Charlotte Ellen SMITH / EIGHTEEN

[kiterunner]

I already posted up a link to the 1891 census (post #11) and I mentioned the likely death reg for Mary (post #35), earlier in this thread, James, and yes, the same ones you linked to. I did have a quick look for Thomas's death but there were just too many Thomas Smith (or French) deaths without being sure which district he would have died in.

Plenty of families moved from one town to another before all the children had left home, but I do think that Mary Smith death would be the one to look at before looking for any outside of Reading. I don't think we have seen anything to say that Thomas owned their house, have we?

[Shona]

Regarding housing tenure, most people rented at the time in question. Fewer than 10 per cent of people owned their homes in 1918. Even though the Co-operative Building Society provided loans to working-class people, the society had awarded only a couple of thousand mortgages nationwide by the early 20th century.

[James18]

Hmm, that's interesting Shona. I hadn't considered it before but of course it makes sense.

And thanks for the reminder, Kate. My apologies -- it's just a case of me trying to keep track of everything, because you post so much useful information and I keep trying to comb through it all in order to try and take it on board. Thank you.

I'll probably go for that Mary Smith one next, assuming the ones I've already ordered are who/what we want them to be.

Thomas Smith is indeed unfortunate, though, as we don't know where or when he died. Still, it does make you wonder whether anyone has attempted an Eighteen or French/Preedy/Smith family tree before and got as far as you have. Obviously a lot of people have just (wrongly, it would seem) gone down the Fortunatus Smith route.

Fascinating stuff, certainly.

[James18]

Kate!

Have to go out very soon, but will type these out quickly. Looking very good.

Fifth October 1869
5 Charles Street

Ellen French

Thomas Smith (father)

Mary Smith formerly Preedy (mother)

Father's occupation: Sawyer (or Lawyer, although highly unlikely!)

Informant: Mary Smith, Mother, 5 Charles Street, Reading

When registered: Fourteenth? Fifteenth? November 1869

&

Fifteenth January 1923
30 Leopold Road, Reading

Charlotte Ellen Eighteen

53 Years

Widow of Frederick Syer Eighteen, Fish Salesman

Chronic Endocarditis, 10 PM (?)

Informant: Alice Eighteen, daughter-in-law, 79 Orts Road, Reading, Eighteen January 1923

Should be good to go. Let me know how you get on. Got to go now, will view/reply this evening.

[kiterunner]

That's great, James. It confirms that Ellen French Smith was Thomas and Mary's daughter, and so she surely must be the child who was baptised as Charlotte Ellen a few years later, though it would be good to have the full baptism entry to confirm it. Father's occupation is sure to be sawyer rather than lawyer, since we know that the Thomas and Mary we looked at on the censuses were this couple because of Mary's maiden name, and that Thomas certainly wasn't a lawyer.

Since you get six weeks to register a birth, it looks as though Mary left it until almost the last possible day.

So, now we know for sure that French was a family name, I'll have a proper look at the French family.

[Margaret in Burton]

Brilliant, well done.

[kiterunner]

The French family

1851 census:
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/88...nSearchResults

Cropredy, Oxfordshire
Elexander French Head Mar 49 Ag Labourer Oxfordsh Cropredy
Charlott Do Wife Mar 34 Do Barford St John
Elexander Do Son 12 Do Cropredy
Elizabeth Do Daur 11 Do Do
Joice Do Do 9 Scholar Do Do
William Do Son 7 Do Do Do
Sarah Do Daur 6 Do Do Do
Thomas Do Son 1 Do Do

1861 census:
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/87...nSearchResults
Cropredy, Oxfordshire
Charlotte French Head Mar 49 Ag Lab Wife Oxford Barford
Elizabeth Do Daug Un 20 Do Cropredy
Thomas Do Son 11 Ag Lab Do Do
James Do Son 9 Do Do Do
Mary A Do Daur 4 Do Do

Charlotte French death registered Jul-Sep 1865 Banbury district (which was the district for Cropredy). Can't see Alexander's death at the moment.

