Staffordshire Travellers

[MeirSoul]

I know this is an old thread but some of the surnames listed here have me wondering about one of my ancestors. My 3 x great grandfather was Samuel Blore, sometimes spelt Bloore or Blower. He was born around 1828 in Trentham, Staffordshire. He was married twice, his first wife having died young. The confusing thing though is on his marriage record to his first wife his father is listed as Thomas Johnson but 4 years later, when he remarried, his father is listed as Thomas Bloore. Samuel was listed as Bloore on both documents. I could never figure out why his father would go by two different surnames. After reading this thread (which was very interesting btw!) I'm wondering if maybe his father was part of the Traveller community? My DNA ethnicity estimate came back 11% Eastern European which always confused me too. The only thing that gives me pause is Thomas is recorded as being a Joiner on Samuel's first marriage record and then a Waterman on the second record, neither of which are traditionally associated with the traveller community as far as I know?

What do you guys think?

Blore/Bloor is a name found amongst travellers so quite possibly

[Bo halad]

My wife is a hudson im a johnson, both in uttoxeter area of staffordshire, shes not started looking into her (hudson) family tree yet , ive looked a bit into the johnsons and mostly from tean, cheadle area, we are both from very big families, both sides fathers being one of 11 or 12 siblings so it can get confusing very quickly

[jane harrison]

Watermen where workers on the boats on the bigger rivers ie thames watermen or bargemen worked the docks loading & unloading from the smaller boats such as working canal boats on some of the canal system it was wide enough ie from Brentford to Birmingham to take the wider boats called barges these where ofter crewed by watermen . also some churches ofter listed the working canal boat men as watermen just to confuse matters i have several of my canal boatmen that where listed as watermen

[Rachel H]

I'm fascinated by the family of Richard Hodgkins and Kezia Lovell - but sometimes the connections get  so overwhelming I have to leave them and come back later - and then get lost in the tangles again!

Kezia was the daughter of Henry Lovell and Margaret, Henry probably a relative of Major and Daniel Lovell, gyspsies of Oxfordshire, Lincolnshire and Rutland. She married Richard Hodgkins in Wolverhampton in 1824 (though there is also a Cannock Banns in 1817). Her sister, Kerrenhappuch Lovell married James Hodgkiss in Brewood in 1819, and a couple of their children married the children of William & Mary Hodgkinson of Cheslyn Hay, and the connections go on further from there.

Back to Kezia ... their first (known) daughter, Elizabeth (later Blore), I think was 'Brown Bess' (d. 1907). Next came Sarah Lovett who married Thomas Hodgkiss in 1840 - he the son of Edward Hodgkiss and Sarah Bradley of Wolverhampton (a lot of further interesting connections there too).

The next child, Richard Hodgkiss, lodged with his sister Elizabeth (Bess) later in life and died at Short Street, Uttoxeter in 1906. He was for some time married to Jane Smith/Hodgkiss and you'll find him, I think, encamped in a caravan at Penkridge in 1871, with his brother Thomas (who also lived with and later married a (different) Jane Smith).

Daughter Kerrenhappuch died an infant, and Caroline and Mary Ann I don't know much about. Priscilla Hodgkiss (1833) had several children, possibly with a Joseph Collins (and/or others) - but maybe not ... She died in Wolverhampton in 1905.

Diana (1837) married John Hall in 1892 (after having children from 1855 on), and he was the son of John Hall and Diana Hodgkiss - this Diana being another child to Edward and Sarah of Wolverhampton.

Then we have John Hodgkinson (who I think was aka 'Jack Grapes') who married Mary Udale - and she was the sister of Stephen Udale who married Margaret Hodgkins, the last child of Richard and Kezia. Stephen and Margaret had a son, also Stephen, who killed Thomas Hudson in a drunken fight in 1888. This Thomas Hudson (aka 'Booker') was the son of Selina Hudson, who would later marry John Hodgkinson (son of Edward Hodgkinson and Sarah Mayer ... I won't get started on the Mayers here ...).

Richard Hodgkins (possibly son of Isaac, tbc) died in Uttoxeter in 1863, and his wife Kezia died there in 1871.

