RootsChat.Com
Some Special Interests => Travelling People => Topic started by: CitizenSmith on Thursday 17 January 08 13:34 GMT (UK)
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Anyone researching Drapers out there - either Gypsies or Fairground people? They tended to travel in Herts/Beds/Bucks.
I've a postcard of Barnet Fair c 1905 showing three coconut shies, one with a banner saying Draper, another for Taylor and another for Elliott, side by side. Does anyone know what their first names might be?
Happy to share my Draper information too.
Thanks.
Sharon
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Hi there Sharon,
Just seen your message about Barnet Fair.
I think the Elliott name is my Great Grandfather Solomon Elliott who ran a Boxing Booth.
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Thanks - that's great.
Sharon
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hi ya.i am related to joe taylor who had the excelsoir boxing booth.also john birch who also boxed in the booths but had a round about with his wife emma/nee ayres.i am also related to joe beckett boxer whoise mother was charlotte birch but also ran the beckett booth.any interest to you?love cathayb
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Thanks Cathayb.
What part of the country did your Joe Taylor travel in?
Sharon
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are you sharon from rtfhs?if so i am cathayb!!joe taylor covered all the fairs up and down the country.and i have just realised i posted the wrong name.i have a joe taylor but it was ronnie taylor who owned the excelsoir boxing booth!!his brother tex also worked with him early on but after a bad experience with a lady in america he had to give up fighting!tex s real name was jimmy taylor,he took the name tex when he went to america.ronnie has quite a few relatives in gloucester and devon and cornwall.he was a frquent visitor to nottingham goosey fair.i have got to look at my trees and certs tonite but hope to post new mail re boxers on rfhs email site tomorrow.hope that helps.we also have frankums becketts and john birch fair fighters in our line although we are predominately romanies with all the usual gypsy trades.our taylors link to the penfolds and ronnie inherited his booth from his great grandad a bare knuckle fighter in 1861.ronnie took over in 1936.love cathay
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Hi Cathayb - yes I'm Sharon from the RTFHS. Good to see you here. And look forward to reading more about your boxing folk.
Sharon
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My great great granny was Matilda Elliott, a Romany lady. She was born 1845 in Sussex and married Samson Roberts. Do you have her within your Elliott's?
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Good to hear from you.
My folk are the Drapers rather than the Elliots - but I think the ones at Barnet Fair might have been Essex/Hertfordshire people rather than Sussex. But you never know...
Thanks.
Sharon
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Hi,
My family are Drapers.
My Great Grandfather was Goliath,
he was born in St Neots
He married carolina
They lived on a barrel wagon.
I have pics if yu are interested
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Hi Stevewdraper
That's great news - love to see them. I'm sending you a personal message separately.
Best wishes
Sharon
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Hi,
My great granmother was an Elliott, possible sister to Solomon and Thomas. Her name was Annie or Anna Maria, born 1879 died 1940. She was involved in the boxing booth side of things and was well known for taking on all comers and winning. She was the daughter of edward and possibly Annie Elliott, he was a licensed Hawker.
She married William Smith, a horse dealer from Lavenham Suffolk, in Ipswich in 1896. It looks like both the Smith and Elliott families lived next door to each other in Bramford Road, Ipswich.
Although once she married she seemed to settle down in Hertfordshire. Several of her children married into travelling families Harris, Swallow, Gess and decendants of these still travel with the fair to this current day. One still using the family coconut shy of Mrs E Harris.
Would love to be able to confirm the connection between her and Solomon as I know her other brother was Thomas and to see if anyone knows of any other siblings to them.
Cheers
A
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Hi asorrell
Interesting to hear about the Elliott/Smith marriage in Ipswich, as I have Suffolk/Norfolk Smiths in my tree too, intermarrying with the Barnet Fair Drapers and Taylors.
Do you have the marriage certificate of William and Annie? If so, could you let me know the name of William's father, please?
Many thanks.
Sharon
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Hi Sharon,
From what I have gleaned from the census and the marriage certificate for William & Annie, his father was called Harry Smith who marries Catherine . He was the son of William Smith who married Hannah. In both the 1881 & 1891 census the Smith family are shown as living at Market Place, Lavenham, Suffolk and are Horse, cattle and pig Dealers; before that in 1861 Harry is with his parents who are Ag Labs in Steeple Bumstead, Essex.
Hope this helps
Alison
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i am part of the elliott family my great grandfather was solomon elliott