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Shropshire Lookup Requests / Re: Elizabeth Grant, servant, maybe around Market Drayton, 1866
« on: Thursday 04 June 15 22:09 BST (UK) »
You are right, and thanks for sharing your thoughts! 
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Leicestershire Lookup Requests / Re: Looking for Esther Blount, circa 1777, possibly Great Glen or close by
« on: Saturday 18 April 15 12:28 BST (UK) »
I want to thank everyone who has tried to help with this query. It's not resolved, and I am still missing Easter/Esther/Hester Blount's birth between 1776 and 1779. But your inputs have been helpful.
When Easter married Robert Grant in November 1800, both said they were from Great Glen, Leicestershire, although he was almost certainly from a Kibworth Beauchamp family. So, I guess Easter could also be from somewhere else (but almost no Blounts in Kibworth). Perhaps he moved away looking for work, before returning to Great Glen where there were more distant family members. As fellow researchers have kindly suggested, people moved around perhaps more than we think. And perhaps there are missing sections in the Great Glen parish register in the 1770s. It could be the brick wall, sadly.
When Easter married Robert Grant in November 1800, both said they were from Great Glen, Leicestershire, although he was almost certainly from a Kibworth Beauchamp family. So, I guess Easter could also be from somewhere else (but almost no Blounts in Kibworth). Perhaps he moved away looking for work, before returning to Great Glen where there were more distant family members. As fellow researchers have kindly suggested, people moved around perhaps more than we think. And perhaps there are missing sections in the Great Glen parish register in the 1770s. It could be the brick wall, sadly.
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Leicestershire Lookup Requests / Re: Looking for Esther Blount, circa 1777, possibly Great Glen or close by
« on: Thursday 26 February 15 09:44 GMT (UK) »
I am astonished by people's generosity in assisting me with my research! Thanks to those who have helped - it's greatly appreciated. The many Wymeswold Blunts and Blounts were a fascinating story in themselves, but none of my people appear to be there. So I am still looking for Esther or Easter Blount, born 1776 to 1779 or thereabouts, probably around Great Glen.
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Leicestershire Lookup Requests / Re: Looking for Esther Blount, circa 1777, possibly Great Glen or close by
« on: Monday 23 February 15 21:01 GMT (UK) »
That's really helpful, and thank you so much for looking! 
The names of Joseph and Hannah's children have some resemblance to the names in my family in Great Glen, but probably not so much as to be conclusive. I have Johns, Williams, Annes and Sarahs. But not many Josephs or Marthas. So.....
I am still somewhat inclined to think that my Easter, who later on had a longstanding lodger living with her and her husband Robert Grant in Great Glen, was a Leicestershire person. The lodger was called John Blount, born a few years later (and I assume he must have been Esther's brother, or possibly a cousin). Both Easter and John record Great Glen as their place of birth in the 1851 census records. Though as both of them were recorded as 'paupers' there is, I suppose, a faint possibility that they simply said 'Great Glen' to avoid being sent on somewhere else. Easter's husband had died by 1851, and things look to have been pretty bad for them.
I have been looking at the Blount family in Great Glen and Burton Overy, an adjacent village, and have found a lot of them going back to the sixteenth century, but there is no mention of an Esther or Easter anywhere in those records. I used a file I bought online from Parish Records. So perhaps Easter didn't come from those parishes. I have found the name of Easter amongst the many Blounts who come from Wymeswold, in the north of Leicestershire, so I suppose that's a possibility too, though I have not bought the file for that. There seem to be hundreds of Blounts there! I am contemplating looking through the parish records of other local Leicestershire villages such as Stretton, Kibworth, Fleckney, Carlton Curlieu, Saddington and Newton Harcourt, in case somehow it has been missed, though again I have not bought the files for those. Another relatively unusual christian name in the family later was Judith, and I found one of those in Waltham-on-the Wolds, again in North East Leicestershire, but back in the early 17th century! If anyone has ideas on those, I'd be most interested.
Again, I am interested in your commentary on the state of the parish records in Great Glen. There was also, of course, a nonconformist tradition, though Easter had her children christened in the CofE.
Anyhow, that's sufficient to have bored you, I am absolutely sure!
The names of Joseph and Hannah's children have some resemblance to the names in my family in Great Glen, but probably not so much as to be conclusive. I have Johns, Williams, Annes and Sarahs. But not many Josephs or Marthas. So.....
I am still somewhat inclined to think that my Easter, who later on had a longstanding lodger living with her and her husband Robert Grant in Great Glen, was a Leicestershire person. The lodger was called John Blount, born a few years later (and I assume he must have been Esther's brother, or possibly a cousin). Both Easter and John record Great Glen as their place of birth in the 1851 census records. Though as both of them were recorded as 'paupers' there is, I suppose, a faint possibility that they simply said 'Great Glen' to avoid being sent on somewhere else. Easter's husband had died by 1851, and things look to have been pretty bad for them.
