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Are we saying obodiah Mayer is the father of Elizabeth Mear ? Wife of William Hodgkinson.  Im struggling to find a father for Elizabeth but on Ancestry I've seen a father for Elizabeth by the name of Thomas but I never fully trust other trees until I see it it for myself

I have not put Elizaeth Mear down as Obadiah's daughter on my tree - but she's lightly pencilled as 'possible', and I'm leaning towards 'likely' but would definitely like more evidence.

Obadiah married Sarah Blewer in Whitmore in 1793. The children I've found include: Sarah (1797), Obadiah (1798), William (1800), John (1802), Jane (1804), Joseph (1805), Hugh (1806), and Josiah (1810).

Sarah (daughter) was baptised in Trentham in January 1797 and my suspicion is that she is the same Sarah Mayer who married Edward Hodgkinson in Castle Church in 1816. Sarah's burial record in 1837 gives her age as 35, but it's very possible (as sometimes shown with other young-mother deaths) this was a rounded-down age - and would mean an unusually young marriage otherwise (though perfectly possible).

Edward Hodgkinson was very likely the brother of William who married Elizabeth Mear. Elizabeth is recorded in the census returns as born about 1796 in Blurton, Staffs (though, again, I wonder if she was a little older given her marriage date) - Blurton is just 3 miles from Trentham where Obidiah and Sarah baptised many of their children (Trentham and Longton).

With the other evident peripheral connections (census community, marriage witnesses, newspaper connections), and such double-sibling marriages being common (or common enough) with Gypsy families, I think it's all weighted towards 'likely'. This is generally how Gypsy-related research has to be in the absence of records - but I remain cautious and it might be worth checking out Elizabeths with father Thomas, even if just to positively reject them.

Of the other Mayer children, I have Obadiah (1798-1866) marrying Jane Blood in Uttoxeter, 1821; William Mayer (1800) marrying Ann Johnson in Uttoxeter 1819 (and maybe Ann Nield as a second wife) - his son, Obadiah (1820) had Caroline Hodgkisnon (Blewer) as a witness on his marriage - if Elizabeth Mear was his aunt then Caroline would be his cousin); and John Mayer marrying Maria Jane Florence in Uttoxeter in 1823.

Best - Garen

Surely these Hodgkins/ Hodgkinson/ Hodgkiss families must be one and the same . The names repeatedly appear in the local area marrying into the same families over and over again . The Hodgkinsons and Neilds seem to of intermarried on more than one occasion.  John Neild and Sarah Hodgkinson and Marie Hodgkins (grundy) (who I think was Sarah's sister)  also married a Neild.

I hurt my brain attempting to actually connect up these families - it may not be possible to find exactly how they are all connected - and, as I'm sure you know, it's dangerous to make assumptions. Sometimes an 'Eliza Hodgkins' may seem to be attached to one family, and then some obscure source will reveal she's actually connected to another - and often there is no source to help us find our way, so we just have to leave a question-mark for now.

The 'origin', or connecting person, will certainly never be found, but any Hodgkins/Hodgkinson/Hodgkiss/etc 'of Cheslyn Hay' or 'of Wyrley Bank' seems to be one of the main identifiers - some dating back into the 1730s and 40s described as travellers. One early family is Arthur Hodgkins and Sarah ('travelling people', 'vagrants'), but there are others who could be siblings or cousins, so there are further generations in the fog, with records sparse or non-existant.

I agree that Sarah Hodgkinson who married John Nield and Maria Hodgkinson who married Thomas Nield - John's brother - are sisters. I believe their parents are William Hodgkinson and Elizabeth Mear. William and Elizabeth were married in Lichfield and probably had two children there, in Greenhill, before moving to Uttoxeter. John Nield later married Sarah Hust, which can confuse his two Sarahs for some.

John and Sarah Nield had a son William who died in 1854. The informant on his death is Sarah Mitchell, née Sarah Grundy, next-door neighbour to William & Elizabeth Hodgkinson and older sister of the John Grundy who married Maria Hodgkins, and she then Thomas Nield.

