The Moore Granddaughter

Eliza E Moore, age 7, born Christchurch Hampshire, was a Granddaughter in the household of William and Elizabeth Moore in the 1871 census (mentioned previously in 21 siblings - part 3).  In the next census Eliza was still with them, age 17, occupation Dressmaker.  Life moved on for her and in the 1891 census she was a Ladys Maid, progressing to Housekeeper by 1901 and then in the 1911 census her occupation was Proprietress Apartment House, with a Parlour Maid and Kitchen Maid living there too.

There was a death registration for Eliza E Moore age 76 in 1939 so it seems she remained unmarried.  That deprives us of the opportunity to find her father's name on a marriage certificate.  Also, there is no sign of a birth registration for Eliza Moore in the Christchurch district, which would have provided the name of her mother and father.  So who were her parents and which one of them connected Eliza to the grandparents in whose house she lived during her childhood?

Let's examine the census records more closely for any clues about family connections:

• 1891:  Ladys Maid in the household of Lavinia A Dutton age 76, Head of the household, Widow, occupation: Living On Own Means, and her Daughter Louisa E L Dutton age 40, Single, occupation: Chicken Fancier.  In total there were four Servants: Housekeeper, Ladys Maid (Eliza), House Maid and Footman.
• 1901 census  Housekeeper-Domestic, with two young women as General Servant-Domestic, in the household of Frederick Lovell age 57, Lodging House Keeper.
• 1911 census  Proprietress Apartment House and in her household was Frederick Lovell age 68, Widower, Stepfather.

Now let us not get distracted by the concept of being a Ladys Maid to a Chicken Fancier!  Note that in 1901 Eliza is a Servant Housekeeper in the Lodging House of Frederick Lovell then 10 years later the two of them are still together but Eliza is the Head of the household, Proprietress, and Frederick is recorded as her Stepfather, which would make him the husband of Eliza's mother.  What luck - a new clue!

There was a marriage registration for Frederick Lovell and Phoebe Moore late in 1879 and a little over a year later Frederick Lovell age 37, Lodging House Keeper, was with his Wife Phoebe Lovell age 39 in the 1881 census.  Eliza was 16 years old at the time of the marriage between her mother and stepfather.

To summarise the overall story once the various information is joined together, William Moore married Elizabeth Hoskins who brought with her a daughter only a few months old called Phoebe Hoskins and she grew up in his home as Phoebe Moore.  Then history repeated itself - at about the same age as her mother had been, Phoebe had her own daughter, whose birth was registered and baptism recorded as Eliza Elizabeth Hoskins (1863, Christchurch).  Like her mother before her, Eliza grew up in William's home and used the surname Moore throughout her life.

Moore of Motcombe - part 4

Brothers William and John Moore had an Uncle James Bartley (see Moore of Motcombe - part 3).  Exactly how was this uncle related?

• Father's brother?  No - their father was William Moore and his brother would share that surname.
• Mother's brother?  No - their mother was Anna/Hannah Parsons and her brother would share that surname.
• Father's sister or mother's sister was Aunt Bartley?  Most likely.  (Less likely would be that someone had an unexpected surname, different from the other members of their family.)

So what was the birth name of Aunt Bartley, wife of Uncle James Bartley?  The events we are learning about took place before civil registration so we are relying on church parish registers.  I am very thankful that the registers for baptisms, marriages and burials have been transcribed and are freely available on the internet (Dorset OPC (Online Parish Clerk) Motcombe).  Another advantage is that the extended family stayed in the same parish for many years.

From the Parish of Motcombe register transcriptions (Marriages 1672 - 1836 and Baptisms 1753 - 1812) we can see that:

• James Bartlett married Harriet Parsons (Nov 1806).
• Harriet Parsons (baptised Dec 1780) was the daughter of Joseph and Mary Parsons.
• Anna Parsons (baptised May 1775) was also the daughter of Joseph Parsons (register only shows father's name at that time).

Also,

• James and Harriet/Hariot had a son Walter Bartley (baptised Nov 1807) and a son Stephen Bartlett (baptised May 1809).

Selected family members related to John Moore and his Uncle James Bartley

So the relationship between nephews and Uncle can be established from the parish registers - with the acceptance that Anna and Hannah are the same person, Harriet, Harriot and Hariot are different spellings for the same name, as well as Bartley and Bartlett being variants for the same family name.

Moore of Motcombe - part 3

Having searched the internet for three keywords and found a prize clue (see Moore of Motcombe - part 2), I tried the same approach again, reviewing internet search results for a new combination of three words - Moore Motcombe Methodist.  My emotional high went up another level as I read, "John was born on 16 November 1807 at Motcombe to parents William and Anna. He was converted in November 1826 whilst attending a service at his uncle James Bartley’s farmhouse." (Moore, John (1807-1875)).

