fire engine.
'During the early years of the century the 'Street', the traditional rival of the 'Green', was given a manually operated fire engine by Jacob Robinson, a local farmer. The village people were very proud of this, but not so the 'Green' folk, who vowed they would never use it, even though their old cottages burned to the ground. The chapel-goers and Radicals of the 'Green' would have nothing to do with the church-folk and Tories of the 'Street'. For those reasons the 'Green' decided to get its own fire engine. William Arbon, the local carpenter and general handyman, was asked to build it and a very good job he made of it apparently. Three men could work it and it was capable of throwing a powerful stream.'
Walter also gives a little glimpse of what people did for enjoyment in the late 1800s (from Music in the Village, by Walter Tye, The Suffolk Review, Bulletin of the Suffolk local History Council, Vol 2, No 2, June 1959).
'Most Suffolk village homes in late Victorian times had some sort of musical instrument, if only a concertina or a flute. With bad, and almost impassable, roads, and but little transport except the carriers cart, folks had either to make their own music, or go without.
'When passing through Mendlesham ‘Street’, or the ‘Green’, on a winter’s evening in the nineties, one could often hear a tinkling piano, or a wheezy harmonium, or maybe a whining fiddle; and should it be a Saturday night, one was bound to hear concertinas, grinding out their hornpipes, at the five Village Inns. There, on Tuesday evening, and the two Sunday services, one never failed to hear the five bells of St. Mary’s, which could easily be heard throughout the Parish. At such times the more enthusiastic boys stood around, looking forward to the time when they themselves could handle the ropes.
'This story of "Music in the Village" would not be complete without mention of the old Singing Games, which were frequently heard in the School playground during the nineties. One could seldom pass the School those days without hearing strains of "Poor Mary lies aweepin’, aweepin’, or "Now you’re married you must be good, make your husband chop the wood". Boys looked on these games as being silly~ preferring to keep to their hoops and spinning tops, but the girls took them seriously, impersonating in turn princesses, gypsies, dairymaids, etc. It was the introduction of 'organised games' that eventually killed the Singing Games, which had their origin on the Village Green.
'The last time I heard the old Singing Games was, strangely enough, at the Mendlesham Green Chapel treat, which was held in the meadow adjoining. There, on a summer's evening bearded deacons, Sunday School teachers and older scholars, joined in those fascinating "ring games". On one such occasion I succeeded in drawing away the men folk to play the new game of Soccer ~ much to the annoyance of the girls. The game, however, only lasted a few minutes. The strains of "Here We Go Gathering Nuts and May" proved too much for them. Donning their jackets, they slyly returned to their women folk, leaving the referee disgusted, but amused.'
A darker side of life in 19th century Mendlesham is shown in this item I found on the internet.
'The Suffolk Coroner (Mr Charton) on Tuesday held an inquest at the Green Man Inn, Mendlesham, touching the death of a child, named Maggie Alberta Wade, daughter of Henry Wade, an agricultural labourer. The first witness called was the mother, Elizabeth Wade, who stated that last Friday the deceased pulled a cup of boiling soup over herself and was badly scalded. She did not send for a doctor, but at once sent for an old woman living in the neighbourhood, whose name is Brundish, who, according to witness, is possessed of supernatural powers in the cure of burns and scalds. The old woman came at once, and said some strange words over the child, and passed her hands across the injured parts. Witness, under these circumstances, did not consider the attendance of a medical man necessary, but notwithstanding the woman's incantation, the child died in 40 hours. Witness persisted in expressing her belief in the old woman's power, and said she really was a witch. The female referred to declined to reveal the words spoken, as she said she would lose her power. Other witnesses professed their faith in the professions of the old woman. Eventually, after the Coroner had commented on the superstition exhibited, medical evidence was given to the effect that the child's life could not have been saved.'
Sources
Pastscape, English Heritage, National Monuments Record: www.pastscape.org.uk/default.aspx
'The Suffolk Coroner (Mr Charton) on Tuesday held an inquest at the Green Man Inn, Mendlesham, touching the death of a child, named Maggie Alberta Wade, daughter of Henry Wade, an agricultural labourer. The first witness called was the mother, Elizabeth Wade, who stated that last Friday the deceased pulled a cup of boiling soup over herself and was badly scalded. She did not send for a doctor, but at once sent for an old woman living in the neighbourhood, whose name is Brundish, who, according to witness, is possessed of supernatural powers in the cure of burns and scalds. The old woman came at once, and said some strange words over the child, and passed her hands across the injured parts. Witness, under these circumstances, did not consider the attendance of a medical man necessary, but notwithstanding the woman's incantation, the child died in 40 hours. Witness persisted in expressing her belief in the old woman's power, and said she really was a witch. The female referred to declined to reveal the words spoken, as she said she would lose her power. Other witnesses professed their faith in the professions of the old woman. Eventually, after the Coroner had commented on the superstition exhibited, medical evidence was given to the effect that the child's life could not have been saved.'
