HARRIS (Essex) Family Bible,

[smudwhisk]

The only child of Joseph and Lucy Harris baptised at Coggeshall was Lucy Turner Harris, the others are baptised at Pattiswick, so they obviously remained there after the marriage in 1831:

11 Sept 1831 Joseph Harris to Joseph and Lucy of Pattiswick, mechanic
19 Jul 1835 William Harris to Joseph and Lucy of Little Coggeshall, labourer
9 Apr 1837 Sarah Anne Harris to Joseph and Lucy of Coggeshall, labourer
7 Mar 1841 Eliza Harris to Joseph and Lucy of Coggeshall, labourer

Interestingly, there is no Caroline Harris baptised in 1839 at Pattiswick but there is a Caroline Turner baptised to Joseph and Hannah of Coggeshall, labourer.  I wonder if the parish clerk entered the details incorrectly as they do have a Caroline with them born c1839 on the 1841 and 1851 Census, on the latter listed as daughter?  I didn't see another Joseph and Hannah Turner floating about in there, but may have missed it.

[findem]

Thanks for those checks Smudwhisk, I wouldn't have been able to do them right away myself, I'm in the middle of a nasty head and chest cold and my thinking is not what it should be.

Yesterday around 1.00 pm (Aus time) I sent an email to my Coggeshall Museum contact reading the Battle of Waterloo comments attached to Amelia's burial entry, when I receive a reply I'll post on here.

The baptism entry of Caroline Turner giving her parents as Joseph and Hannah is a pain but as she appeared in the Censuses as a daughter of Joseph and Lucy that's where I've put her, like you I've found no trace of a Joseph and Hannah, I suspect it was a 'clerical' error by either the Rector or the parish clerk, it's happened before. 

Regards.

[findem]

Hi all,

Here is the reply to my query regarding the Battle of Waterloo entry.

"The entry about Amelia Harris is in the Burial Register which was maintained by a clerk to the Coggeshall Burial Board (which after 1895 became the responsibility of the Parish Council). This register started in 1856 with the opening of the Great Coggeshall Burial Ground established under the Burial (beyond the Metropolis) Act, 17 and 17. Vict.C 134. The burial ground is divided into Established Church sections called consecrated sections (which Amelia was) and Non Conformist (called unconsecrated in the register which does upset some folk).

 This register is entirely separate to the church registers which were filled in by the vicar or curate so there is not a mention of her presence at Waterloo.

The original registers are now in the Essex Record Office. They were in the museum up until a few years ago,(so I have actually seen the entry) but they were being mis-handled by the public so we put them in the Record Office. The transcripts that you see on the web are as written in the registers, - I know this is so as it was my husband & I who spent many hours transcribing them. It was a fascinating exercise and we did have some amusement over some entries.

I hope this clears up the discussion over the entry. Best of luck with the search.

Regards"

So there is the answer, I certainly didn't know of those registers, I'll have to check with my contact to see if there is any additional info on the subject in that register.

Regards

[findem]

Error (mine)

[findem]

Hi smudwhisk,

Sorry to bother you but can I just clarify something with you please, just to make sure I have what you say straight in my mind.

You stated in your post:

"The only child of Joseph and Lucy Harris baptised at Coggeshall was Lucy Turner Harris, the others are baptised at Pattiswick, so they obviously remained there after the marriage in 1831:

11 Sept 1831 Joseph Harris to Joseph and Lucy of Pattiswick, mechanic
9 Jul 1835 William Harris to Joseph and Lucy of Little Coggeshall, labourer
9 Apr 1837 Sarah Anne Harris to Joseph and Lucy of Coggeshall, labourer
7 Mar 1841 Eliza Harris to Joseph and Lucy of Coggeshall, labourer"

Firstly the dates are exactly as I have them, the parts I need to clarify are the baptism places, do I understand correctly that you are saying you found the baptisms of all those four above children in Pattiswick registers?