I have been looking at the Blount family in Great Glen and Burton Overy, an adjacent village, and have found a lot of them going back to the sixteenth century, but there is no mention of an Esther or Easter anywhere in those records. I used a file I bought online from Parish Records. So perhaps Easter didn't come from those parishes. I have found the name of Easter amongst the many Blounts who come from Wymeswold, in the north of Leicestershire, so I suppose that's a possibility too, though I have not bought the file for that. There seem to be hundreds of Blounts there! I am contemplating looking through the parish records of other local Leicestershire villages such as Stretton, Kibworth, Fleckney, Carlton Curlieu, Saddington and Newton Harcourt, in case somehow it has been missed, though again I have not bought the files for those. Another relatively unusual christian name in the family later was Judith, and I found one of those in Waltham-on-the Wolds, again in North East Leicestershire, but back in the early 17th century! If anyone has ideas on those, I'd be most interested.
Again, I am interested in your commentary on the state of the parish records in Great Glen. There was also, of course, a nonconformist tradition, though Easter had her children christened in the CofE.
Anyhow, that's sufficient to have bored you, I am absolutely sure!
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Shropshire Lookup Requests / Re: Elizabeth Grant, servant, maybe around Market Drayton, 1866
« on: Monday 23 February 15 20:08 GMT (UK) »
Thanks to those of you who assisted with expert commentary on the completion of the Severn Valley Railway, and other information. I didn't realise that folks would be so amazingly keen to help, otherwise I would have provided more material initially! Here is some more of the intriguing story I already have.....incidentally we should not think that our ancestors didn't move very far. Even poor people were pretty mobile, at a time of huge social change in the mid nineteenth century.
After giving birth to her baby Robert Smith Grant in Market Drayton in November 1866, Elizabeth returned with him to Leicestershire, where she left him with the Coleman family, former neighbours of her family in Great Glen, to be fostered whilst she worked elsewhere. She married one John Turland, in October 1869, and after a few short stays in various mining villages in the western part of the county, they moved back into the centre of Leicester. Robert lived with the same family in Great Glen until he was at least 14. He was my great grandfather, and had an interesting life himself.
Elizabeth's mother Judith, and her husband John Wood(s) (who may not be Elizabeth's father; they married some years after she was born) did move away from Chelmarsh, Shropshire, presumably after his employment on the Severn Valley railway was finished. Judith is next found living in Nuneaton in 1871, and her husband is elsewhere, presumably still working on the railway or something similar. By 1881, Judith and John are back in Leicester, living in a slum property in the centre of town with Elizabeth, who by this time has married, had two girl babies (both of whom died of fever and diarrohea), and whose husband had by then left her. Our ancestors faced some tough times and tragedy, as we know. After Judith died, John Wood (by then a drunk) committed suicide by drowning himself in the canal close to where they had lived.
Back to Elizabeth. At fourteen, in April 1861, Elizabeth Grant was working as a servant close to her family home in Leicestershire. Both her grandparents, with whom she had spent her days as a child in Great Glen, were by now dead. The point about young unmarried women choosing somewhere to have their baby where they would not be known is well made. But it seems strange for nineteen year old Elizabeth Grant to choose Market Drayton for her baby's birth, if she had no connections there at all. She was certainly not wealthy. The birth certificate for Robert Grant does not show a father, and nor does the christening record. Elizabeth did give Robert an uncharacteristic 'middle' name - Smith. In later life this name was 'lost', until it reappeared several weeks after Robert Grant died in 1945, when it was added to the death certificate. I am guessing that 'Smith' might have referred to his father, but that's uncertain. It's a very common name, of course, and Elizabeth would have encountered several male Smiths in her life.
Thanks to the person who suggested consulting the bastardy register - I will try to explore that if I can ever get to the Shropshire Record office when it is actually open!
However, I'm still wondering if Elizabeth Grant (born 1847 in Leicester) was working as a servant or in other occupation somewhere in Shropshire in the mid 1860s. Any more ideas on that, folks?
After giving birth to her baby Robert Smith Grant in Market Drayton in November 1866, Elizabeth returned with him to Leicestershire, where she left him with the Coleman family, former neighbours of her family in Great Glen, to be fostered whilst she worked elsewhere. She married one John Turland, in October 1869, and after a few short stays in various mining villages in the western part of the county, they moved back into the centre of Leicester. Robert lived with the same family in Great Glen until he was at least 14. He was my great grandfather, and had an interesting life himself.
Elizabeth's mother Judith, and her husband John Wood(s) (who may not be Elizabeth's father; they married some years after she was born) did move away from Chelmarsh, Shropshire, presumably after his employment on the Severn Valley railway was finished. Judith is next found living in Nuneaton in 1871, and her husband is elsewhere, presumably still working on the railway or something similar. By 1881, Judith and John are back in Leicester, living in a slum property in the centre of town with Elizabeth, who by this time has married, had two girl babies (both of whom died of fever and diarrohea), and whose husband had by then left her. Our ancestors faced some tough times and tragedy, as we know. After Judith died, John Wood (by then a drunk) committed suicide by drowning himself in the canal close to where they had lived.
