George and Sarah BARBER

I've updated George and Sarah BARBER's page, although I don't have a lot of information on them.

They are both in the 1841 and 1851 censuses but not in the 1861 census. I think I have found death certificates for them, currently on order, and I've also ordered the birth certificate of youngest daughter Caroline to find out Sarah's maiden name.

Reminder of this part of the family tree:

			George GREENHAM
		William GREENHAM
			Harriet TRASK
	Walter GREENHAM
			Isaac HODGES
		Sarah HODGES
			Elizabeth STRODE
Ernest GREENHAM
			Robert LEAKEY
		Henry LEAKEY
			Sarah
	Emily LEAKEY
			George BARBER
		Charlotte BARBER
			Sarah

Isaac HODGES and Elizabeth STRODE

I've known for a while that Sarah HODGES lived in Norton Sub Hamdon, where there were a few GREENHAM families and that she married William GREENHAM who was a tailor. Her mother was Elizabeth and her father was Isaac HODGES.

The news today is that I found the 1851 Census record for her mother Elizabeth, who is a widow as Isaac died before Sarah's wedding in 1850. What is interesting though is that Elizabeth's mother Lucy STRODE is living with her. So this tells us Elizabeth's maiden name.

Elizabeth seems to have been a rich widow, and the indications are that Isaac was a farmer. In the 1871 census we find that her son John Isaac HODGES is a farmer of 290 acres in Somerton, Somerset employing 9 men and 4 boys. Maybe this was the family farm - although someone else must have been managing it between 1841 and 1871.

In the 1871 census we still have Elizabeth living in Higher Street, Norton Sub Hamdon and the Greenham grandchildren are staying with her. On this occasion her occupation is listed as "Former Farmer's Wife" which supports the view that Isaac was a farmer. The challenge now is to try to figure out when he died and whether there is a will.

Isaac DADDS - a bit more information

I previously got thoroughly confused about Isaac DADDS snr and jnr. Tracking through the census records in ancestry.com has clarified things a lot.

Isaac DADDS & Mary ???
There was a marriage entry for an Isaac DADDS and Mary in the International Genealogical Index in 1840, but this must be a different pair because our Isaac and Mary are settled in Swimbridge, Devon with a large family in the 1841 census. They have three girls; Susan, Emma and Elis(abeth) and Isaac jnr who is four months old. The oldest daughter, Jane, is not listed.

Having a daughter called Emma corroborates Isaac's death certificate in 1855 because an Emma DADDS was the informant. Isaac and Mary probably got married around 1830.

Mary lived on through the next two censuses as I found her in 1861 and 1871, but not 1881. Daughter Jane, who was living with her then is also not present in the 1881 census.

Isaac DADDS & Ann PHILPOTTS
I already had a reasonable amount of information on this family but managed to find them in Bristol in the 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901 censuses. Isaac jnr is an apparently successful haulier with his own horse(s) and two carters working for him by 1901. Both he and Ann were still alive at this stage.

James LAWRENCE snr (b. 1801)

Finding the BVRI2 entry for Benjamin LAWRENCE and Elizabeth MAY yesterday confirmed that Benj's parents were James and Hannah LAWRENCE, so I've been trying to track them.

James and Hannah are in the 1841 census, with Benjamin and a load of his other brothers and sisters. I can't find any of them in the 1851 census and by 1861 the kids all seem to have left home and there is no sign of the parents.

One possibility is to see if I can get a birth certificate for the youngest son, Henry, b. 1840 as he is the only one who was born after 1837. I'm not very hopeful though because the family were obviously socially disadvantaged and unlikely to have registered the birth.

(Update 27 May 2006)
I did find a Henry Lawrence living with a Harriett Lawrence (widow) in the 1861 census and this Harriett was a lodger in the 1871 census. The dates and locations all match up, suggesting that "Hannah" may have been a mis-transcription.

I've also ordered a couple of Death certificates for James Lawrence in Clifton between 1841 and 1851. I've requested reference checking to keep the cost down if they are wrong.

Finds on Ancestry.com

Well with my MSc finally finished I now have a little more time to devote to family tree research. Ancestry.com have recently made the 1841 census available online so I thought I would work my way through my families to see who I could find.

Benjamin LAWRENCE and Elizabeth MAY
I already had some information for Benjamin, but not a lot for Elizabeth. The 1841 census gave me her family before she got married; father was Thomas MAY and mother was Elizabeth, both born around 1792 in Trowbridge, Wilts and Hornton, Somerset respectively.

Benjamin died between 1861 and 1871 censuses and Elizabeth was left to bring up their three children, working as a charwoman. They had a tough life as one of the daughters had fits (epileptic?) and the other was crippled in 1878.

After James left home, Elizabeth and her daughter Elizabeth were boarders in another household in the 1891 census, but by the 1901 Census she was living with James with no mention of the daughter.

Thomas MAY and Elizabeth MARSH
Benjamin and Elizabeth were living in the St Philip & St Jacob area of Bristol, and I know the registers for "Pip and Jay" have been transcribed onto the British Vital Records Index v2. So I did a search of that and found Benjamin and Elizabeth's marriage (29 June 1857) and Thomas and Elizabeth's (20 Oct 1816). I couldn't find any record of any Christenings though.