Paul - a Huguenot Family in London

[Georgfriedrich]

Hello,
I have just seemingly found the proof that my family always believed, that members of our family were French Huguenots.
The family were surnamed Paul.  They were silk weavers and, according to relatives, quite skilled at it.  They lived in the general areas of Bishopsgate and Bethnal Green.  This is the ancestral 'thread'.
Eleanor Paul (1828-1915)
Joseph Paul (1795-1869) her father
Richard Paul (1763- his father
Charles Paul (1729- his father
This last named chap was apparently also known as Charles Etienne Paul.
There is seemingly such a lot of misinformation on the internet about this family.  Is anyone able to help me fill in gaps?  I guess I could go to the Huguenot Society in London but this is difficult for me as I don't live in the UK at the moment.
Thank you
Kirk

PS
The family legend of which the ancients were quite proud, is that the Paul family wove (or at least helped weave) the silk for Queen Victoria's Wedding Dress.

[AMBLY]

Hi Kirk

Lest we spend a lot of our helping time looking for, going over, typing up and speculating on details that you may well already have -  What are the gaps you want to fill?

For example, you have listed 4 Generation there - I imagine you already have wives, mothers, siblings, census, more precise residence details and proven documents (BMD, baptisms, burials?) for some of them?

If there is a lot of misinformation out there, what is it that is misinformed?

Cheers
AMBLY

[Georgfriedrich]

Hello Ambly,

The wrong information that I have found often relates to the wives on various constructed family trees but does not quote or show evidence to back it up.

Eleanor Paul I know all about.  I know her father's details but of her mother all I know is that her name was Sarah.
I know that Richard's wife was Martha.
I know Charles' wife was Sarah

I know these wives' names from the baptism records but I cannot find any marriage records so I don't know when they married nor their maiden names.

Charles seems to be Charles Etienne as his baptism in 1729 (found on the IGI) is good for the date of birth of his first child Hester in 1753 but a marriage record would go a long way to proving it plus I know that the IGI is transcribed and so it 'could' be incorrect. The IGI says this man's parents were William (Guillaume) and Ann but I am wondering what could be out there to prove this other than the fat that my Charles named his two of his children William and Ann.

I know siblings for RIchard and Joseph but I don't know burials for anyone except some siblings that died young and Joseph himself. 
I have not really been able to find many of the Pauls in the census returns etc, only Joseph and Eleanor.  I guess they might have all be dead by 1841.

So apart from family legends I have very little in the way of hard evidence to back it up, apart from baptisms.

This is all I know at this stage.

Bye for now

Kirk

[JaneyCanuck]

FS has a record for a Charles Paul married 07 Dec 1750 in Fleet, London, in "England and Wales, Non-Conformist Record Indexes (RG4-8)", which seemed a possibility -- the only Charles Paul marriage shown at FS for 1745-1755 (other than in Cornwall).

https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FQ1R-ZZC

But I then trawled through 745 people named Sarah who married in Fleet in 1750, and found no match for that date. There were apparently 14,240 people who married non-conformist in Fleet in 1750, something I find a little hard to believe. But looking at the first 750 (10 pages of 75 results each), I found no one else marrying on 7 Dec. You could always pick up where I left off!

https://familysearch.org/search/record/results#count=75&query=%2Bmarriage_place%3A%22fleet%2C%20london%22%20%2Bmarriage_year%3A1750-1750~&collection_id=1666142

There was a William Paul marriage in Fleet on 29 January 1729 that might be of interest as well.

Hm, and a Guillaume Paul marriage on 21 December 1741 in Spittlefields (sic!), London.


Joseph Paul is a widower living alone in 1851 in Stepney, born in Bishopsgate. I can't see the family at all in 1841, or a marriage for Eleanor.

EDIT

Uh, thank you, Ambly. I realize that Kirk knows all about Eleanor. That does not help those of us who know nothing about her. Seeing people in censuses can help flesh out the picture and provide info for going farther back; for instance, the 1851 specifies that Joseph was born in Bishopsgate.

[smudwhisk]

The Fleet
7 Dec 1750
Charles Paul weaver of Shoreditch St Leonards and Mary Mallerby single woman of Spitalfields.

The record is viewable on ancestry.

[AMBLY]

Kirk mentioned he knew all about Eleanor, and that she died in 1915 - there is a DEATH index for an Eleanor PAUL in 1915 age 87, registered Hendon.  Perhaps she never married. Can't immediately see her on Census.....

Cheers
AMBLY

[smudwhisk]

Charles seems to be Charles Etienne as his baptism in 1729 (found on the IGI) is good for the date of birth of his first child Hester in 1753 but a marriage record would go a long way to proving it plus I know that the IGI is transcribed and so it 'could' be incorrect. The IGI says this man's parents were William (Guillaume) and Ann but I am wondering what could be out there to prove this other than the fat that my Charles named his two of his children William and Ann.

William was Charles and Sarah's 6th son, Ann(e) was 4th and 5th daughter.  If they'd named their eldest or second eldest son and daughter William and Ann it would have carried more weight that these were his parents names.  It's not impossible, but I would have thought one of the elder sons and daughters are more likely to have been named after their grandparents.  It's not a hard fast rule in England but does happen more often.

Also, there is another family of Paul in St Botolph Bishopsgate at the same time, have you eliminated these as a posible relation?  There is some similarity in children's names.

The 1729 and 1741 marriage are for the same William/Guillaume Paul, whose father was Charles.  However, that William is listed on his marriage as (and my French isn't that good) I think a Lawyer and Doctor of Medicine (Licentie la droite civil and canonique and docteur en medicine).  While his son could have become a weaver, I would have thought perhaps less likely?  No Wills appear to exist for the family to confirm unfortunately.

[JaneyCanuck]

The Fleet
7 Dec 1750
Charles Paul weaver of Shoreditch St Leonards and Mary Mallerby single woman of Spitalfields.

The record is viewable on ancestry.

Rats, I saw the name Mary Mallerby at FS and somehow passed it over.

[AMBLY]

Uh, thank you, Ambly. I realize that Kirk knows all about Eleanor. That does not help those of us who know nothing about her. Seeing people in censuses can help flesh out the picture and provide info for going farther back; for instance, the 1851 specifies that Joseph was born in Bishopsgate.

Um, I did not mean you should not need to want to know Eleanor. I was simply pointing out that she appeared to be the one who is registered in 1915  as PAUL.  And I couldn't agree more - it's why I asked Kirk for more info in the beginning.   What looks like Joseph in 1841 Census calls her Ellen, for example.

1841: Essex Street, Parish of St Matthews, Bethnal Green.
HO107 / Piece 691 / Book 4 / Folio 28/ Pg4
//
Joseph PAWL 45, Weaver
Sarah PAWL 40
Ellen PAUL 13
/
John STEADMAN 45, Weaver
Mary STEADMAN 45
/
Jospeh HUBBARD 30, Weaver
//
 
Cheers
AMBLY