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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => Sussex Lookup Requests => Sussex => England => Sussex Completed Lookup Requests => Topic started by: kizmiaz on Tuesday 11 October 05 14:39 BST (UK)
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Hi
(I've possibly posted this or something very similar before, but I can't find my records for it. Apologies if anyone has already found this for me)
I am looking for any information about the birth or christening of William Robins from Heathfield. I have found him on the 1851 and 1881 censuses and this gives his year of birth as 1810 or thereabouts. He seems to have married Barbara or Barbary Baker according to a note I made ages ago, but can't find a source for it and have no idea when or where. (I was just starting out on this genealogy trail and wish I'd made better notes! Oh well, can't be helped now :-[)
He is proving to be a major stumbling block in moving any further back on my direct surname line, and I'd love to find out who his parents were. So far, I 've managed to get most other lines at least into the late 18th century, but the Robins line, the one that started me on this trail in the first place, is proving highly elusive.
Many thanks for any assistance
Glen
***After almost a year of looking, I finally found a baptism record for William. Phew!***
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Warbleton
HO107/1108/4
Schedule 5, Page 1
Stone Land
Willm Robins, 30, Ag Lab
Barbary do, 30
Thomas do, 7
Ann do, 1
All born in Sussex
Living next door, at Batsford or Butsford:
Reuben Baker, 45, Ag Lab
Mary do, 45
Levi do, 13
Jason do, 11
Jane do, 9
Caleb do, 7
Willm Baker, 55, Ag Lab
David do, 20, do
All born in Sussex
According to the IGI (Parish Register transcript, St Mary the Virgin, Walberton), Barbary was baptised in 1808 and her parents were William and Ann Baker). I assume that William and Barbary were married in Warbleton.
Deborah
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Hi there
Marriage
Location: Wartling, East Sussex, Date: 13 Dec 1829:
Groom: William ROBINS
Bride: Barbara BAKER
Chris in 1066
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Many thanks for the information.
It looks likely to me that the William living next door is Barbara's father, because IGI has a David Baker born to William and Ann in Heathfield in 1819. I wonder if Reuben and William were brothers or cousins or just shared the same name.
Woo-hoo, yet another Ag Lab family! I think 95% of my ancestors were of this noble and heroic trade. Shame it didn't pass down in the genes. My garden is a mess!
Glen
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Hello
I too am related to Robins of Warbleton- had to laugh at your comment about ag labs!! We always say 'well what do you know he was an ag lab'!
I have been looking in my files and although I don't think we are directly related we will have a common link further down the line. I have found the following on my notes which you may already have:
1851 Pleydells Warbleton (actually Rushlake Green)
William - Head 41 Road Labourer
Barbary - Wife 42
Anna - d - 11
Harriet - d 5 (died 1888 aged 42 Warbleton)
John - s 8
Sally (Sarah Esther) - 10m
Thomas - s - 16 - ag lab
1871 Warbleton
Pleydells Cottage
William - Head - 61 Ag lab
Barbary - 62
Thomas Brook - grandson - 17 ag lab born 1854 Hellingly
William died in 1888 aged 79 in Hellingly Union Workhouse
Barbary died in 1890 aged 82 in Hellingly Union Workhouse
I hope this is of interest to you
I may have other information for you, if we knew who William's father was - I'll have a nother look at my info
Regards Kirsty
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Hi Kirsty
Good to see that someone else is looking into the Robins line in Warbleton. I don't feel quite so alone now.
Thanks for the information. I did have the 1851 details, but not the 1871. It shouldn't be too hard to find them on 1861 now that I know they didn't move too far in 20 years.
It would be nice to finally break through this barrier and get a bit further back than 1810 on this line. When I started, I stupidly thought "Ah, Robins, not exactly a common name. This should be easy!". I got back to William's grandson Samuel in almost no time, but then it started to get hard. There seems to have been a couple of Robins families in the area at the same time, and separating them has been a bit of a struggle, but thats the whole fun of the game!
(William's son John, my g-g-g-grandfather, seems to be another slippery customer, and I need to order a few certificates before I can get much more on him. I know he was with Sophy (or Sophia) but can't find a marriage for them. But that's another story!)
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Hi there
This year i started researching the family tree and ran into several interesting facts which i am still trying to clarify. My mother is directly related to the Brook family who lived in Warbleton in the 1800's. Thomas Brook b1854 was her great grandfather. It took me ages to figure out who Thomas family was as in one census 1891 he is listed as having the surname Robins which really confused things. My Mother says her grandfather was always confused as to whether his surname was Robins or Brook!! I ordered the birth certificate and discovered that Thomas was born illegitimately in Hellingly Union Workhouse. For several years he is listed as living with his grandparents William and Barbary Robins (nee Baker). My problem has been connecting Harriet Brook to her correct family and also connecting the Robins as grandparents. I know that Naomi Brook married James Robins but his parents were William and Susannah. I am think my Harriet is Naomi's sister? I notice that several of you have mention of all of the above. Can you help me unravel this further??? Please.....
