Hi Roy,
Catherine Aries’ first marriage was to George Wing (shoemaker). They were married in St Pancras Church in London on November 23rd 1842. George Joseph Wing drowned. The Oxford Journal tells the sorry tale of a drowning in the River Cherwell in Oxfordshire, and must have reminded Catherine of her own mother’s controversial involvement with a drowning in her home village of Thrupp five years earlier. Little did Catherine know that her second husband George would also suffer the same fate in London less than 30 years later. George Wing and catherine had two children , (John) Walter Wing born 1845 in Bow and Frederick Wing on 3rd November 1846 at 5 Three Colt Court, in Shoreditch.
In 1851 the family resided in Summertown and Catherine is a housekeeper. By 1853 there was an addition to the family in Summertown St Giles, Oxfordshire, Catherine Elizabeth Wing was born, father unknown. Her second marriage to my ancestor George Pearson was in St Paul’s Church in Oxford on Dec 2nd 1852 in the presence of Catherine’s brother, James Aries and sister, Sophia Aries. George and Catherine lived in Oxford City for a few years and George continued as a railway porter on the newly established railway line. Whilst in Oxford they had a child of their own, George Augustus James Pearson. It seems that George was tempted by a position close to Catherine’s family. Before 1860, the Pearson family move to just up the canal from the old Britannia Inn to a small village called Aynho near Deddington.
The family decide to have George junior baptised alongside their new addition to the family Charlotte Louisa a small baby in 1859 as they settled in Aynho.Elizabeth Aries was in Thrupp just six hours by boat along the canal from Aynho. George resigned from the railway at the request of his builder brother and came to London, took an inn near the docks, spare time supervising the ballast being brought in for his brother. That was a sorry day for the family , the children soon became orphans.
In 1872 Catherine fell ill and succumbed to a bout of fever and congestion of the lungs. Catherine’s mother, Elizabeth Aries travelled from the Britannia in the small village of Thrupp to be with her daughter but even her care and support could not save Catherine from the inevitable. On 26th October 1872, at 1 Shirley Street, just a month after starting up the public house, Catherine’s life slipped away, her mother with her at the end. Catherine was just 50 years of age had been married to George Pearson for 17 years. They had moved from Oxford to Northampton to London.
George’s fortunes had been mixed as a railway porter, station master, beerhouse keeper and now, as Catherine’s death certificate showed, a labourer in the shipyard and it was the Docks that would claim George’s life nearly 4 years to the day after Catherine’s death, leaving the children destitute and alone.
on Monday 9th October 1876 George Pearson was found dead next or near India Dock & Tavern.
He was 41 years old and his occupation described as an Innkeeper. The cause of death was determined by John Humprhreys the famous coroner for Middlesex who registered the death after the inquest on 11th October. The conclusion was that George had died violently having been suffocated by drowning with the added haunting phrase, “How not proven!” George was buried in West Ham cemetery 17th October 1876. In 1876, clutching her belongings, the youngest child Martha left London leaving her brothers and sisters, as well as her half brothers and sisters and travelled all the way from London to the small market town of Holt where her father had been born having lost her parents tragically within four years of each other. There she met John Lake and married him. Their son Reginald Michael Lake was my wife's grandfather.
I hope that helps. If you have anything I could add to the family tree I would be grateful. I have written a substantial history of the Aries, Pearson and Lakes and would be happy to send a disk with the relevant chapters ( you wouldn't want to read all the other bits not connected to your family)
Kind regards
Trevor
