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Hi It is fantastic to hear from you. Yes Cornelius Crew (George Drew) is a fairly elusive character. It took me 20 odd years to track him down started in the late 80s. My Grandfarther had told me that his grandfarther was George Drew but he thought that he had changed his name from Crew to Drew, but didn't know his original first name, I eventually came access one of Daniels descendants, and the link was made. Daniel had changed his name back to Crewe. I do not know why Cornelius changed his name, my GF always said it was because he had trouble with the Gypsies, but I think this is just a family story.
A quick potted history.
Cornelius was born in Inglstone Common Hawksburry, Gloucestershire in 1852.
He was from all appearances a bit of a character!
He was married 3 times that I know of.
His first wife Alice Kingswood M 1876. with whom he had 2 children Rosina and Daniel. Alice Died 1884.
2nd Wife Mary Ann Brown 1886, Don't know what happended to Mary.
2 years latter he marries his 3rd wife Annie Preece (I wonder if this is a bigamous marrage as it is at this point that he changed his name, but I have no evidence.)
Annie is the mother of George and Fred. George Born Llantrisant and Fred was in a tent in the Forest of Dean.
I cant find any info on Annie not sure where she was born, and cant find of any record of her death.
Cornelius appears to have spent most of his life traveling between Hawksbury where his parents were born and South Wales where his Brother Mark lived (Marks decedents still live in SW).

I will send you more info in a private message latter, need to get bits together.

All the Best wishes.

Fred Drew Birth certificate, Fred,s Christening can be found on following website http://HTTP://frostbitten.net/Jamal/index.php/, its a bit of a pain to search as you have to register.
Fred's christening states that the family were living in a tent at the time.
Cornelius's life appears to be a bit of a sad story, in trouble with the law, he did a stretch of hard labour for stealing a pig.
Not really sure why he charged his name, there is a family story that he was in trouble with the local gypsies, but that is just a story, although I have been in contact with one of Daniels descendants and she had heard the same story. I guess that through his travels he came into contact with various traveling communities, but cant really see why changing his name would help. I wonder if he may have married his third wife bigamously, as I cannot find a trace of what happend to his second wife, but that is only a guess I have no evidence.

Martin

Cornelius Crew / George Drew Marrage to Annie Preece

Hi Helina, See attached birth certificate for Cornelius Crew, I will attach a few other files but I can only attach one file at a time as there is a size restriction.

Martin

Hi, Daniel Cornelius Crew's Farther is Cornelius Crew Born 1852 Hawksbury, Gloucestershire, Daniel had 2 brothers and a sister, the 2 brother are half brothers same farther. The Brothers are George born about 1891 Fred born 1893, and sister Rose born  late 1870s, Cornelius Crew changed his name some time in the 1880 to George Drew, all the family members use the Drew name after that date. George Drew Formerly CC married his third wife abt 1888.
DDC married Matilda in Rowley Regis in the west midlands and can be found in the Census as Daniel Drew, He had a number of children and moved up North where he lived until his death in the 1st WW on the western front. On his move North sometime after 1901 he changed his name back to Crew.
The person referred to in the other reply for stealing was Daniels farther Cornelius Crew.
Rose married Arther Ward and lived in Ross on Wye and around the Cradley area in the West Mids.
If you search under the names I have given you can find quite a lot.
George Drew B1891 ended up living in the Doncaster area where some of his descendants still live.

Cornelius appears to have spent his life traveling between South Wales where at least one of his Brothers (Mark Crew) lived and Hawksbury where he was born. Mark Crews descendants still live in South Wales.
The Crews go back a long way in Hawksbury, there used to be a Hawksbury website that contained their family tree but it appears to have disappeared. The last mention of Cornelius Crew - George Drew is in the 1901 C where he is in the Bromyard, Hereford workhouse  with his two youngest sons. There is no mention of him after this, I know he left the youngest children with their older half brother and sister in the Midlands, but I do not know what happend to him.
He suffered from epilepsy according to his discharge papers from the army.
I cant find anything about his third wife appart from their marrage, she was Annie Priece, Cant find here birth or death. The marrage certificate appears to contain incorrect information, Georges age is wrong Annie's name first appears to be 20 but is changed to 21 (presumeably, because she would need her farther consent if she was under 21) Im convinced it is the right couple as both George and Fred's birth certs. show George Drew and Annie Preece as the parents. Ive searched to see if I could find another couple with the same names but could find nothing. Also both Fathers have the name Drew on the marrage Cert.

Ps there is a related topic here regarding Rose Crew/Drew.  With Photo of Rose and George.
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=101453.msg3082685#msg3082685

I have been researching Cornelius for about 25 years so have quite a bit of info about him let me know if you have any questions.

Hope this all helps, Martin.
by the way I am a descendant of George Drew (CC). May I ask your connection?