Back to Elizabeth. At fourteen, in April 1861, Elizabeth Grant was working as a servant close to her family home in Leicestershire. Both her grandparents, with whom she had spent her days as a child in Great Glen, were by now dead. The point about young unmarried women choosing somewhere to have their baby where they would not be known is well made. But it seems strange for nineteen year old Elizabeth Grant to choose Market Drayton for her baby's birth, if she had no connections there at all. She was certainly not wealthy. The birth certificate for Robert Grant does not show a father, and nor does the christening record. Elizabeth did give Robert an uncharacteristic 'middle' name - Smith. In later life this name was 'lost', until it reappeared several weeks after Robert Grant died in 1945, when it was added to the death certificate. I am guessing that 'Smith' might have referred to his father, but that's uncertain. It's a very common name, of course, and Elizabeth would have encountered several male Smiths in her life.
Thanks to the person who suggested consulting the bastardy register - I will try to explore that if I can ever get to the Shropshire Record office when it is actually open!
However, I'm still wondering if Elizabeth Grant (born 1847 in Leicester) was working as a servant or in other occupation somewhere in Shropshire in the mid 1860s. Any more ideas on that, folks?
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Leicestershire Lookup Requests / Re: Looking for Esther Blount, circa 1777, possibly Great Glen or close by
« on: Monday 23 February 15 15:11 GMT (UK) »
Thanks, that's really most kind. Could you just fill me in on exactly which discs you consulted, please? Then I can rule them out...
I also note that both the first name and the surname is spelt in so many different ways - Easter, Esther, Ester, Hester, and Blunt, Blont, Blonnt, and so forth. Would this make any difference when you searched, do you think? Or does the power of the human brain automatically pick this up? !
I also note that both the first name and the surname is spelt in so many different ways - Easter, Esther, Ester, Hester, and Blunt, Blont, Blonnt, and so forth. Would this make any difference when you searched, do you think? Or does the power of the human brain automatically pick this up? !
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Shropshire Lookup Requests / Re: Elizabeth Grant, servant, maybe around Market Drayton, 1866
« on: Monday 23 February 15 08:49 GMT (UK) »
Thank you so much for such a prompt reply to my query! Yes, you are absolutely right about fourteen-year old Elizabeth being listed as a servant in Leicestershire on the Uppingham Road, in 1861; I really should have included that information in my posting. However, I'm still wondering why she ended up having her baby in Market Drayton, Shropshire. Presumably she was living there before she had the baby, so what was she doing, and where, immediately before 1866? I do know that some big houses have servants' records (I had a look at those for Lilleshall, for example, but nothing there), but perhaps there are other places to look?
As a second aspect, the address given for the baby's birth in November 1861 is Cheshire Street, Market Drayton, but I wonder whose house it could have been? I can't see any obvious places or contacts, though there are a couple of common lodging houses in the 1860s.
All assistance welcome!
As a second aspect, the address given for the baby's birth in November 1861 is Cheshire Street, Market Drayton, but I wonder whose house it could have been? I can't see any obvious places or contacts, though there are a couple of common lodging houses in the 1860s.
All assistance welcome!
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Shropshire Lookup Requests / Elizabeth Grant, servant, maybe around Market Drayton, 1866
« on: Monday 23 February 15 01:44 GMT (UK) »
My 2x Great Grandmother Elizabeth Grant was born in Leicester on 27th January 1847, and had a baby, christened Robert Smith Grant, on Cheshire Street in Market Drayton in November 1866. She was unmarried, and after the birth she returned to her family in the village of Great Glen, Leicestershire. The family lore says that she was a servant in a big house in Shropshire. Meanwhile, her mother Judith was married to railway navvy John Wood and was living in Chelmarsh, near Bridgwater in April 1861.
I'd love to find out if and where Elizabeth Grant was a servant in Shropshire, in the mid 1860s. Anybody have any good ideas?
I'd love to find out if and where Elizabeth Grant was a servant in Shropshire, in the mid 1860s. Anybody have any good ideas?
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Leicestershire Lookup Requests / Looking for Esther Blount, circa 1777, possibly Great Glen or close by
« on: Monday 23 February 15 01:22 GMT (UK) »
My 4x Great Grandmother Esther (Easter/Hester) Blount married Robert Grant in the village of Great Glen, Leicestershire on 2nd November 1798. She was buried on 11th March 1861 apparently aged 82. I believe she was born between 1776 and 1779, and the later Census entries say she was born in Great Glen. There are Blounts and Blunts in Great Glen, and in the adjacent village of Burton Overy too, going back to the sixteenth century, but I can't find any information about an Esther's birth. The only one I have found is an Esther Blount born 18th August 1777 in Nottingham, but that looks unlikely because noone else seemed to marry people from so far away. Can anyone help me with a search of some local parishes? I'd be incredibly grateful???
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