Harry and his father, Samuel, both have a lot of holes in their timelines. There are large gaps, spanning a decade or more, for which there appears to be no information.
While I do some offline investigating in those timeline gaps, I decided to build Harry's family tree backward using online records, if possible.
I knew that Samuel Hughes (1841 - 1917) was almost certainly Harry's father. But who were Samuel's parents? Who was his wife, Harry's mother? And who were her parents? In the post, "Eureka, I think I Found It Part III," I shared the marriage certificate of Samuel Hughes and Frances Woodward. Here it is again below.
 |
Marriage record for Samuel Hughes and Frances Woodward 18691
|
The marriage record states that Samuel Hughes, age 27, a bachelor, a farmer from Broxton, son of Samuel Hughes, also a farmer, married on 6 March 1869 at St. Johns in Chester parish, Frances Woodward, age 25, a spinster with a residence of Foregate Streets, daughter of Joseph Woodward, also a farmer. The certificate contains what appears to be the actual signatures of the bride and groom as well as the signatures of the witnesses, Alice Woodward and John Brereton.
Brereton is another name that shows up on the research trees of probable Hughes DNA matches. The Brereton name is in a tree that contains intermarriages between the Hughes, Brereton, and Cheers families. It appears that these families migrated to Australia in the mid-1800s. I need to keep this information handy as these people are part of Samuel's FAN club,2 "Friends, Associates, and Neighbors."
Concentrating on Frances Woodward, Harry's mother, the marriage record shows she was born about 1843 and her father's name was Joseph. In the 1871 census where Frances is enumerated with Samuel Hughes, her birth location is given as Christleton. So Christleton is a good place to start looking for her baptism. And her baptism shows up exactly where it is supposed to. In fact, she is the only Frances Woodward baptized in Cheshire between 1841 and 1845. So I am reasonably sure this is the correct Frances.
 |
Baptismal Record for Frances Woodward 18433
|
Page 10 on the left lists "Baptisms solemnized in the Parish of Christleton in the County of Chester in the Year 1843." The fourth one listed is Frances, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Woodward, a farmer in Christleton. She was born on 5 June 1843 and baptized on 25 June 1843.
The 1851 census for Christleton helped to further develop the Joseph and Elizabeth Woodward family structure. Elizabeth was listed as widowed and she had 4 young daughters: Jane, born about 1841; Frances, born about 1843; Alice, born about 1845; and Martha, born about 1847. Elizabeth and her four daughters were living with Mary Rhoden, Elizabeth's mother, who was also a widow. 4
I will need to find Joseph's death which would likely be between 1846, the conception of the last child, and 1851, the year of the census. But I want to go backward to the previous census to see if there are additional family members.
In the 1841 census of Christleton which is shown on the right, Joseph, age 50, and Elizabeth, age 30, are listed with six children. Sarah, born about 1825; Mary, born about 1832; George, born about 1833; Emma, born about 1834; Martha, born about 1837; and Joseph, born about 1838. The entire family was listed as being born in Cheshire.
I noted that Elizabeth was 20 years younger than Joseph and the oldest child was 15. There was a 7-year gap between the oldest child, Sarah and the next child, Mary. I hypothesized that Elizabeth was not his first wife and noted that I will need to look for evidence of a previous wife. I also noted that NONE of the children in the1841 census were with Elizabeth in the 1851 census. It's possible there are two separate families or it is possible that there is just one family that broke apart after Joseph's death and the older children are being cared for elsewhere.
Evidence of Joseph's death was relatively easy to find. I was able to find his burial record in 1849 in Christleton where he had lived at least since marrying Elizabeth. He was buried at Christleton on 13 April 1849. I searched for a newspaper account of his death but was unable to find one.
I can't imagine being a mother, 39 years old, with 9 children and at least one step-child. And then being suddenly widowed with these 10 children, aged 2 to 25. It's not surprising then, to find Elizabeth living with her mother and her four youngest children, including Frances, Harry's mother.
The obvious question is where are all the other children? So much more to find out.
