Inherited Craziness
A place to share all the nuts found on my family tree

Showing posts with label Boxing Day. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Boxing Day. Show all posts

Monday 8 April 2024

Joseph Hill Adcock and Martha Naseby

St Andrew's Church, Rugby
G-13114, CC BY-SA 4.0


Joseph Hill Adcock, third son of James Adcock and Mary Hill, married Martha Naseby, fifth child of William Naseby and Eliza Thompson at St Andrew's Church, Rugby on 8 Apr 1869. Although not blood relatives, they were still keeping it in the family, as Joseph's father, James Adcock was the brother of Mary Adcock, wife of Daniel Thompson, who was the brother of Eliza Thompson, Martha's mother. Don't worry if you're still confused.

Joseph and Martha had four children: 
  1. George Hill Adcock b. 1870, bap. 9 Oct 1870 at St Andrew's, Rugby
  2. James William Adcock b. 1875, bap. 11 Jul 1875 at St Andrew's
  3. Mary Elizabeth Mobbs Adcock b. 1877, bap 29 Apr 1877 at St Matthew's, Rugby
  4. Louisa Cox Adcock b. 1880, bap. 26 Dec 1880 at St Matthew's, Rugby
In 1871: Joseph H Adcock (29), Gardener, Martha (21) and son George H (0).

Rugby-Clifton Road Cemetery
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Ian Rob - geograph.org.uk/p/749760

In 1881, living at Cemetry Lodge, Clifton Road, Rugby, Joseph Hill Adcock (39) was Cemetery Lodge Keeper. Living with him were wife Martha (31), George Hill (10), James William (5), Mary E (4) and Louisa C (0).

In 1891, in Clifton Road, Joseph Adcock (49) was Cemetery Manager. Listed also were Martha (41), George (20), William (15), Mary (14) and Louisa (10). 

Rugby-Oxford Street
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Ian Rob - geograph.org.uk/p/1227377

By 1901, living in Oxford Street, Rugby, Joseph Adcock (59) was a Shop Keeper, Green Grocer - perhaps working for or with his father-in-law, William Naseby - with wife Martha (51) and James Bazely (15) Errand Boy.

Joseph Hill Adcock died on 25 Aug 1903, aged 61. Probate was granted on 5 Oct 1903 with Martha Adcock the sole beneficiary. Martha Adcock died in 1908, aged 58 and was buried, on 1 May 1908, at Newbold-on-Avon.

Friday 12 January 2024

Joseph Phillips and Ann Clarke

St Mary Magdalene, North Ockendon - East end
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © John Salmon - geograph.org.uk/p/2657540

Joseph Phillips married Ann Clarke at St Mary Magdalene churchNorth Ockendon on 12 Jan 1801, the first ancestors I've found in this branch.

Joseph and Ann had at least five sons:
  1. James Phillips bap. 12 Feb 1804 (buried 21 Nov 1804) both at St. NicholasSouth Ockendon
  2. Thomas Phillips bap. 25 May 1806 at St. NicholasSouth Ockendon
  3. James Phillips bap. 17 Jul 1808 at St. NicholasSouth Ockendon (buried 2 Oct 1814 at St Michael, Aveley)
  4. William Phillips b. 25 Dec 1810, bap. 20 Jan 1811 at St Michael's, Aveley. (There is a burial of a William Phillips, aged 31, on 25 Apr 1841 in Rainham that may relate.)
  5. Isaac Phillips bap. 26 Dec 1813 at St Giles & All SaintsOrsett
There was a burial of an Ann Phillips (37) in Grays Thurrock on 18 Apr 1819. 

In 1841, Joseph Phillips (65) with wife Susan (50), Eliza Phillips (20) and Emma Phillips (1) were living in West Thurrock, Orsett, so it appears he remarried and assume Eliza was their child (not found marriage or baptism records). Emma Phillips b. 1840 J Quarter in ORSETT UNION Volume 12 Page 174 was an illegitimate child, presumably Eliza's daughter.

