RootsChat.Com

Hello Claire

I think we are probably 4 th cousins once removed although I don't understand what this 'removed' business means. Your great great grandmother would have been first cousin to my great grandfather.

I also had very little information about the Woodward side of the family before I started researching during the Covid epidemic. On the maternal side, my great grandfather was born in Newport Pagnell nearby and the births and deaths for that period have been microfilmed but not transcribed for that period so I am ploughing through records in Milton  Keynes library. His mother's father left a will accessible online and a tombstone and pub which exist but have both been moved.

Back to the Woodwards, the sequence of locations were Ombersley - William Woodward (Tailor); Chaddesley Corbett (Worcs) - William Pardo Woodward (Butcher); Lambeth - John Woodward (saddler & harness maker); Oxford - John William Woodward. I still do not know why the family went to Oxford (certainly nothing to do with the university).  In the 1921 census, my grandfather was unemployed and they were living in an area of Oxford which was probably the most impoverished (& notorious ) area in central Oxford at the time.

The link to Little Comberton is through William's place of birth in the 1861 census given as Earls Croome. In the earlier census it was given as Evesham but I have guessed that this is indicative of the area whereas Earls Croome is very specific and matches an actual baptism. I have visited both villages. The church in Little Comberton is quite interesting.  There is also a sister Anne in the Earls Croome family. The bridegroom in the Little Comberton wedding gives his home parish as Earls Croome. The difficulty with these connection is searching for an alternative that fits allowing for possible mis-spellings in order to eliminate other possibilities.
 
Another 1st cousin to both Fanny Elizabeth Frazer & to William Pardo Woodward was Mabel Woodward.  William apparently had a sister Anne whose 2 nd. husband had a watchmaker's and jeweller's shop in Worcester.   It seems that William's youngest son, Thomas worked in the business and took it over when they both died. He married the daughter of a saddler and harness maker whose business was nearby. Their first child was Mabel. It seems that his wife and second child died in childbirth or soon after. Thomas continued working in the business and it seems that his niece surname Frazer (Possibly  your great, great grandmother Fanny Elizabeth (26)  or her sister Kate(25) ) was his housekeeper. After he died leaving £1,800 (equivalent to £240,000 in 2020 money) his daughter joined her grandfather's household adopting the Carter name and going to Scotland with him but died in Middlesex unmarried.  My grandfather's sister was also named Mabel which I don't think was a coincidence.

There are several puzzles. According to the 1841 census William had a daughter Anne. What happened to her? There was also an Elizabeth Morris in the 1841 census. Was she related? An Emily Woodward was housekeeper in the 1861census. Is there another daughter or is it Elizabeth your 3Xgreat grandmother misnamed by the census collector? I would, of course, be interested in any information on the Frazer link.

Sorry for the delay in responding. We have had grandsons to stay.

Keith

Hello Bev

Thanks for that. This has prompted me to look at my notes on Pardoes made over a year ago. They are somewhat confused and, therefore, not necessarily accurate. It was before I had learnt that the best way to use 'ancestry' was as a key to source documents and realised that a document might still exist but may not have been transcribed.

There were two Pardoes, James and John, who were farmers in a trade list in 1820. The only Pardoe in the equivalent 1890 list was a shoemaker. I believe that were two separate farmhouses around Ombersley apparently occupied by Pardoes which are now listed buildings. The John in your list of siblings would be 72 at that time.

A Thomas Pardoe was baptised on 14th November 1764 in Ombersley, Worcester.  ( To add to the confusion a Thomas Pardoe was also baptised 24 Jun 1763 at Ombersley, Worcester also with father, Thomas Pardoe and mother Letithea. Did the first child die? Only too frequent in 18C.) There is also a record of a Thomas Pardoe, a Master Cordwainer of Ombersley accepting an apprentice in 1785. I think this precludes Thomas's parent being William. Mary Cook's father is most likely Mark Cook from elsewhere in Worcestershire.

  Thomas Pardoe and Mary Cook married on 5th. June 1781 in Ombersley. Thomas Pardoe and Mary registered the birth of child Thomas on 17 th June 1792. A Thomas Pardoe's body was buried on 7 Sep 1823 in Ombersley, Worcester( but a Thomas Pardoe also appeared in a  Census living in Omberley aged 85). Regarding Elizabeth Pardoe's (later Woodward) siblings, I seem to have mixed up two families possibly by referring to another family tree but they would be Sarah (1790), William (1793), Thomas 1794, Mary (1807-1891) and Anne (1808).

 In 1851 Thomas Pardoe Age: 57 (born abt 1794 in  Ombersley, Worcestershire) living with his wife Hannah Pardoe 61 was a shoe maker and lived in 112 The Rocks (Hamlet) Ombersley, Worcestershire. Could this be the other Hannah for which ClaireC666. was searching? Other residents were Richard Pardoe aged 23, Eizabeth Pardoe aged 21 and Peter Scott aged 25. Thomas has evidently taken up his father's profession  of cordwainer but chosen the more modern title of shoe maker.

The Elizabeth Pardoe christened in 1793 was the daughter of James Pardoe and Elizabeth (Nee Dorrell). It is here that I get a bit more muddled but I think James's father was Phillip (1740 to 1788) arried to  Mary (Nee Field 1744 to 1768).

 In the 18 C this James & Elizabeth Pardoe probably lived in Comhampton hamlet possibly at Comhampton Farmhouse. In 1841  Elizabeth Pardon aged 73 who was presumably James Pardoe's widow and their children Littilia Pardon aged 46, James Pardon aged 35, Ann M Pardon 30, William Pardon 25, Charles Pardon aged 20 were listed as farmers.  A Cook family lived nearby. In 1851 Elizabeth Pardoe the widow was now listed as a landed proprietor which one assumes means they owned the land they were farming. The three sons James, William and Charles were farming 45 acres each and employing labourers. In 1861 their mother was still alive and James was farming 227 acres and employing 3 labourers possibly at a different location. (I have clearly copied the 'Pardon' from the transcription but they certainly the same family.

In addition to James's & Thomas's family there was a third Pardoe family in Ombersley whose father was Richard in the early 19C. I guess I will try to link them all back but am primarily interested in the Woodward ancestors through Thomas & Mary.

Keith