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The Common Room / Re: Where is John Harris' 1846 will? - completed
« on: Thursday 04 December 25 10:36 GMT (UK) »
Well spotted.
Thanks very much.
R
Thanks very much.
R
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2
The Common Room / Where is John Harris' 1846 will?
« on: Thursday 04 December 25 09:54 GMT (UK) »
John Harris, a well-known publisher of children's books, died on 2 Nov 1846 at York Place, Walworth.
Several newspapers reported the fact that he left £800 to literary charities, so he was wealthy; but I can't find a copy of his will. I thought it would be a PCC will, but apparently not (nor a Surrey/London will)
The situation is confused because another John Harris died earlier that year, in about the same place (Camberwell) and at the same age. He did leave a PCC will which also appears in the index to death duty registers.
Richard
Several newspapers reported the fact that he left £800 to literary charities, so he was wealthy; but I can't find a copy of his will. I thought it would be a PCC will, but apparently not (nor a Surrey/London will)
The situation is confused because another John Harris died earlier that year, in about the same place (Camberwell) and at the same age. He did leave a PCC will which also appears in the index to death duty registers.
Richard
3
The Common Room / Can anyone see what happened to Margaret Mather and her children after 1766?
« on: Tuesday 02 December 25 17:11 GMT (UK) »
Thomas MATHER married Margaret NATT in Plymouth in 1761 (her sister (?), Mary Ann, had married Samuel WHITE, a gentleman from Portsmouth, there three years earlier and they witnessed the 1761 marriage having previously guaranteed their marriage bond) so the NATT family may be from Plymouth.
Thomas Mather was a commander in the RN and drowned in 1766. His will mentions several relatives including his wife and their 'children'. The only child I can find the baptism for is Frances in Stepney in 1765, although this related link suggests that Elizabeth may be another daughter.
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=776893.0
I would expect Margaret to have remarried (or possibly died) but I can't find any evidence for Margaret or Frances after 1767 beyond a possible burial in Bunhill Fields in 1801 aged 68 which I can't link to a Natt baptism.
Richard
Thomas Mather was a commander in the RN and drowned in 1766. His will mentions several relatives including his wife and their 'children'. The only child I can find the baptism for is Frances in Stepney in 1765, although this related link suggests that Elizabeth may be another daughter.
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=776893.0
I would expect Margaret to have remarried (or possibly died) but I can't find any evidence for Margaret or Frances after 1767 beyond a possible burial in Bunhill Fields in 1801 aged 68 which I can't link to a Natt baptism.
Richard
4
Armed Forces / Re: 18th century naval officer - finished
« on: Saturday 29 November 25 21:49 GMT (UK) »
Thank you; that's very useful.
Thomas' will was proved in 1767 so that pretty much proves they were the same people and that he stayed in the RN and drowned in 1766.
Richard
Thomas' will was proved in 1767 so that pretty much proves they were the same people and that he stayed in the RN and drowned in 1766.
Richard
5
Armed Forces / 18th century naval officer- finished
« on: Saturday 29 November 25 19:26 GMT (UK) »
In his 1766 will Thomas Mather described himself as 'Commander of the ship Pitt of London' which appeared to take trade across the Atlantic.
On the entry for his likely marriage in 1761 he is described as Master of the King's ship Pelican, which is likely to be the ship HMS Pelican, bought in 1757 and being refitted in Portsmouth when he married in Plymouth. (I believe that Master was a rank between Captain and Lieutenant).
Can these be the same person? In other words, would someone in the RN be running a merchant vessel five years later?
Richard
On the entry for his likely marriage in 1761 he is described as Master of the King's ship Pelican, which is likely to be the ship HMS Pelican, bought in 1757 and being refitted in Portsmouth when he married in Plymouth. (I believe that Master was a rank between Captain and Lieutenant).
Can these be the same person? In other words, would someone in the RN be running a merchant vessel five years later?
Richard
6
Roxburghshire / Margaret Mather/Haig
« on: Thursday 20 November 25 17:59 GMT (UK) »
In his 1796 will James Mather asks his wife to look after his sister Margaret.
In a letter written twenty years later (1816), one of James Mather's sons-in-law asks after James' sister who he believes is living in Jedburgh and goes by the name of Mrs Haig or Mather.
This means that Margaret is probably the Margaret Mather who married John Haig and had children from at least 1770 to 1784 in Jedburgh (Janet, Isabel, Thomas, James, +?), although that remains unproven.
James Mather was born in about 1736 to Alexander Mather, a farmer in 'Twycell, Durham' which fits with the James bap 1737 in Norham, close to Twizel Castle. There is an Alexander who (re?)marries in 1739 and had several children in Felton, some 40 miles away, but I can't find Margaret's baptism, marriage or burial.
Richard
In a letter written twenty years later (1816), one of James Mather's sons-in-law asks after James' sister who he believes is living in Jedburgh and goes by the name of Mrs Haig or Mather.
This means that Margaret is probably the Margaret Mather who married John Haig and had children from at least 1770 to 1784 in Jedburgh (Janet, Isabel, Thomas, James, +?), although that remains unproven.
James Mather was born in about 1736 to Alexander Mather, a farmer in 'Twycell, Durham' which fits with the James bap 1737 in Norham, close to Twizel Castle. There is an Alexander who (re?)marries in 1739 and had several children in Felton, some 40 miles away, but I can't find Margaret's baptism, marriage or burial.
Richard
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The Common Room / Re: Literate Cheshire labourers in the 18th century
« on: Sunday 09 November 25 18:14 GMT (UK) »
Thanks for looking. I think that is William's family, but my request was really about what sort of range was covered by 'labourer' then.
There are so many John Minshulls in the Backford/Capenhurst/Chestyer area that I think, in the absence of wills, it is going to impossible to be sure about anything. The family I am focusing on is Mary (1776), William (1778), Hannah (1779) and Thomas (1780) who were born to John Minshull, a labourer and an unnamed wife.
Given that there were at least three other johns having children in the area at the same time, pinning down his wife will be hard so, at the moment, I'm just trying to get a handle on their standing.
Richard
There are so many John Minshulls in the Backford/Capenhurst/Chestyer area that I think, in the absence of wills, it is going to impossible to be sure about anything. The family I am focusing on is Mary (1776), William (1778), Hannah (1779) and Thomas (1780) who were born to John Minshull, a labourer and an unnamed wife.
Given that there were at least three other johns having children in the area at the same time, pinning down his wife will be hard so, at the moment, I'm just trying to get a handle on their standing.
Richard
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The Common Room / Literate Cheshire labourers in the 18th century
« on: Sunday 09 November 25 16:05 GMT (UK) »
The attached is typical of the Minshull family at the end of the 18th century: their firm signature suggests reasonable literacy but they are called labourers. The same was true for William's father thirty years earlier, although a generation later they have become farmers. William's brother, for instance, was described as a labourer in 1810, but a farmer in 1816.
Very few agricultural labourers were literate then, so my guess is that they were small farmers (ie not yeomen or husbandmen), renting their land from others; but does anyone know whether that is normally the case? If so, it is difficult to differentiate between the farmers and the genuine ag labs.
Richard
Very few agricultural labourers were literate then, so my guess is that they were small farmers (ie not yeomen or husbandmen), renting their land from others; but does anyone know whether that is normally the case? If so, it is difficult to differentiate between the farmers and the genuine ag labs.
Richard
9
Europe / Re: More German professions
« on: Thursday 06 November 25 21:10 GMT (UK) »
I have attached a bigger chunk of the document but I'm not sure it will be of much help.
R
R