There is a death of a Joseph Phillips in 1844 J Quarter in ORSETT Volume 12 Page 127, aged 67, who was buried in West Thurrock, Essex. 

Susannah Phillips died, at 57, in 1851 M Quarter in ORSETT Volume 12 Page 137 and was also buried in West Thurrock, Essex.

Tuesday 26 December 2023

Boxing Day Marriages, Births and Baptisms

Sunrise Boxing Day Morning
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Michael Trolove - geograph.org.uk/p/2210024

The article, Christmas weddings in Victorian England, also mentions that Boxing Day was one of the days when churches often offered their services free or at reduced rates. That may well have come from the origins of the day itself, so named "Boxing Day", as "Charitable boxes – collections of money – would have been given out at the church door to the needy".

In the family, we find these Boxing Day weddings:

Three Boxing Day births:

And christenings on Boxing Day:

These are just for a bit of topical interest and are only the ones found "so far", because there are so many record transcriptions that only give a vague idea of the year or the quarter when someone was born, or married. It would be impossible to buy every original certificate that gives the exact dates. 

Dan Stephen Thompson Botterill and Mary Jane Harris

Skull & crossbones on the gatepost at the entrance to
St. Nicholas' Church, Deptford Green, SE8

cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Mike Quinn - geograph.org.uk/p/1499463

Dan Stephen Thompson Botterill, son of Daniel Botterill and Sarah Elizabeth Tompson, married Mary Jane Harris, daughter of Alfred Richard Harris and Jane Elizabeth Jones, at Christ Church Watney Street, on 26 Dec 1878

Dan, a fitter, gave his address as 225 Cable Street. Mary Jane's address was 34 Deptford Green, where her father was a baker by trade. Dan had spent his early years in Deptford Green too, when his parents kept The White Hart, which the census records show was next door to the bakery. Witnesses to the marriage were Alfred Richard Harris - who could have been Mary Jane's father or her younger brother - and Eliza Ann Harris, the bride's sister.

Dan and Mary had eight children: 
  1. John Botterill b. 1880 M Quarter in HOLBORN Vol 01B Page 742
  2. Daniel Thompson Botterill b. 1882 M Qtr in GREENWICH Vol 01D 987
  3. Alice Botterill b. 1884 S Quarter in GREENWICH Vol 01D Page 981
  4. Kate Elizabeth b. 1886 J Quarter in GREENWICH Vol 01D Page 1008
  5. Bessie Botterill b. 1 Aug 1888 S Quarter in HOLBORN Vol 01B 756
  6. Esther Botterill b. 1891 M Quarter in GREENWICH Vol 01D Page 1089
  7. Alfred Botterill b. 31 Oct 1894 D Qtr in GREENWICH Vol 01D 1045
  8. Florrie Botterill b. 1900 M Quarter in GREENWICH Vol 01D Page 1072
In 1881, they were living at 16, Duke Street, St Paul Deptford, Greenwich, with Dan (24), Engine Fitter, Mary (22) and their eldest child, John (1).

In 1891, living in Bentham Street, St Paul Deptford, Greenwich, we find Dan (34), Steam Engine Fitter, Mary (32), Daniel (9), Bessie (2) and Esther (0), as well as Thomas Thompson (54), a blacksmith and Janet Thompson (51), visitors, from Monkwearmouth, Durham. John (11) and Alice (6) were visiting their Botterill grandparents at the Holly Tree Arms in Lewisham, while Kate was staying with her Harris grandparents at The Green, Deptford.

Son Daniel Thompson was baptised on 22 Mar 1900 at St James Hatcham.

In 1901, still at Bentham Street, Deptford, were Dan (44), Marine Engine Fitter, Mary Jane (42), Daniel (19), Alice (19), Kate (14), Bessie (12), Esther (10), Alfred (6) and Florrie (1). John (21), Sign Writer, was staying with his grandmother, Sarah Elizabeth Botterill at 49, Wisteria Road, Lewisham. 

