THE TREE
I started researching my family tree towards the end of 2002. It has been an exciting journey, I have met a lot of cousins I never knew before and had a lot of help. I am very grateful to everyone who has allowed me access to their research and allowed me to put their precious photographs on the tree.
MY SOURCES
If I show the full date for an event I have a copy of the registration certificate or the church record, if only a year is given then it is probably from the census and is approximate. Before 1752 the Church year started on 25 March and I have adjusted the dates of christenings, marriages and burials that fall between 1st January and 24 March in the years before 1752 to show the year as we calculate it now.
MY SIXTEEN GREAT-GREAT-GRANDPARENTS
William COLE was an Agricultural Labourer born 1804 in Navestock, Essex, son of William Cole and Sarah SALTWELL. He married Rebecca DAVEY, daughter of Joseph Davey, a Haycarter and Woodman and Elizabeth Monk. William and Rebecca brought up their family in Navestock and then Doddinghurst, Essex.
George COLE was an Agricultural Labourer born about 1808 in Doddinghurst, a younger brother of William above. He married Susanna RILEY, daughter of Richard Riley, an Agricultural Labourer and they brought up their family in Doddinghurst. George and Susannah’s daughter Caroline married her first cousin Alfred Cole, son of William above, uniting my two Cole lines. Alfred and Caroline worked for the Petre family estate at Ingatestone Hall, Essex and then around 1890 they became caretakers at Eastbury Manor House in Barking, Essex where apparently Caroline saw ghosts!
Edward James PALMER was a Dock Labourer born about 1812 in Deptford. At that time Deptford was in Kent, later it became part of the London Borough of Lewisham. He married Elizabeth LANGSDALE, daughter of John Langsdale, a Carpenter, and they brought up their family in Deptford. Their son William was a Cook and Steward aboard the steamship 'Condor' which I believe went to and from New York. William married Charlotte Callow and eventually moved his family to the Barking/Ilford border around 1900 where they lived just a few streets away from the Cole family.
Edward CALLOW was a Baker, born 1821 in Dartford, Kent. After moving to Deptford he married Elizabeth Morris RANDALL daughter of Abraham and Charlotte Randall. Edward and Elizabeth brought up their family in Deptford and Greenwich. Their daughter Charlotte married William Palmer above.
George Frederick BRADLEY was a Ropemaker, born 1822 in Bermondsey, son of Stephen Bradley (a Granary Warehouseman) and Elizabeth Vizard. George married Mary Ann TURNER, daughter of William Turner a Cabinet Maker in the Royal Engineers at Brompton Barracks near Chatham Kent. William was born in Liverpool, married Jane Wallace in Manchester and spent most of his married life in Brompton, Kent. George and Mary Ann brought up their family in Chatham until about 1865 and then moved to Poplar in East London. Their son William, a Stevedore in the London Dockyards, married Mary Ann Appleton, daughter of George Appleton, a Mariner who lived in Limehouse. George and Mary Ann's other sons George and Thomas emigrated to Australia and I am in touch with some of their descendants.
George Robert APPLETON was a Ship’s Stoker who was born 1848 in Shadwell, East London and lived in that area all his life. His father was Richard Thomas Appleton, a Mariner born in Gravesend. Earlier generations of Appletons lived in Harwich, Essex. George married Cordelia Jemima RAWLINSON, daughter of Frederick Rawlinson, a Mariner from Rochester, Kent whose ancestors (father & son) were aboard HMS Victory with Nelson at the Battle of Trafalgar. His wife was Emma Bear whose father was a Shipwright from Chatham. George and Cordelia brought up their children in Limehouse, East London. They had 13 children of whom only 8 survived to adulthood.
Alfred DAVIS was born in 1829 in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire. His father John Davis born in Ross-on-Wye was a Blacksmith who later became a Bookseller in Stroud and his mother was Sylvia Grist from Shepton Mallet, Somerset. Alfred came to London to work as a Gentleman’s servant and married Emma Margaret WELLMAN, a ladies maid who was the daughter of James Wellman, an Exciseman from Hoxton, London. Alfred established himself as a Rag Merchant and then a General Dealer in West Ham on the border of East London and Essex which was then a fast-growing urban area. He later built a house in Hastings, East Sussex, called Alfred Villa and retired there around 1900.
Robert West WELCH was born about 1812, the son of Robert Welch, a Royal Navy Commander and Lucy Overy from Plymouth, Devon. He was a widower when he married twice-widowed Elizabeth LOWDELL, daughter of George Lowdell, a Ship’s Caulker at the Royal Naval dockyard in Deptford. Robert and Elizabeth lived in Poplar, East London, where they brought up two children.
OTHER FAMILIES
I have also included in the tree some members of the WALDIE, DUNCUMB and CLARK families into whom sisters of my Grandfather William BRADLEY married. There are also some of the TAMCKEN/WOSKETT families as some of my nephews are descendants via their mother (first wife of my youngest brother).
Also the BLYTHE/CRAFER/HARRISON/PRATT (Norfolk) and the FRALEY/MERCHANT/JONES/HADNOT (Trowbridge, Shepton Mallet and Wales) families who are my son John's ancestors through his father's line.
My husband's KRISHNAN line from India are here too. The information is from family records and relatives' memories and dates have not been checked with official records which are not easily accessible. There are some interesting family stories about his maternal Granny presenting a bouquet to the Prince of Wales (later George V) on his visit to India in 1906 and the family have the Fleur de Lis engraved on their marriage necklaces to this day (I have one). A paternal ancestor was a Hindu priest and homeopath who cured the Rajah of Jaipur's son of a severe illness and was granted the hereditary title of "Jaipur" which was last used by my father-in-law's generation. The priest was also given a large property including a temple at Hanuman Ghat on the banks of the Ganges at Varanasi (Benares) by the Rajah. When he died childless one of his brothers claimed it and it passed into my husband's line. The house is still occupied by members of the family today.