ive been trying for ages to trace the ancesrors of my great grandmother emma jayne payne,so far only with limited success.i know she was born in whitstable,kent on 21st november 1885,she had a sister lucy and a brother james.her birth certificate gives her mother as sarah amelia pain born whitstable 1870,making her just 15 when my great grandmother was born,no father is listed.sarah amelias mother was susannah sarah pain,living in whitstable in 1870,signature is a cross,again no father listed.sarah,emma,lucy and james are on the 1901,sarahs a charwoman.next door is thomas w warner b1834,whitstable and louisa e payne(louisa e warner)b1855,margate.on 1891 louisas head of household with sarah amelia,niece and emma jane and lucy(louisa) great nieces.thomas warner is also there.theres other census stuff,but it becomes quite confusing,if anyone thinks they can help,ill give it.apparantly my great grandmother was quite gypsy like in her ways,always selling something,especially vegetables,which shed sell in the street.she went hop picking every year,and despite living just 6 miles from the hop field,would sleep for the month on a straw mattress in a tin hut,and would cook all her food in an iron pot on a tripod over the fire.things like meat pudding wrapped in cloth,stew and potatoes chucked straight on the fire.she was friendly with a family called ripley,i believe the ladies nickname was N-word.emma janes husband was nelson camburn,he was an oyster dredger.he has family connections to webb/rigden/gambrill families,the gambrills have connections to scamps,elizabeth gambrill married a gypsy called john gains,their daughter faith married sampson scamp.none of this proves anything,but theres a lot of circumstantial stuff that makes me wonder,also a lot of stuff missing i need to find.if anyone can help me with emmas family,whether she was a gypsy or not,id be very grateful.also if anyone knows of any other links between rigdens,,gambrills,webbs,scamps or any other whitstable gypsy/non gypsy families.regards.nel.