Helen
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Hi Helen
Welcome to Rootschat, and welcome to a puzzle!
I have had Thomas Brook hanging around in the ether on my tree for a while with nowhere to put him. He just appears on the 1861 census with William and Barbary and is still with them in 1871.
If he was their grandson, then his father can only really be Thomas William Robins who was born c.1834.
William and Barbary, as far as I have been able to establish, had only two sons, Thomas and John. John would have only been 12 when Thomas Brook was born while Thomas would have been 20. Yes, I suppose it is theoretically possible, but I think a 27 year old woman having a son by a 12 year old boy would have resulted in slightly more documentary evidence!
It does look like Naomi and Harriet were sisters, and therefore there is a sort-of direct link to William and Barbary. James Robins who married Naomi Brook and William Robins who married Barbary Baker were 1st cousins. I wonder if Thomas Robins and Harriet Brook met at Naomis and James' wedding? Seems possible.
Although purely circumstantial, I hope some of this helps to pin down Thomas Brooks place in the Robins tree.
Regards
Glen
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Hi Glen
Nice to hear from you. The other chats about the Brook family were several years ago so i wondered whether it was still current.
To fill in a gap for you I know that Thomas was an illegitimate son of Harriet and was born in Hellingly Union Workhouse in 1854. I have his birth certificate and can send you a copy if you are interested. I presume that his mother Harriet is the sibling of Naomi as even for those days the other Harriet Brook's listed in 1841 were too young to be his mother.
I had trouble connecting the William and Barbary to James Robins but think you may have cleared that one up if they were first cousins does that mean that James and Williams fathers were brothers? Perhaps in that case it was easier to call Thomas a Grandson rather than get into 1st cousins removed etc?
What is your family connection to them all. Are you the Glen Robins from Ancestry.com? I found your tree there if so. Thomas Brook was my 2x great grandfather hence in the interest in connecting the dots!! I have my tree on Ancestry helenbarker50 and also on Genes Reunited. I started off looking at my husbands family and ended up all over the place. It has become quite addictive.....
Thanks for getting in touch. I would certainly be interested in getting the Robins into my tree correctly.
Regards
Helen Barker
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Hi Helen
Yes, it would appear that William's father was named Thomas and James' father was named William and they were both the sons of James Robins and Susannah Cornford.
William and Barbary's son was Thomas William Robins born about 1834, and there is a marriage listed for a Thomas Robins to a Harriett Brook in Hailsham in Dec qtr 1854. There doesn't appear to be any corresponding Robins family in 1861, BUT there is a Brook family living in Eastbourne who are very probably the same couple. Harriet seems to have lost several years off her age, but other than that....! It looks to me like Thomas took his wife's surname at their marriage.
So, if I've worked things out correctly, the only situation that makes sense is that Thomas Brook was the son of Harriet Brook and Thomas William Robins and therefore Thomas Brook was the grandson of William and Barbary as shown on the cenuses.
With Thomas being born there, and William and Barbary dying there, I think the Hellingly workhouse must have been sick of seeing the members of the Robins' family!
William and Barbary Robins were my gggg-grandparents, so Thomas Brook would have been the cousin of my gg-grandfather Samuel William Robins, born in Hailsham in 1862.
And yes, I am the Glen Robins from Ancestry. The Robins of Sussex tree is very much still a work in progress, started after I bought a book called "The Robins or Robbins Family of England" which had only 1 person named Robins to cover the entire county. I thought I'd try to put the record straight!
(Does any of this make sense?)
Regards
Glen
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Hi Glen
That is all very helpful. It would make sense that Harriet married Thomas Robins as that would be why the son was called Thomas too. It would also make sense if Harriet and Thomas didn't marry until Dec qrt of 1854 why Thomas Brook was called Brook. On his birth certificate there is no father mentioned. That would then make the connection to William and Barbary being his grandparents. I wonder what made Thomas and Harriet go to Eastbourne and leave their son with grandparents. I'll investigate that one further. It would also clear up the mystery of why there is so much confusion between the Brook family and Robins. As i think i mentioned before if you look at the 1891 census Thomas (1854) who married Elizabeth Saunders was listed as a Robins. No wonder it has all taken so long to figure out. I think i might order up the cert for Thomas Robins and Harriet for my records. My Mum is going to love it all. She is the Brook and direct descendent she has been in Spain for a month but gets back on Wednesday, we have been puzzling over all this for at least a couple of months. I have certainly had my money's worth out of Ancestry.
When my Great grandfather was born Charles John (Thomas and Elizabeth son) Barbary Robins was present at the birth and is listed on his birth certificate. For quite some time we wondered whether she was the local midwife before we put together all the intermarriages between the families.
Thank you so much for your help. I will list it all now and try and add to my tree in the right order. I do like the GR one so that i can see it all laid out but obviously Ancestry gives you more in connecting census records etc.
If I can send you any info for your records please let me know.
Regards
Helen
As you say the Workhouse was a busy place in those days wasn't it.