The Mystery of Matilda Such's early life: Part One

The prompt from Diane of  “Through Her Eyes" Thursday has encouraged me to look at my less familiar female ancestors - here I profile my paternal great grandmother Matilda Matthews, nee Such (1849-1929).  My father knew little about his grandparents, apart from the fact that they were strong Methodists. 

There is something of a mystery about my great grandmother’s childhood. It proved to be a challenging research task, complicated by the need to distinguish three generations of Matilda’s, the birth of three illegitimate  children,  two possible questionable, unverified marriages and changing surnames of the children from Such to Williams to Simpson. 

 

My  great grandmother Matilda

My great grandmother  Matilda was born in 1849 in Aston, Birmingham, (England) the youngest of three daughters - Barbara born in 1842 and Fanny born in 1844,   All three were listed on their baptismal register under the name of their mother  Matilda Such, with the note that she was a “single woman” against the entry for Barbara.

Baby Matilda’s baptismal entry    of February 7^th, 1849 names her parents as William and Matilda, but with the surname Such.   Yet her birth certificate states her father to be William Williams, a commercial traveller, with their address  given as  46 Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham, a heavily industrialized part of the city. Another puzzle -  no marriage certificate has been traced for a Matilda Such and William Williams.

The family proved difficult to trace in the 1851 census but the three children, aged 9, 7 and 2   were eventually found in Aston, Birmingham, each described as “a nurse child i.e. fostered with the Middleton family - but this time with the surname Williams. Was this to keep their mother distanced from any scandal, as Matilda senior’s father William Such was a respected business man in Birmingham, a jeweller  and later book agent?  

But where was the children's mother, Matilda in 1851?  She was traced to the home of her father William Such, a 68  year old widower, along with her sister Emma.  Matilda was described as an unmarried daughter, aged 34 and a Professor of Music – a somewhat grand title one suspects for a music teacher.

The 1861 census entry was something of a surprise.  The children were back with their mother.  But Matilda Such was  now described as a widow and a dressmaker, and,  together with  her daughters,  was now listed with the surname  Simpson -  young Matilda, a 12 year’ old scholar,  Fanny at 17, learning to be a dressmaker, and Barbara a 19 year old school  mistress - all living on Gates Street, Wolverhampton.

But again no record has been found for a Such-Simpson marriage.

A possible clue - a  William Simpson, aged 45 died in 1857 in Wolverhampton and  young Matilda named a William Simpson as her father on her 1871 marriage certificate.   There were a number of William Simpsons born c.1812 in Staffordshire who could have fitted the bill, but a great deal of research is needed to follow this line of research.

The 1871 census saw my great grandmother, 22 year old  Matilda Simpson   a cook with the Holyoak Family,  at no. 45 Kinver High Street,  5 miles from Wolverhsmpton,  with head Thomas a general medical practioner, his wife,  his eldest son, also a doctor and second son a medical student.  Making up the household was a second  domestic servant. 

Living alone on the same street at no. 48 was Matilda’s mother, under the name of Simpson,  a widow aged 55, described as a governess at a day school or school mistress. 

 In that same year of 1871, young Matilda married my great grandfather John Matthews, an insurance agent. 

 

 The entry for  their marriage was recorded in the famiy bible - but gives no clues as to Matilda's maiden name.

 My great grandmother,  Matilda Matthews, nee Such/Williams/Simpson, born in 1849,  lived to the  age of 81, with her death  on 9th July 1929 recorded in the "Wolverhampton Express & Star".

Matthews

On July 9^th at 4, Wood Street, Lanesfield.

Matilda Widow of the late John Matthews

In her 81^st year.

At rest

  

Part Two of Matilda's story will feature her marriage to John, a prominent member, as choir master  of the local Methodist church, and the birth of their ten children, including my grandmother - Mary Barbara Matthews.

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Postscript: Given that I have no documentary  proof of the marriage of Matilda's mother  to William Williams, nor William Simpson,  I have amended my family tree to Father Unknown for young Matilda - and added a summary of this post under Stories.

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Acknowledgements  to my fellow Matthews descendants for their contributions to this post. 

• Nicky & Jenny
  
• Linda & Mike  
• Midland Ancestor Article: March 2017 -   The History of Matilda Bloomer Such Matilda by Mike Charles.
  