I think there's enough circumstantial evidence to say that William Hodgkinson was the son of William Hodgkinson and Eleanor Young (m.1785). While William married Elizabeth Mear, another son, Edward, married Sarah Mayer - I think a sister of Elizabeth, and daughters of Obadiah Mayer and Sarah Blewer.

Obadiah had children who married into the Gypsy Florence family, the Bloods, and probably the Nields too. A grandson, Thomas Mayer, married Rhoda Johnson, daughter of Thomas Johnson and Jane Hodgkinson - and this Hodgkinson line leads us back to Thomas and Joan, parents of a number of travelling Hodgkins who married Sherriffs, Claytons and Hollands, and whose probable sibling, Edward, takes us to the Warwickshire Hodgkins families (Tracey Emin a famous descendant). DNA links confirm the connection.

A daughter of Edward Hodgkinson and Sarah Mayer, Eleanor, married another Johnson sibling, Joseph, and one of their children married into the Hollands. I also think Edward and Sarah Hodgkinson are the Edward and Sarah who are the witnesses of the marriage of William Sherriff and Tresi Boswell, daughter of Anselo, in 1832 in Rugeley, the same year Eleanor was born in the that town.

So much of the enjoyment of researching these families is the thousands of connections that keep coming up, but it's like an endless piece of string full of knots - sometimes you manage to undo them and find you've suddently two or three pieces instead of one!

Wow - what a lot of terrific work, panished - wonderful. I spend a lot of time searching the newspapers for these stories too, it adds so much life to our lost relatives ... You could say a bad thing about having Gypsy ancestors is that they appeared in the papers a lot. But you can also say a good thing about having Gypsy ancestors is that they appeared in the papers a lot!

Black Bess (aka Brown Bess) is, I think, Elizabeth Hodgkins, daughter of Richard Hodgkins and Kezia Lovell. She was baptised in 1819 as Elizabeth Lovatt and married James Bloor in Rugeley in 1849. Her son, James Bloor (1844), was the father of Ann Bloor (aka Flattely?, 1868) who married John Nield (son of Job) in 1886, and they were the parents of Sarah Nield, d.1892. Some of this needs a bit more confirming, but that's where I was with it a year or so ago the last time I looked :-)

...and another

Henry Emery
Gunner, 7959
Royal Artillery

...

Thank you very much for these excellent biographies, Chris. Apologies for the late reply (work, work, work). Have a lovely Christmas!

- Garen.

Garen,

At the outbreak of the Second Anglo-Afghan War in November 1878, Charles was stationed with H/1 in Secunderabad . After successive British victories, the initial phase of the war ended quickly with the signing of the Treaty of Gandamak in May 1879, however another uprising in September 1879 led to a second invasion of Afghanistan.  H/1 we deployed to reinforce the British in XXXXX. Though the war would not conclude until effectively General Roberts’ defeat of the rebels at the Battle of Kandahar, H/1 had returned to India by September 1880, based in Multan.
...
Can you clarify H/1's movements in Afghanistan?

Another great write-up and bit of research Chris - thank you.

H/1 were moved from Secunderabad to Multan where they were stationed throughout the first campaign and up until the Autumn of 1880, when they joined General Phayre's forces to relieve Kandahar in the wake of the Maiwand disaster (en route from Multan to Quetta in Aug 1880). The route was a dangerous one and H/1 were initially brought in as a reserve to strengthen the lines of communcation.

They marched from Quetta, reaching Kandahar at the end of September with orders to relieve C/2 (a nice little link with your previous post). They moved to Dahila, in the Argandab Valley, in early October for a short while. After moving back to Kandahar they eventually evacuated the city with the remainder of the British and Indian forces in June 1881 - being part of the final group to leave, attached to Brig-Gen. Penton's 2nd Brigade, and returning to India.

Best wishes - Garen