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« on: Tuesday 16 October 12 18:02 BST (UK) »
Rootschatters! Thank you so much for all your responses so far!
Could I ask:
Claire - for the marriage of John Drew(e) and Dorothy Hunt in 1804 - were they both 'of the parish'? I'm pretty sure John is, but I can't find much about Dorothy.
Yes, the Drew(e) family and the Nobbs family have a connection - Thomas Drew who married Mary Ford was the son of Joseph Drew and Mellier/ Melliar/ Melior Nobbs (I think - again all my knowledge is from Family Search, which is limited in its scope - but this seems to be verified by smudwhisk's info given below).
Richard - in reply to you. This is what I know about John Drew(e), born at sea, christened in Cattistock in 1805. He married Eliza who confusingly could have been born in Bedminster (as in just outside Bristol) or Badminton, South Gloucestershire.... as she is down as both in various censuses, and also sometimes a combo of the two, mis-spelt), in about 1814. They could be the John Drew and Eliza Winston married at St James' Bristol in 1837, 12th May. But this might not be them! I know I could verify Eliza's family name by buying one of her children's birth certs, but at the moment I haven't done this (as this is not my family, but that of a friend, so trying to investigate without spending my £££ if you see what I mean!).
I don't know anything very much about either of their early years (which is what I am trying to find out about here....), but they seemed to move from the West Country to Kent (Medway/ Chatham) in the mid 1840s and then to Whitechapel/ Stepney area from 1850s onwards until their deaths. I gauge this from where their kids are born and where I can find them on the censuses.
Census info for them:
I'm not sure if I have them correctly for the 1841 census frankly (maybe in Bristol, St Paul)
1851 - 2 Bell Road, Stepney. He's a Groundsman, Sewer aged 47 and she's 37; kids - Edwin aged 9, born Bath; Jane aged 5, born Chatham, Ann E aged 8 months, born Mile End New Town.
1861 - can't find them anywhere, even though I've searched extensively.
1871 - 55 Underwood St, Whitechapel. He's got 'no trade', aged 67, born 'at sea'! She's a Slipper Binder, aged 57. They are living with their daughter, Mary Ann Drew, aged 17, Box Maker (she's the person whose descendants I am interested in!) and 'grandson' Edwin J(ohn) Drew aged 11 months, born Whitechapel (I can't find him anywhere on the BMD index and he doesn't seem to be alive by 1881). Not sure whose child he is....?
1874 John Drew dies in Whitechapel aged 71.
1881 - Eliza has changed her name to Edwards (although she doesn't seem to have got married according to the BMD index!) is aged 67 and a Needleworker, Widow, a living at 5 James St, St George in the East, with daughter Mary Ann Drew, Tailoress, and Mary Ann's three children who all have the surname Drew - even though she got married to George Charles Baker in Dec 1873. Mary Ann is also listed as a 'widow'.
1891 - Eliza Edwards, widow aged 80 is living in the workhouse, St George in the East.
1893, an Eliza Edwards dies aged 81 in the workhouse and is buried in the East London Cemetry.
The children who seem to be listed on various censuses are:
Edwin Drew born Bath 1842 (married in 1866 in Stepney, John Drew is down as 'excavator' then).
Jane Drew - born 1845 Medway (Chatham is her place of birth, listed on various censuses). She marries Alfred Hollyfield in 1872 in Middlesex. Someone has added a note to the BMD index for this marriage so I know it is Jane as she is down as daughter of John Drew, excavator. They seem to have a child Martha Jane Hollyfield in 1874 who dies young and then they seem to disappear off the censuses completely. Perhaps they emigrated?
Ann Elizabeth - born 1850 in Whitechapel. She marries Louis Juchan in 1871 in Bethnal Green, John Drew is down as 'excavator'.
Mary Ann Drew - born 1853, Whitechapel. She marries George Baker in 1873 and John Drew is down as 'bricklayer'.
On Mary Ann Drew's son's birth certificate (Henry Herbert Drew) in 1885 she puts down her father John Drew as the father (as she probably doesn't want to name the real father) and his occupation at that time, 1885, is General Labourer.
I'm not sure exactly what an excavator does - apart from presumably dig holes! Sewers? Underground tunnels for the tube? What could have taken him to Chatham?
I'd love to know more about John Drew (born at sea/ excavator)'s early life and if he had siblings and more about his parents.
Thanks for your help so far, and any more suggestions or info very much appreciated.
Descendant of Murby