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Searching for Sarah Ann Jones - My Great Grandmother

The prompt from Diane of "Through Her Eyes" Thursday encouraged me to review my research on my femlale ancestors, in this instance   my great grandmother Sarah Ann Weston, nee Jones. My knowledge  of her early life, prior to marriage  was little more than a name and a few dates, so I set out to find more about her background. 

It proved to be a challenging task which involved a number of confusing relationships, false trails and unanswered questions remaining - not helped by the popularity of the name Sarah Ann Jones in her home county of Staffordshire in the English West Midlands.  I made very heavy weather of this research tale!  

 

 

 

The first clues  came from census returns after Sarah Ann  was married, with  her birthplace given consistently as Penn, Staffordshire, and born c.1851. Staffordshire Parish Records on FindMyPast confirmed her marriage  on 14th December 1875  to John Thomas Weston in Pattingham, Staffordshire, and   revealed the  key fact  - her  father’s name was Joseph Jones, a labourer. The witnesses were both members of her husband's family - so no help there.

I next turned to early census returns.  In the 1851 census  for Penn, I found quickly a  baby Saran Ann, aged four  months at Lower Penn at the home of her  maternal grandmothe, 64 year old Ann Brant, so born c.1787 and described as an Ag Lab.  Success  - I had the name of my great great grandmother.

Also in the household in 1851 were Joseph Jones, aged 26, an Ag. Lab., aged described as"lodger",  and Ann's married daughter Sarah Jones,  aged 27, so born c.1824,    described as "lodger's wife".  So far so good! 

Ten years on and the 1861 census held some surprises. Young  Sarah Ann  Jones was now ten years old, still at her grandmother' Ann Brant's home, along with another child Ernest  Jones, aged 4.  But Ann's daughter was now listed as Sarah Brant and described as unmarried. 

So was this the right family for my Sarah Ann?   For another  1861 census entry in the village of Penn,  Joseph Jones and his wife Mary, and their family including a 10 year old Mary Ann, and siblings James, Ann, and Jane Elizabeth. 

I turned back to the 1841 census for the Brant family of Penn and found that Robert and Ann Brant had two daughters, Sarah Brant,  aged 20  and Mary Brant aged 15 (ages rounded for this census).  

I was very confused!  Who was my great grandmother's   mother - Sarah or Mary?  Who had Joseph Jones married - a Sarah or Mary? 

To get a second opinion, I put a query on the Facebook page of  the Genealogy Addicts  UK and Worldwide Research Group and received some helpful replies, with  pointers for research.  

The GRO Birth Index confirmed that the maiden name  of Sarah Ann's mother  was indeed a Brant  - but no Christian nameswas given.

Parish Records were my next source.
The England  & Wales  Christening Index on Ancestry  recorded the baptism of Sarah Ann Jones on 19th May 1850 at St. Bartholomew's, Penn.  Father Joseph Jones, mother Mary Jones - no maiden name given.

England Select Marriages on Ancestry recorded the marriage at St. Peter's, Wolverhampton on 27th December 1848  of  Joseph Jone. a labourer of Horseley Fields, (father John deceased);  Joseph's wife - Mary Brant.  

Two convincing pieces of evidence  that my great grandmother's parents were  indeed Joseph Jones and Mary Brant.     No entry was found for a marriage between a Joseph Jones and a Sarah Brant. 

But so many questions and puzzles remain?

• In the 1851 census entry  for the Brant family, was it a mistake that 27 year old Sarah (not Mary)  was listed as Joseph Jones' wife?  No other entry has been found for a married Mary Jones, born in Penn, c.1830.
  
  
• If baby Sarah Ann was born in May 1850, she would be more that 4 months old by the time of the next census taken on the 30th March 1851. 
  
  
• Years of birth of the various family members are unreliable guides,  differing between the 1851 and 1861 census returns - a not unusual feature of the times.
  
  
• Where were Joseph  and Mary Jones & family in 1871?   - so far I have  failed to trace them.

But what of my great grandmother Sarah Ann Jones?  
I was unable to trace a census entry in 1871 for a 20 year old Sarah Ann  She could have been the servant,  listed in two possible households around Wolverhampton. 

Four years later   she was living in Pattingham, where she married my great grandfather John Thomas Weston, an agricultural labourer.  The 1881 census showed the family in Mere Oak, Tettnehall, with three children  Albert Ernest, aged 4,  (my grandfather) and Florence Clara Annie aged 2, both born in West Bromwish, plus three week old Frederick Henry, born in Tettenhall.

