Ann CRAMP

[trish1120]

Does Ann appear on 1841/1851 Census?

[silverpenny]

All I know is..

William Sheppard had an illegitimate child with Hannah Holloway in Wiltshire in 1821 so they dont appear to have stayed together. William is listed as a Widower on the 1851 census so I must assume Ann died before that date.

Ann on the 1841 is a real puzzler and bearing in mind the 1841 does not show where they were born, that complicated the issue. Stephen Sheppard b1811, William and Ann's only son I have found was born in Guernsey.  According to a volunteer at La Société Guernesiaise, she could find no further record of births so in her opinion they werent there long. Which means I have not found where Ann lived after 1811 or where she died.

[LizzieL]

If William was a soldier, being sent to the Channel Isles around that time seems quite likely, due to threat of invasion by Napoleon. I have some soldier ancestors who were in Jersey then. 
Did the La Société Guernesaise volunteer check for Ann's death in Guernsey?

[silverpenny]

In my last communication with La Société Guernesaise I asked them to see if there were any more children born in Guernsey to William and Ann.  They checked all 10 parishes as there were none.  I dont appear to have asked about Ann living on in Guernsey so that might be worth another enquiry.

[LizzieL]

My soldier ancestor who was in the army at around the same time (Royal Garrison Artillery) had his Banns read in Gt Yarmouth NFK in late 1795, read again a few weeks later Jan 1796 in Colchester, married in Colchester. First child baptised in Gt Yarmouth Dec 1796. Then 8 more children popped out at approx 18 months to 2 year intervals. They were baptised all over the place, mostly ports around the south and south east of England including the Isle of Wight, except one was baptised in Ireland, then he was posted to Jersey CI where he died.
Your William might also have been posted to many different places for relatively short periods, so there might have been other children you haven't found yet.

[silverpenny]

This is an extract from a website called "The Wardrobe" I found online.  Its my belief that William initially joined the Wiltshire Militia and later joined the 2nd Batallion of Foot when, as you say, more troops were needed in the Napoleonic Wars.

"A second battalion of the 62nd was formed in 1799. Both battalions were ordered to Holland, but the British forces there returned home before this could be put into effect. The second battalion was disbanded in 1802.
In 1803, Napoleon threatened invasion with his army encamped at Boulogne, as a result of which recruits flocked to enlist and the 2nd/62nd was re-formed at Devizes in 1804. After serving in the Channel Islands the Battalion joined Wellington’s army in the Peninsula in 1813 and was involved in many of the battles which are now household names. In this campaign it earned the Battle Honours of 'Peninsula' and 'Nive' though neither were awarded until some years later. Following Napoleon's abdication in 1814 the 2nd Battalion went back to Ireland. It rejoined Wellington's army the following year, after Napoleon's escape from Elba, but arrived too late to take part in the Battle of Waterloo. "

[silverpenny]

Wow Lizzie

Thats quite remarkable you managed to find that much information.

I suppose my question would be, bearing in mind the dates we are talking about and without the help of census records, what information did you find to pin all these family members down?

I am struggling to make the connections.  With perseverence I could probaly find the right names in/near the right timeline, but what documents do you research to prove this is precisely the right person?

[LizzieL]

I suppose my question would be, bearing in mind the dates we are talking about and without the help of census records, what information did you find to pin all these family members down?

When my ancestor was stationed in Jersey, he took his family - at least the younger children - with him.  They remained in Jersey, married there and had their own families there, and I was fortunate that they were mostly quite long lived and appeared on numerous censuses. The Jersey census usually just gives country of birth if outside Jersey, that's how I found one child was born in Ireland, but occasionally it does give the place in England. And I am indebted to two distant cousins who still live in Jersey and had done quite a bit of research before Jersey records were available on line.
One of the older sons who married in Jersey, then moved to Devon, was drowned, along with his wife, in a boating accident. There were several newspaper articles about it, as well as a note in the burial record about cause of death. Their three orphaned children went to Jersey to live with relatives, so that confirmed more family relationships. I was just lucky really that records were available and that my ancestor had a fairly uncommon forename / surname combination.
I haven't been able to find his military record though.

[silverpenny]

Fascinating and well done!

I will have to study the military movements of William in more detail. Sadly the Wiltshire Militia rolls are missing from my local records office and there is little hope of finding them 

I have studied the 2nd Battallion 62nd Foot on The National Archives and there are individual soldier records but not for William. I realise I am making an assumption that he was in this regiment due to its connection with Guernsey.  I may be barking up the wrong tree?

One thing I find slightly puzzling is that there is no mention of William being a "Pensioner" on the census. I thought this was common practice for those who served in the military?