My great-great-grandfather William Moore had been baptised in 1805 in Motcombe to William and Anna, making him the older brother of this John Moore, Methodist convert.

A little more digging in the fertile swathes of the internet led me to a detailed biographical article about Rev John Moore.  Apparently he recorded the conversion event and stated it was "November 5, 1826, at half-past ten o'clock at night, while on my knees in the kitchen of my uncle James Bartley's farm-house".  (From Connexional Biography written by H.G. Button, Primitive Methodist Magazine 1876, page 297-299.)

Furthermore John Moore said, "My aunt Bartley was praying when I believed; but there were my brother, uncle Bartley, Walter, and Stephen on their knees at the same time. My brother and seven more had found the Lord at the meeting at Enmore Green the same night, where we had all been."

To my knowledge, John had one sister and one brother.  Consequently, I concluded that my great-great-grandfather William Moore found the Lord at a Methodist meeting in the hamlet of Enmore Green, Motcombe, during the evening of Sunday 5th November 1826 at about 20 years of age.

I was truly delighted and amazed to have found such personal and specific details about a relative from nearly 200 years ago.  However, once I had absorbed the article's biographical details about John Moore, and stared a picture of him in later life (see below), I immediately started wondering about the identity of Uncle James Bartley, Aunt Bartley, Walter and Stephen.  This hobby is a never-ending chain of mysteries - once new facts have been recorded then new loose ends beguile.

Image presented on "My Primitive Methodists" website page Moore, John (1807-1875)

Moore of Motcombe - part 2

Previously, we saw that William Moore, blacksmith, and his wife Hester (Ester) had a son baptised in an Anglican church in Motcombe, Dorset in April 1830.  Then four years later they had two children baptised in a Methodist Chapel in Salisbury, Wiltshire.

The record of William and Hester's marriage had not mentioned occupation or parents.  However, after her death when he remarried in 1840 that registration recorded William Moore as a blacksmith of Motcombe and his father was also William Moore, blacksmith.

A few years later there was a marriage registration for Meshach Moore, a blacksmith of Motcombe with his father named as Meshach Moore, blacksmith.  I assumed that with the same surname, sharing the same specialised occupation, in a village of about 1,500 inhabitants (1841 data quoted in Hunt's Trade Directory of 1851), these men were likely to be related to one another.

There was some support for this idea - Meshach was a witness at William's marriage.  However, looking at the parish register as whole, it is striking that the name Meshach Moore appears as a witness on nearly 25% of 700 or so marriages there over a 34 year period of time (data from "Parish of Motcombe Marriages 1837 - 1875 transcribed from parish registers by Jan Genge Kennedy 2003").  According to the 1851 local trade directory Meshach Moore was "blacksmith and parish clerk".

Searching the internet for the three keywords - Moore Motcombe Blacksmith  - I was delighted to find a page called "History of Motcombe Forge".  It says, "From 1822 three successive generations of the same family at Motcombe Forge were parish clerks and blacksmiths, all having the same name of Meshach Moore."  So the 150 or so marriage registrations from 1837 onwards were probably not all witnessed by the same Meshach Moore.

Reading on, the History of Motcombe Forge page also declares, "work was obviously plentiful as there were two other forges in the village, although one of the new blacksmiths was a dissenter (a Primitive Methodist) and he did not get any work from the Lord of the Manor or the Church!"  So could this be a description of my great-great-grandfather - a religious non-conformist who lost customers in his home village?  William Moore's link to Salisbury may have been to find work as well as to connect with fellow Methodists there.

Moore of Motcombe - part 1

On 16 September 1827 my great-great-grandfather William Moore, Bachelor of Motcombe, Dorset, England, married Hester Dowland, Spinster, in her parish church of Holy Trinity Shaftesbury.  Banns had been published in both of their churches on three Sundays in August.  For the wedding day itself, the parish marriage register show signatures for the groom, bride and two witnesses, Mary Moore and John Bennett.

Having married in her parish, the couple then lived in his parish, as was typical.  Two-and-a-half years later on 18 April 1830 William and Hester had their son William baptised in Motcombe, with the father's occupation recorded as blacksmith.  This seems to be the only time that the couple appear in that Church of England baptism register.  A researcher starting from here could easily assume that William Moore had only one child.

They could have died.  They could have moved.  With such a common name, the hope of finding what happened to them next seemed small.  However, in 1834 there is a record showing that Charles Dowland Moore son of William Moore and his wife Ester, daughter of John and Ester Dowland, was baptised in St Edmund's Church Street Methodist Chapel, Salisbury, Wiltshire.  The couple had chosen this Wesleyan church for the baptism, and helpfully this church recorded the mother's parents' names too.

