Earl family in Clifton area

[B.E.]

It appears that there was a thriving community of Earls in and around the Clifton area in the 19th century. I'm particularly interested in William (b.1828?) and Ann Earl who moved to Long Eaton, Derbyshire with their son William (b.1865?) sometime between 1871 and 1881. They also had a daughter Martha Ann (b.1853?) who married James Page of Grownus. I believe William Junior was my great-grandfather.

I'd appreciate any help anyone could give me in this area - I'm pretty sure I've got the right people, but there are some date discrepancies that are making me a bit nervous.

[johnP-bedford]

Hello & welcome to Rootschat 

From 1861 census living in Clifton Road, Clifton Beds is

William Earl age 33 Ag Lab
wife Ann Earl age 32
Ellen Bland age 14  Daughter in Law (most likely step daughter)
Martha A Earl age 7
Elizabeth age 4
Louis (daughter) age 2  (possibly Louisa)

All born in Clifton, Beds

regards John

[johnP-bedford]

On 1871 they had moved to Southill Beds

William Earl age 43 now born Shefford ; Ag Lab
wife Ann age 42 born Clifton; Straw Plaiter
Martha age 17 born Clifton
Emma age 14,  Louisa 12, William 5 & John 10 months
all last 4 children born Southill, Beds

regards John

[johnP-bedford]

Found some members of the same family in Long Eaton Derbyshire transcribed as EARLE. Do you need details ?

[B.E.]

John,
I thought I'd amuse you (?)with a story from GenesReunited. My brother has made contact with an Aussie who is working in the same lineage - about 5 generations back. By switching between paternal and maternal lines, we can now (apparently) trace our roots back down one strand to King Edward I, down another to one Heytr Garsson (b.570) and down another via Charlemagne to some bod in 25BC (72 generations). And here I am still trying to authenticate the link back in the mid-1800s!! The other question, of course, is where it all went wrong and we ended up in a hovel in Long Eaton, Derbyshire!!

[bedfordshire boy]

There is probably some sort of negative correlation between those who get back to Charlemagne and those who are trying to authenticate linkages in the mid 1800s!

Your brother would be well advised to beware of Greeks bearing gifts! The Aussie has also conveniently overlooked the burial 20 years prior to his alleged marriage of the individual who links your Earls/Roberts to the line that goes back to Charlemagne - I think on reflection that you may access it earlier through the Earl/Turner link although this has a questionable connection (another, connected, Earl line also definitely links to that Charlemagne line though). The other problem with GeRe is that details of living people, including yours, which are included in trees can very easily turn up on websites accessible to the world - me and my kids ended up on an Aussie's tree. (I'm ever so slightly paranoid about my details being available to the world!!! I've met a victim of identity theft in the USA. Not an experience to be recommended.). I now never give details to anyone, no matter how much I trust them, which include living people.

But to return to reality:

neither you nor your brother appear to have traced the marriage of William born c 1828 to Ann, who John has implied may well have been Ann Bland.

In 1851
HO107/1753 folio 439A
Clifton Fields, Clifton
Absolom Foster head widower 72 tanner b Biggleswade
George Foster son marr 46 ag lab b Tempsford Beds
Sarah Foster dau in law 48 b Clifton
Grandchildren William 13; Daniel 10; Mary 7 all b Clifton
Harriett Foster dau unmarr 42 straw plaiter b Tempsford
Ann Bland Granddau unm 22 plaiter b Clifton
Ellen Sarah Bland grand dau 4 b Clifton

Absolom (which I believe was the middle name of your gt grandfather) also had another daughter Sarah who married Thomas Bland.

In 1851 William was shown as aged 20 born Shefford living with parents Thomas and Rebecca - he possibly added a year or two to his age when he married Ann to cover that he was younger than her.

There's a marriage in the June quarter 1852 in Biggleswade registration district where both William Earl and Ann Bland have reference Vol 3b page 582, so it's beginning to look fairly conclusive

The census progression also looks pretty convincing, linking Long Eaton to Clifton via Southill. What date aspect was troubling you?

[B.E.]

Dear Bedfordshire Boy,
I hear what you're saying about the identity fraud bit. It's kind of hard to stop your details appearing somewhere on a website, genealogical or not. I ran a website for our cricket club and got all sort of dodgy emails from all parts of the world...

Thanks for the extra information - you're right that Ann Bland has been missed by everybody, so your input is a valuable addition (it might explain the Absalom/Absolom/Absolent link as well - they weren't terribly imaginative with names back then, were they!). I expect she was descended from Robin Hood!! I'm leaving my brother to piddle around with the tree way back - I'll concentrate on sober realities that I actually find much more satisfying anyway.

My concern about the dates was William Absalom Earl claiming to have been born at any time between 1859 and 1865. Neil Leveritt also had both a William Absalom AND a William as brothers in the same household, which I'm assuming is a typo, but...

Cheers,
Brian

[bedfordshire boy]

Hi Brian

There's a birth of William Absolom Earl in Biggleswade registration district in the Dec quarter 1865, which fits with the 1871 that John found - and of course there was no second William born 1870 showing. His age in 1881 is almost indecipherable but on balance I think it's 17! By 1891 it was up to 28 (trying to close the gap with his wife?) and by 1901 he'd overtaken her! I've found that the age in the census nearest the birth is often the most reliable, particularly where there is a big family with only a year or so between them.

No way could Ann Bland have been descended from Robin Hood, when she was actually Maid Marian's great granddaughter. Perhaps Ned Kelly was Ellen Bland's father?

I would be petrified if I thought that my birth and marriage details, those of my kids, and my mother's maiden name could be made available on the internet! But perhaps that's me.

Regards

David

[johnP-bedford]

morning David

 ....especially as mother's maiden name is commonly used for passwords in some online banking/purchasing facilties... well it was in the early days

cheers John