Sunday, November 22, 2009

Where is Hadlow, Kent?

Hadlow is important to the DAWS family because it is where Thomas (the bricklayer) was born in 1809. The IGI (Batch No. C-131352) records his baptism in the parish church on 12 Nov 1809 to Thomas DAWES & Elizabeth. At left is St. Mary's, Hadlow, where this would have happened along with the baptisms of his siblings William (1804), Jane Ann (1805), Susannah (1807), Sarah (1811) and Frances (1814).

The family then moved to East Peckham just down the road as you'll see from the map below before continuing on to Uckfield, Sussex in the mid-1820's.

Thomas' parents were married in Tudeley & Capel which also isn't far from Hadlow. This is also taken from the IGI (Batch No. M-135202) and from a microfiche I have of Kent parish registers. Thomas DAWES married Elizabeth WHITEBREAD on 08 March 1804. Their first child, William, was baptised on 12 April 1804 and was probably born soon after they were married.

Clicking on the map will enlarge it in its own window. Hadlow is near the top middle with East Peckham below to the right with Tudley and Capel both near the bottom middle.

Elizabeth was baptised in East Peckham (1816) with Mary (1819) and George (1821) before the family continued on to Uckfield where their last child, Harriett, was born.

For more information about Uckfield see this previous post.

DAWS Family - Some Answers - More Questions

Looking at the 1851 census for Uckfield to see what additional information might be available there are 21 DAW/DAWS/DAWES listed. Actually, Ancestry.co.uk only shows 13 but I have found 8 more not listed in the transcript.

Looking at the 1841 census families from my previous post here's what happened:

Family #1
Thomas DAWS (missing) died in 1843
Elizabeth DAWS (missing) died in 1849
Sarah DAWES (found) (37) charwoman living at Church St by Pudding Lane
George DAWES (found) (29) now married living at Grants Hill
Esther DAWES (new) (20) wife of George M/S COTTINGTON living at Grants Hill
Harriott DAWES (new) (1) dau of George living at Grants hill
Eliza DAWES (found) (11) niece of George - dau of Sarah living at Grants Hill

Family #2
William DAWS (missing) died in 1842
Elizabeth DAW (found) (50) charwoman living at Old Workhouse
Elizabeth DAWS (missing) married George GURR in 1850
Henry DAW (found) (19) labourer living at Old Workhouse
Catharine DAWS (missing) died is 1846
Charlotte DAW (found) (17) scholar living at Old Workhouse
Daniel DAWS (missing) died in 1841

Family #3
Thomas DAWES (found) (39) living at High St
Ann DAWES (found) (35) living at High St
Joseph DAWES (found) (15) living at High St
Lucy DAWES (found) (13) living at High St
Thomas DAWES (found) (11) living at High St
Ann DAWES (new) (8) living at High St
Margaret DAWES (new) (5) living at High St
Elizabeth DAW (missing) married Henry Mitchell in 1846
Harriett DAW (missing)
Oliver DAW (missing) living with Henry and Elizabeth Mitchell

Family #4
Thomas DAW (missing)
Hannah DAW (missing)
Ann DAW (new) (73) widow living at Workhouse Lane
Harriett DAW (found) (26) g-dau of Ann living at Workhouse Lane
Edward DAW (missing)
William DAW (missing)
John DAW (missing)
Alfred DAW (found) (11) g-son of Ann living at Workhouse Lane

UNKNOWNS
Mary DAW (new) (26) Uckfield Union Workhouse born in Uckfield
Benjamin DAW (new) (46) Uckfield Union Workhouse born in Framfield???
Marten DAWS (new) (58) Kemphead Lane - lodger/labourer born in Uckfield

As you can see there are some answers, a little more information and some new problems.

Another DAWS Family in Uckfield

Looking at the 1841 census for Uckfield there are 27 people with the DAW/DAWS surname.

These can be broken down into 4 family groups as follows:

Family Group 1 living at Church St
Thomas DAWS (70) - Thomas the labourer
Elizabeth DAWS (60)
Sarah DAWS (25)
George DAWS (15)
Eiza DAWS (1) - probably the daughter of Sarah

Family Group 2 living at Church St
William DAWS (35) - son of Thomas Family #1
Elizabeth DAWS (35)
Elizabeth DAWS (12)
Henry DAWS (10)
Catharine DAWS (8)
Charlotte DAWS (3)
Daniel DAWS (2 months)

FAMILY Group 3 living at North Entrance
Thomas DAW (25) - Thomas the bricklayer son of Thomas Family #1
Ann DAW (25)
Joseph DAW (5)
Lucy DAW (4)
Thomas DAW (1) - Thomas the builder
Elizabeth DAW (25) daughter of Thomas Family #1
Harriet DAW (12) daughter of Thomas Family #1
Oliver DAW (2) son of Elizabeth

That accounts for 20 people of my DAWS family what about the others?

FAMILY Group 4 living at Church St
Thomas DAW (44) Horsekeeper
Hannah DAW (36)
Harriett (16)
Edward (10)
William (8)
John (5)
Alfred (2)

The image of this family is shown at the right.

Who are these people?

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Who is Thomas DAWS born about 1768?

