John and Isabella Gabbedy had these seven children:
- William Anthony Gabbedey b. 5 Feb 1796, bap. 8 May 1796 at St Dunstan's, Stepney at 93 days old.
- John Cleghorn Gabbedey b. 25 Feb 1798, bap. 8 Apr 1798 at St Mary Magdalene Woolwich
- Margaret Elizabeth Gabbady (sic) b. 30 May 1800, bap. 6 Jul 1800 at St Mary Magdalene Woolwich
- Charles Gabbedey b. 23 Dec 1803, bap. 5 Apr 1812 at St Dunstan's
- Mary Gabbady (sic) b. 19 Aug 1805, bap. 11 Sep 1805 at St Mary Magdalene, Woolwich
- Henry Ralph Gabady (sic) b. 18 Dec 1807, bap. 17 Jan 1808 at St Dunstan's, Stepney
- Anne Elizabeth Gabbaday, b. 23 Feb 1811, bap. 14 Apr 1811 at St Anne's Limehouse
On William Anthony's baptism, the family's address was given just as 'Rat' (
Ratcliff, between
Limehouse and
Shadwell), son of John, a Shipwright and Isabella. In 1808, John Benbow Gabbedy's occupation was again listed as
Shipwright and on Henry Ralph's baptism, their address was Poplar. In 1811, John's occupation was listed as a Mariner, living in
Gill Street, Limehouse. At the time of Charles' baptism in 1812, their address was listed as M.E.O.T. (
Mile End Old Town) and John was again described as a Shipwright.
It seemed a strange career change for John to suddenly become a Mariner, when he already had a skill as a Shipwright, especially as he was 40. However, there's a record in British Royal Navy Allotment Declarations in 1811, where he's listed as John Gabidy (sic), with rank Co Mate, allotting part of his pay to his wife, Isabella. This record shows that he was with
HMS Tortoise, an ex-
East Indiaman,
Sir Edward Hughes (1784 EIC ship). "Between March and July 1808 Tortoise was at
Woolwich being fitted as a storeship for the Royal Navy." It would make total sense if he was involved in that conversion.
Under the columns for "When Allotment Ceases", is "D 27 Sept 1811 Invalid". The single D, I think means Discharged (it's DD for Discharged Dead), but, particularly as they don't have any more children after 1811, I wonder if he died then, or maybe shortly afterwards. Maybe that prompted Charles' baptism in 1812?
John Benbow Gabbedy had certainly died by 1841.
In 1841, Isabella Gaberdey (sic) (70) was living in
Wade's Place, Poplar in the household of William Newton (60) Mariner and his wife Margaret (40).[1]
In 1851, Isabella Gabedy (84) Widow, from Shadwell, was a Pauper Inmate of
Poplar Union Workhouse, then her only option for health or elder care.
[1] It really would be very easy to assume that the Margaret, wife of William Newton, with whom Isabella was lodging in 1841, was her daughter Margaret Elizabeth Gabbedy and, they are, merely coincidentally, of similar vintage. At MyHeritage I've even found two trees where this assumption has been made and the person, with Margaret Elizabeth Gabbady's birth date, is listed as 'Margaret Elizabeth Newton (born Gabbadey)'. Presumably one tree copied from the other and this should be a WARNING as to why it is ALWAYS wrong to ASSUME and ALWAYS wrong to COPY. Researching methodically through this family, it became easy to prove that this assumption was plain wrong:
William Newton of this parish, Widower, and Margaret Jacobson, of this parish, Widow, were married at St Dunstan's, Stepney on 10 July 1826. As it shows that she was a widow, the next step was to see if a Margaret Gabbedy had married anyone named Jacobson. There was no such marriage. (Actually, the first clue that this Margaret was not Isabella's daughter, was because on the 1851 Census, Margaret Newton's birthplace is shown as South Shields, Durham.) The only marriage of a Jacobson and a Margaret, was that of John Jacobson of the Hamlet of Ratcliff, Batchelor, and Margaret Charlton, of the same, Spinster, also at St Dunstan's, Stepney, on 24 Jan 1820.
John and Margaret Jacobson had two daughters:
- Mary Anne Jacobson b. 23 Feb 1822, bap. 4 Aug 1822
- Elizabeth Jacobson b. 2 Aug 1823, bap. 27 Aug 1823
Both baptisms, which took place at
St Anne's Limehouse, list their parents as John Jacobson, Mariner and Margaret.
It then appears that John Jacobson (46) - so born ~1777 - of Mile End Old Town, was buried on 5 Nov 1823 at at St Dunstan's, Stepney.
William and Margaret Newton then had four children:
- Margaret Newton b. 21 May 1827, bap. 14 Oct 1827
- Eleanor Newton b. 3 Jun 1829, bap. 20 Sep 1829
- Lawrence Newton b. 1 Jul 1831, bap. 15 Jul 1831. (Died at 27 in 1858 D Quarter in POPLAR UNION Volume 01C Page 492.)
- William Newton b. 16 Jul 1834, bap. 16 Nov 1834
All of these baptisms, which also took place at St Anne's Limehouse, list their parents as William Newton, Mariner, and Margaret.
In 1841, the household at Wades Place, All Saints Poplar, consisted of William Newton (60) Mariner; Margaret Newton (40), Margaret Newton (14), Ellen Newton (12), Lawrence Newton (10), Mary Bowers (40) and Isabella Gaberdey (sic) (70). All of them had Y in the column for being born within the county [in this case, Middlesex], which was not always correct. There are no indications of the relationships between the members in the household.
(
John James Sebastian, Ship's Carpenter, had married
Ellinor Newton (sic), Minor, daughter of William Newton, Mariner, at
All Saints, Poplar on
13 Apr 1847. One of the witnesses was her mother, Margaret Newton.)
In 1851, living at 32, Wade Street, All Saints Poplar, were William Newton (72) General Dealer from Dorset, England; Margaret Newton (54) from South Shields, Durham; Margaret Newton (23) Dressmaker; Lawrence Newton (19) Engineer and Maria Salter (7) Granddaughter. (Born Emma Maria Salter on 2 Jan 1844 (1844 M Quarter in STEPNEY Volume 02 Page 495 mother's maiden name JACOBSON), bap. 21 Jan 1844, she was the daughter of Robert Salter, Joiner and Mary Anne Jacobson.)
Margaret Newton died, aged 54, in 1852 M Quarter in POPLAR UNION Volume 01C Page 421. This suggests she was born around 1797/8.
In 1861, still at 32, Wade Street, All Saints Poplar, were William Newton (80) Widower, Milkman from Dorsetshire; Margaret Newton (32) Dress maker, Daughter and Frances Phillips (3) Granddaughter. (Born Frances Coudun Phillips in 1857 D Quarter in MILE END OLD TOWN Volume 01C Page 542 mother's maiden name JACOBSON, bap. 20 Sep 1857 in Stepney, she was the daughter of Alfred James Phillips and Elizabeth Jacobson.)
(Wade Street in Poplar, East London, was part of the 19th-century Wade Estate developed to the north of Poplar High Street, historically characterized by two-storey brick terraces.
The Wade Estate, including Wade Street and Wade's Place , was developed over 40 years starting around 1823.)
William Newton (83) was admitted to
Poplar Workhouse on 8 Dec 1864 and discharged from that institution on 19 Dec 1867, it appears to Wapping.
William Newton died, aged 88, in 1868 D Qtr in STEPNEY Vol 01C Page 358.
Two of this Margaret's granddaughters being in the Newton households in 1851 and 1861, confirm the continuity and her maiden name of Charlton, and thus shows clearly that she was not Margaret Elizabeth Gabbedy.