Thanks for this description Garen.  I know this post is quite old now but still super useful.  Kerenhappuch, Kezia's sister and her husband James Hodgkiss are my 4x great grandparents so it's great to find the extended family.  We chatted before a few years ago when I was looking at Aaron, their son and his wife Mary's backgrounds.  Great info.

[Garen]

Thank you for that, Rachel :-)

If you're interested I wrote a wider article on the Hodgkins for the Romany & Traveller Family History Society last year, also available online here:

https://www.garenewing.co.uk/family/article_2.php?entryid=2

I'm naively optimistic that one day I'll connect many of these Hodgkins up!

[Rachel H]

Thanks for the link Garen.  Had a quick scan through and the extra insight and pointers are really useful.  I shall make a note of William and Mary (Maria) potentially being my 4x great grandparents.  I know on various documents for my 3x great grandmother Mary, who married Aaron, she states she's from Wyrley Bank but I didn't know the significance of there and Cheslyn Hay to the gypsy community.  I also didn't know that Henry married her sister Sarah so a few things to look at.  I recently found my 4x great grandnother, Kerenhappuch's baptism record giving confirmation of the gypsy line which felt like quite a moment.  You've done some fantastic work Garen. 👍

[Garen]

Marvellous :-)

Yes, Henry married Sarah in 1859 at Penkridge - a lot of Hodgkins/Hodgkiss marriages there. Henry and Sarah were also both witnesses on the marriage of Francis Lockley to Elizabeth Lewis a few months beforehand - Francis being the father of Mary Lockley who married William Hodgkiss (b. 1823), son of William and Mary, on the same day. Their witnesses were Aaron Hodgkiss and Sarah Bott.

Henry died in 1881 (before the census), and Sarah in 1888, they don't appear to have had any children (?).

[janeo]

William 1791 and his wife Elizabeth Mear,3xs grandparents  were the parents of Helen who married Darius Deadman ,they had my great grandmother AnnJane Deadman who married John Smith they had my grandad Ben Smith who married Jane Elliott ...

[Rachel H]

Marvellous :-)

Yes, Henry married Sarah in 1859 at Penkridge - a lot of Hodgkins/Hodgkiss marriages there. Henry and Sarah were also both witnesses on the marriage of Francis Lockley to Elizabeth Lewis a few months beforehand - Francis being the father of Mary Lockley who married William Hodgkiss (b. 1823), son of William and Mary, on the same day. Their witnesses were Aaron Hodgkiss and Sarah Bott.

Henry died in 1881 (before the census), and Sarah in 1888, they don't appear to have had any children (?).

I'm just about to start entering some of this onto my family tree so wish me luck!!  I think I'll have to create another document as well to try and find a way to get all the different extended family connections in my head.  You seem fairly certain that Mary who married Aaron (my 3x greats) was the daughter of William and Mary and I've seen this referred to elsewhere so I'm going to run with it.  Your article had another possibility which didn't mention Mary and I don't normally add someone to my tree unless I'm 100% sure but without doing this I'm struggling to put everything else in order in my brain so I'm going to break my golden rule.

I revisited the email you sent me back in 2022 and it's surprising how much more I can grasp and follow it through now I've had a bit of time for it to sink in.  I still find the 1851 census for Aaron et al and all it has to tell us fascinating.  I picked up on your mention of Elizabeth Lewis and the fact that an Andrew Lewis was also living with them at Plants Court.  It still amazes me that there were 22 of them at one address.  Do you know if the fact they were living with quite a few Irish people has any significance?

Another thing I noted was on Aaron's baptism record.  He was baptised at St Mary and St Chadds at Brewood.  All the other ceremonies on that page of the register were performed by the local curate and the entries are in the same (presumably his) hand bar one that is done by a curate from Codsall not far away.  However, Aaron's ceremony was performed by a Hugh Moncktor (not sure of the spelling) Reverend of Seaton, Co. Rutland.  Was the Reverend of Seaton just visiting or did he come over in order to do the baptism?  I wonder!

It's worn me out just putting this reply together.  Excited to see where all this takes me though.  My 2x great grandfather (Aaron and Mary's son) married into the Maycocks and my line through that way, if the information I have is correct, connects back to the dePertons of Staffordshire, a whole other kettle of fish!