Knotted Cousin Marriages & Errors in FindMyPast census returns

Ancestors

Sometime ago I had message from a distant cousin, Joy, our common ancestors being William Burchmore (1765-1841) of Flamstead, and his wife, Hannah Dolling (1770-1826). Filling in details of the links will take some time as it actually means adding yet more cousin marriages to the already very complex Who is Related to Who? family tree. The new key link is William Bates (1798-1865) of St Pauls Walden & Wheathampstead. William Bates' first wife was Mary Cox (1797-1830), daughter of my ancestor William Cox (1760-1802) of Hatfield,  and whose second wife Jane Burchmore (1802-1882) was the daughter of my ancestor William Burchmore (1765-1841).

A Burchmore hair memorial broach

William Bates' daughter Mary Ann Bates (1825/6-) married her cousin Jonathan Cox (1821-1881) of Sandridge, who was a grandson of William Cox (1760-1802) of Hatfield. His son Edmund (1839-????) married Mary Kidman (1842-????) brother of Alfred James Kidman (1831-1875) of Kimpton who married Emma How (1834/5-1916) who was a granddaughter of William Burchmore (1765-1841). His son George Bates (1842-1928) married  first Jane Lines, daughter of Thomas Lines of St Pauls Walden, and later Laura Ann Dear (not part of the cousin network so far). William's daughter Jane Bates (Joy's ancestor) married Henry Alexander Taylor whose first wife was almost certainly the Elizabeth Smith of Sandridge, daughter of Elizabeth Burchmore (1784-1851), daughter of Thomas Burchmore (1760-1816) of Flamstead - who in turn was brother of William Burchmore (1765-1841) and son of my ancestor Thomas Burchmore (1729/30-1806).

Virtually all of the above was gleaned from original unindexed census returns and parish registers in the 1980s - twenty years before any significant computer indexes were available. I am currently checking against modern indexes, including online census returns, to fill in the gaps before drawing up a detailed report - which will undoubtedly reveal more cousin links.

I have only just started - and errors in FindMyPast census returns are coming in thick and fast. Many of the errors suggest no attempts were made to check accurasy but at least they do correct errors if you report them. In the last few days I have corrected a "Petty" to a "Patty", a "Hill" to a "Cox" (an incorrectly applied ditto), and pointed out that the words "Liggars Farmer" are not part of an address, and appear nowhere on the original document!

Kimpton Hoo

Books

I have just discovered this useful book online. 
(If you spot an online book on Hertfordshire I have note noted help everyone by telling me about it.)

NOBLE & SPLENDID
Scandal, Honour and Duty:
the Families of Kimpton Hoo
By Peter Hale
For The Kimpton History Group

2008

Online Copy (pdf)

Help Desk

I have also had a query from Jana about  an Elizabeth Winslow, who was the dairy maid at The Hoo (Kimpton/St Pauls Walden)  in the 1881 census. I will post details if we can find any further Hertfordshire connection.

The Only Squabbling Couple in Hitchin

Peter sent me an interesting press cutting about a wife?? suing her husband for maintenance in 1901. A key question and a quick look at the online indexes suggests two possibilities, Either the "wife" was a Jeanetta Eugenie Gardiner who was genuinely married to Henry Saunders, and is telling a "porky" about a previous liaison - or she was a Jenny Latimer, married to Arthur Gardiner, jilted by him, and then bigamously married to Henry Saunders. 

In fact a closer look at the evidence suggests the second possibility - and the court told Henry to pay 5s a week despite the fact her marriage to him was not legal.

There is a big mystery about Henry. He can be found in the 1841 census with his brother, the 1891 census married to Eugenie and the the 1901 census staying with his brother. The evidence suggest that the family were not well or, although his brother built up a small timber business. However when Henry reappeared he is describe as "Living on Own Means" which normally means a private income. While his funds appear to have been limited (he died in the workhouse in 1905) the interesting question is: 

Where was Henry between 1841 and his meeting Eugenie about 1888?

For a detailed analysis of the available information see SAUNDERS, St Pauls Walden & Ippollitts

New light on the management of Whitwell's Brewery's Pubs.

Breweries, etc

Alan Whitiker's book Brewers in Hertfordshire says that when the Archer family gave up their brewery in Whitwell (a hamlet in St Pauls Walden) the licensed houses passed to the Hope Brewery in Wheathampsted. 

