RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Jean Price on Friday 01 November 13 02:34 GMT (UK)
-
Hello All,
A very little background. I am in Christchurch, New Zealand (Yes, the earthquake place), and one of my great (x2) grandfathers is Peter Fawcett who arrived in Canterbury from Saintfield, County Down in 1851.
Peter's Death Certificate says he was born in County Wicklow, and his father was Anthony Fawcett, a land steward.
Now a mystery. It was recorded by an esteemed indexer and compiler of family histories here in Canterbury that the Rev John Turner Colman Fawcett the vicar of Kildwick, West Riding, Yorkshire, and son of John Fawcett an actor of Covent Garden, had written to the Canterbury Association, re his "nephew" Peter Fawcett.
I have not been able to find this letter - and I have been searching in different NZ Archives for some years.
I have done an extensive search on the family of John Fawcett, the actor, but have not found an Anthony Fawcett anywhere.
So, if you were writing a letter in 1853, and referred to a person as your "nephew", how close would that relationship be?
Researching Anthony Fawcett in Wicklow has only revealed that one of this name had a wife "Rosanne".
I do look forward to any suggestions.
Thank You
Jean
-
Hi Jean
A nephew with the same surname would normally be a brothers son. The other possibilitie is that he was referring to a great nephew (a nephews son) but ommitted the word great.
How certain are you that the Peter Fawcett referred to in the letter was your Peter?.
Andy
-
Hello Andy,
A very good question - and it had occurred to me - but my Peter Fawcett was the only one in Canterbury at the time - in fact Peter Fawcett's in NZ are very few on the ground - but I will now go back to BDM's in NZ, and also try NZ papers for other mentions.
Thank You
Jean
-
According to the Old Westminsters on Ancestry, JTC Fawcett was the son of John Fawcett by his second wife, Anne Gawdry (an actress) and he was born Aug 16 1804.
With him being the child of a second wife, I wonder if there were other siblings from the first marriage, who could then have had children?
-
This google book seems to have a lot of info about the Fawcett acting dynasty http://www.rootschat.com/links/0wpl/
-
Hello Spidermonkey,
Yes, John Fawcett the actor had a daughter - Sarah Ward Fawcett - with his first wife, Susan Moore. Sarah married James Barclay, and had one daughter - Ursula Harriet Barclay - who died 1863 without issue.
The book you refer to - "A Biographical Dictionary of Actors etc." has been very helpful, but does not include an Anthony.
Thank You
Jean
-
Francis Courtney Wemyss wrote a gem of a book for those researching English and Irish actors who crossed the pond to America up to 1852
https://books.google.ca/books?id=bNpZAAAAcAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=francis+courtney+wemyss&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiyr5vxiZvgAhXoy4MKHeUMCzMQ6AEIKDAA#v=onepage&q=francis%20courtney%20wemyss&f=false
There is one Fawcett listed in the late 1700s, but no first name.
I have found actors difficult to find birth/marriage records for as they moved around a lot. A good newpaper subscription gets the best hits as their plays were advertised.
The good news is acting was a multi generational career and they frequently married other actors.