Townsends - where have I gone wrong?

[kiterunner]

My 4xg-grandfather John Horner of Leytonstone, Essex, wrote his will on the 16th Oct 1820 and it was proved 30th May 1822. One of the executors that he named was Charles Frederick Townsend of Spitalfields in the County of Middlesex, salesman, but the probate information says the other two executors were the "surviving" ones, so Charles must have died between those two dates.

John Horner also mentions "my daughter Mary Ann Townsend" and "my three granddaughters Mary Ann Townsend, Charlotte Townsend and Martha Townsend, children of my said daughter Mary Townsend".

Charles Frederick Townsend married Mary Ann Horner 8th Sep 1800 at Wanstead, Essex, and I have their children listed in my tree as:
- Mary Ann born 17 Jun 1801 baptised 27 Jul 1801 Spitalfields Christ Church
- Charlotte born 20 May 1803 baptised 20 Jun 1803 Spitalfields Christ Church
- Maria born 2 May 1805 baptised 22 Jun 1805 Spitalfields Christ Church.

(It says Maria on the baptism, so I think Martha is a mistake in copying out the will.)

I found some info about Charles being a potato salesman in partnership with a William Windmell; I think this was on the Old Bailey site and they were witnesses in a case against someone who stole from them.

Charles Frederick Townsend of Paternoster Row was buried 6 Jan 1822 at Christ Church, Spitalfields, age 46.
Mary Ann Townsend of Bethnal Green parish was buried 2 Feb 1823 at Christ Church, Spitalfields, age 45. (My Mary Ann Horner was baptised 9 Feb 1779 at Leyton, Essex, so the age is about right.)
Charlotte Townsend of South Hackney buried 20 May 1844 at Christ Church, Spitalfields, age 40.

I thought these were the three sisters on the 1841 census at Gibson Square, Islington:
Mary A Townsend 35 Schoolm Y
Maria Do 30 Do Y
Charlotte Do 25 Do Y
(with pupils including William Townsend 5 Y).

Entries in the London Post Office Directory between 1843 and 1851 for Townsend Mary A (Miss), Ladies' school, 61 Gibson sq, Islington.

Now, I've found an Admon in the LMA Probate records on ancestry for Mary Ann Townsend, widow, of Paternoster Row, Spitalfields, Middlesex, who died Jan 1823. Administration was granted 18 May 1824 to Mary Ann Beaver, wife of William Beaver of 100 Fore Street, Cripplegate, in the City of London, butcher. It says that Mary Ann Beaver was one of the "natural and lawful" children of the deceased.

The Beavers' marriage is on ancestry - 27 Oct 1822 at St Matthew, Bethnal Green, William Beaver of the parish of St Giles Cripplegate, bachelor, married Mary Ann Townsend, of this parish, spinster, by licence, witnesses John Aris and Arabella Aris.

So - have I found the wrong people on the 1841 census, or did Mary Ann jr go back to her maiden name somewhere along the way? Help, please!

And after typing all that, I think I need some lunch...

[Merry]

I don't have time to look at all, but it did occur to me that if the marriage failed or her OH died etc and she needed to teach in order to survive she might well have prefered to be a "Miss" (esp if she didn't have any children) particularly if they werew wanting to look suitably refined in order to attract the "right sort" of pupils!

[kiterunner]

Found some baptisms at St Giles Cripplegate on FamilySearch (all children of William and Mary Ann Beaver):

William born 28 Jul 1823 bap 27 Aug 1823
Mary Ann born 5 Jun 1825 bap 6 Jul 1825
Charles Frederick born 25 Nov 1827 bap 23 Dec 1827
Elizabeth born 19 Mar 1830 bap 18 Jun 1830
George born 29 Jan 1834 bap 26 Feb 1834
Henry born 25 May 1836 bap 22 Jun 1836
Alfred born 10 Feb 1839 bap 8 Mar 1839.

So my Mary Ann definitely had children!

[kiterunner]

And at Fore St., St Giles without Cripplegate, Middlesex, in 1841:
William Beaver 50 Butcher Y
Mary Do 39 Y
William Do 17 Y
Mary Do 16 Y
Charles Do 13 Y
Elizabeth Do 11 Y
John Do 7 Y
Henry Do 5 Y
Alfred Beaver 2 Y
William Newgent 3 months see p 24
(On page 24 there is a Nugent family but with a William age 2 and a Thomas 6 months. I don't think I'll worry about the Nugents / Newgents for now!)

[Mary from Italy]

This is the Beaver family in 1841, still at Fore St., Cripplegate.

