HARVEY baptisms lookup Great Totham

[kiebitz]

Hi there,

Does anyone have access to baptism records for Great Totham parish? I'm looking for two brothers:

SAMUEL HARVEY, born c1804 (later grocer/draper, Mistley, died 1882)
MATTHEW BARNARD HARVEY, born c1806 (later linen draper, Halstead, died 1853)
Would also be grateful for details of any siblings around these dates.

Both give Totham or Great Totham as birthplace in the various censuses. Birth dates are from census data and may be 1-2 years out.

Great Totham isn't in the IGI and I have no chance of getting to the Essex Record Office. Would be most grateful for help with a lookup if it's not too much trouble.

Thanks a million
John

[dawlc]

Hi John

I live in Chelmsford so the Essex Records Office is on my doorstep.  Do you know the names of Samuel and Matthew Harvey's parents?  I noticed that there is a Samuel Harvey (a retired draper) on the 1881 Census who is born c1805 but gives his place of birth as Goldhanger, Essex.  Goldhanger and Gt. Totham are fairly close and now come under Maldon in Essex.  The parish church at Gt. Totham is St. Peter's so that would be the place to begin. 

If you have the parents names then it would be easier to locate their children (providing the microfiches are legible - some Rectors in the 1800s did not always have a legible hand - unfortunately!).  I do go to the ERO and can have a look for you but any further info would make it easier.

Regards
Deborah

[kiebitz]

Hi Deborah,

Thanks so much for your reply. I wish I did know the parents' names ... that's just what I'm hoping to find out :-)

I believe - but may well be wrong - that their parents were Matthew Barnard Harvey (the elder) of Witham, and Martha, formerly Moody, who married on 1.2.1804. A reference to this can be found in Google Books (http://books.google.com/) with the search term "Martha Moody spinster". M.B.Harvey was owner of the Rochford and Billericay Bank which went spectacularly bankrupt in 1814. His eldest son (by his first wife) was Daniel Whittle Harvey (1786-1863), the proprietor of the Sunday Times and the first commissioner of the City of London Police.

You're right about the Samuel Harvey in the 1881 census. His daughter Martha (...named after his mother???) married my great-granduncle John Attfield in 1865 and Samuel was living with them at Watford in 1881. He died the following year. I think 1881 was the only census where he gave his birthplace as Goldhanger - in all the others it was always Totham or Great Totham - and like you say they are very close together.

If you could take a look next time you visit the ERO I'd be eternally grateful.

All best wishes
John Attfield

[dawlc]

Hi John

I will take your suggested parents' names with me when I visit the ERO.  At least if I do find Samuel or Matthew (jnr) then a match with Matthew & Martha would confirm what you hope.  Harvey is a popular name around Witham/Maldon.

I did find a Matthew Harvey b 2 July 1777 and baptised 25 July 1777 at Newland Street Independent Chapel, Witham.  That would fit in with your hoped for Matthew snr.  His parent were at Daniel and Rachel who were married on 11 Oct 1773 at Rivenhall, Essex.  Rivenhall is very near to Witham.

However, searching the mormon records did not reveal Samuel and Matthew (jnr) and I had a quick look at the non-conformist records available on line at www.bmdregisters.co.uk  This website allows you to seach (for free) for non-conformist baptisms and then if you find a match then you pay to view.  I did find Matthew snr's baptism in a quick search.  However, Samuel and Matthew jnr baptisms were not listed so hopefully they were baptised in their parish church.

I hope to visit the ERO sometime in March but it just depends on how my free time goes.  I will, however, look for you when I do go.

Regards

Deborah.

[dawlc]

Hi John

I paid a visit to the ERO yesterday.  The baptismal records for St. Peter's, Gt. Totham were fairly clear for the period you gave me, however, I found no Samuel or Matthew Harvey baptised c1804-1806 or a little beyond.

The only Harveys I found were a John and Elizabeth who had a daughter baptised (Tabitha) on 7 Mar 1813 and a son (Daniel) baptised on 7 May 1815.  I must admit the records became clearer from around 1812.  I found no more children for John and Elizabeth after 1815.  These could be a relative of your Harveys - worth investigating for a connection.

I also found a marriage for a Joseph Harvey and a Sarah Sapwood on 13 Apr 1804 at St. Peter's.  Witnesses were a Rebecca and Sarah Harvey.  Again possible relatives.

If Samuel and Matthew's father was baptised at an independent chapel then maybe they were too?

I also looked at the baptismal records for Goldhanger - they were amazingly legible for the early 1800s but there were no Harveys there.

As to the Constable family from Wix - I asked my mum and all she could remember was that the relative of my grandmother they visited in the early 1980s was either a Peter Hilton or maybe Hilton was his first name.  Any Hiltons in your info?

Sorry I couldn't find anything more positive for you.  Any other info you need from the ERO in the future - just ask.