Sources
Pastscape, English Heritage, National Monuments Record: www.pastscape.org.uk/default.aspx
Thursday, July 22, 2010
Grandparents - Paternal
William and Florence Crick and children
William Crick
Born: 1881, Old Heath, Colchester, Essex, UK
Died: 1964, Carnegie, Victoria, Australia
Florence Emily 'Florrie' Jackaman
Born: 1874, Mendlesham, Sussex, UK
Died: 1951, Carnegie, Victoria, Australia
Children
Albert William, born 1903, West Ham, London, UK
Jack, born 1906, Canning Town, Essex, UK
Cyril, born 1910, Brentwood, Essex, UK
William Crick
Florence and William married in 1902 at St Marys in The Boltons in Kensington, now a quiet island in busy London. When you’re there today, only the sound of nannies and their charges on the street break the quiet.
Over the next 11 years Florence and William had three children, Albert William (my dad).
Obviously, they moved around a fair bit, and in 1913 made a huge move emigrating to Australia aboard the SS Beltana, arriving in Melbourne in 1913. There’s no evidence of why they chose to make such a break, my father certainly didn’t speak of it, even if he knew. I feel like my grandfather was a bit of a restless character. At a time when his brothers took up the family profession of brickmaking he went to London and worked as a railway signalman and later as an insurance agent. Once in Australia, he worked as an electricity meter reader and later collector, again moving around a bit in the south of Melbourne until settling in the then new suburb of Carnegie sometime in the early 1920s.
Florence Emily 'Florrie' Jackaman
I never knew my grandmother Florence, she died in 1951, two years after I was born. I vaguely remember a photo on the wall in my grandad’s house and my mum speaking of ‘old Mrs Crick.’
Until April 2011, apart from one story my mum told of her, I had nothing of her, no photos or other artefacts, no memories. Then, completely out of the blue, from reading this blog, a previously unknown cousin, Marge Coombes, contacted me and said she had a photo of Florence. 'Would I like a copy?' she asked. Following my very enthusiastic 'yes' it duly arrived. It's the photo above, and shows not only Florence, but my grandfather and my dad as a young man (he's standing behind Florence) and his brothers, Jack (behind William) and Cyril. It turns out the photo was actually a postcard sent to my great grandmother with a message in Florence's handwriting. So, suddenly, Florence was much more 'real' to me.
Florence was born in Mendlesham (see here), in 1874 and her birth registered under her mother’s surname (Cobbold), so I would assume she was illegitimate – her mother (Mary Ann) married George Jackaman in 1875 and Florence took that name: her birth date on her wedding certificate retrospectively revised to legitimise her. I assume George was her father, though it is possible he was not.
In the 1891 census, Florence is shown as a domestic at the local vicarage, but by 1901 she’s in London working and living as a domestic in a fairly grand home in Kensington. Working with her is an Elizabeth Crick, so I assume she met my grandfather, William Crick, through Elizabeth. I can’t yet connect Elizabeth to our Cricks, but it seems very unlikely to be a co-incidence. However, interestingly, there are Jackamans in my grandfather’s family tree too, but from Essex, not Suffolk.
The House at Woornack Road
Today, Carnegie is a quiet, leafy, middle class suburb in the east of Melbourne on the fringe of the old Melbourne. There is nothing but suburban sprawl between it, distant Dandenong and beyond. When my grandfather moved there, it was a brand new suburb with paddocks, farms and small settlements between it and the then country town of Dandenong.
Carnegie was originally called Rosstown, after William Murray Ross, a developer. The name was changed in 1909 to try and distance the suburb from the connotations of failure brought about by Ross' sugar beet mill project which never began production, and the Rosstown Railway. The name Carnegie was chosen in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to secure funds for a library from the philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The original name lives on in the name of the local hotel, and Rosstown Road. (Wikipedia).
My grandparents built a house there that I remember vividly from my childhood. A modest weatherboard house in XXXX style, it had a brick fence with wrought iron gates that opened on a long ashphalt driveway that led up to the driveway. The driveway passed under a tall topiary arch at the swide of the house. We never entered by the front door, we always passed under the arch to the back of the house.
