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I've been looking at the tree of Samuel Webster and Ann Rushmere of Benhall as a few Ancestry trees have been mixing its members up with the Framlingham Websters. This has been causing some false linkages to my own Webster family.

For a tree that consists of one couple and their children, it has been remarkably complicated. The children disperse to Norwich, Birmingham, London and Yarmouth. Some have multiple baptisms. For example, a Joshua Webster is baptised at Barford in Norfolk with a mother Elizabeth Rushmore and then some years later, while given exactly the same DoB, part of a family group baptism at Rendham non-conformist chapel with mother Ann Rushmere in 1812. I can find no additional marriage to account for the mother's name change.

Newspaper reports were almost as much help as Ancestry and FindMyPast and once narrowed down, more census records came into play where there had been mis-spelling of Benhall.

Some examples:

Samuel Webster late of Barford died age 68 at Wrentham in 1830, Bury and Norwich Post 7th April 1830

Norfolk News  07 March 1846 "Lately, in her 71st year after a lingering affliction, Ann, relict of Mr Samuel Webster, late of Benhall, Suffolk" (buried at New Catton)

Norfolk Chronicle + Norwich Mercury 10 February 1844: "In Sussex St in this city, after a lingering and protracted illness, John R Webster of London, youngest son of Mr Samuel Webster, late of Benhall, Suffolk."

Anyway, it is now a public tree on Ancestry. I've yet to find any evidence of descendants.

My line is via Edmund's son, Samuel. Samuel was a (tenant) miller at Framsden by 1851. The census has him as a master miller employing one man and one boy. Shortly afterwards, he took over the mill at Thornham Magna. His death there in 1857 forced a sale of all his possessions, which must have been bought by loan. The sale notices referred to him as a "farmer and miller of Stoke Ash and Thornham and also of Framsden".

Samuel's son, Edmund, briefly took over the running of the mill at Framsden (Framsden had two mills but this is assumed to be the current one). Edmund made a hash of things and his involvement with the mill did not last long. Evicted from his house by Lord Tollemache and involved in at least one fight at the local pub! His son, also Edmund, was much more successful, as was his son Sam, who went on to run Debenham mill and Hill Farm at Debenham.

The mill passed into Webster ownership in 1879, hence the name of Websters Mill, even though the Webster family had been involved with running it, with some gaps, some years beforehand.

For me, the interesting feature of these families is that although the trees of the later Framsden millers and my own diverge in the early 19thC, the family ties were still strong enough in the 1930s for my mother to spend summers recuperating from illness at Sam Webster's farm at Debenham.

Sorry to add to an old thread!

There is also a Mary Goodram, baptised at Wickham Market (next to Charsfield) on 18 November 1792. Mother late Boar.

A Robert Goodram and Mary Boor married at Leiston on 21 December 1785, so a move via Laxfield is possible.

Mary had a sister, Martha Gooderham, baptised at Hacheston, mother late Bore, in 1789.

There's also an earlier Elizabeth Webster b1785 at Stradbroke (up the road from Athelington), parents Edward and Deborah. She may have died at Framlingham in 1789.

Deborah's birth year is a problem as she would have been 50 when she gave birth to her last child. I suspect her age at death was largely a guess.

Edmund and Deborahs's gravestone is right by the main entrance to Framlingham churchyard. It is quite a substantial one and an inscription area is worn off but fortunately it was recorded in a 19thC newspaper article. It was a verse about Edmund being a bellringer at the church. I left a copy of this article in the church's grave index book a couple of years ago but I don't know if it is still there.

The church paid for Deborah's funeral (the bill is in the SRO) and presumably paid for the gravestone, as it is evident the couple were poor. The church also sorted out several apprenticeships for their children, again these are in the SRO.

Samuel's brother Joshua was apprenticed to a shoemaker at Framsden who had an issue with residence rights there. Joshua then had to apply for settlement rights at Framlingham in 1811 and in 1834 a Joshua Webster was jailed for causing a disturbance at the poor house (in the castle). Samuel went to Framsden, though, before dying at Thornham Magna in 1857 as a 'miller of Thornham and Framsden'. He founded a kind of milling dynasty with sons as millers at Framsden, Pattiswick and High Easter.

Jesse - lived in Framlingham but died in 1839. He was still indentured after his marriage.

Joshua - got stuck with him, with little found after his poor house antics.

Michael - a blacksmith at South Weald. joined in 1851 census by brother Samuel's son Michael, with some interesting spellings of Framlingham!

Elizabeth - farmer's wife at Dennington

Abraham - infant death

Isaac - lived in Framlingham but moved late in life to Sussex to daughter Emma's family.

There is a Webster family story that Sam Webster b1877 was told by his father that they were descended from Whitemans.

I've found the Thru Lines of very little help but otherwise, it's been fine for me.

Common ancestors has been incredibly useful. I've got about 10% wrong on my tree and 20% or so on my partner's. That increase for the latter is entirely down to one family with both a lot of DNA-linked descendants and a lot of copied wrong links. Remove people connected to that one family from the results and it's down to about 10%.

I guess that if someone's tree has several of these families, then their error rate will be a lot higher but that is more a case of bad luck rather than a fault of the system.

For me, I have a large number of entirely new, verifiable links, often at cousin levels I would never have bothered with looking at before. I would not want to go back to the old system at all. I'd still be better off if half the matches were wrong!