I'm usually mister ultra conservative, never prone to flights of fancy. OK, this is an exception.
There are no Graves baptisms in Linton, yet two brothers Thomas and James claim to have been born there, Thomas on 10 Mar 1819 and James c1825. There are no male Graves marriages in Linton nor any Graves burials. There are no Graves keyword Linton in any census other than Thomas and James. James' 1865 marriage names his father as Thomas, a butcher. And so a brick wall is looming rapidly.
Now the cloud cuckoo land theory starts
The only Graves in Linton is the marriage between Thomas Hand and Sarah Graves in 1816 (I've asked for a look up if anyone can fill us in on any other detail) - later Rosie has kindly provided the following "29 October 1816 at Linton Bachelor & spinster botp wit Wm Graves, MA Tomlinson & Josiah Battyl". So who was William Graves? I'll worry about him tomorrow!
This couple then baptised
Thomas Hand born 10 Mar 1818
Mary Ann Hand bap 28 Mar 1823
James Hand born 2 Nov 1824
Then they disappear from Linton.
There's a Removal Order dated 10 Aug 1832 removing Thomas and Sarah Hand and their three children from Cambridge St Giles to Cambridge St Sepulchre, which might be them, particularly as Hand is not a common name.
A Sarah Hand age 41 was buried in Cambridge St Mary the Great in 1834
In 1841 there's a Thomas Hand, 40, butcher, living in Cambridge St Clement, and there's the death of a Thomas Hand in the Mar quarter 1850 in Croydon reg district. Why did people always die just before a census? There was only one Thomas Hand in Surrey in 1841 and he was still there in 1851, but not in Croydon. Alternatively is he the Thomas Hand who had various convictions in Cambridge giving a birth of between 1791 and 1795 before being transported in 1842 to VDL? I think he probably was (particularly in the light of the age of 76 that Rosie found, which I think is too old)
A James Hand 16 shoemakers apprentice b Cambs was living in Cambridge St Andrew the Less in 1841.
Mary Ann Hand 19 b Cambs was living in Cambridge St Andrew the Less in the same house as the Ripley family in 1841. She married Joseph Ripley in 1841 (on GRO index as HARD) and in subsequent censuses gave her birthplace as Linton.
A Sarah Hand 15 b Cambs was also living in St Andrew the Less but she married Thomas Sabine in Croydon and in 1851 gave her birthplace as Haverill Suffolk, the same as Sarah wife of James so I think she was their daughter (see next sentence)
Also baptising children in Linton from 1824-37 were James & Sarah Hand. They were still in Linton in 1841 but by 1851 were living in Croydon Surrey, where they stayed. Could this James have been a brother of Thomas Hands who married Sarah Graves?
Australian records show that Thomas Graves emigrated to Australia in 1846 and he died there in 1900. His obituary shows that he had a brother James, and that he returned to England for a couple of years from 1869. Thomas and James Graves were both living in Croydon in 1871 – James can't be found in 1851 and 1861 when he was presumably in Australia.
So were Thomas and James Graves actually Thomas and James Hand, and for some reason dropped their Hand name and took their mother's maiden name of Graves?
My final flight of fancy concerns Thomas Hand jun who had one appearance in Cambridge Assizes before being transported to NSW on 27 Jun 1835 age 16, described as a butcher's boy. He got his ticket of leave in 1840 and his Certificate of Freedom in 1841, born Cambs in 1817. I reckon he could have come back to England, and changed his name to Graves in order to emigrate to Adelaide in 1846. I think James Hand living in Croydon was possibly their uncle.
If anyone can come up with a better theory I'm all ears
Aesop
Author
Topic: GRAVES Thomas Henry (Read 18728 times)