A Cambridge Lad.Because you’ve been so patient it’s now time for meaty bits with garlic mushrooms, roast spuds (with extra gravy to come)...
In Thomas WALTON’s Intention to Marry Notice he stated that he was 31 years of age, which meant that he was born circa 1834. Another source stated that he was born in Cambridge CAM ENG, so I went to the Rootschat Cambridgeshire Board where I found a link to The Cambridgeshire Baptism Index 1801-1837.
http://www.cfhs.org.uk/BaptismIndex/This database listed several baptisms, all of whom were the children of Thomas and Deborah WALTON of Sparrow’s Lane, Cambridge and baptized in the parish of St. Mary the Great, Cambridge.
1832 - Thomas F. WALTON
1833 - Thomas J. WALTON
1835 - Thomas J. WALTON
1835 - William F. WALTON
I posted an enquiry on the RootsChat Cambridgeshire Board (the topic recalled by Trish1120) asking for any further information about these baptism entries.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/topic,509169.0.htmlA responder to this topic told me that there was a burial in 1832 for an infant Thomas F. WALTON aged only 17 weeks, the parents being Thomas and Deborah Walton of Sparrow’s Lane. So he was the child baptized in 1832 above and could be eliminated. The same responder provided another two baptism records from the
International Genealogical Index of children with the same parents:
*Mary Ann Fellows WALTON, baptized 14 April 1843, St Mary the Great.
*Emma Fellows WALTON, baptized 14 April 1843, St Mary the Great.
It was the middle names that clinched it –
Fellows! I had the correct family!
There was more: an 1841 Census record:
1841 Census for Ely, CambridgePRO ref: HO107/88/3 Folio: 3b
Address: Sparrow Lane.
Thomas WALTON 35 Boot maker Not born in Cambridge
Deborah WALTON 33 Not born in Cambridge
Thomas WALTON 8 Born in Cambridge
William WALTON 6 Born in Cambridge
John WALTON 4 Born in Cambridge
Mary Ann WALTON - Born in Cambridge
The eldest child in this record, Thomas, was the right age and born in the right place to be Thomas Fellows WALTON, although the 1833 baptism record same his middle initial as ‘J’, not ‘F’ as I expected. The 1835 baptism entry for William F. WALTON matched the William in the census entry, aged 6 in 1841. And was the Mary Ann Fellows WALTON who appeared on the International Genealogical Index the youngest child in the census entry (remembering that she might have been baptized years after her birth)?
An interesting item posted on the topic was that in Cambridgeshire on 1 January 1849 a Thomas WALTON born in 1834 was acquitted of ‘Larceny by a Servant’, and possibly imprisoned for 2 months on 20 March 1850 in Cambridgeshire. Crime: Larceny. He certainly could be my subject.
Moving on to the parents of this family group, a search of the
International Genealogical Index found a likely marriage: On 5 April 1832 Thomas WALTON married Deborah SEAMAN, at Holy Trinity, both of this parish. The witnesses were Robert ODAMS/ODOMS and Sarah SHADBOLT who were married on the same day. Thomas WALTON was one of their witnesses.
So Thomas and Deborah’s first child was probably the infant 'Thomas F. WALTON' who survived for only 17 weeks. Was my Thomas Fellows WALTON named after him?
Another responder on the topic provided more information about the 1833 and 1835 baptism records above for ‘Thomas J. WALTON’.
“Thomas Jonathan Walton son of Thomas and Deborah of Sparrows Lane was baptised 30 July 1833 privately.”
“Thomas Jonathan WALTON (son of and address ditto) was baptised 20 September 1835 the same day as his brother William Fellows WALTON.”This responder suggested that the two ‘Thomas J. WALTON’s’ were the same child, baptised once at home in 1833 and then again in church in 1835 along with his younger brother William.
By 1851 the WALTON family had moved but were still living in Cambridge:
1851 Census Cambridge, CambridgeshireAddress: Corn Exchange St.
HO107/1760 Folio: 611 Page: 71
Thomas WALTON 46 Head Leather Cutter born Northamptonshire
Deborah WALTON 42 Wife Laundress born Hepworth, Suffolk
William WALTON 15 Son In Service born Cambridge
Emma WALTON 8 Daur At School born Cambridge
Charlotte WALTON 5 Daur At School born Cambridge
The family do not appear in the 1861 Census but ten years later the now-widowed Deborah Walton and her daughter Charlotte were living in London:
1871 Census for Marylebone, London.RG10/174 Folio: 68/6 Page: 6.
Address: 13 Earl Street.
Deborah WALTON 60 Head Widow Nurse (Monthly) born Hepworth, Suffolk
Charlotte WALTON 25 Daur Unm Imbecile Attendant born Cambridgeshire