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec?htx=view&r=5538&dbid=8978&iid=MDXHO107_727_728-0083&fn=Henry&ln=Beaver&st=d&ssrc=&pid=8012681

[Mary from Italy]

Oops, too late :)

[kiterunner]

Oh God, and then Charles Frederick Beaver marries a Maria Townsend!! 24 Sep 1854 at St John the Evangelist, Lambeth.

[Mary from Italy]

The Maria who married Charles F was only 24, so she's not Mary Ann's sister (which I guess would be illegal anyway).

Anyway, her father's William Man? Townsend, and she's from Loughborough.

[kiterunner]

I've found Charles Beaver and his brother William in 1851 at 6 Brook Terrace, St George the Martyr, Southwark:
William Beaver Head U 28 Butcher employing 2 men Middlesex Cripplegate
Charles F Do Brother Do 23 Do Do Do

The Maria Townsend who Charles marries in 1854 is the daughter of William Man Townsend, who was one of the people who signed the bond on Mary Ann Townsend's administration, so must be related to Charles Frederick Townsend probably.

Edit - snap, Mary! It says Loughboro Park, not sure if that's in Loughborough or London!
(Edit again - it's in Lambeth)

[Mary from Italy]

There's a Loughborough Park at the posh end of Loughborough, Leics. - I didn't know there was one in Lambeth.

Can't see Charles and Maria in 1861, but in 1871 she gives her birthplace as Middx, so that fits.

[kiterunner]

I wonder if my Mary Ann, Maria and Charlotte had a cousin called Mary Ann? It seems unlikely to me that the Charlotte who was buried at Spitalfields and lived in South Hackney isn't mine, but Mary Ann Townsend the head teacher definitely isn't mine. I shall have to look into the Townsend tree.

[kiterunner]

Oh no - William Man Townsend married a Charlotte Townsend! 15 Jul 1827 St Giles without Cripplegate. Off to look at it...

[Mary from Italy]

I was just about to say that I'd found the baptism of Maria, daughter of William Man and Charlotte Townsend, born 1830, baptised in 1833 :)

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec?htx=View&r=5538&dbid=1558&iid=31280_194871-00401&fn=Maria&ln=Townsend&st=d&ssrc=&pid=1842859

[kiterunner]

Thanks, Mary. It looks likely that the Charlotte who married William Man Townsend is mine, because two of the witnesses are Wm Beaver and M Townsend. I wonder if she's the one who died in 1844, though.

[Mary from Italy]

William Man Townsend died in 1872, a widower, admon to Maria Beaver, wife of Charles Frederick, daughter and only next of kin.

[kiterunner]

Right, found his baptism, 1802, Bromley St Leonard, parents William Henry and Sarah. So he's a lot younger than Charles Frederick Townsend, maybe a nephew?

[kiterunner]

Ah yes, Charles Frederick Townsend was baptised 22 Sep 1776 at Christ Church Spitalfields, parents William and Jane, and his brother William Henry Townsend was baptised 7 Mar 1769. I need to start adding people to my tree to see how they all fit together, but I don't know what to delete yet! At least I haven't got any actual people to delete, just occupations deaths etc.

[Mary from Italy]

Just checking the baptisms on the IGI:

WILLIAM HENRY TOWNSEND
Male

Event(s):
Birth:
Christening: 07 MAR 1769 Spitalfields Christ Church, Stepney, London, England

Parents:
Father: WILLIAM TOWNSEND
Mother: JANE


CHARLES FREDERIC TOWNSEND
Male

Event(s):
Birth:
Christening: 22 SEP 1776 Spitalfields Christ Church, Stepney, London, England

Parents:
Father: WILLIAM TOWNSEND
Mother: JANE

[Mary from Italy]

We keep crossposting :)

I'll get on with some work now.

[kiterunner]

Thanks, Mary. Great minds think alike!

[kiterunner]

I've found William Man Townsend in 1861 at 19 Grosvenor Cottages, Millbrook Rd, Lambeth:
William M Townsend Head M 59 Fundholder Middlesex Spitalfields
Miranda Townsend Wife M 38 Gloucestershire Stroud(?)

But I can't find him in 1851 and I can't find his marriage to Miranda. (Still trying to work out whether the Charlotte Townsend who died in South Hackney in 1844 is mine or her doppelganger!)

[Mary from Italy]

Oh, I came across a Miranda Townsend somewhere while I was searching.

She witnessed one of the marriages, I think, but I don't remember whose, so it might be worth checking them.

I never found Charlotte and William in 1841 -did you?

[Mary from Italy]

Got it - she and another Townsend, probably Wm M, witnessed the marriage of Charles F and Maria in 1854.

