Author Topic: JOHNSON in Blakeney  (Read 1851 times)

Offline smudwhisk

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JOHNSON in Blakeney
« on: Friday 02 October 09 11:06 BST (UK) »
Is anyone researching Johnson in Blakeney please?

I've a James Johnson born around 1788 and his brother Joshua Johnson born about 1795 living in London from the early 1800s.  Both have their birthplace down as Blakeney on the census.

Nicola
(KENT) Lingwell, Rayment (BUCKS) Read, Hutchins (SRY) Costin, Westbrook (DOR) Gibbs, Goreing (DUR) Green (ESX) Rudland, Malden, Rouse, Boosey (FIFE) Foulis, Russell (NFK) Johnson, Farthing, Purdy, Barsham (GLOS) Collett, Morris, Freebury, May, Kirkman (HERTS) Winchester, Linford (NORTHANTS) Bird, Brimley, Chater, Wilford, Read, Chapman, Jeys, Marston, Lumley (WILTS) Arden, Whatley, Batson, Gleed, Greenhill (SOM) Coombs, Watkins (RUT) Stafford (BERKS) Sansom, Angel, Young, Stratton, Weeks, Day

Offline Yorkslass

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Re: JOHNSON in Blakeney
« Reply #1 on: Monday 05 October 09 12:30 BST (UK) »
Hello Nicola,

I'm not researching Johnsons, but had a quick look on the Norfolk Transcription Archive, and there are a few Johnsons baptised in Blakeney.

There's a James Johnson baptised by a John and Ann, in 1785, but if you look at the dates between then and 1790, it seems the registers are not easy to read!

Here's the link -  http://www.rootschat.com/links/078f/

Hope it helps

Yorkslass
Norris, London 1800's
Bird, Gt Yarmouth 1800's
Smowton, Yarmouth/Norwich 1770
Dublack, Yarmouth
Binks, Essex
Wilcock, Lancashire
Kettlewell, Yorkshire

Offline Yorkslass

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Re: JOHNSON in Blakeney
« Reply #2 on: Monday 05 October 09 12:35 BST (UK) »
Nicola,

Here's another link which might give you some leads.
Blakeney was apparently one of the few parishes in Norfolk which had a pre-1841 census with names.

This 1770 census has a couple of Johnson's - http://www.origins.org.uk/genuki/NFK/places/b/blakeney/census1770.shtml

Yorkslass
Norris, London 1800's
Bird, Gt Yarmouth 1800's
Smowton, Yarmouth/Norwich 1770
Dublack, Yarmouth
Binks, Essex
Wilcock, Lancashire
Kettlewell, Yorkshire

Offline smudwhisk

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Re: JOHNSON in Blakeney
« Reply #3 on: Monday 05 October 09 13:52 BST (UK) »
Hi Yorkslass

Thanks for that.  I'd picked up the Norfolk Transcript Archive site but not the one for the 1770 census.  The latter is interesting because of the Joshua Johnson mentioned, as James had his brother Joshua living with him in 1841 and 1851 in Mile End.  I think those transcripts may be from the Archdeacon's Transcripts rather than the original registers ... I shall have to give in and pay £7.50 at some point to see get the original parish registers at a local LDS centre ... been waiting to see if they give in and reduce the price again .... due to a considerable drop in film requests since the price increase came in!!  Not surprising really.

Thanks again.

Nicola
(KENT) Lingwell, Rayment (BUCKS) Read, Hutchins (SRY) Costin, Westbrook (DOR) Gibbs, Goreing (DUR) Green (ESX) Rudland, Malden, Rouse, Boosey (FIFE) Foulis, Russell (NFK) Johnson, Farthing, Purdy, Barsham (GLOS) Collett, Morris, Freebury, May, Kirkman (HERTS) Winchester, Linford (NORTHANTS) Bird, Brimley, Chater, Wilford, Read, Chapman, Jeys, Marston, Lumley (WILTS) Arden, Whatley, Batson, Gleed, Greenhill (SOM) Coombs, Watkins (RUT) Stafford (BERKS) Sansom, Angel, Young, Stratton, Weeks, Day


Offline Daniel Maldonado

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Re: JOHNSON in Blakeney
« Reply #4 on: Thursday 05 July 18 08:15 BST (UK) »
Hi Nicola,

How are you related to the Johnson family? I notice from another one of your posts that you’ve managed to track them back to the Farthing family too. As far as I’m aware, James Johnson (brother of Joshua Johnson) was the father of John Bland Johnson, father of Emma Johnson, mother of William Walter Pickett my Great-Great-grandfather.