A rather fanciful thought?  Might Albert Ernest's middle name be after Sarah Ann's young brother Ernest when they were living together at their grandparent's home in 1861?  The Christian name continued down the generations of the Weston family, including my cousin.

By 1891 John Thomas Weston   had left the rural life behind  to work as a general labourer at iron works , near Bilston.  The family was living at the “Back of 2 Salop Street Navigation Inn”, with Albert (here listed as Ernest), 14, Frederick 10 and another son 7 year old Charles, with Florence not at home on census night.  Neighbours  included labourers, a publican/beer house keeper, a steel mill roller, a rudder at ironworks, a steel mill shearer, a tin plate worker,  and a forge mill manager – so very much an industrial community.

In 1901, at the age of 48, John was a brakeman in a colliery, Sarah 50, Albert at 24 was “an engine driver stationary”, Frederick a welder, and Charles a general labourer.  

In 1910 John Thomas  Weston  died , aged 56.   A year later in the  1911 census, his widow,  61 year old Sarah Ann was at the home of her son-in-law George Elliot Howlett,  a railway station manager at Sherstone, Lichfield, Staffordshire, with his three young sons under six years of age.   Their  absent mother Florence was traced to Queen's Hospital, Birmingham as a patient there on census night.  I was confident I had the right entries here, as my father poke of his uncle and aunt George & Flo Howlett and their youngest son had Weston as his middle name. 

Tracing Sarah Ann's death has so far proved a problem.

So from knowing little about Sarah Ann, when  I started this search, I  had found out about her birth,  her parents and grandparents - with the next task to discover more about their lives. Family history never comes to an end!  

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Notes:  

• The place names in this search   - Penn, Pattingham, and Tettenhal  are villages close to  or are now suburbs  of the industrial hub of Wolverhampton and Bilston.
  

• John Thomas  Weston research  - in contrast to the complexity  of his wife's background,  I found little noteworthy  on my great grandfather.  The most interesting discovery on his life was the fact, like many others at the time,   he made the  major shift  from working on the land to working  in a mine - an area worth looking at in more detail.
  
  
• Google provided me with some fascinating information on history of Queens Hispital in Birmingham, where Florence Howlett, nee Weston was a patient in 1911. It wasfounded in 1840, became a Free Hospital in 1875  with many extensions built later,   and only closed in 1993.
  

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Postscript - my first attempt in finishing this post with the  new blogger format -  - and the process was torturous! 

My Little Known Nana - "Through Her Eyes" Thursday

The prompt from Diane of  “Through Her Eyes"  Thursday has encouraged me to look at my less familiar female ancestors - here I profile my paternal grandmother Mary Barbara Weston, nee Matthews (1876 - 1959).

 

 Nana with my mother and myself c.1946 on Blockpool promenade -

                            the only photograph I have of myself with Nana.

 We lived in Blackpool, Lancashire, some distance away from my father's family in the English Midlands  and only saw my grandmother, aunt and uncles once or at the most twice  a year. In the  1950s few in the family had a telephone,  which was regarded as "for emergencies only". My father, though  was a regular correspondent with his family, and often spoke about his childhood. 

Sadly there there was little to no Weston memorabilia which was thrown out following a family death. 

Against this background, my father's family always remained shadowy and one dimensional with little beyond facts gleaned from basic  research, until more came to light quite recently through my cousin and  an internet contact.  The only fact I knew from my father was that Nana came from a prominent Methodist family in Wolverhampton.

Mary Barbara Matthews - Her Early Life

My paternal grandmother (known as Nana) was born in 1876, the third of ten children  born to John Matthews and Matilda Simpson of Wolverhampton, Staffordshire. 

    


Two years ago, I was amazed to receive, via my blog,  an e-mail from a Matthews connection through marriage;  moreover with  the wish to give family treasures to a direct Matthews descendant.  We corresponded, met  and spent a happy afternoon chatting about our family history research - and I was the lucky recipient of a presentation trowel and conductor's baton given to my great grandfather (above)  and a massive family bible,  reflecting John's close insolvent with Lanesfield Methodist Church, Wolverhampton.


Illustrated pages in the Bible gave space to record family events,  headed by my great grandfather  - John, born 21st July 1843 at Cookley, Worcestershire, died 17th September 1918, aged 75 at Lanesfield  Parish in Sedgley, buried in the family grave at Sedgley.  He married Matilda Simpson at St. Andrew's Church, Wolverhampton in 1871.