Was a relocation more than 20 miles to Salisbury plausible?  To my amazement I read online recently, "In 1827 Salisbury was regularly visited by preachers from the Primitive Methodists in Motcombe" (Salisbury Methodist Church History).  If the names on the baptism record were not enough, this link between the locations was further evidence that I was looking at the right family.

In fact, it was double celebration in the church that day.  Charles Dowland Moore and Ester Nott Dowland Moore were both baptised on 26 March 1834.  Charles was the younger child and his birth is recorded on the baptism record as 25 January 1834.  Ester's entry gives her date of birth as 27 October 1832, showing that they were siblings rather than twins.

The baptism records for Charles and Ester (elsewhere called Hester) both include Dowland for a middle name, which was their mother's maiden name.  In addition, the record for Ester also includes the name Nott.  Elsewhere I have seen their maternal grandmother's maiden name as Knott so I could say, "not Nott but Knott".

21 siblings - part 4

Although William Moore died in 1890, his widow Elizabeth formerly Hoskins, appeared in another three census reports, surviving to 1914 when she died age 92.

The 1911 census aimed to gather new information from each married woman: how many years they had been married, how many children had been born alive, the number still living and a count of the number who had already died.  The intention was that this data was only collected for the woman's current marriage, without reference to any previous marriage, without counting step-children, and without any data required from widows or husbands

However, Elizabeth Moore, Widow, filled in these columns on her census form.  She wrote that her marriage had produced 13 children, of which 4 were still living and 9 had died.  This called for a review to see if I could ascribe 13 children to Elizabeth and work out which 4 were still alive in 1911, with confirmation about the deaths of the other 9 of her children before 1911, if possible.

To date, I have only been able to identify 11 birth registrations for William Moore and Elizabeth.  They married in 1842, a unnamed baby girl was born and died a year later.  After that births were registered every two to two-and-a-half years until 1864, when Elizabeth was in her mid 40s.  There is no apparent gap in the sequence to suggest there is a child missing on the timeline.  However, I am still open to that possibility.

Then there was the little matter of confirming who were the parents of all the others in the set of 21 children that included my great-grandmother Moore.  Phoebe Moore who is age 9 on the 1851 census seems likely to be the Phoebe Hoskins whose birth was registered in 1841 with no father named.

William's oldest children were born before civil registration began, following his marriage to Hester Dowland.  The next blog post will be all about them.  Meanwhile, the middle of William's three wives, Amelia Lear, died only one-and-a-half years after their marriage.  She did feature on the 1841 census as part of the family but apparently did not contribute any children to the flock.  As with the rest of the details about this large family, I await correction or new information from descendants or other enthusiasts.

21 siblings - part 3

Recently I reviewed the census records for the Moore family to remind myself about the various members and perhaps follow-up what happened to the younger generation when they themselves had their own families.

The records for 1841 did not include family relationships - just a list of names, ages (with each adult's rounded down to the nearest multiple of 5) and "Profession, Trade, Employment" with an indication of whether each person was born in, or out, of their present county.  However, based on the ages, it seemed reasonable to conclude that the household consisted of father, mother and four children.

For 1851 onward the census records showed that there were various combinations of sons and daughters in the household of William Moore.  My attention was caught by some unexpected lines on the 1871 and 1881 census pages:

• In 1871 there was a granddaughter Eliza age 7, still there in 1881 age 17. 
  I tried to make sense of the relationships and ages: my great-grandmother age 16 was a year younger than Eliza but was actually her aunt!

• In 1871 there was also a boarder (lodger) Charles Parsons, age 22, unmarried.  By 1881 he was head of the next household down the page, age 32 and married with a wife called Mary, also age 32.  In fact in 1881 the household of Charles Parsons included a step-son called Ernest Moore age 12.
  To summarise my surprising conclusions: the 1871 household of William Moore contained his unmarried daughter Mary age 22, a grandson age 2 and boarder Charles.  By the 1881 census Charles and Mary had married and their family comprised three children including what turned out to be Mary's son.

Eventually, I noticed the address column on the left of the 1881 census page.  The top of the page showed that William was (still) living in Commercial Road, Bournemouth (see NLS Historic Maps).  The line for his household said "No 94" ("No" being a short form of "Number"), an improvement on the previous census which had no street numbers.  Then, to my further surprise, I saw that his daughter and son-in-law in the next household were actually living at "No 94a".  This was an extended family where generations overlapped in time and space!

Therefore, if we count Eliza who was part of William's household, and his other grandchildren who were also living right there, then the total number altogether reaches 21.  No exaggeration, no poor memories, no counting miscarriages - just a close family where all those under William's roof over the years may have considered themselves as brothers and sisters.

21 siblings - part 2

Using census records I had found the names of 11 out of an expected 21 children in the family of my great-grandmother Moore (see 21 siblings - part 1).  The next stage came years later when I discovered that, without purchasing each certificate, I could find the mother's maiden name for births registered in England from 1837 onwards using the GRO Online Index.