Would love to hear more from you as I’m certain you’ve carried out more research on this branch than I have. I was only able to find James’s family yesterday.


All the best,

Dan

Offline smudwhisk

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Re: JOHNSON in Blakeney
« Reply #5 on: Friday 06 July 18 13:41 BST (UK) »
Hi Dan

I'd forgotten about this post as it was getting on for 9 years ago. :o  Catherine Johnson, daughter of James and Mary was my 3 x Great Grandmother, hence the interest in the family.

When I first read your post I thought John Bland Johnson can't possibly be James the shoemaker from Blakeney's son because his daughter Ann's birthdate on her 1822 baptism (with sister Elizabeth Margaret) is listed as 28 June 1820 and John's is listed on his 1821 baptism as 17 Sept 1820.  Mary couldn't possibly have had another child three month's later.  Added to that James had two children prior to the 1815 marriage to Mary Bland (who has to be John's mother because of his middle name) - William born 14 Jul 1812 and baptised 12 Jan 1813 and Mary Ann born 21 Oct 1814 and baptised with her brother James on 9 Feb 1818.  We'd seen the James Johnson and Mary Bland marriage when first looking at the family but had discounted it for those reasons.  The most obvious one was James Johnson and Mary Judge who married at Stepney St Dunstan on 3 June 1811.

But then, as you know, John Bland Johnson's baptism lists his father James as a shoemaker and the family residing in Mile End Old Town which is the same on all the other children's baptisms.  It was always a bit strange that James and Mary didn't have a son named John because James' father was John but it wasn't that unusual as have seen that sometimes before for this period.  We'd assumed there was just another James Johnson, shoemaker, in Mile End Old Town and he had married Mary Bland and they were a different family.  Also as a result of this idea, we'd also not had a look at any other children to this other possible James, shoemaker, and Mary.  But, as I'm sure you are aware, there appear to be no other children to another James and Mary who was a shoemaker at that time other than those to James from Blakeney. 

So there was quite a bit of head scratching going on again yesterday with this family, something that has happened before because it took about 10 years to track down Catherine Johnson's parents because her 1844 marriage lists her father as John Johnson a shoemaker and every census lists her as born in or around Mile End c1824.  Prior to the parish registers going on Ancestry we'd even been through those for Stepney and surrounding parishes on microfilm down in London.  In this case what solved the mystery was one of the witnesses to her marriage, a Mary Ann Bishop.  It turned out Mary Ann Bishop was Mary Ann Johnson who married Robert Bishop in Limehouse in 1836 and following his death sometime after the 1841 Census she remarried to William Marshall in 1848 in Hackney and Catherine under her married name of Catherine Stone was one of the witnesses.  The signatures matched.  Added to that Mary Ann Bishop had witnessed her sister Ann's marriage to Philip Pearce in 1841 at Hackney (turned out to be a favourite church with the siblings for some reason even thought they lived in Mile End ;D).  So witnesses signatures helped finally solve the mystery that the parish clerk or vicar had put the wrong father's name on Catherine's marriage entry.

So back to James Johnson and Mary Bland marriage in 1815 at St George in the East.  James is listed as a bachelor.  While its not impossible that James and Mary had two children before marrying (two other different pairs of ancestors of mine didn't get married until No 3 was on the way, and one pair even claimed to be married when the other children were registered ::)) the fact that there is a marriage in 1811 in Stepney of a James Johnson and Mary Judge and that the signature of that James Johnson looks very similar to the one on Ann Johnson's 1841 marriage to Philip Pearce (although granted it could just as easily have been her brother whose signature looks quite like his father's too) has always meant we'd discounted the 1815 marriage.

