Donald Horatio Nelson - Rame/Burnham

[sarah]

We have received a lovely letter from a lady called Margaret that I am posting on her behalf due to sight difficulties. Sarah

I am researching a man called Donald Horatio Nelson.  He is buried in our local churchyard and I am researching  and writing a series called Churchyard Tales as part of our free guide to this ancient church called St Germanus Rame.

Donald was born in 1883 at Sparham, Norfolk to Thomas and Fanny Nelson the village is only 12 miles away from Burnham Thorpe where Lord Nelson was born and where his father was a Vicar. He died on January 15th 1966.

Elderly Folk in our village recall him from their childhood and say it was always understood that he was related to Lord Nelson's family. I have contacted the Nelson Museum in Norfolk and made a lot of other enquiries but so far without success.

Any help you can give would be appreciated and acknowledged when I write this tale.

[Yorkslass]

Hello Sarah and Margaret,

Looking at the 1891 census, Donald's father Thomas George, appears to be a well to do farmer, born Sparham also, about 1847.

Donald's baptism shows his father as Thomas George Nelson, mother Fanny Nelson Burrows.
https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-12318-188856-69?cc=1416598&wc=MMVP-4VW:883062846
So it seems there are two "Nelson" links to Donald's family.

Interestingly, Thomas's wife Fanny was born Islington, which is perhaps why I couldn't find a marriage in Norfolk.

I'll try London.

Yorkslass

[Yorkslass]

Couldn't find a marriage in London but found an interesting entry in the Standard (London) BMD's dated September 14, 1878.

"Marriages - NELSON-BURROWS
Sept 11 at Christchurch, Wanstead, by the Rev J Nelson Burrows, M.A., brother of the bride, assisted by the Rev G S Fitzgerald, M.A., Rector, Thomas George Burrows, of Sparham, Norfolk, to Fanny Nelson, only daughter of John Burrows, of Wanstead, Essex."

Yorkslass

[Sharon01]

Hi,

Thomas George Nelson married Fannie Nelson Burrows Jul-Sep 1878, West Ham (4a 113)

Sharon

[Sharon01]

There is a marriage 1847 Brentford, Middlessex for John Burrows and also on the same page is a Fanny Nelson (vol 3 page 27).

Sharon

[Yorkslass]

Yes Sharon, looks like Fanny's parents.

On the 1891 census, Fanny N is shown as being born about 1856, and Ancestry has a baptism for her at Islington, born 26 January, baptised 22 February, by John and Fanny Burrows.  Shown as living in Barnsbury Square, occupation of father - "Gentleman"

Yorkslass

[Yorkslass]

And going back to Thomas George Nelson, this looks like his baptism.

Thomas George Nelson, baptised Sparham September 27, 1846 by Thomas Nelson and Augusta Elizabeth Mary Tate Davies - blimey, that's a mouthful!

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-12318-189005-82?cc=1416598&wc=MMVP-4VW:883062846

This family appears on the 1851 census in Sparham, HO107/1824, folio 323, page 9.
Thomas Nelson, age 53, born Bawdeswell, Norfolk, a farmer of 440 acres.
wife Augusta, 44, born Limehouse
several children, including Thomas George (age 4) and servants too.

Yorkslass

[Yorkslass]

I had a look at the marriage entry Sharon found.
The marriage took place at Twickenham, July 14, 1847, by licence
John Burrows, full age, Bachelor, Merchant, father Thomas Burrows, Merchant
Fanny Nelson, full age, Spinster, father Charles Richard Nelson, Esquire
I'm afraid I can't read either entry as to residence - Charles Nelson's looks like "The First" or "The Firs"?

I'm getting too much information I think - I can't decide which family to concentrate on

Yorkslass

[Yorkslass]

Hello again,

Decided to look for the Nelsons from Norfolk, rather than the London connection.

On Thomas Nelson & Augusta Davis's marriage, Nov 24, 1841 at Limehouse, Thomas is shown as of full age, a Bachelor, Farmer, of Sparham in the County of Norfolk, father shown as James Nelson, "dead".
Augusta's father is one George Davis, a gentleman.

The witnesses are George Davis, Emily Davis, Mary ??, Richard Wilson and Mary Anna Nelson.

Looking for a baptism for Thomas Nelson in Bawdeswell with a father James, I found this -

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-267-11781-11922-26?cc=1416598&wc=MMVP-SLT:1954951218
so father James Nelson and mother Anna (formerly Fisher).

I looked for a burial for James Nelson in Bawdeswell, but couldn't find one.

There is this though, a burial at Sparham , September 1837 of a James Nelson, age 77 years -

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.3.1/TH-266-12318-188643-58?cc=1416598&wc=MMVP-4VP:1140654478

That would give James a birthdate of around 1760.

Yorkslass