Hi Jodes,
Thanks very much for the information about Robert, I had gleaned a little about his life in Tasmania but only bare facts. I’m grateful for any information you can supply. I am descended from Susanna’s brother William who is my 3x Great Grandfather and marries a lady called Mildred. I don’t know how much information you have on Susanna’s parents; we’ve traced the Almonds back to a Richard Almonds born about 1670 who dies in Addlethorpe, Lincolnshire in 1729. We’ve been unable to find a definite baptism record for him. We have Susanna’s parents as Richard Almonds (1779-1847) and Mary Walls (1787-1831) and her siblings as Jane, William, Elizabeth, Thomas and John Walls. Her father Richard marries again following Mary’s death; Elizabeth Ladley (1796-1842) and appears to have another William and a Matthew.
Susanna seems to have been quite a character, having at least 7 children illegitimately (Toyne, Robert, Mary, Walls, Charlotte, Elizabeth and John), before living with a man (Francis Howsam) as his wife, but never marrying, and having another 4 children (Richard, Susannah, Francis, John). She lived as his wife until the time of her death at Buslingthorpe, Lincolnshire (1860 buried May 19th), when it somehow comes out that they are not married, as the vicar writes a very terse sentence in the parish registers about Susanna passing herself off as the wife of Francis Howsam, and two of her children being baptised under this supposition. Her last child, John, is buried 23 May 1860 at Buslingthorpe as the illegitimate child of Susanna Almonds but is obviously born to her and Francis. Following Susanna’s death, Charlotte and Elizabeth both adopt the surname Howsam, and marry using this surname.
I also wondered whether Toyne had died in the workhouse, however I’ve checked the burial records for the church the workhouse used and also for Skegness, but cannot find a record of his burial, although it is interesting to learn Robert didn’t put Toyne as next of kin, suggesting he had died by the time of Robert’s enlistment.
I look forward to exchanging further information.
Best wishes, Alirobbie
Hi Tigerquoll,
Thank you for your replies. We had speculated that Toyne is a surname and that Susanna, his mother, had taken to naming the children after the surname of their father, as she also has a Walls, although this is her mother’s maiden name. With your Toyne family being in the Spilsby area it is certainly a possibility that the families are connected, and it’s an area I will probably look into in future.
I haven’t seen any newspaper articles about Robert, as I have very minimal information on his life, but would be very interested to see them if you could forward me to the source.
Many thanks for your interest,
Alirobbie