By 1911, they'd moved to 65 Childers St, Deptford, with Dan (54), Marine and General Fitter, Mary (52), Alice (26), Seed Packer, Bessie Standing (22) (married in 1909), Esther Botterill (20), Seed Packer, Alfred Botterill (16), Pattern Maker Apprentice, Florrie Botterill (11), Thomas Harris (31), Boiler Makers Rivetter (Mary Jane's brother) and George Standing (0), visitor. John Botterill (31), was still at 49 Wisteria Road, Lewisham with his aunt, Mary Louisa Adcock Botterill. Daniel Thompson Botterill, who had married in 1905, had died in 1908, aged just 26. Kate Botterill, in 1911, was working as a Housemaid at 50 Pall Mall, St James Westminster, London. 

Dan Stephen Thompson Botterill died on 16 Apr 1917, aged 60 and was buried in Brockley and Ladywell Cemetery together with his parents.

In 1921, Mary Botterill (62) Widow, was still living at 65, Childers Street, Deptford with Kate Botterill (35) Dispatch Clerk Film Trade; Esther Botterill (30) Machine Hand Film Trade; Alfred Botterill (26) Engineers Pattern & Maker and Florrie Botterill (21) Purse Hand Leather Worker. John Botterill (41) Sign Writer, was once again living with his aunt, Mary L A Botterill at 69, Old Road, Lee, Lewisham. Also living at 65, Childers Street, Deptford, were George and Bessie Standing and their two sons. Alice had disappeared.

Mary Jane Botterill died on 12 Apr 1924, aged 65.

  • John Botterill, died, unmarried, at 55 in Deptford in 1936
  • Kate Elizabeth Botterill died, at 80, in New Zealand, in 1966

Postcard sent to Alice Botterill at 65 Childers Street, Deptford

Thomas Tooze and Mary Summers

Halberton Church (St Andrew's)
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © David Smith - geograph.org.uk/p/2860942

Thomas Tooze (b. 1801), son of Thomas Tooze and Joan Potter, married Mary Summers (b. 1804), daughter of John Summers and Sarah Middleton, at St Andrews ChurchHalberton on Boxing Day, 26 Dec 1823.

This Thomas and Mary Tooze had 10 children:
  1. James Tooze bap. 16 May 1824 in Holcombe Rogus
  2. John Tooze bap. 16 Sep 1826 (Buried in Holcombe Rogus in 1827)
  3. Charles Tooze bap. 30 Mar 1828 in Holcombe Rogus
  4. Fanny Tooze bap. 16 Nov 1830 in Holcombe Rogus
  5. John Tooze bap. 26 May 1833 (Buried in Holcombe Rogus in 1833)
  6. Stephen Tooze bap. 20 Jul 1834 in Holcombe Rogus
  7. John Tooze bap. 9 Feb 1840 in Holcombe Rogus
  8. Jesse Tooze b. 1844 M Quarter in WELLINGTON SOMERSET AND DEVON Volume 10 Page 501, bap. 4 Jan 1844 in Holcombe Rogus
  9. Sarah Ann Tooze b. 1846 J Quarter in WELLINGTON SOMERSET AND DEVON Volume 10 Page 509 (No baptism record found)
  10. Eliza Tooze bap. 5 Aug 1849 in Holcombe Rogus
All of the baptisms list their father as Thomas Tooze, Thatcher.

The civil birth registrations of Jesse and Sarah Ann - the only two for whom these records exist - both show their mother's maiden name as Summers.

In 1841, Thomas Tooze (40) and Mary Tooze (35) were living at Tinckham, Holcombe Rogus - as was Thomas' younger brother, Richard Tooze, the Chairmaker - with Charles Tooze (12), Fanny Tooze (10), Stephen Tooze (7) and John Tooze (1). Eldest son, James Tooze (15) was living with his grandmother, Joan Tooze (70) by the New Inn, Holcombe Rogus. 

In 1851, Thomas Tooze, Thatcher, and Mary Tooze were in Holcombe Rogus with Stephen Tooze (17) Ag Lab; John Tooze (11) Thatcher's Boy; Jesse Tooze (7), Sarah Ann tooze (4) and Eliza Tooze (1). 

