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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Devon => Topic started by: Treefan on Wednesday 12 September 12 19:03 BST (UK)
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I am presently looking into the Axhorn family of Devon & in searching on the internet I came across a site which listed folk who had committed crimes who were sentenced to death. Amongst these entries was a Mary Axhorn who was sentenced in Lent 1815 in Devon.
The website allows you to make contact so that you can learn more from old newspaper records but sadly, in this case no newspaper records could be found.
I wondered if anyone else may know of Mary Axhorn so that I could learn what her crime was. If anyone knows of any details relating to this crime or of any other Axhorn folk too I would love to know please.
With Many Thanks.
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The writing on the register page is really faint but I believe it says arson alongside her name.
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Try here for advice:
http://www.devon.gov.uk/contrast/index/community/the_county/record_office/record_offices_in_devon/guide_sources/crime.htm
From my reading of this, the Exeter Gaol records are missing for 1815 ('twas ever thus), but I have found the Crown Minute Books for the period at the National Archives, reference ASSI 21/30. The Books are not online, you'd need to visit in person or get someone to visit for you.
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Hi
Found this on another site
1815 06Apr Axhorn Margaret - arson at Woodbury Devon Assizes.
http://www.paulhyb.homecall.co.uk/news/TAUN1815.HTM
claire
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Wow! Thank you all for your very kind help which is very much appreciated.
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Have you tried the National Newspaper Archives? You should find reports of the trial. I would look up but my subscripion has expired. You can pay £6 for 48 hrs access, a great resource.
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ringwarrior, I have tried to do that but unfortunately I didn't find any results.
Thank you anyway.
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Have you had a look at online trees (e.g. at Ancestry, just for a giggle)?
There are a few that have a Mary Axhorn born in Tiverton 1786, with parents, but no other info.
There are also some that show a Mary Ann Axhorn born 1811 and residing in England for several censuses and then inexplicably dying in Sydney NSW (where I see no record of the 1900 death). Her mother is shown variously as Mary Bettison (who would be Mary Axhorn by marriage) and Elizabeth Bettison. It's the usual dog's breakfast found in Ancestry trees. In 1841 the father, Isaac Axhorn, is in Tiverton with wife Elizabeth; the name has been corrected by an Ancestry user.
All those people might be worth contacting to see whether one of these is the Mary Axhorn in question. Of course, you might be one of those people. ;)
I had just wondered, since not all death sentences were executed and many people were transported instead, whether that angle might be worth looking at. You didn't mention your connection with this Mary, so not sure what you might already know about Axhorns etc.
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Janey, many thanks for your message. The Axhorn's are distantly related to me through marriage way back in time but I have been looking into them in more detail of late as I have been helping someone who is an Axhorn themselves.
Regarding the death sentence..... I found the information on the Ancestry site which lists the entry under the name of Mary Axhorn. The image of the actual entry is very faded & is quite hard to read but on closer investigation I believe that the entry may actually have been Margaret Axhorn & not Mary after all. I think that the name was recorded as Marg Axhorn as an abbreviation of Margaret although I may be wrong.
As to the Ancestry trees ~ no, one of them doesn't belong to me. I'm not a member of that site myself so don't generally have access to view that information. I tend to use the computers at our local library where you can use the Ancestry Library Edition free of charge but I don't believe that the trees are available on there.
Thanks again.
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Just a tip for trees: Ancestry has a mirror site where it puts all the public family trees from the Ancestry site (although almost no tree owners have any idea of this):
http://www.mundia.com/
Free to sign up and search and send private messages (people receive them through their Ancestry account as well). You'll find Mary Azhorn 1786 in trees there as well. No Margaret though. In this case as in many others, it seems fairly apparent that multiple people have just copied the same information back and forth and it's hardly reliable, but you never know what they might have to offer.
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Well, they say you learn something new every day! I had no idea about that site at all. Thank you for this information ~ I shall certainly take a look.
Thank you.
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My great grandfather's brother was sentenced to death in 1832 for highway robbery, but, in that era it was common for most death sentences to be commuted to transportation for life, so the death record in Sydney NSW is quite likely the lady concerned.
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That's what I thought about the transportation rather than execution -- but I don't see any death record in NSW, is the problem. (or marriage)
(I tried spelling it Axehorn, and Axown as some of the trees show for previous generations, but still no results.)
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/Index/IndexingOrder.cgi/search?event=births (and deaths)
http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/Index/IndexingOrder.cgi/search?event=marriages
Hang on ... one of those trees says she married Henry Catley. I still don't see a marriage or death. A Louisa Catley with parents Henry and Mary Helen died 1961 Balmain, which seems a little late for the child of someone born c1811.
There are Catley births to a George and Mary A in Sydney:
Edith 1860
Alice M 1862
Agnes T 1866 (died 1866)
Again, seems a little late.
A Mary A Catley died in Randwick in 1919, and other Catleys with parents George and Mary A/Ann died in 1907 and 1944.
No Henry Catley.
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We are forgetting something; there are copious transportation records provided by the Australian authorities. In Australia it is considered almost elite to have ancestors who were transported there.
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I agree -- and lots of them are at Ancestry, I think -- I just don't have paid access to them. ;)
Maybe Ancestry just has the unassisted passenger lists? It shows a Benj, a T and an F, but I can't see the details.
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The name Mrs Mary Catley appears in Sands Directories: Sydney and New South Wales, Australia, 1858-1933 which can be seen at Ancestry. Maybe somebody with Australian records access will check that?
(If you ask on the Australia board, put a link to this thread so people there can see what info has been checked already.)