But then looking at James Johnson's signature on the 1815 marriage, it looks very similar to the 1811 marriage entry and the 1841 witness signature.  Also in 1828 a George Judge married at Stepney St Dunstan and one of the witnesses was a James Johnson whose signature looks even more like the 1815 groom.  There are some very distinct letters in the signatures that suggest they could all be the same person. 
(KENT) Lingwell, Rayment (BUCKS) Read, Hutchins (SRY) Costin, Westbrook (DOR) Gibbs, Goreing (DUR) Green (ESX) Rudland, Malden, Rouse, Boosey (FIFE) Foulis, Russell (NFK) Johnson, Farthing, Purdy, Barsham (GLOS) Collett, Morris, Freebury, May, Kirkman (HERTS) Winchester, Linford (NORTHANTS) Bird, Brimley, Chater, Wilford, Read, Chapman, Jeys, Marston, Lumley (WILTS) Arden, Whatley, Batson, Gleed, Greenhill (SOM) Coombs, Watkins (RUT) Stafford (BERKS) Sansom, Angel, Young, Stratton, Weeks, Day

Offline smudwhisk

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Re: JOHNSON in Blakeney
« Reply #6 on: Friday 06 July 18 13:41 BST (UK) »
So, as I said, a lot of head scratching going on yesterday between me and Mum (whose ancestors these are) and we've come to the conclusion given the occupation and marriage signatures, that James Johnson must have married twice, both to women called Mary and that Ann Johnson's birthdate on the 1822 baptism must probably be a year out and she was most likely born in Jun 1819 18 months after her brother James and 15 months before John Bland Johnson was born.  As with the error on Catherine's marriage entry, its not unusual for this to happen as the parish clerks didn't write up the entries until after the event and as she was baptised late anyway, its possible her parents gave the wrong birth date.

To date, we've not found a burial for Mary Judge but the fact that James does appear to be the witness to George Judge's 1828 marriage, it seems unlikely that James married Mary Bland bigamously as you wouldn't expect a brother in law in those circumstances to have had James as one of the witnesses to his own marriage.  It also looks like the parish clerk or vicar incorrectly listed James as a bachelor in 1815 when it should probably have been widower.  I suspect Mary Judge may have died in childbirth with Mary Ann in October 1814 (assuming that date is correct on her 1818 baptism) and we just can't find the burial (again something not unusual for London for this period from my experience).  James remarried 7 months later so Mary Judge's death is unlikely to have been that much later and childbirth is an obvious cause in these circumstances.

Added to the confusion is the fact that Mary Johnson on the 1861 Census lists her birthplace as Ilford.  Now we've not so far found a baptism for her in that area at the right time but there was a George Judge baptised at Barking which borders Little Ilford in 1801 and when the George Judge who married in 1828 was buried in August 1837 his age was listed as 35 years so close enough to have been his baptism.  The burial for George Judge listed his residence as Mile End Old Town and his wife remarried in 1843 having been without a husband in 1841 in Mile End Old Town, thus suggesting that was the correct burial.  Again, the Barking baptism was another reason why we had discounted the 1815 marriage because of the Ilford connection to what is probably Mary Judge's brother.  I now need to see if there is a Mary Bland born c1791 in the Ilford area, her birthplace is listed as just Middlesex in 1851 but this could well be a mistake by the enumerator because her brother in law Joshua Johnson's birthplace on the same entry is listed as Middlesex and her son James as Blakeney, when in fact they should be the other way around.

So my apologies for the somewhat rambling posts (had to split them as too long for one) but thought it would be worth explaining a few things relating to this family and the fact that it does look like James Johnson shoemaker from Blakeney married twice and had two children with Mary Judge (William and Mary Ann) and seven with Mary Bland (James, Ann, John Bland, Catherine, Martha and George Henry).  But that's for another time. ;D

Nicola
(KENT) Lingwell, Rayment (BUCKS) Read, Hutchins (SRY) Costin, Westbrook (DOR) Gibbs, Goreing (DUR) Green (ESX) Rudland, Malden, Rouse, Boosey (FIFE) Foulis, Russell (NFK) Johnson, Farthing, Purdy, Barsham (GLOS) Collett, Morris, Freebury, May, Kirkman (HERTS) Winchester, Linford (NORTHANTS) Bird, Brimley, Chater, Wilford, Read, Chapman, Jeys, Marston, Lumley (WILTS) Arden, Whatley, Batson, Gleed, Greenhill (SOM) Coombs, Watkins (RUT) Stafford (BERKS) Sansom, Angel, Young, Stratton, Weeks, Day

Offline trish1120

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Re: JOHNSON in Blakeney
« Reply #7 on: Friday 06 July 18 14:23 BST (UK) »
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