In 1861, Thomas Tooze (61) Thatcher, Mary Tooze (58) Lace Mender and John Tooze (21) Thatcher, were living at Rull Cottage, Higher Besley [Farm], Holcombe Rogus. Jesse Tooze (19) Carter, was employed by Mark Brown (24) Farmer at Higher Besley. And Eliza Tooze (12) was a servant in the household of Robert Brown (53) Inn Keeper at Halfway House, Willand.

Thomas Tooze died in 1868 D Quarter in WELLINGTON Volume 05C Page 255, age estimated to 68, buried on 22 Nov 1868, in Holcombe Rogus.

In 1871, Mary Tooze (68) Widow, Pauper, Mother-in-Law was living in the household of Henry Hawkins (25) Carpenter at Durley Moor Cottage, Holcombe Rogus. (Henry Hawkins had married 'Jessie' Tooze, in 1868, so we can only conclude that this is what Sarah Ann was calling herself.)

In 1881, Mary Tooze (78) Widow, Pauper, Mother-in-Law, was living in the household of Robert Gillard (34) Ag Lab in Fore Street, Holcombe Rogus. (Robert Gillard had married youngest daughter, Eliza Tooze.) On this census it incorrectly says that Mary was from Uffculme, however, this still makes sense as it's where her parents married and her elder siblings were born.

Mary Tooze died in 1884 M Quarter in WELLINGTON, SOMERSET AND DEVON Volume 05C Page 253, with age estimated to 82.

Harry Stone and Ellen Minnie Loud

Axminster: Church of St Mary and WWI War Memorial
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Mr Eugene Birchall - geograph.org.uk/p/3423250

Harry Stone (b. 17 Nov 1902), youngest son of Charles Stone and Emma Middleton, married Ellen Minnie Loud (b. 6 Sep 1904), 13th child of George Alfred Loud and Tryphena Davis, on 26 Dec 1929, in Axminster.

In 1939, Harry Stone, General Labourer and Ellen M Stone, Ironer (Laundry) lived at 12, North Street, Axminster. Living with them was Amelia M Stratchcombe (b. 1918), Domestic Servant. My feeling is that she was most likely to have been a boarder or lodger who worked elsewhere. 

Harry and Ellen had one son in 1948 (afaik, still living).

Ellen M Stone died on 1 Mar 1966, aged 62. 

Harry Stone died in 1982, aged 80.

Tuesday 31 October 2023

Joseph Adcock and Sarah Cook

All Saints, Pytchley
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © Ian Rob - geograph.org.uk/p/5413142

Joseph Adcock and Sarah Cook married, on 31 Oct 1803, at All Saints, Pytchley, Northamptonshire. Sarah was from the village, having been been baptised at the same church on 16 May 1780, the daughter of John and Sarah Cook. Joseph, was from the market town of Wellingborough, baptised at All Hallows Church, on 19 Jul 1776, the son of William Adcock.

Joseph and Sarah had nine children:
  1. William Adcock bap. 25 Oct 1804 (buried 29 Jan 1805)
  2. John Cook Adcock bap. 8 Aug 1805 (buried 24 Sep 1805)
  3. Elizabeth Adcock bap. 27 Oct 1806 (buried 16 Nov 1806)
  4. Lydia Adcock bap. 12 Nov 1807 
  5. William Adcock bap. 9 Jan 1809 (buried 9 Nov 1809)
  6. Mary Adcock bap. 30 Apr 1810
  7. John Adcock bap. 28 Jul 1811
  8. James Adcock bap. 31 Dec 1812
  9. Elizabeth Adcock bap. 26 Dec 1814
On son James' marriage certificate, Joseph's profession is listed as a Baker.

Joseph Adcock died at 38 and was buried, in Pytchley, on 26 Jul 1814.

Sarah Adcock died, aged 52, and was buried in Pytchley, on 15 May 1832.

