Pre-1841 censuses: Brightlingsea 1831, Elmstead 1811

[Duodecem]

I ruled out the Francis Hills connection simply because his mother's name was Catharine. As a family they seemed to carry on Christian names. (There are 2 more generations of Floras for example.) As Elizabeth had 6 daughters and all bar Mary, the eldest, had 2 Christian names, i would have thought her mother's name would be there somewhere.  I did wonder if, like her daughter, Emma Emilia, she was born in Colchester and baptised elsewhere, her parents' home village perhaps.
I've found that elsewhere in my tree-in this case the family travelled about 20 miles, from Norfolk to a Suffolk village, to baptise their children. The children's grandfather was the village parish clerk.

[Tony45P]

Hi Helvissa

Many thanks for the Brightlingsea 1831 census results, which together with the FreeReg site referenced in these posts has helped me resolve an important link in my Pennick FT.  I've been trying to connect a Joseph Pennick (b West Mersea in 1790) with a John Pennick (b Tollesbury in 1793) who, according to our family history (from a 1944 letter) were brothers.

From John's baptism record on FreeReg, his parents are listed as Samuel and Ann Pennock - the same as I had already found for Joseph, and on his marriage in Brightlingsea in 1817, Joseph is one of the witnesses.

Now in the 1831 census, you have a Joseph and a John Pennock listed, both from the same original page, so cleary living close to each other.  What does the "re ics" against Joseph's record mean ?

I realise that in the "handwritten age" a badly written "i" with a faint or missing dot can easily be interpreted as an "o" and can quite see how my surname can be transcribed as Pennock or Pennick, but with both Joseph's and John's marriage records in Brightlingsea on FreeReg recorded as Pennick, I'm on a safe bet that they are the same families.

Both families were involved in the oyster business, with Joseph listed on the 1826 Brightlingsea voters list as an "oyster dredger".  They are missing in the 1841 Census but I eventually found them in Jersey in the Channel Isles, with other Brightlingsea families - chasing the oysters.  Later on, John's family seems to have moved to Falmouth and Shoreham, which from my researches are linked to Brightlingsea via the oyster trade.

This may be of interest to others with Brightlingsea fishermen in their families

Thanks again

Tony P

[Duodecem]

Both families were involved in the oyster business, with Joseph listed on the 1826 Brightlingsea voters list as an "oyster dredger".  They are missing in the 1841 Census but I eventually found them in Jersey in the Channel Isles, with other Brightlingsea families - chasing the oysters.  Later on, John's family seems to have moved to Falmouth and Shoreham, which from my researches are linked to Brightlingsea via the oyster trade.

This may be of interest to others with Brightlingsea fishermen in their families

Thank you Tony -that is interesting, my GGrandmother (mentioned earlier in this conversation,) was a fisherman's daughter,born in Shoreham but baptised and raised in Brightlingsea. Obviously her  father was an oyster fisherman. Jan 

[helvissa]

Hi Tony,

Thanks for your post. The surname Pennock varies a bit its spelling, depending on who's writing it. Pennick, Penwick too I suppose is possible. Pannock as well. This is partly to do with the north-east Essex accent and the way the vowels sound - almost a bit Australian or South African (Howard and Hayward both come out a bit like "Hewerd").

I checked the census again and "re ics" in column 2. I don't know exactly what "re ics" means, but that column is to do with the building being "now built and not yet inhabited".

It's interesting you found your oyster dredgers in the Channel Islands - I'll add that as note on Essex & Suffolk Surnames as some of my family vanish for a few years here and there, and that could be where they've got to! I'll have to check that out. Thanks!

[helvissa]

Thank you Tony -that is interesting, my GGrandmother (mentioned earlier in this conversation,) was a fisherman's daughter,born in Shoreham but baptised and raised in Brightlingsea. Obviously her  father was an oyster fisherman. Jan 

Hello Jan,

I don't know why I didn't mention it to you before, but my gt-gt-grandmother was born in Steyning, which is 5 miles inland from Shoreham. Her father (William Savage, 1833-1914) was a mariner and moved his family up from Sussex to Brightlingsea. Interesting to see another Shoreham/Brightlingsea link in someone's tree!

(His wife was a Liverpool girl who he married up there and brought back to Sussex, and then onto Brightlingsea. Some of her ancestors were from the Isle of Mann! So you never know where your family tree research will take you sometimes.... "Oh no, my grandparents are very Essex." Erm... actually nope!).

BTW: I've been putting my Brightlingsea All Saints transcriptions online as pdfs if anyone's interested. It's not quite caught up yet with what's on FreeREG. I find it useful to be able to search in databases as well as on pdfs.

Helen.