I'm researching Levi Welch to see if he has any links to my family but trail comes to a dead stop.
Levi was born in Stopsley Beds in 1828/9. Parents Joseph Welch (born in Lillie) & Charlotte. He had brother Asher, Benjamin and maybe a Reuben. In 1851 he's still in Stopsley, married to Ann with a son Ruben. Ann dies in 1851. In 1857 he marries Ada Ann Gazely and they have the children Frederick(1857), Letitia(1859) and Walter(1861). In 1861 they are living in Luton but Reuben is with his grandparents in Stopsley.
In 1867 Levi is tried for murder and robbery but only gets 14 years penal servitude by turning Queen's Evidence. Coincidently, the son Ruben is also tried in 1867 for stealing a shotgun and gets 7 years. To see their Bedford prison records and photographs go to
www.schools.bedfordshire.gov.uk/gaol/search.htm Now the puzzle, in 1871 Levi is at home in Luton with his family (not in jail?). That's the last record I can find on him, not even a register of death.
In 1871 Ruben is in Dartmoor Prison and marries Fanny Wheatley in Luton in 1875. He is back in prison in 1881 (Pentonville) but that's the last thing I can find on him.
Can anybody help with this intriguing tale?