The dictionary defines "QUESTIONABLE" as "dubious, doubtful, unacceptable or problematic" - terms which could apply to my paternal great great grandmother, Matilda Bloomer Such. whose life inspired much questioning.
For there is something of a mystery about her and it proved to be a challenging research task, complicated by the need to distinguish three generations of Matilda’s, the birth of two, if not three, illegitimate children, two possible unverified marriages and changing surnames of the children from Such to Williams to Simpson. So lots of QUESTIONS to be answered.
(Acknowledgement : this post is very grateful for the research and local knoweldge of Mike Charles and his wife Linda, who, like me, is great great granddaughter of Matilda Bloomer Such).
So who was my great great grandmother?
Matilda was born in 1815 in Birmingham in the English Midlands, christened Matilda Bloomer Such. daughter of to William Such, and Matilda Bloomer.
Twelve children were born to William and Matilda. They grew up in a well-respected middle class household. Their father was a gold seal maker, engraver and chain maker with William registering his maker’s mark with the Birmingham Assay Office in 1828. Two children did not survive infancy and later, two of the sons emigrated to the United States of America.
The 1841 Census, showed the Such family living in the Hamlet of Bordesley, near Birmingham. However, daughter Matilda, who would be 26 years old, was not living at the address and so far has not been traced.
Question 1 - Where was Matilda in 1841.? Her whereabouts are a mystery to date.
In 1842, Birmingham St. Martin’s Parish Records noted the baptism of Barbara Such, daughter of Matilda Such “a single woman”. There was no reference to a father.
Two years later in 1844 , Matilda became pregnant again and gave birth to another daughter Fanny Such. Again, there was no hint as to the child’s father, and Matilda was listed as a single woman.
In 1849 Matilda was delivered of a third daughter, christened Matilda. The baby’s birth certificate showed that she was the daughter of William and Matilda ‘WILLIAMS’. The father was listed as a ‘traveller’ and the address on the birth certificate recorded that the couple were living at 46 Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham, which was a heavy industrial area involved in the manufacture of guns. No trace has been found of a Williams/Such marriage.
Ironically the registrar signing the birth certificate was called William Williams. Coincidence or Fabrication? Was this significant? The plot deepens!
To confuse matters further, the Parish Record of the baptism noted that the mother was Matilda Such and the father William Such.
Question 2 - What were the circumstances leading to Matilda giving birth to two, possibly three illegitimate daughters or were these a result of abusive relationships? We shall never know.
It was extremely shameful for a woman to become pregnant and not marry the father, thus giving the bastard child legitimacy. Since Matilda was not of a poor background, she avoided the need to apply for Poor Relief. There was no apparent record of any Bastardy Bond in the Parish Records for Warwickshire, whereby financial support was sought from the putative father.
Onto the 1851 Census which which revealed that Matilda (my gg grandmother) was back living with her widowed father. She was listed as an unmarried woman and a "Professor of Music".
Questions 4 - Where were Matilda’s three young
daughters? Why did she call herself an unmarried woman?
Locating Matilda’s three girls was a challenge but they were eventually traced, aged 9, 7 and 2, living as “nurse children” i.e. “foster children” in the care of a couple named Middleton. The children all shared the same surname Williams.
Question 5 - What had prompted Matilda to put young children into foster care? lWas this to keep their mother distanced from any scandal?
Question 6- How had Matilda achieved the status of a “Professor of
Music” - or was this just an exaggerate
term for a music teacher?
The 1871 Census showed a totally different picture of Matilda and her three daughters. For they were all living together in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire. The family name was noted as ‘SIMPSON’. Matilda listed herself as a widow and dressmaker; Barbara, aged 19 years was a school mistress; Fanny, at 17 years, was learning to be a dressmaker and young Matilda, aged 12 was a scholar. The term ‘widow’ was often used by mothers of illegitimate children to gain respectability,. Again no record has been traced to confirm a Such-Simpson marriage.
Matilda Simpson senior moved away from Wolverhampton, as in the 1871 Census she was listed as a widow living at 48 High Street, Kinver, and she was.a governess of a day school.
Matilda Simpson, the younest child of the family, was living a few doors away as a cook for the family of Doctgor `Thomas Holyoaks, at number 44 High Street,
In May 1871, youngest daughter Matilda married my great grandfather John Mathews. On the marriage certificate, her maiden name was given as Simpson. The entry in the Family Bible gave no reference to Matilda’s former surname.
Matilda Simpson (senior) moved from Kinver, after the marriage of her youngest child, to Bilston Street, Bilston, Staffordshire where at 59 years old, she married Samuel Slater a widower and cordwainer - a boot repairer, aged 61. Her name was recorded Simpson, implying a marriage , though this cannot be verified. A witness to the wedding was her son-in-law and my great grandfather John Matthews.
Matilda and Samuel Slater lived at 11 Wood Street, Sedgley, not far from her daughter Matilda and son in law John Matthews. at no. 37 Wood Street.
Matilda died on 30th April 1894 at the Union Workhouse, Sedgley - was this because of illness or through poor circumstances ? We do not know.
Postscript: Given that I have no documentary proof of the marriage of Matilda Bloomer Such to William Williams, nor to William Simpson, I have amended my family tree to Father Unknown for Matilda’s three daughters.
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Onto R for RESILIENT
A for ADVENTUROUS, B for BIGAMOUS, C for CRIMINAL, D for DEVOUT
E for ENTERPRISING & ESTEEMED, F for FEISTY
What a fascinating mystery. Whatever the ultimate story, Matilda was indeed a survivor who by 1871 saw her daughter into trades and finally married at age 59. I wish you luck with your search for her details and look forward to future posts!
ReplyDeleteWhat a mess! Best wishes as you try to sort it out.
ReplyDeleteSo many interesting questions!
ReplyDelete