[kiterunner]

Oh, I came across a Miranda Townsend somewhere while I was searching.

She witnessed one of the marriages, I think, but I don't remember whose, so it might be worth checking them.

I never found Charlotte and William in 1841 -did you?

No, I haven't found them in 1841. There is a William with a wife called Sarah who has a daughter Maria and a son Thomas, but I don't think that's the right family. I found baptisms for a Maria and a Thomas that could be that family, but the mother was Harriet, but then the address on Thomas's baptism was Union Street East, same as on the baptism of Charles Man Townsend, son of William Man Townsend and Charlotte 14 Jul 1830, so I need to look at them again now. Daughter got home from school and booted me off the computer so I've just switched the laptop on and will have another look.

[Mary from Italy]

Possibly Miranda in 1851 (Enoch dies in 1858):

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec?htx=view&r=5538&dbid=8860&iid=MDXHO107_1516_1516-0734&fn=Marander&ln=Avenell&st=d&ssrc=&pid=2759937

[kiterunner]

Now I'm really confused - looking at the 1841 family at Union St East, does William's occupation say "Foreman Potato Sales", or have I just got potatoes on the brain? Apart from that, his age is wrong, and my Townsends moved to St Matthew, Bethnal Green, sometime between 1830 and 1831 (Charles Man Townsend was born at Union St East but when he was buried 11 Dec 1831 his parish was St Matthews Bethnal Green) But I suppose they could have moved back?
Also I didn't look at them properly before as I was getting off the computer - Sarah is only 17 so more likely to be a daughter, not a wife. But could be either, I suppose. If it's William Man Townsend, he was a bachelor when he married Charlotte in 1827, so he shouldn't have a daughter who is 17, but on the other hand, my Charles Frederick Townsend sold potatoes. But maybe that's what everyone did in Spitalfields?


William Townsend 50 Foreman Potato Sales(??) Y
Sarah do 17 Y
Maria do 12 Y
Thomas do 10 Y

Hmmm, as I said, very confused. By the time William Man Townsend died in 1871, his only next of kin was his daughter Maria, so if this is him the rest of them would have to die young.

[kiterunner]

1871 census, still at 19 Grosvenor Cottages, Millbrook St, Lambeth
Willm Townsend Head M 68 Fundholder Middlesex London
Miranda Do Wife Do 48 Gloster
(plus a lodger)

William died in December 1871 and was a widower on the National Probate Calendar. So if he was really married to Miranda, she would have to die between census night and December. I can't see a death for her then but there is a possible one in Croydon in 1901.

[Mary from Italy]

Now I'm really confused - looking at the 1841 family at Union St East, does William's occupation say "Foreman Potato Sales", or have I just got potatoes on the brain?

I saw that one when I was looking for Maria.

I read it as "foreman plater labr", but you could be right - it's very hard to decipher.

[kiterunner]

Okay, I found Miranda in 1881 and she is calling herself a widow, but she and William can't ever have got married. I think that one you found in 1851 could well be her, Mary.

Still not sure whether that 1841 family is the right one or not - if it is then the Charlotte who's teaching in Islington could be mine. And still not found William and Maria in 1851. What a muddle!

[Mary from Italy]

Yes, I thought the 1851 Miranda looked good. I haven't found a death or remarriage for her under the name of Avenell.

[Mary from Italy]

Marriage of Enoch Avenell and Maranda James in 1850:

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec?htx=View&r=5538&dbid=1623&iid=31280_196138-00106&fn=Enoch&ln=Avenell&st=d&ssrc=&pid=2591433

[Mary from Italy]

Miranda's in service in Gloucs in 1841, not with anyone interesting.

[kiterunner]

Thanks, Mary.

I'm now pretty sure that 1841 Union St East Townsend family is a red herring, because there is a Sarah born 1823, Maria 1829 and Thomas 1831 born to a William and Harriet, and my William Man and Charlotte have a son Charles Man in between that couple's Maria and Thomas.

So we're still looking for William Man Townsend born 1802 and Maria Townsend born 1830 on both the 1841 and 1851 censuses. With or without Charlotte born 1803.

[Mary from Italy]

Finally found William in 1851; he's with Maranda/Miranda, surname transcribed as Townsand by Ancestry:

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec?htx=view&r=5538&dbid=8860&iid=SRYHO107_1575_1575-0508&fn=William&ln=Townsand&st=d&ssrc=&pid=930495

His daughter Maria's with them, and an elderly visitor called Christopher Jordison?

[kiterunner]

Ooh, thanks for that, Mary. I think Christopher Jordison was with them on another census, must be the 1861, but I ignored him. If he stayed with them that long, I'd better look at him!