Now, going back:
1841 census:
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/89...nSearchResults
Cropredy, Oxfordshire
Elexander French 35 Ag Lab Y
Sharlott Stephens 25 Y
Elexander Do 2 Y
Elizabeth Do 1 Y

Alexander and Charlotte are clearly not married to each other at this point since Charlotte has a different surname.

Possible Alexander French / Charlotte Stephens marriage Jan-Mar 1844 Banbury district, vol 16, page 9.

Birth Apr-Jun 1839 Alexander Stephens, Banbury district, vol 16, page 18
Birth Apr-Jun 1840 Elizabeth French Stephens, Banbury district, vol 16, page 21
Birth Oct-Dec 1841 Joyce Stephens, Banbury district, vol 16, page 19
Birth Jan-Mar 1844 William French, Banbury district, vol 16, page 15
Birth Jan-Mar 1845 Sarah French, Banbury district, vol 16, page 22

Two possible birth regs for Thomas (there are a lot of Frenches in Banbury district, so I'm not certain I have the right births for William and Sarah above)
Birth Oct-Dec 1849 Thomas French, Banbury district, vol 16, page 15
or Birth Jan-Mar 1850, Tom French, Banbury district, vol 16, page 16. We may be able to check which is more likely going by the other names on the same page (i.e. look them up on the 1851 census and see who was born in Cropredy.)

Birth Jul-Sep 1851 James French, Banbury district, vol 16, page 17
or Birth Jan-Mar 1853 James French, Banbury district, vol 3a, page 636
Birth Jan-Mar 1856 Mary Ann French, Banbury district, vol 31, page 639
or Birth Jan-Mar 1858 Mary Ann French, Banbury district, vol 3a, page 633
(as we don't know how accurate the ages on the 1861 census are)

[kiterunner]

An Alexander French was convicted of larceny 31 Dec 1865 at Oxford, 2 previous convictions, sentenced to 4 months imprisonment:
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/15...nSearchResults

I can't see an age on there to tell us whether it is Alexander sr or jr (or some other Alexander French), but this could possibly be one of the two earlier convictions, the right age for our Alexander sr:
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/15...nSearchResults
Jun 1823 Middlesex Alexander French, age 22, larceny, 1 month imprisonment (very faint image so hard to make out)

Or there is another Middlesex one in 1841, age 17, which couldn't be either our sr or jr (but could be the one convicted in 1865.)

[kiterunner]

Just adding these baptisms from FamilySearch in case any of them is our Charlotte:
Joseph Stievens baptised 15 Mar 1835 St Michael, Barford, Oxfordshire, parents John and Charlotte
James Stevens baptised 17 Oct 1836 Banbury, Oxfordshire, mother Charlotte
James Stevens baptised 23 Apr 1837 St Giles, Oxford, mother Charlotte

[kiterunner]

So, okay, here is Joseph Stevens on the 1841 census:

http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/89...l=ReturnRecord

Barford St John, Oxfordshire
William Tew 58 Ag Lab N
Elizabeth Do 50 Y
George Do 20 Ag Lab Y
William Do 15 Y
Joseph Stevans 6 Y

and in 1851:
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/88...l=ReturnRecord
Barford St John, Oxfordshire
William Tew Head Mar 67 Labourer Bucks Shawston
Elizabeth Tew Wife Mar 60 Wife Oxon Barford
Mary Tew Daughter U 23 Daughter Oxon Barford
Joseph Stevens Grandson U 16 Grandson Oxon Barford
Sarah Tew Grand Daur U 18 mos Granddaughter Oxon Barford

(I think the census enumerator needed some retraining!)

So, since our Charlotte's birthplace is Barford St John on the censuses, it does look as though Joseph is her son, and that her maiden name was Tew, and that her first husband was John Stevens. Unfortunately, there aren't many Oxfordshire parish registers etc online at the moment to look for their marriage, but I found a very old RootsWeb message board post which says they married in 1834 at Barford St Michael:

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.co...-12/0913496364

Unfortunately, we don't know enough about John Stevens at the moment to know whether he died before Charlotte's marriage to Alexander. Divorces were very uncommon in those days, as you probably know.