 

 
 The bible also recorded  the long  list  of Mary Barbara's brothers and sisters, born over a period of twenty years:

• Alice Maud, born 1872
• John Percy, born 1874 - my father's Christian names.
• Mary Barbara, born 1876 - my grandmother 
• Fanny Elizabeth, born 1878
• Arthur William , born 1880
• Annie, born 1882 
• Samuel Albert, 1884
• Harry, born 1886
• Charles, born 1888
• James Alfred, born 1892   

But the  family suffered  the early loss of four of the children:

• Charles did not survive infancy, dying in 1889.
• Fanny Elizabeth died aged 33 in 1909
• John Percy died aged 36 in 1910 - his namesake, my father,  was born in 1912. 
• Arthur William, aged 35, killed in action in 1915 at Gallipoli - remembered on the Helles Memorial  in Turkey, leaving a widow and two young children. 

 

In the 1881 census, Mary was  5 years old living with her parents (above)  and sisters Alice and Fanny and brothers  John and Arthur.  Ten years later   at 37 Wood Street, Sedgley were three more children - Annie, Samuel and Harry, with 15 year old Mary described as "helping in shop".  Her father was an insurance agent and mother a shopkeeper - general. 

By 1901  another son James completed the family and 25 year old Mary was now working as "barmaid in a café".    Two years later in 1903 she married Albert Weston.  

Mary's Married Life 
The  1911 census listed the young Weston family living at 33 Lunt Lane, Lunt Gardens, Bilston, Staffordshire.  In the household was  34 year old Albert  Ernest , a stationary engine driver,  born in West Bromwich,  his wife Mary aged 34, born Bilston,  son Frederick Harry aged 5 , daughter Madeleine (always known to me  as Madge)  1 year old, both born Bilston  and Albert's brother Charles Henry, at 26 a boiler rivetter, born Wolverhampton.

My father was born in Bilston  in 1912 and a younger son Eric Charles three years later in Rugby.  Daughter Ethel did  not survived infancy. 

The family seemed to move around a lot and I have a childhood memory of Nana saying she had lived in 17 houses!  Around 1919 it was onto Broseley, near Ironbridge Shropshire, where Albert worked at the Coalbrookdale Power Station.  My  father wrote for me  lots of memories of their life there,and for him, it was clearly a happy time.  One recollection was:

"We had a palace organ  double keyboard.  Mum was very musical   and would play the organ on a Sunday night with Dad on the  violin,  - we sang either Methodist hymns or hymns from the Ancient & Modern Hymn Book."

Around 1929 the family moved again to Leicester, where eldest son Fred married Frances Green. Mary,  in the deep cloche hat, is standing by Fred's  side. That could be Albert at the back left, partly hidden; in front other sons Charles and John (my father).

Sister Madge married Wilf Adams in 1937 in Leicester and a year later my father married  Kathleen Danson in Poulton-le-Fylde, Lancashire. I have only one  photograph of my paternal grandparents together - here taken at my parent's wedding. 

Nana with Fred and Fran, and my mother perched on the fence, Leicester, 1938.

  

I have one funny recollection that has stayed in my mind  - of hearing my mother telling a friend that Nana,  on a visit to us in the the 1950s,  criticised   the fact Mum did not polish  her husband's shoes and left him to do it himself! 

The 1939 Register (compiled in  preparation for wartime  ID cards) listed the Weston family in Leicester -  Albert was described as a Typewriter Works Storekeeper, with the note “Heavy Work”; his wife was noted as doing “unpaid domestic duties” and only Charles was living at home – a hosiery warehouse man

The war saw heavy bombing raids over over the industrial Midlands, and Mary and Albert were particularly devastated when the news came that Charles  was a prisoner of the Japanese.  His father never recovered from this blow and died in 1945. 

Mary's Later Life
As a widow,  Nana made her home with her daughter, my Auntie Madge, now living in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire. On our annual family holidays to the south coast,  we always stopped overnight to visit Nana there. 

 Nana's 70th birthday - here with Fred and Fran

          Mary Barbara (Matthews) Weston  - Nana -  died in 1958 at the age of 82. 
   
I must admit my memory of my grandmother is very sketchy - sad that in many ways I know so little about her, as a person.  For  she was part of me, and I surely must have inherited some of her  characteristics. 

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