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Chapter 3
James; Drowned at Sea ?
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From "A Marriage Register Book for the Parish of Wells, 1754-1787".
James was the first born of his parents' (i.e. James and Elizabeth's) marriage.
His own marriage in the Parish Church of St. Nicholas, was on 15 November
1767, when at the age of 20 years and 3 months, he married Mary Oldman
(entry in Register shown above).
Mary must have come from strong stock, for having married at the age of
22 years, she went on to bear James's eleven children (between the years
1768 to 1789), and to live to the ripe old age of 80, before finally being
buried at Wells on 14 December 1825.
As many sea-farers were drowned at sea, deaths are often not recorded,
and therefore conclusive reasons for death, or place of death, elude us in
our research. Thus it is that at the present, we have to assume that James, who
was shown on his marriage entry to have been a "Mariner" may have been
drowned at sea, although as his last child was born in June 1789, his
"disappearance" must have occurred sometime onwards from September/
October 1789.
James and Mary's marriage (at least between 1767 and 1789) covered
many exciting events in World History, including:-
James Cook's discovery of New South Wales (1770)
Boston Tea Party (1773)
Joseph Priestley's discovery of Oxygen (1774)
First action In American War of Independence (1775)
American Declaration of Independence, (1776)
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Invention of "Spinning Mule" (1779)
Treaty of Versailles (1783)
Death of Dr. Samuel Johnson (1784)
Geo. Washington - First President of U.S.A. (1789)
French Revolution begins (1789)
- of course, many more events took place than those just mentioned,
including (more importantly for our research) the births of James and Mary's
children.
Thomas was the first born, thus ending the earlier tradition of naming the first-
born son as "James". Thomas, (whose entry No. 48, on Page 38 of the
Register), is shown as having been baptised on Aug ye 23rd Ann 1768, by
J. Robinson, R. Twenty-one years later, Thomas was to marry Sarah
Thompson.
Elizabeth was obviously a much wanted name by James and Mary, for their
first-born daughter, second-born daughter, and last-born daughter were all
baptised with the name of Elizabeth. The first two both died as "infants"
(1st, baptised 9 June 1770 / buried 8 January 1772; and the 2nd, baptised
17 December 1778 / buried 9 January 1779).
The second son of the marriage was William (entry No. 24, Page 48 of the
Register), who was baptised on March ye 24th,1772. Fifty-eight years later,
on 23 December 1829, our William was buried at Wells; along the way,
however, he married Mary Pond, on 10 November 1791.
James was the third son. He was baptised on January ye 30th,1774 (entry
No.9, Page 53). Following his baptism, he appears to have "disappeared",
and so, to date, I have no further information regarding his progress (or
otherwise) through life.
Wells, the fourth son, was baptised on October ye 13th.,1776 (No. 45 Page
59), the year that Adam Smith's "Wealth of Nations" was published. Some
twenty years later, when Bonaparte was conducting his first campaign in Italy,
Wells married Mary Vincent, whose family hailed from Holkham, near Wells,
on 16 November 1796.
After the second Elizabeth (mentioned above), the couples' next daughter to
be born, Rosamond, was baptised on Decembr. ye 8th.,1779 (No. 71 Page
68) Jemima, the fourth daughter, was baptised on 23 January 1782. Her
history is uncertain, although unlike the other members of her family, she
appears to have moved far from home at some time during her life. What her
occupation was, whether servant, factory worker, or otherwise, is unknown,
although we do know that poor old Jemima died on 19 April 1844, aged 63
years, that she died in the Workhouse at Clerkenwell, London, and that she
is buried at St. James', Clerkenwell.
James and Mary's last son was baptised Peter Oldman Powditch, the
"Oldman" possibly being included to continue his Mother's maiden name.
Peter was born in Novembr. 1783, and privately baptized Decembr. ye 4th,
before being "Red'" (see *, next page) in the Church, 31 July 1785
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(No. 72. Page 78). Again, like his brother James before him, he appears to
have "disappeared" after 1785, and I have no further details regarding his
progress through life.
Daughter Mary was born on Decembr 6th.,1785, privately baptiz'd ye 16th.,
1785, and Rec'd into ye Church Jany 3rd.,1786 (No. 81. Page 87). She was
not to continue her Mother's Christian name for long, however, for on 18 August
1786, little Mary was buried.
Which brings us to the last child, Elizabeth. Born 11 June 1789, privately
baptiz'd ye 15th,1789, and Rec'd into ye Church ye 28th (?) (No. 53. Page
107). As the Registers do not record an infant death for an Elizabeth during
this period, it is hoped that unlike her earlier namesakes, that she went on to
live for many years.
As can be imagined, when children number as many as eleven in a family, of
which seven survive past their childhood, five of which are males, there is a
good chance that a high percentage will marry, and have their own children.