Here is the family constructed thus far for Frances Woodward, her parents and siblings:
Joseph Woodward, born about 1790 in Cheshire, England, died 1849, probably in Cheshire England. He married,
Elizabeth Rhoden, born 1809 in Cheshire, England.
Daughter, Mary was born about 1832.
Son, George was born about 1834.
Daughter, Emma was born about 1835.
Daughter, Martha was born about 1838 and must have died before 1847.
Son, Joseph was born about 1839.
Daughter, Jane was born about 1841.
Daughter, Frances was born about 1843.
Daughter, Alice was born about 1845.
Daughter, Martha was born about 1847.
The next post will fill some detail for the family.
I will need to find Joseph's death which would likely be between 1846, the conception of the last child, and 1851, the year of the census. But I want to go backward to the previous census to see if there are additional family members.
 |
| 1841 Census for Joseph and Elizabeth Woodward5 |
I noted that Elizabeth was 20 years younger than Joseph and the oldest child was 15. There was a 7-year gap between the oldest child, Sarah and the next child, Mary. I hypothesized that Elizabeth was not his first wife and noted that I will need to look for evidence of a previous wife. I also noted that NONE of the children in the1841 census were with Elizabeth in the 1851 census. It's possible there are two separate families or it is possible that there is just one family that broke apart after Joseph's death and the older children are being cared for elsewhere.
 |
Burial Entry for Joseph Woodward 1849 6
|
Evidence of Joseph's death was relatively easy to find. I was able to find his burial record in 1849 in Christleton where he had lived at least since marrying Elizabeth. He was buried at Christleton on 13 April 1849. I searched for a newspaper account of his death but was unable to find one.
I can't imagine being a mother, 39 years old, with 9 children and at least one step-child. And then being suddenly widowed with these 10 children, aged 2 to 25. It's not surprising then, to find Elizabeth living with her mother and her four youngest children, including Frances, Harry's mother.
The obvious question is where are all the other children? So much more to find out.
Here is the family constructed thus far for Frances Woodward, her parents and siblings:
Joseph Woodward, born about 1790 in Cheshire, England, died 1849, probably in Cheshire England. He married,
Elizabeth Rhoden, born 1809 in Cheshire, England.
Daughter, Mary was born about 1832.
Son, George was born about 1834.
Daughter, Emma was born about 1835.
Daughter, Martha was born about 1838 and must have died before 1847.
Son, Joseph was born about 1839.
Daughter, Jane was born about 1841.
Daughter, Frances was born about 1843.
Daughter, Alice was born about 1845.
Daughter, Martha was born about 1847.
The next post will fill some detail for the family.
1. "Cheshire Diocese of Chester parish marriages 1538 - 1910,” database, findmypast.com (www.findmypast.com: accessed 20 March 2020); marriage entry for Samuel Hughes and Frances Woodward, 6 March 1869, St. John the Baptist, Chester, Cheshire, England.
2. FamilySearch Research Wiki, (http://https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/) "Elizabeth Shown Mills," rev.10:04, 26 March 2019.
3. "Cheshire Diocese of Chester parish baptisms 1538-1911," database, findmypast.com (www.findmypast.com: accessed 24 March 2020); baptismal entry for Frances Woodward, 25 June 1843, Christleton, Cheshire, England.
4. "1851 England, Wales & Scotland Census," database, findmypast.com (www.findmypast.com: accessed 25 March 2020); citing [The National Archives] Series HO107, piece 2171, folio 431, p. 31; entry for Elizabeth Woodward, Christleton, Cheshire, England.
5. "1841 England, Wales & Scotland Census," database, findmypast.com (www.findmypast.com: accessed 25 March 2020); citing [The National Archives] Series HO107, piece 90, folio 13, p. 26; entry for Joseph and Elizabeth Woodward, Christleton, Cheshire, England.
6. "Cheshire Diocese of Chester parish burials 1538-1911," database, findmypast.com (www.findmypast.com: accessed 25 March 2020); burial entry for Joseph Woodward, 13 April 1849, Christleton, Cheshire, England.
No comments:
Post a Comment