Once through the back door of the house, it always seemed cool and quiet inside. Immediately inside the door was a lobby containing a large pantry, quite often granddad would produce a soft drink for me out of that pantry. There was an umbrella stand in this lobby made out of an elephant's foot - it seemed incredibly exotic to me when I was a child. To the left was a bathroom, to the right a kitchen. This kitchen was tiny, there was no room for much except a small sink, a table for two people, some shelves and a stove set into a brick surround. I'm pretty sure the lobby and bathroom had been added on as you could see the weatherboards that had formed the back of the house surrounding the door that led into the main part of the house.
Once through that door, there was a small sitting room that had glass fronted bookshelves on either side of a fireplace, these bookcases fascinated me, apart from books and photos they had amazing objects like a seahorse skeleton. I spent a lot of time on visits peering at these treasures. On one wall was a picture illustrating the story of the little drummer boy in Napoleon's army (????).
My grandad had a lounge chair with wooden arms in the corner near a window. I remember him sitting in that chair, smoking his pipe, dressed in a cardigan, collar and tie. I hear his voice even now. I adored him.
Beyond that were two small bedrooms, the master bedroom and a lounge. The front door opened directly onto this lounge, which never seemed to be used. Indeed, many years later my Uncle Jack took me through this part of the house and I'm pretty sure this was the first time I'd been in it.
Leaving the house, you stepped through the back door (the wooden screen door banging behind you) into a space enclosed by an open frame that extended the roof line of the house. You can just see it in the photo of granddad and Uncle Jack at the fishpond. The frame was partially covered by some sort of creeper which created a cool, dampish space for the fern garden under it.
As you faced the back of the block from this space there were two enclosed areas on either side of a concrete path leading all the way to the garage at the very back of the property. On the left was a space enclosed on three sides that contained an aviary. There were only a few birds in the aviary when I knew the house, but it had once held a lot more. The open side of this space faced a small workshop. Quite a few times I ‘helped’ my grandfather fix or make something in this workshop. Sometimes he even made me a car or other toy out of scrap wood. I think this workshop had once been the laundry – part of the floor and adjacent wall were bricked in the way our laundry was to accommodate a copper for heating water on wash days.
On the right facing from the back door was the fish pond. It was enclosed on all four sides – three of which were more fern gardens. The fish pond was quite small and covered in chicken wire to protect the fish. It held a dozen or so large goldfish swimming among the lily pads. I can remember watching those fish for what seemed like hours.
Uncle Jack and Granddad Crick looking towards the fishpond. This is how I remember my grandad.
Sprinkled among the ferns in this area were many creatures, some of them monkeys, others just indefinable beings. They were made from painted pieces of driftwood, coconut shells and so on. Some had hair made from coir, if I remember right. I found them somewhat scary as a child, but fascinating. I guess my grandfather had made them, but I don’t really know. The only thing I can compare them to is some of the animal figures in the Rock Garden of Chardigarh in India.
This whole area was green, shady and still, lit only by dappled sunlight. There were plenty of things to see in it, but equally, you could just sit and read or just doze. It occurs to me that my love of similar places comes from this little oasis in my grandfather’s house.
Walking along the concrete path took you to the backyard. Here the path was raised two or so feet above the surrounds. The lower area had a series of raised garden beds each had a frame on top made from plumbing pipe allowing each bed to be covered in chicken wire. I remember strawberries growing here surrounded by straw, but I’m sure other things were grown here. It looked very much like the allotments that were once common in England. Along the fence line were a number of chook pens. By my time they were no longer used as such, but must have held a large number of chooks at one time. On the other side of this space was a frame made from plumbing pipe that had some sort of apple tree trained to grow on it. The apples were sour and inedible, but I think they were used for preserves and the like.
Next to the apple frame was a narrow driveway leading to the garage – the centre of operations in the eye of my Uncle Jack and dad. The garage looked like it had been built in two stages, the left side professionally; the right and taller part of the structure, not so professionally. This part was where the cars were worked on; it had a compacted dirt floor and always smelt of oil. If your clothes made contact with the floor here you were left with a black oily smudge on them.
Oddly, there were several prints mounted on the wall here. Covered in plastic, they were framed by scrap bits of pine that had been painted green or red. I can’t remember the subjects of the prints, but I’m pretty sure they were 19th century style prints of ‘uplifting’ or military subjects.
The other part of the garage was the workshop and contained a variety of lathes and drills as well as workbenches and storage. It was always cool and dim in here, lit by a single naked globe. I watched my uncle with fascination as he turned out replacement car parts that could not bought or things to fix things around the house.
It’s all gone now, of course, bulldozed after my uncle’s death and replaced by units. The thought of that eccentric but absolutely fascinating space being ruthlessly torn down fills me with sadness. I’ve stood in front of 48 Woornack Road many times since, but the dull boredom of the chocolate coloured units there now is too sad to linger for long.
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