Monday 4 September 2023

John Oxford and Elizabeth Lang

Charles Church, the second most ancient parish church in Plymouth.
cc-by-sa/2.0 - © N Chadwick - geograph.org.uk/p/5218300

John Oxford (bap. 26 Dec 1777), son of Henry and Mary Oxford, married Elizabeth Lang (bap. 24 Aug 1778 in Stoke Damerel), daughter of James Lang and Mary Smart, on 4 Sep 1803 at Charles Church, Plymouth.

John and Elizabeth had at least the following five children, all baptised at Plymouth, Charles the Martyr (Charles Church, Plymouth):
  1. John Oxford b. 7 Sep 1804, bap. 7 Apr 1805. With a subsequent child also named John, it is likely this child died as an infant and there is indeed a burial of a John Oxford, although the age is not listed, on 28 Oct 1805.
  2. John Lang Oxford b. 29 Nov 1807, bap. 6 Jan 1808.
  3. Elizabeth Ann Mills Oxford b. 22 Aug 1808, bap. 27 Aug 1809. Died, aged 12, and was buried at Charles Church, Plymouth on 15 May 1820.
  4. Henry Lang Oxford b. 13 Aug 1810, bap. 28 Oct 1810.
  5. Mary Amelia Oxford b. 29 Nov 1811, bap. 15 Jun 1817. Baptism lists her as Mary Emilia (sic) and John's occupation as Shipwright.
By 1841, John Oxford (60) was resident in Devonport Workhouse (previously Stoke Damerel Parish Workhouse). I can't find Elizabeth.

Elizabeth Oxford died, in Stoke Damerel, on 22 Dec 1845 (1845 D Quarter in STOKE DAMEREL Volume 09 Page 262) and was buried, in the parish of Stoke Damerel, on 26 Dec 1845. Her age, estimated to 60 (she was 67), is likely just a wild guess by the overseers. Her residence at the time of death was 'Workhouse'. "Until the National Health Service was established in 1948, the Workhouse Infirmary was one of the few places where medical care could be obtained free of charge. As a result, many babies were born in the Workhouse and many older people ended their days there." [SourceInside Plymouth's dismal Workhouses which housed the poor and disabled.

In 1851, John Oxford (74) Widower, is again listed at the Workhouse in Stoke Damerel, proudly listed as "Shipwright Employed Thirty Men".

John Oxford died, aged 76, on 16 Aug 1853 (1853 S Quarter in STOKE DAMEREL Volume 05B Page 184). Once more, the record of his burial, on 20 Aug 1853, in that parish, gives his last address as 'Workhouse'.

Monday 10 July 2023

Con Colleano and Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail

Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail and Con Colleano

Cornelius Sullivan (b. 26 Dec 1899 in Lismore, New South Wales), Theatrical, son of Cornelius Sullivan and Julia Robinson, married my 2nd cousin, twice removed, Winifred Constance Stanley Trevail (b. 16 Sep 1900 in Lambeth, Surrey), Actress, daughter of Herbert Fleming Trevail and Alice Maud Stanley Blazey on 10 July 1926 in DetroitWayne County, Michigan. The marriage record states that they were married by the Associate Pastor of the Central Methodist Episcopal Church, from which I deduce that the venue was the Central United Methodist Church (Detroit), although they were resident in Brooklyn, New York. Both stated they had not been married before.

Known professionally as Con Colleano, Cornelius Sullivan, was the most famous and highest paid "swashbuckling circus performer with matinee idol looks" of his time, “The Australian Wizard of the Wire”. A member of the Circus Hall of Fame, Con Colleano is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the first person to prefect the forward somersault on the tight wire. 

"Mrs. Winnie Colleano (neé Trevail) was herself a well known Australian Vaudeville Soubrette", dancer and trapeze artist." One article says that Winnie Trevail began appearing on the stage in Sydney as a child, but actually, she was performing before that in New Zealand. There in Lyttelton, New Zealand in 1909 - where her father's aunts, Ellen Higgs and Mary Ann Burn Trevail Bawden then lived - reports in the Lyttelton Times in Oct 1909 detail that Miss Winnie Trevail was appearing in one of the principle roles in a production staged by the Garrick Juvenile Opera Company, at the Opera House there. 

Trevail abandoned her own career in 1924 to travel with her husband.

