Lockdown and other pandemic restrictions gave me a bit of an opportunity to ponder some niggling brick wall issues.
It might look like I have gone out on a bit of a limb in interpreting data to show that the Susannah Poole who died on 5 Oct 1874 was the mother of 6 children variously named
Stephens/Stevens and Pool/Poole (and two who were named both). But hear me out!
I'll work
backwards-ish. Just to set the scene,
Mrs Susannah Poole, widow, had been living in Danbury (1861) and Woodham Ferris
(1871) with William and Mary Ann Gilbert Poole, and their daughter Kate; the
census recorded that she was born in Rettendon.
In 1851 and 1841 she had been living in Woodham Ferris. Mr James Poole
died in 1826 and was buried in Woodham Ferris (20 Jun 1826). She died 5 Oct
1874 in Danbury, aged 89, recorded as widow of James Poole, labourer, and was
buried at Woodham Ferrers 10 Oct 1874.
James Pool(e) married
Susannah Stevens, a widow, 24 Feb 1822 at Holy Trinity, Southchurch. James, a carpenter, and Sarah (sic) Poole had
two children baptised in Woodham Ferrers - Lucy (bap 7 Apr 1822) and William (bap
12 Mar 1826).
Lucy Poole (who was my great great grandmother) married William
Pond 12 Apr 1848 at the Bethel Chapel, Woodham Ferrers showing her father as
James Poole, carpenter, and witnessed by a Samuel Pond (assumed to be William
Pond's brother born 1819), and Hannah Raison (assumed to be Hannah
Stevens/Pool, who married William Raison - see below).
William Poole married Mary Ann Gilbert
Pond (William Pond's sister) 11 Oct 1855 at Chelmsford Register Office, showing
his father as James Poole, carpenter, witnessed by John Pond (assumed to be
another of the Pond brothers born 1826), and Lucy Raison (assumed to be
daughter of the above-mentioned Hannah Raison).
On 1 Aug 1819, a James Poole was baptised at
Southchurch to James (a Labourer) and Susan Poole. When this James married Mary
Ann Lotes on 1 May 1846 at Baddow Independent Protestant Chapel, he named James
Poole, carpenter, as his father, and the witnesses were William Poole and Lucy
Poole.
On 4 Aug 1816, a Mary Ann
Pool Stevens was baptised at Woodham Ferris as illegitimate daughter
of Susannah Stevens. When she married Thomas Belcher on 23 Nov
1838, as Mary Ann Stevens, at All Saints Purleigh, she named James Stevens,
carpenter, as her father, and the witnesses were a Samuel Carter [no connection
yet established] and Lucy Poole.
On 9 Jun 1814 at St John the
Baptist, Danbury, a Hannah Poole was baptised, daughter of James, a
Carpenter, and Susan. The timing fits
with a Hannah Stephens marrying William Raison at Woodham Ferris on 24 Oct
1833. Witnesses were a William Baycock [no connection yet established] and Mary
Stephens (assumed to be the woman baptised Mary Ann Pool Stephens). Hannah and William Raison had one daughter
Lucy, baptised Woodham Ferris 28 Jun 1834, and she married a Robert Scott on 4
Jun 1856 at Woodham Ferris, witnesses being William Pond (presumed the one who
was husband of Lucy Poole) and Mary Ann Gilbert Poole (wife of William Poole).
On 10 Sep 1809 at St John
the Baptist, Danbury, an Elizabeth Stevens was baptised, daughter of
James and Susan Stevens. When she married William Carter at All Saints Purleigh
on 19 Jun 1832, the witnesses were a James Smith [no connection yet
established] and Hannah Stephens (assumed to be the one who married William
Raison the following year).
The register which documents
the baptism of Elizabeth Stephens showed the mothers' maiden names in
brackets. Of course hers is indistinct -
I first read it as James. A search of
baptisms at Rettendon comes up with Susannah Staines (a good match with the
written record) - baptised 1 Aug 1786, daughter of John Staines and Sarah
(Rivers).
I can't find a marriage
between Susannah Staines and a Stephens/Stevens. Was he actually Stevens or was he Pool in
disguise? There is a James Stevens who
married an Elizabeth Hack 16 Feb 1795 at St John the Baptist Danbury, but no
obvious deaths for either in the period between 1795 and 1810. For Elizabeth the "local"
candidate burials were either too young (1800 Chelmsford Cathedral) or too old
(1805 Danbury or 1807 Rettendon). There were no local candidates for James.
So it is feasible that the
first of the six children was fathered by a James Stephens, but the evidence of
the remainder points to James Pool(e) being the father. Here's all that in diagram form:
One last tit-bit. When Elizabeth Carter nee Stephens registered her 5th child Samuel in 1842 (the first child she had registered under the new system), her maiden name was recorded as "Poole". The next child, Emma in 1844, was recorded as "Stevens".
So why the inconsistencies in naming? Elizabeth Carter could easily have responded to the registration clerk's question about maiden name, by saying what her mum's name was (and in 1843 she was Susannah Poole). In the case of the "illegitimate" Mary Ann Pool Stevens , Susannah may have felt she couldn't call her Pool(e) because someone in officialdom (Parish Priest or Parish Clerk for example) recognised her as Stevens/Stephens.
And why was Susannah recorded as "Sarah" when Lucy and William were baptised at Woodham Ferris? Not least she was Susannah or Susan in the census's of 1841-1871. As her mother was called Sarah that again might have been the cause of confusion.
These may be completely off the wall suppositions, but the evidence that the woman born Susannah Staines was mother of each of these six children is quite strong. And it gives an interesting twist on how Susannah's grand-daughter via Lucy Poole, Lucy Pond, might have been tipped off by Susannah's daughter Elizabeth's family that Elizabeth's enterprising son, Henry Carter, might have been able to offer work or lodgings to a young relative in the thriving metropolis of Croydon, Surrey
If Susannah Staines is my 3 x great grandmother not only via Lucy Poole, but also via Elizabeth Stevens, it means Henry Carter and his wife Lucy Pond would have been first cousins or first step-cousins. Crumbs.
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