I have just found a short letter suggesting that for a time the Whitwell licensed houses were managed by Harpenden Brewery  - and may only have been passed to the Hope Brewery when Harpenden Brewery, which had been leased to Bennett's Brewery of Dunstable,  was sold to Mrs Martha Mardall (nee Long - see Who was related to Who?).

The Harpenden Brewery Letter, 1891,  shows how an apparently simple letter, which could easily have ended up in the waste paper basket, can provide important in reconstructing the past.

Eliza Jane Deards is tracked down at St Pauls Walden

In 2003 Brian wrote asking about Eliza Jane Deards of St Pauls Walden and I gave what help I could with the records available at the time. Two years later David contacted me with some more information about the family. And now Michael has definitely tracked her down - using resources which were not available to me nearly 10 years earlier. I was interested to note the marriages at St Pancras as quite a few Hertfordshire people took a train up to London to marry at St Pancras, rather than marry in their local parish church.

I always appreciate messages like this. If I have helped you in the past let me know how the search continued, If not, but you can still update the story tell me about it - so that others can benefit from your experiences. 

Update to a Royal connection at St Paul's Walden

In 2001 Gordon asked about the marriage of Mary Gilbert, daughter of Edward Gilbert of St.Pauls Waldenbury, Herts, and George Bowes c.1740- See  GILBERT, St Pauls Walden, 1700-1750.  At the time  I was unable to provide details.

St Paul's Waldenbury
Childhood home of the Queen Mother

Over ten years later Sue has emailed to say the couple were married in 1743 at St Botolph, Aldersgate, London. - from Ancestry.

This raises a general problem. Since I started giving online advice well over ten years ago there has been a revolution in the amount of family history information available online. For instance there was very little census information available online, and the 1881 census was only available on CD (without any images). This means that many of the early answers could be significantly extended - but in practice I don't have time to do it. However I am happy to update the pages if someone else want to continue the particular line of research.

Old Handwriting - A Conditional Surrender from 1819

A number of people found the earlier "Old Handwriting" example useful so today I have a much longer document.

In 1819 Richard Oakley lent John Thrussell £600 pounds on the surety of property at Bendish, St Pauls Walden. This document records the transaction. Because it was copyhold property the property was part of the Manor of St Pauls Walden the document was called a conditional surrender because the ownership of the property was dependent on the repayment of the mortgage and due interest.

Read below to see the complete document or go to Conditional Surrender, 1819, St Pauls Walden for the document and a full transcription

Stagenhoe Park Photographs saved for posterity

Earlier this year Lottie contacted me to say she was researching the history of the gardens at Stagenhoe Park for the Hertfordshire Gardens Trust and was looking for pictures showing the gardens and park. In October I spotted and purchased a page of four photographs showing the gardens and some of the avenues of trees for sale on ebay. An investigation showed that the pages came from a book of 25 pages or more of photographs of Stagenhoe Park, and activities taking place there such as people sitting outside the house, playing cricket, croquet, and football. A number of groups of people carry dates around 1910.

Lottie and I have now purchased 11 pages of pictures that are mainly relevant to the house, gardens and park and after Lottie has finished her research they will be passed to HALS for proper archiving. I will also be posting a selection of the photographs on this site.

By the time we had realised what was going on several pages had already been sold which were relevant to the Gardens study. - If you were one of the people who purchased these pictures we would love to hear from you.  

Major Upgrade of St Pauls Walden Pages

To accommodate additional material the old St Pauls Walden page has been split up, and new pages added, as follows:

• The "Home" St Pauls Walden page now has a comprehensive menu, including new external links. There are also picture links to the associated pages. There is a description of the village from 1880.
• The pictures of All Saints Church has been brought together on a single page.
• There is now a separate page for St Pauls Waldenbury - the childhood home of the Queen Mother.
• The page for Stagenhoe Park includes some new pictures of the gardens. See separate Blog.
• The hamlet of Whitwell is now integrated with the parish pages.

Practice your ability to read old handwriting

A simple starter - click on the image to get a larger version. It is a receipt from 1782 and records the payment for some land in Bendish, a hamlet in St Pauls Walden. To see a transcript click here. All four people named in the document have been identified.