Rachael Poulton also known as Angerstein (1843 - 1913)

[Tam the Dooter]

Hi there rumpuscat, having started the hare running, I did get a bit bemused by the volume of replies. I think the difficulty is that there is no clear view of how and why Rachael Poulton became Rachael Angerstein.  Her death certificate records her as Rachael Angerstein, widow of George Angerstein, Architect but I can't trace any record of a marriage and as the death was reported by her son George Angerstein, it seems plausible that he was only able to report what she had told him. It may also be that under the dictates of respectability, she wished to be known as a widow.
 

[rumpuscat]

Hi, Tam.  I suspect that the Angerstein thing was cooked up between Rachael and George Ovenden to cover the fact that her children were illegitimate.  George, being married, would not wish her to use his name so they invented one - or picked a name that might have been talked about at the time.  It seems that their eldest child, Georgina, was probably too old to be taken in by this deception so stuck with Poulton.  I also think (without a shred of proof) that George ended the relationship soon after the birth of Lilian Gertrude in 1875.  His wife Anna Maria died in 1883 so she might have been ailing and he suffered a fit of conscience.  The evidence (if that's not too strong a term) is that Rachael was obviously fertile yet had no more children after 1875 despite being only in her early 30s.  The family appear to have known no details although my grandmother Gertrude Mary (Rachael's eldest grandchild) used to say that her father had changed his name to Angerstein, although she didn't know what it had been before.  She also said she was brought up by her aunties.  We know from the census that she lived with Rachael and Constance so perhaps my Granny didn't realise that Rachael was her granny?  Alas, we'll never know.

May I ask why you are interested in Rachael?

Sorry, I've just seen your earlier post.  In that case we are related but no idea what cousinry that is!

[Tam the Dooter]

Hi rumpuscat.  I think you've seen that my relationship to Rachael Poulton is distant - from Ancestry we're first cousins three times removed via a shared twice or three times great grandfather. It was simply curiosity and intrigue that got me pursuing it.  There is a somewhat similar relationship on father's side where my great great grandfather was married but his wife disappeared without any obvious trace and he took up with someone else only to have their children baptised in his formal wife's name. He eventually married the mother of most of his children which leads me to suspect that his wife may have either run off with someone else or had suffered some form of chronic illness - maybe mental which had caused her to be locked away.

On Rachael I can only conclude that you're right - although George Ovenden did appear as a witness at Georgina's marriage in 1888 and I wonder whether he continued to support Rachael and her family as she seems to have had no other means. No occupation is ever shown in the censuses. My only reservation is that I can't quite get my head round the choice of Angerstein as the name to hide behind. I would have thought it so unusual as to defeat the object of the exercise but I can't think of any other explanation.

Anyway, many thanks for your time and help.

[rumpuscat]

It never ceases to amaze me what the Victorians got up to, and we are slways old they were so prim and proper!  One of my husband's rellies, when his wife died, married her sister which was illegal at that time.  Seemed to get away with it though, and had children by both of them.

Back to the Ovendens.  When George Robert, the father of our George Ovenden died he left about 30 houses which he divvied up between his sons and grandchildren in his will.  The will was signed at Coopersale House, the home of the Archer Houblon family at Coopersale Common near Epping.  I've no idea why he was there but the Angersteins were also considerable landowners in East Anglia and they may have had some connection with the Archer Houblons (which I am still seeking).  Could it be that when George junior was seeking a name for Rachael and his children he alighted on a name he had heard recently?  I think the answer is something like that.  He does seem to have gone on supporting his second family as long as he lived although the family wealth was long gone.  There is a story in the Ovenden family that George's younger brother caused some sort of a scandal and the family wealth was used to hush it up.  Christopher (the brother) was sent to Australia - by the family, not transported.  When their mother Jane died in 1888 her estate was £36.4s.9d divided between her sons George and Philip.   (Philip was the brother who probably unintentionally brought Rachael to George's notice as he had employed her as a nursemaid when he lived at Coopersale.)

Another little mystery is that although George Robert Ovenden was variously described as builder, surveyor and architect and as gentleman on his death certificate, on Jane's death certificate she is described as 'widow of George Ovenden, Clerk in East India Company's service.'  Good grief, where did that come from?

I hope you have found this interesting.

[Tam the Dooter]

H rumpuscat, well I've just got George Henry Edwards's birth certificate.  He was born on 8 September 1870 at 8 Providence Place, Yarmouth to Rachel Poulton and George Ovenden whose occupation is down as House Proprietor. He was registered on 11 October 1870 and I'm afraid that this does rather knock down any remaining thoughts of an Angerstein father. I think that your conclusion that Angerstein was a name that George and Rachael used for convenience is as near as we'll ever get.

[rumpuscat]

Hi Tam, pity we didn't catch up earlier - I could have saved you £9.25!  Another little mystery - why was GHE born in Great Yarmouth?  I suppose Rachael must have been travelling with George and the Providence Place house was one of George's properties.  Providence Place was demolished in the 1950s so there is no lead there.  I have respect for George for having his name recorded on Rachael's children's birth certificates.  He's even on Georgina's, so she didn't have a different father from the "Angersteins."

[Tam the Dooter]

Hi there rumpuscat.  Thanks for the offer but it's not a bad thing to have the document about George Ovenden cum Poulton as this does unequivocably settle his parentage leaving the birth in Yarmouth to be a mystery. it did cross my mind to wonder whether George Ovenden knew he was on the birth certificate as on her track record, Rachael seems to have been fly enough to pull a fast one but as he seems to have supported the family, this is probably fantasy. There's the makings of a novel here if you think about it.

Regards

[rumpuscat]

Hi Tam

I think at that time the father had to go with the mother to register the child if the parents were not married.  I know this changed at some point though I'm not sure when.  I think this might have been why Georgina's registration was delayed.  I don't see what Rachael had to gain by lying on the birth certificates.  It seems to me that George was responsible enough to claim parentage.  It's just one more mystery.  I've often thought about the story's novel-like qualities - there is so much factual stuff missing you would have a lot of scope to write it.

[Angerstein family]

Is anyone still wanting to talk about the Rachael Poulton and Angerstein puzzle? I have read all the comments regarding the mystery and have to say it is a real puzzle.  I am either related to the Angersteins or the Ovendens according to the statements made.  I have recently had my DNA done and I am even more confused as no links have come from any Ovenden families but I have DNA matches from Angersteins further up the tree before Rachael.  Rachael is was my great great grandmother but who my great great grandfather was is still a mystery .  Please give you views on this. Love this family tree hobby and like most would love to get to the bottom of this and to contact possible relatives.