Cornhills of Faversham

[cornhills]

I think this may be of interest to you. Bizzarely, I was searching for lost Cornhills of mine (Devon) and came across this one. Not my Elizabeth Cornhill, but she married a man whi IS on my famliy tree. What's the odds o fthat? !! Anyway, i think she's yours!

Cheers - Michael.

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/d.tappin/DescendantsVariousS.htmk

[wdurham]

Many thanks for that, Michael.

It does indeed seem as if this is my Elizabeth. Born about 1835 and parents not known - fits very well with the 6-year old apparently abandoned in the workhouse in 1841. And I tracked her via Reading Gaol to Surrey in the census returns before losing her after 1861.

I wonder if her marriage cert shows who her parents were? I have some more ferretting to do, clearly!

Best regards - Wendy

[cornhills]

Hello Wendy - here's the GRO index reference for the marriage of Elizabeth Cornhill & Job Saker : MAR 1862 / CROYDON / 2A / 165

By the way, a rare document tells us that Elizabeth kept their household money under lock and key. Occasionally she would give her husband some spending money. It was known as....
 'Job Saker's Allowance' (get it ?? - sorry!!!).

Michael.

[cornhills]

Sorry about the awful  joke Wendy- I'd been witing AGES for someone to ask me about Job Saker, as he arrived on my family tree a few months ago (not my direct line though).

I had meant to say that I can give you his line going back four generation if he turns out to be connected with your tree.

Also, if you're still looking for Cornhill ancestors and getting nowhere, try CORNELL, CORNALL, even CURNELL. I have found my Devonshire ones with all three of these variations. However, it's the west country accent which accounts for it mostly, but you never know, other regional accents might have caused the name to be spelled in other ways too.

All the best with your research - Michael.

[wdurham]

I enjoyed the joke!

But your finding of Elizabeth prompted me to do a bit of digging, and lo and behold I found her sister (well, probably!) Adelaide, who had previously been unfindable.

Adelaide married a James Benson (church records) or Brinson (GRO Index) a Sgt in HM &th Regt in Portsea in 1857, and in the church entry she states that her father is William Cornhill, Colour Sgt in HM 7th Regt.

So that's that one solved. Adelaide was definitely born to my William b 1797 in about 1830-ish, mother unknown - though of course she could have been a child of his marriage.

Which begs the question - why was she left behind in Berkshire when William and Martha and their two sons went back to Kent some time before 1840? She was only a little girl of 10 years old - maybe younger, because the only fix we have on the family in Kent is William's death in 1840. Although the birth and death of baby Richard Cornhill in Wokingham in 1840 puts a Joseph Cornhill in Wokingham during 1839.

Adelaide is definitely in Whistley, servant to the curate of Hurst, archabald Cameron, in 1851, and also in 1851 she was witness at a wedding in Hurst. It is possible of course that she did go to Kent with the family, and later returned to Berkshire on her own account. I cannot find any of the family in 1841 - it's thought they were in Seasalter where the 1841 records were lost.

Unfortunately she and James are untraceable after their marriage - but as far as I can discover, the 7th Foot went to India in 1857 and stayed there till 1870 when they were sent to Aden, not returning to England for some years. Both of them could have died overseas.

But at least I have made some significant progress with my brick wall, and maybe Elizabeth's marriage certificate will also turn up an identifiable father. I did contact David Tappin, the owner of the site where you found Elizabeth's marriage, and he has no more information than he has published.

Fortunately, this family appears to be the only set of Cornhills in Berkshire throughout the period, so I am fairly confident that Elizabeth will also turn out to be William's daughter.

Thanks very much for the "find" and the kick into action!

Best regards - Wendy

[cornhills]

You're welcome Wendy!

The Family Record Centre in London may well have a register of deaths overseas for the British Army. I have found army baptisms there for Bermuda, 1850s, in a separate set of registers, so you might be lucky with the deaths of Adelaide & James.

I too have a mystery of two little boys deposited in the workhouse for no aparent reason. Could your mystery have involved a second marriage, (wicked step mother type stuff) ??

We seem to be working on a parallel here! I have just found out about an ancestor going to jail and being transported to Australia. Do you know why Elizabeth Cornhill was in prison in 1851??

Michael.

[wdurham]

No idea why Elizabeth was in prison. But in those days you didn't have to do much. Her trade is given as a servant - she need only have filched a handkerchief or lost her job and become a vagrant to have ended up in prison.

Re: a second marriage, yes, it's possible.  I actually have no evidence that Martha Cornhill of Faversham was the mother of William Jnr and Joseph. I have the cert from her second marriage, but it gives no indication of her parentage. Census returns show her born Wokingham and she's too old to be their sister, so I guess she was mother or stepmother.

Then there is this name Adelaide. She was William Snr's daughter, as proved by her marriage record in the Portsea church registers. She was also the eldest of the visible potential daughters - was she named for her mother? Elizabeth called her eldest daughter Adelaide. Joseph also called his eldest daughter Adelaide. Named for their grandmother?

Perhaps their real mother WAS an Adelaide. The girls could have ended up in care with friends or the parish on her death - which was possibly before 1837 as no BMD info exists.  A soldier would have been unlikely to cope with small children. A second marriage might then have ensued to Martha, who would not take on the girls.  Then when William was discharged from the 7th Foot in 1839 he and Martha and the boys returned to his home in Kent. He died the following year of kidney disease, which might have been affecting him for some time.

All supposition and speculation - but the Adelaide business has me wondering about the real mother of all these children.

More digging to do.....

[cornhills]

Well, good luck with this lot Wendy.

I think that these mysteries are what make the hobby interesting - the speculation, the learning process, swapping notes with people and looking forward to the day when it all fits into place! If it were all straight-forward then we'd soon get bored with the process, wouldn't we? !!

Best wishes - Michael.

[wdurham]

Michael - I have found another turn in this story which bears study!

In 1857 Adelaide Cornhill married James Benson/Brinson of the 7th Regiment in Portsea. I have wondered what she was doing in Portsea, when the 1851 census had placed her in Berkshire in the village of Hurst as a servant to the curate, Archabald Cameron.

Whilst looking for another Cornhill, I fould Samuel Cornhill and his wife Mary in 1851, both born in Devon, living in Portsea. Just coincidence? Perhaps...

But one of their sons is called Lewis/Louis, b 1841.  Now Lewis or Louis was not a common name in those days, although it does crop up amongst your Devon Cornhills.

Yet miles away in Kent, we have Lewis Cornhill, son of Thomas Cornhill and his wife Susannah. Lewis was born in 1826 and was their second son.

Lewis married Adelaide Scoones (now that really IS just a coincidence!), and they had no children - he ended up keeping the Waterman's Arms in Faversham in 1881 and 1891.

His brother Thomas married Emma, and their youngest son in 1891 was christened Louis.

There are so few Lewis/Louis Cornhills that it does make one wonder whether there is a connection between the two branches of the family....