Author Topic: Sophia Holford born about 1822 in Addlestone or Chertsey- help please.  (Read 8527 times)

Offline Duodecem

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Re: Sophia Holford born about 1822 in Addlestone or Chertsey- help please.
« Reply #27 on: Thursday 30 July 20 15:00 BST (UK) »
Still no luck with Sophia, but I've been delving further into the Rolfes. I haven't found the 1851 census record yet, and Robert died in Windsor in the second quarter of 1857, but I have found James and Ann. James's birth was recorded in the first quarter of 1841 in Windsor-James Robert Rolfe. In 1861 he is on a census in Clewer with Ann. They are living in the household of James and Sarah Godliman, aged 44 and 42, andtheir children. Confusingly their relationship to James the head of the household is described as daughter and grandson! I haven't found any relationship between Ann and the Godlimans.
Ann died in Windsor in 1870 and in 1871 James was living as a lodger in the household of the widowed Sophia Morton! Another link. :)
I do wonder whether James was Sophia's son rather than Ann's. Her dob on her death record was 1786, making her 55 when James was born.
Cooper- Berks, Herts, Wrexham,Birmingham
Garrett- London, Berks
Morton-Berkshire
Harvey- Essex
Hambling, Royal,Dale,Jackson, Tann, Boatwright Edridge/Etheridge/Uttridge -all Norfolk
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Offline Paul104

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Re: Sophia Holford born about 1822 in Addlestone or Chertsey- help please.
« Reply #28 on: Thursday 30 July 20 18:05 BST (UK) »
The 1851 census has the family living in Mount Pleasant (or Beaumont) Cottages on a footpath called Clewer Fields, between the what remains of Oxford Road today and Bexley Street in Windsor.  That means they were only a couple of hundred yards away from where John Morton and Sophia lived in South Place.  Robert Rolfe, his wife Ann and son Thomas were there as was Robert's grandson James.  As Thomas remains unmarried, I suspect that Robert had at least one other son who was the father of James.  Unfortunately, the mother's name is not given on the record at the GRO (unusually for Windsor).  I think you will find there is no link with the Godlimans (an established Windsor family; I went to school with one them!) and that Ann is living in the same house as she had in 1851 which was next door to the Godliman family.  The numbers don't tally, but there was extensive renumbering of Windsor streets around that time.  It's an intriguing idea that James was actually Sophia's son and the lack of the mother's maiden name may be evidence for that.  I've ordered a copy of James' birth certificate from the GRO so we can see the father's details; that should help.

Offline Duodecem

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Re: Sophia Holford born about 1822 in Addlestone or Chertsey- help please.
« Reply #29 on: Friday 31 July 20 11:22 BST (UK) »
I've finally found the famliy in 1851-Ancestry had mistrancribed the surname as Robbe. I checked the original online, it's unclear and Robert's place of birth is hard to read-it could be Bucks or Berks. Ancestry has Thorpe Berks. (Thorpe in Surrey is near Chertsey which would be lovely!)
If James was the son of a brother of Sophia, wouldn't he be described as nephew, not lodger in 1871?
Whereas she may not have owned her relationship to her illegitimate son. A birth certificate for James seems the way forward.
Cooper- Berks, Herts, Wrexham,Birmingham
Garrett- London, Berks
Morton-Berkshire
Harvey- Essex
Hambling, Royal,Dale,Jackson, Tann, Boatwright Edridge/Etheridge/Uttridge -all Norfolk
Osborne-Norfolk and Northumberland/Durham

Offline Paul104

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Re: Sophia Holford born about 1822 in Addlestone or Chertsey- help please.
« Reply #30 on: Wednesday 11 November 20 08:20 GMT (UK) »
James Robert Rolfe, born on 5th December 1840, was indeed the illegitimate son of Sophia Rolfe.  After the death of Sophia's husband, John, and that of her mother with whom James had lived since his birth, James moved in with Sophia in Edward Square, Windsor, as recorded in the 1871 census.


Offline Duodecem

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Re: Sophia Holford born about 1822 in Addlestone or Chertsey- help please.
« Reply #31 on: Wednesday 11 November 20 13:27 GMT (UK) »
Our suspicions are confirmed! It would explain why none of John and Sophia's sons were named James after John's father.

I checked the GRO records for Rosina, which gave her mother's surname as Rolfe, which confirms your earlier findings. It really is a remarkable error on a marriage record. The names don't sound alike in the slightest. Perhaps Sophia sneezed as she gave her surname!

On the subject of Robert Rolfe- he gave his birthplace as "Thorpe, Berkshire" on the 1851 census. There isn't a Thorpe in Berkshire. The most likely place was Thorpe, near Egham, Surrey, 2 miles from Addlestone near Chertsey where Sophia was born.
Free Reg has the following baptism:
15 Aug 1784 • Egham,Surrey,England

15 Aug 1784 Person forename Robert Person sex M Father forename Robert Mother forename Ann Father surname ROLPH Mother surname ROLPH Notes Born 6 Aug.

In 1783 in Egham, Robert Rolf married Ann Tarant.

As I mentioned before there are other Rolf/e records in Chertsey and Egham, so it seems likely that was where Robert Rolfe was born and where he lived until Sophia's birth in 1822.

Cooper- Berks, Herts, Wrexham,Birmingham
Garrett- London, Berks
Morton-Berkshire
Harvey- Essex
Hambling, Royal,Dale,Jackson, Tann, Boatwright Edridge/Etheridge/Uttridge -all Norfolk
Osborne-Norfolk and Northumberland/Durham