Whether James and Peter Oldman lived long enough to marry, or died young/
old as "bachelors", we don't yet know, but we do know that Thomas, William
and Wells all married local girls, and raised their own families. Thomas had
eight children; William, seven children; and Wells, seven children; but here
again, our story must divide.
In order to look at the "main" branch of the families mentioned above, we
must first look at those branches which regrettably have "died out" along the
way.
Branches have "died out" for several reasons. The first is where sons have
died without marrying. The second, where only daughters have been born,
thus "losing" their Powditch name on marriage. The third is where sons marry,
and their children die, or the children are daughters, and the fourth reason,
though extremely rare in the case of Powditch's, is where a widow of a
Powditch remarries and her children assume the surname of their step-father.
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I
(The above is shown as a précis of the detail of the information already given
in this Chapter. Further details relating to the children marked with a * are
still being searched for at the time of writing.)
Of James and Mary's children, Thomas, (the first born son), married Sarah
Thompson on 24 May 1789, just two months before the Bastille was stormed.
Thomas and Sarah had five witnesses at their marriage;
Robert Oldman, Rose Oldman, Mary Nicholas, Mary Brightmer and Elizabeth
Smith
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Whether Robert and Rose Oldman were parents, brother/sister, or cousins of
Mary Oldman, I'm not sure, but the presence of Mary Brightmer is fascinating,
as we will discover when we examine a related branch of the Powditch name
at a later stage. (see Chapter 6)
Eight children blessed the marriage, of which, two died young, and two
married; of the remaining four, only one was male, and I haven't positively
identified a marriage for him.
The children were;
(N.B. In 1837, Emma Powditch, a widow, married Robert King, a widower,
on 13.March, at St Nicholas' Church, Wells-next-the-Sea. The Rev Hopper
officiated)
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In the 1841 Census, we find living at "Glebe, Wells-next-the-Sea", a few
members of the family. Thomas, aged 72, a Mariner, his wife Sarah, aged
72; daughter Emily aged 40 (rounded down on the Census from 42); daughter
Eliza, aged 25 (rounded down from 28); and Jemima Isles (daughter of
Mary Ann [nee Powditch) and Francis Isles), who was aged 8, and present
in the house on Census night.
The 1841 Census would appear to indicate that Sarah (Thomas and Sarah's
first born daughter) may either have married or died before 1841, and that
both Emily and Eliza were unmarried, and still living at home.
As Emily was shown as aged "40", it would have been highly unlikely that
she married, and indeed, the Marriage Registers between 1841 and 1912
do not record an "Emily" marrying, other than an "Emily Jane" in 1868, when
"our" Emily would have been aged 69!!
On the other hand, in the Deaths Registers (of St. Catherine's House), an
Emily Powditch died in 1873, at Alverstoke, in Hampshire, aged 74. As
there were no other "Emily" deaths between 1841 and 1912, and no
marriages for the same period, I believe that we have the "right person" here,
but why Alverstoke?
The same question might be asked of a marriage in the Parish Church of
St. Mary's, Alverstoke, fifty-six years earlier than Emily's death, for in the
Alverstoke Registers, it is recorded that a marriage took place between;
Might this Sarah have been the first-born daughter of Thomas and Sarah?
If it was (and I do believe that she was), then she would have been aged 27
at the time of her marriage, and must have lived in the area for some time to have been recorded as "of this Parish".
From the Emily/Sarah "sister" connection there is indication that Emily went
to Alverstoke on family business, possibly to Sarah's or William's funeral,
(for by 1873 both would have been elderly, and any children would have been
in their 50's) and there, she too passed away, nearly 200 miles from home.
Of Eliza, who also was mentioned on the 1841 Census, I have one or two
possibilities, assuming that she married. One "Eliza" marriage
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occurred in 1842, and the other in 1860 giving marrying ages (for Eliza) of
29 and 47 years old respectively. (Both marriages being at Wells).
Alternatively, I have recorded an Eliza, (no age given) as buried at Wells on
11 November 1861.
Over the last few paragraphs, we see that our first family "died out" through
the daughters of Thomas and Sarah having married into the Webb, Isles and
Bell surnames. Of the son, Thomas Thompson, only two children from his
marriage have been "discovered" to date;
Mary Ann, born in 1827; baptised 6 December 1827.
Eleanor, who died as an infant on 24 October 1831.
- and so, all other children having been accounted for, it would appear that
this branch of the family ended.
>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
The family tree of Thomas and Sarah is therefore seen thus;-
I
(n.b. n/k = not known to date)
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Our second family was created by the marriage of William to Mary Pond, on
10 November 1791. Their witnesses were Mary Mindham and Benjamin
Eaton.
William and Mary had nine children. Two died in childhood, and of the
remaining five, I have very little information. Regarding the sons, I don't
possess any details to suggest that any of them survived to form new
branches of the family.
William and Mary's children were;
- and therefore, until more information comes to hand regarding this branch
of the family, we must leave William and Mary, together with their children, in
the hope that future research will uncover the answers.
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Acknowledgements |
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