What I currently have is that the first child, Joseph, was born in Pattiswick in Aug 1831 and baptised in Coggeshall 11 Sep 1831.
The remaining children all six baptised in Coggeshall.

Searching my notes the baptisms of those children were the work of a family member living in Chelmsford at a time before my wife and I were able to visit the UK and of course pre home computers.  I have since cross checked any research carried out for me by others, however, I can find no record of having done so for the above family.  I did think I had checked Joseph Harris 1831 but perhaps I'm mistaken.  I did have a cross check for Joseph's birth date, Joseph's daughter, my great aunt Emily Harris, had at some stage obtained details of Joseph's birth and death from a family bible, my mother discovered it, copied it and sent it to me.

The one thing I do know for sure,other than the dates, is that by the night of the 1841 Census the family were living in Gt Coggeshall.

Regards.

[smudwhisk]

Sorry a little confusing of me.

The first four children are all baptised at Pattiswick, but on William, Sarah Anne and Eliza's baptisms the family are stated to be living at Coggleshall.

So while they were resident in Pattiswick at the time of Joseph's baptism, they were living in Coggleshall when the next three were baptised and then used Coggleshall church for Lucy Turner's baptism.

I checked the Coggleshall baptism register and apart from Lucy Turner Harris' baptism in 1843, there are no other baptisms to Joseph and Lucy in there.

Hope that's a bit clearer.

[smudwhisk]

"The entry about Amelia Harris is in the Burial Register which was maintained by a clerk to the Coggeshall Burial Board (which after 1895 became the responsibility of the Parish Council). This register started in 1856 with the opening of the Great Coggeshall Burial Ground established under the Burial (beyond the Metropolis) Act, 17 and 17. Vict.C 134. The burial ground is divided into Established Church sections called consecrated sections (which Amelia was) and Non Conformist (called unconsecrated in the register which does upset some folk).

Interesting.  The Samuel Harris military entries Rachel quotes in an early post do not actually refer to the Battle of Waterloo, but relate to enlistment dates for the Napoleonic War 1775-1817 and there is nothing I saw to suggest any of them definitely related to Samuel Harris of Coggleshall.  Some of the transcripts do give birthplace, others don't.  I'm not saying for definite he didn't serve, but I've not seen anything to confirm this.  He definitely does not appear in the online indexes for the Waterloo Medal Roll which you would have expected him to have done if he had served.

[findem]

Many thanks for the further clarifications smudwhisk, as for confusing me that's very easy to do at the moment with a head bunged up with a cold. 

I suspect that Amelia's Waterloo connection comment by the Coggeshall Burial Board's clerk was the result of 'Village lore'.  I dare say Coggeshall in those days was one of those places where 'everyone knew everyone else's business' and at the age Amelia lived to she would be known by a lot of people.  If it was true it would no doubt have been considered quite an experience and allow the 'legend to live on'.  Then again perhaps the story was mentioned by the person who advised the clerk of Amelia's burial, perhaps a relative.

At the end of the day it's beginning to look unlikely that I'll ever have proof positive of who the parents of Joseph Harris c1807 were, a rather ominous looking brick wall.

Regards.

[findem]

Here's an interesting snippet from the Chelmsford Chronicle, 25 April 1879:

“The death is reported, at Coggeshall, of a Waterloo heroine, named Amelia Harris. She was the wife of an officer's servant, and appears to have passed through the campaign which culminated in Waterloo. On the eve of the battle she slept on the field with her son, who is still alive. The morning following the first day of the battle she and her husband breakfasted upon raw meat, seated upon a dead horse and surrounded by the slain. Mrs. Harris retained her faculties to the last.”

So now we know, Samuel wasn't a soldier but a civilian, had he been a soldier he would have been classified as Batman.  No doubt Samuel and Amelia were sitting on their breakfast! 

The info was found by a lady on another genealogy forum.