Once I was certain that I had the details of William Moore's marriage to Elizabeth Hoskins, which was in 1842, then I looked for births registered with the surname Moore and the mother's maiden name Hoskins.  My great-grandmother, Frances Kate Moore born in 1864, seemed to be their last child.  Before her was a birth registration for Emily Jane Moore in 1862, a daughter who had not appeared on any census with the rest of the family.

A search of the death registration index found an entry for Emily Jane, in the same registration district, 2 years after the birth and recorded as age 2.  There were other losses as well.  A birth registration for Walter in 1857 was matched by a death registration in the same quarter of the year.  Harriet died age 1 and a couple of years earlier Alice had died without reaching her first birthday.

Using this approach of comparing birth registrations with the father's and mother's surnames against death registrations I found the earliest case was the most poignant.  In 1843 a baby girl was born alive (only live births are included in the usual registration index) but died without having been given a name.

With a heavy heart, I added these 5 children to the family tree.  Combining those who appeared in the census records, plus those who were born and died in the intervening years, there was now a set of 16 siblings.  A better research result but still short of the expected 21 in the family.

Not for the first time, I wondered whether the story passed down the generations was a slight exaggeration or the result of the family just not remembering accurately how many babies were born altogether.  Another possibility was that as well as experiencing the death of babies and young children, perhaps there had been stillbirths that were included in the total.  I put the topic aside, not expecting to ever be able to piece together the whole family.

21 siblings - part 1

Early on in my family history conversations, a relative told me that my great-grandmother came from a very large number of siblings - about 21 (see Miss, Mrs, Mrs).  No-one could tell me who they all were but over the decades, as I became more experienced and as extra sources of information became accessible, I added more of her brothers and sisters to my list.

In the 1881 census my great-grandmother age 16 was at home with an older sister age 21 and their parents William Moore age 75 and Elizabeth age 60.  10 years earlier, in the previous census, William age 65 and Elizabeth age 49 also had 3 older children at home, making a total of 4 daughters and 1 son.  Back another decade and there are 2 further sons at home, age 14 and 16 at that time.  So that gets us to 7 children - a long way from the rumoured 21 siblings.

When I found the 1851 census record, the older children whom I had seen before were present and between the ages of 2 and 9 years with their parents William age 46 and Elizabeth age 29.  With them was a son called Charles age 17.  Great - I had found an extra person to count towards my target of 21 siblings.

However, Charles was only 12 years younger than his mother, presumably his step-mother.  Now the 15 year age gap between husband and wife made more sense.  With the running total of 8 children in the family, I knew it was worth looking for an earlier wife and children for William.

The 1841 census showed Charles age 7 and a younger brother age 6 as well as an older sister and older brother.  The addition of these 3 to the family tree brought the total up to 11 siblings from William and his wives.

At this point, I had found half of the family and been through all of the census years from William's lifetime.

Miss, Mrs, Mrs

There is a double-sided glass locket in my jewellery box which contains a photograph of my mother as a young girl.  That is actually around the back, with the front showing a picture of her mother and aunt as small children.  What is more I have a portrait of their mother and she is wearing the locket.  On close inspection it is possible to see that it actually holds the same photo of her daughters that is still in my great-grandmother's locket now, more than 100 years later.

On the reverse of the portrait photograph, in the shaky handwriting of my grandmother in later life, is written "Frances Kate Gould my mother".  Alongside these objects I received stories such as: Frances came from a large family of about 21 children, she had been a school teacher, been married previously and had three children of whom one died young and was buried in the same place as his father.

So how did my great-grandfather come to marry a widow, become a step-father and have what might today be called a blended family?  My earliest notes from interviewing family members say that my great-grandmother was Mrs Gould, formerly Mrs Down, née Miss Moore.  He was Albert Edward Gould and his first wife was Judith Down.  So, my great-grandfather married Miss Down, who died after a few years, and then he married Mrs Down, who was a cousin by marriage.

Just how does one record that on a family tree?  Well if the two who died in the respective first marriages were cousins then their parents must have been siblings.  Since this Miss Down and Mr Down shared the same surname then we're looking for their fathers to have been brothers (although an unmarried sister could also have passed on the surname).  Miss Down and Mr Down shared the same grandparents.

A distant cousin passed on some personal and research details, "Frances Kate married John Parker Down ... but John died at only 35 ... How she met Albert Edward Gould is unknown ...".  He could tell me that Albert's first wife, Judith Amelia, died in childbirth age 32 and his second wife was known as as "Aunt France".  In exchange, we could tell him that the two couples used to visit together and this continued after Albert became a widower and when Frances became a widow a few months later.

Ancestor cousins made the history and modern cousins together unravelled that history.