Con Colleano on a slack-wire, circa 1920
Con Colleano, was of Aboriginal, Anglo-Irish and West Indian descent and adopted a Spanish persona and a costume of a ‘toreador’ or bullfighter.

Colleano’s Indigenous heritage was unknown to his fans – which included one of history’s most infamous racists - "Few people are aware of the fact that in the 1930’s, Adolf Hitler issued an Aboriginal Australian tightrope walker with a German passport so he could come and go as he pleased."

Passenger lists reveal that Cornelius Sullivan and Winifred C. S. Trevail left Southampton, England on 13 Sep 1924, on the RMS Berengaria (former SS Imperator), The first Cunard "Queen". This was their first trip to the US, so their port of arrival was the infamous Ellis Island, New York. Various sources tell us that, in 1924, Con made his debut at the New York Hippodrome before returning to the circus with Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey Circus.

There's also record of Cornelius and Winifred C Sullivan Colleano travelling from Southampton to New York, on the Berengaria, on 24 Feb 1937.

On 7 Jan 1938, Cornelius and Winifred (Sullivan) Colleano, left Sydney, bound for California, on the luxury ocean linerSS Mariposa (1931).

On 8 Sep 1939, Cornelius and Winifred Sullivan, listed as British, boarded the Italian ocean liner, SS Rex, leaving Genoa, bound for New York.

In 1940, they are shown arriving in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

These, I'm sure are just the tip of a globe-trotting iceberg, but it was finding these records of voyages that led me to discover more of their story.

The former Albion Hotel (pub) at Forbes, New South Wales, Sheba, CC BY-SA 2.0

"Sadly Con and Winnie ultimately lost all their money indulging in a luxurious lifestyle, giving it away to friends and making a disastrous investment in a pub in outback Australia in the 1950s (what were they thinking?)."

Con Sullivan died, in Miami, Florida, on 13 Nov 1973 and in his obituary in The Stage, the wife of Con's brother is quoted as saying, "His wife WINNIE has cabled that she is broken-hearted because she found my dear brother-in-law lying dead, obviously she is too shocked to tell me more."

Winnie returned to Australia, where she died, in Sydney, in on 5 Jan 1986. 


While researching, I found a record of a marriage of a Winifred C Trevail, in Victoria, Australia, in 1919 to a Leonard Mendoza. It would take $20 AUS to obtain the certificate to see if there are enough clues to tell whether this is the same Winifred C Trevail, but just how many people named Winifred C Trevail are there likely to be in the same area? We know Winnie was in Melbourne before this, because in the Victoria Police Gazette of 11 Apr 1918, is: "TREVAIL, WINNIE theatrical, 7 McKenzie Street, Melbourne, reports stolen from the dressing-room, Bijou Theatre, Bourke Street, Melbourne on the 3rd inst. a diamond cluster ring, diamond in the centre set with other stones around, the centre stone is set a little to side, gold band at side of setting is wavy. Value £8." It's obvious this report is from "our" Winnie and hard to accept that a completely different Winifred C Trevail turned up in the very same area only a year later. Someone with the surname Mendoza even sounds like Winnie's "type". It's said that Winnie met Con, in Melbourne, Victoria, when she was 22. What can have happened to Leonard Mendoza? If he died, or they had divorced, Winnie would have listed that she was a widow, or a divorcee when she married Con. Was Winnie committing bigamy in 1926?

I'm much amused by self-aggrandising family stories, but this one probably takes the biscuit - although no surprise perhaps among theatrical types. In several articles, it mentions that Winnie "claimed descent from the Earls of Derby" and it appears that the source of that quote is her own brother, Eric, so it may well have been a story perpetuated in the family. A claim doesn't make it true though! And through which side would that be, I wonder? The line we share to the 'illegitimate born' former dyer who downgraded to labourer in Norfolk, or the bankrupted tenant farmer in Cornwall? Lovely people, I'm sure, but Earls or any other type of nobs they were not!

Sources (many of these links contain images):

Further reading: The wizard of the wire : the story of Con Colleano