[Mary from Italy]

Oh, good, I don't think I looked at 1861.

By the way, I don't think you ever found Mary Ann and Charlotte's sister Maria Townsend, did you?

[kiterunner]

No, not yet, unless she's the teacher in 1841, but if she is, I don't know what happened to her.

I suppose we can rule that Miranda Avenell out as Miranda Townsend now that you've found William with Miranda in 1851. It won't be so easy to work out who she is unless she turns out to be related to Christopher Jordison! He is a sailor on the 1861 census, widower born Durham Sunderland, and dies just after the census. There's another Christopher Jordison who died in Lambeth in 1847 age 43 who may or may not be related to him.

[Mary from Italy]

Looks like Christopher died in 1861.

[kiterunner]

The younger Christopher is likely to be the one baptised 20 Mar 1805 at Christchurch, Tynemouth, Northumberland, parents Christopher Jordison and Alice Powditch, because there was a Thomas Christopher Jordeson baptised in Lambeth 16 Jul 1851, son of Thomas Powditch Jordeson and Mary Magdalen Martha.

[kiterunner]

Thomas Jordison says on the 1851 census that he was born Northumberland North Shields, and his wife Mary was born Bucks Aylesbury, so no obvious connection there with Miranda.

[Mary from Italy]

No sign of a probate for Christopher senior, which is a pity, but 1861 is when the Ancestry index begins.

[kiterunner]

Google Books has a snippet view of something from the Society for Psychical Research from 1885, "In 1845, my late husband, William Man Townsend and self, were residing in a pretty cottage halfway between Thame and Aylesbury, had"

I wonder what the rest of the story is! Anyway, I presume it's told by Miranda and could lead to the connection with the Jordisons as Thomas Jordison's wife Mary was from Aylesbury. It makes it pretty likely that the Charlotte who died in 1844 is my Charlotte, don't you think?

[Mary from Italy]

Oh, that's interesting.

[Mary from Italy]

I wonder what the rest of the story is!

Mrs Townsend heard strange noises, apparently.

http://books.google.co.uk/books?ei=hlIOTtajO4LoOevLxLQF&ct=result&id=Cf4EAAAAQAAJ&dq=inauthor%3A%22Proceedings+of+the+Society+for+Ps ychical+Research%2CVOL.III+%28containing+parts+VII I+and+IX%29+1885%22&q=townsend#search_anchor

[Mary from Italy]

This is where the story continues on p. 75:

http://books.google.co.uk/books?ei=hFMOTsHbC5G28QOB-dzODg&ct=result&sqi=2&id=Cf4EAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22+cottage+half-way+between+Thame+and+Aylesbury%22&q=%22vexed+my+husband%22#search_anchor

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dSUNAQAAIAAJ&q=%22quicker+than+his,+he+asked+me+if+i+would+go%2 2&dq=%22quicker+than+his,+he+asked+me+if+i+would+go% 22&hl=en&ei=pVUOTt70E42p8AP5hvmfDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCsQ6AEwAA

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Cf4EAAAAQAAJ&q=%22go+to+his+kennel+i%22&dq=%22go+to+his+kennel+i%22&hl=en&ei=71UOTr_tM4X6sgbrueGIDw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=3&ved=0CDUQ6AEwAg

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=dSUNAQAAIAAJ&q=%22chain+rattle+as+he+went+in%22&dq=%22chain+rattle+as+he+went+in%22&hl=en&ei=RlYOTtjtF9CVOs_uqJ8L&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCoQ6AEwAA

[Mary from Italy]

Ooh, I think I've found them in 1841, with FMP.

William Townsend, 35
Charlotte, 30
Maria, ?
Jane Onslow, 20

all living in Denmark Place, Tower Hamlets.

The page is very faded; can't read William's occupation if there is one.

No wonder I couldn't find them on Ancestry; the surname's transcribed as Gownsend. The image is a bit easier to read on Ancestry, and Maria's age looks like 10. William's occupation is possibly "Ind."

So I think you can safely say that the Charlotte who died in 1844 is yours.

[Mary from Italy]

IGI (extracted):

THOMAS POWDITCH JORDESON
Male

Marriages:
Spouse: MARY MAGDALEN MARTHA DELL
Marriage: 05 DEC 1839 Saint Mary, Aylesbury, Buckingham, England


She was baptised in 1812, parents Robert and Catherine. Doesn't seem to have a sister Miranda.

[kiterunner]

Thanks very much for all that, Mary! Yes, I reckon William's occupation on that 1841 is "Ind". He never seems to have done a day's work in his life!