Regards
Deborah.


 

[kiebitz]

Hi Deborah,

Thank you so much for your efforts. The mystery deepens! I think you're right - they must have been baptised in one of the independent chapels. There is a baptism for Elizabeth Whittle Harvey, daughter of Matthew Barnard Harvey & Mary (his first wife) at St Peters Independent, Maldon, in 1783, but no signs of our Samuel or Matthew, or any other children.

There's a new website bmdregisters.co.uk where one can search the non-parochial registers, but no sign of them there either. I think this website is still "work in progress", so I'll check back there in a few months time.

Funnily enough I do have Hiltons. Gertrude Attfield - the daughter of John Attfield & Martha Harvey  (Samuel's daughter) married Charles Norman Brooks in 1903, and he had a nephew called William Hilton Hingeston Brooks, who in turn had a son called William Hilton Brooks, born at Mistley in 1896, who died in 1959. He married Gwendolen Cato in 1925 but I don't know if they had any children, or if they named any of them Hilton.

(Charles Norman & Gertrude named their son Charles Attfield Brooks, and apparently the two Brooks cousins always addressed each other as "Attfield" and "Hilton" respectively!)

WHH Brooks's mother was Ann Hilton Edwards (1844-1901), and her father was Joseph Berry Edwards (c1807-1866) who married a Miss Hingeston. Joseph was for a time the Town Treasurer of Southwold in Suffolk. His father was Peregrine Edwards, but I don't know where the "Hilton" connection originated. maybe Peregrine married one.

Does this ring any bells?

All best wishes
John

[dawlc]

Hi John

Yes I have looked at the non-parochial registers but as you say they are not yet complete but worth keeping an eye on.

Thank you for all your information on your 'Hiltons'.  These names do not ring bells but the reference to Mistley is interesting.  I spoke to my mum again and she said that when they took my grandmother to visit it was the wife who was her cousin.  She remembers her calling her husband 'Hilton' though I do have the name Peter Hilton in my head!  My grandmother was born in 1901 so her cousin would have been born in the early years of the twentieth century.  As this cousin spoke of a connection to Sarah Constable, the farmhouse and Wix I think it is her that I would have to start with and work forward especially as the surname Green is remembered by my mum.  Some of your earlier Constable information will help me enormously.

The names associated with the grandmother's family are Frostick (have you come across any of them?  They originated from Mistley/Bradfield all near to Wix), Steward and Weedon - again Lawford/Mistley areas.  My grandmother died in 2001 six months short of her 100th birthday.  She was mentally sharp till the end - what a missed opportunity!

Thank goodness I live near to the ERO!!!

Best wishes
Deborah

[ladixonaustralia]

I have just come across your thread for the Harveys in the Gt Totham/Witham area of Essex.
I am searching the Dixon family in Essex (with suspected London links) from abt 1700 to 1850 - there seem to be quite a lot of them in the Braintree/Witham/Chelmsford area of Essex.

We have been stuck on our Dixon line for over 10 years as we cannot find the birth/baptism of our  g-g-g-g-grandfather - his name was rather unusual - Zaphenath Paancah Harvey Gainsford Dixon, born about 1771 somewhere in Essex (going by the 1841 Census and from his death and other records). Also known as plain "Gainsford Dixon", he was an innkeeper in Chelmsford. Unfortunately he died in January 1851 so missed the Census, otherwise we'd know exactly what area to look for his birth!!

Without that we are trying various ways to track him down, including looking for Dixon to Harvey marriages in the area where we know there were other Essex Dixons with the ZP or Gainsford name, and also just before the 1771 birth date.

We have found a 1769 marriage of Sarah Harvey b1748 (daughter of Daniel & Sarah Harvey of Wickham Bishops, and hence sister of Matthew Barnard Harvey b1753). Sarah b1748 married a John Dixon, miller of Finchingfield, and I am wondering if you have any information on her or husband's line.  I also have summaries of the diaries of Dr Henry Dixon of Witham (1787-1876, but as yet not a known relative to me) who was a lifelong friend of Daniel Whittle Harvey, and who mentions in his diaries visits to London to see Daniel and his daughter Anna (who was a close friend of Dr Henry's wife Georgiana).

Hoping you might help.
L Newman, Australia (nee Dixon)

[ladixonaustralia]

HI again
I have asked about the Harveys to see if you have anything on their connections to my Dixon family. I have several pieces of evidence that the two families at least knew each other, as well as the marriage of Sarah Harvey & John Dixon in 1769. But, it is also interesting that our Dixons out that part of Essex (and also some in London that we suspect are also related, due to having the same unusual names) also have, like your Harveys, this connection to the Independent chapels.  Dr Henry Dixon (who knew Daniel Whittle Harvey very well) says in his diaries that his Dixons were active "dissenters" ie chapelgoers rather than C of E.
LN