I don't know much about Thomas DAWS. The 1841 census (shown in the previous post) lists him and his wife, Elizabeth, at ages 70 and 60 respectively living at Church St. Uckfield with their son William and his family. There are two groups of people shown:

William (35) Ag Lab / Not born in Sussex
Elizabeth (35) / Not born in Sussex
Elizabeth (12) / Not born in Sussex
Henry (10) / Born in Sussex
Catherine (8) / Born in Sussex
Charlotte (3) / Born in Sussex
Daniel (2 months) / Born in Sussex

Thomas (70) / Born in Sussex
Elizabeth (60) / Not born in Sussex
Sarah (25) Laundress / Not born in Sussex
George (15) Ag Lab / Not born in Sussex
Eliza (1) / Born in Sussex

There are two families living together with a total of twelve people. Thomas must have been too old to work as no occupation is given for him. Looking at the ages of William's children it is easy to see when the family moved to Uckfield. Elizabeth age 12 was not born in Sussex while Henry age 10 was so it would have been about 1830.

A "Head of Household" record of the 1831 census for Uckfield survived but it doesn't offer much help. There is a Thomas DAWS living at Grants Hill but his family is combined with that of John SMITH for a total of 8 males and 8 females. There are two ag labs in Thomas' family and two labourers in John's family. There is also a Thomas DAW in the Uckfield Poor House with 2 males of which one is an ag lab and 2 females. An Ag Lab is an agricutural labourer and was a very common occupation.

Looking at the 1841 census for John SMITH finds a family of 5 still living at Grants Hill. They were all born before 1831 so if these are substracted from the 16 who were combined in 1831 that leaves 11 for the DAWS family.

The family makeup in 1831 would have looked like this with ages adjusted to 1831:
(1) Thomas (63)
(2) Elizabeth (49)
(3) Thomas (22) son - married Ann LANGRIDGE in 1834
(4) Sarah (20) dau
(5) Frances (17) dau - married Henry HEMSLEY in 1840
(6) Elizabeth (15) dau
(7) George (10) son
(8) Harriett (2) dau
(9) William (27) son - married Elizabeth below in 1828
(10) Elizabeth (27) dau in law
(11) Elizabeth (3) granddau

Combining the Smith's 4 males and 1 female with the Dawes' 4 males and 7 females equals the eight of each counted in 1831, however, I would have been happier if the number of Ag Lab's reported was three unless old Thomas at 63 was already too old to work.

Finally, the only piece of paper we have relating to Thomas is his death registration for 18 June 1843 showing his age as 75 assuming that everyone around him knew his actual age.

This is confirmed by a burial in Holy Cross Church Cemetery dated 25 June 1843. Usually it is a relative that reports a death but in this case it was Mary DARBY who was present at his death. The 1841 census shows a Mary Darby living at Rock Hall Cottage which is not far from the DAWS' on Church Street. Maybe she helped to care for Thomas at the end.

What does all of this prove?

1st- That Thomas and Elizabeth DAWS returned to Uckfield from East Peckham sometime between 1821 when George was born in East Peckham and 1829 when Harriet was born in Uckfield.

2nd- That William and Elizabeth DAWS came to Uckfield between 1828 when their daughter, Elizabeth, was born in East Peckham and 1831 when Henry was born in Uckfield.

3rd- That Thomas DAWS was born in Uckfield about 1768 based on his age at death and his birth location according to the 1841 census.

4th- That another DAWS family was living in the Uckfield Poor House in 1831 but I have no idea if they are related or not.

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Thomas DAWS was Born in Sussex, not Kent

In my original post at the beginning of this blog I stated that the earliest Thomas DAWS was born in Linton, Kent. This is because the earliest Thomas that I could match with a birth year around 1768 was one I found on the IGI in Kent. I accepted this because the family had been in Kent in the early part of the nineteenth century. Thomas DAWS and Elizabeth WHITEBREAD were married in Tudley & Capel, Kent in 1804. I believe that he was born about 1868 because his death registration from 1843 states his age as 75 years old putting his birth year about 1868. This assumes that he or the people around him knew his real age.



The reason for this update is to correct his birth location. In working on the Ardingly DAWES families I had a look at my census copies and noticed that Thomas reported that he was born in Sussex. The 1841 enumerators asked only if you were born in the county in which you were being counted and he answered "YES" for Uckfield, Sussex. In contrast, his wife answered "NO" because she was born in Kent. See the census at left where Thomas DAWS, aged 70, is about half way down the page.

For those of you who are sharp and notice that subtracting his age from 1841 gives a birth year of 1771 as opposed to 1768 you are wrong. In 1841, anyone over fifteen had their age rounded down to the next five so Thomas could be anywhere between 70 and 74. It's too bad that neither Thomas or Elizabeth lived until the next census where they would have reported their proper age and birth parish.

To put icing on the cake, I have a Poor Law Removal Order dated 09 Aug 1809 from Hadlow, Kent ordering the family back to Uckfield. Listed on the order are Thomas, Elizabeth (wife), William (5), Jane Ann (3) and Susan (2). They weren't very obident because my 2nd great-grandfather, Thomas (the bricklayer), was born in Hadlow in 1809 followed by Sarah in 1811. Then they moved to East Peckham where another four children were born between 1814 and 1821. They finally arrived in Uckfield by 1829 when Harriett was born. The only reason they would have been ordered out of Hadlow was because they were and burden on the parish and were being sent back where they came from so his origin must have been Uckfield.