What/Where Could I Search?

[peakoverload]

I've hit a bit of a brick wall regarding my 3x GG, William Foster in that I know a hell of a lot about him except one key thing, where his wealth came from. Or at least where the money for his initial investments came from.

William was born 1816 in Witham to John and Martha Foster. John was a cordwainer at least from 1814 (the earliest mention of his occupation from a baptism of his daughter) and was in Witham until some time in the 1830's. In 1841 he is in Rayleigh and he dies in 1850.

As a cordwainer I wouldn't imagine he was particularly wealthy. Not necessarily poor but not the kind of wealth that would explain his son's success. John was born in Coggeshall 09/01/1784 and it looks like his family were in Coggeshall from around 1690/1700. As I only have parish records to go by I don't know what his parents or grandparents did for a living. I do know that of his brothers and sisters that survived, one was a blacksmith and another was a cordwainer as well. So I'm guessing that the family had probably been in that trade for a few generations.

So there is nothing to say wealth here. This is why I can't understand how William became so wealthy and seemingly started to amass his fortune very early on. By today's standards he would have been a millionaire and owned many farms, businesses, houses, shops and held every office in the town of Leigh except that of mayor.

As I say, William was born 1816 but the very first record I can find for him, other than his baptism, is in 1840, aged 26, when his 'large fine sailing boat, the Morning Star' is wrecked in a hurricane. Clearly he's already has enough money to own such a vessel. Shortly after this, he owns at least 3 pubs, all the toll roads in the Rochford One Hundred, becomes a coal merchant, is elected director of the Witham Permanent Building Society, owns most of the farms on Canvey Island etc etc etc

What I'm trying to work out is how on Earth the son of a shoemaker becomes so wealthy so quickly. Clearly he had a head for business which presumably meant he was well educated and certainly he was extremely well spoken and intelligent. So how would a shoemaker afford to send his son to a school like that? I can't work out whether John, the father, had made some money in order to set he son up in business or whether William essentially struck gold on something.

William was also one of 8 children, at least 5 of whom survived. One would also enter the pub trade, another would marry someone in the pub trade but none came anywhere near close to the success of William.

Can anyone think of records or things I could search for that might shed some more light on either the life of his father or on William between his birth and 1840

I've tried the British Newspaper Archive, the ERO (searching for him and the house he built), the National Archives. I've tried to find trade directories and post office directories but none I've found are early enough and whilst William is mentioned many times, I've only found one or two in later life of his father.

[goldie61]

Have you found the siblings of William's father John?
And have you looked for wills for the family?
The occupations you have found - blacksmiths and cordwainers, may well have left wills.
Perhaps his grandfather, or an uncle or maiden aunt left him some money.
I'd also try his mother's side of the family too. Someone there may have made him a bequest.

Added:
I see there's a will of a Thomas Foster, Cordwainer of Great Coggeshall, 1797 at the PCC, on National Archives Discovery site. It will also be on Ancestry. You can get it for free at the moment on National Archives due to covid.
There may be others in slightly different places to Coggeshall - I don't know Essex at all, so can't enter other places in the search box. 'Essex' is too broad a term. You may have more idea.

[Rena]

I have a few Wills and found that the oldest son got everything and younger siblings had the honour of working for the oldest brother., which would explain the difference in riches.

The father was a shoemaker, but he may well have been an employer.  Presumably you don't know whether he manufactured high class shoes for the gentry who were willing to pay a premium price.

If a publican pulled a decent ale and was in the right area then his pub would be crowded. Publicans often bought barley, or rented a field and grew their own barley in order to brew their own beer. Cutting out the "middle man"  brought down the price of making the beer and with the extra money jingling in his pocket he could afford to enlarge  his holdings.

[Skaife]

Hi I visited Coggeshall last summer and was surprised at what a lovely place it is. Many old buildings survive and it is has the feel of somewhere that was very prosperous. There are two NT places  there. From what I remember the cloth they could produce there was much sought and  it brought in high returns. The name I remember from the talk of the really successful wool producer is Thomas Paycock so not your ancestor but maybe worth investigating if there any links

[trish1120]

Not much help but he is described as a Merchant on his 1870 Marriage to Mary Susannah Beadel 1870
Her Father William Rush a Gentleman
(FreeREG)