I am endeavouring to find a gentleman who came to Australia in about the 1880s. He has given several birth addresses, Somerset, Cardiff, America.
He was listed as a Waterman and he was a black gentleman. The only watermen I can find are the ones on the Thames, London. That occupation was handed down from generation to generation of Londoners) and the others on Chesapeake Bay, Pennsylvania. He also stated he lived in Philadelphia.
His name was John Edward POULDEN born about 1860 in Somerset. My theory is that maybe he was born in the Southern States in one of the many Somersets there and and his family escaped through the Underground Railroad to Philadelphia during the Civil War. This is my theory only.
He couldn't read or write when he came to Australia so that narrows the field of John Pouldens.
We have been searching for this gentleman since the beginning of time! (it seems like that).
Does anyone know of the Watermen of Chesapeake Bay in the late 1800s? Would appreciate any clues at all.
Anne
