Darking of Haverhill

[yelkcub]

Thanks for this, CD. There's a lot to go through here. Of special interest is the fact you point out that there was a Darking /Page connection.

My ancestor Henry Page is found in the census of 1841 and 1851 (just before he died). In the 1851 he reports his birthplace as Charlwood, Surrey. Via various sources––legal documents mostly––i found that he had several siblings, all but one of which I have traced. I have the siblings' baptismal records but can find none yet for Henry.The parents of Henry's siblings were Thomas Page and Susan(na) Middleton. Thomas and Susanna, though hailing from the Medway area of Kent, did indeed spend some time in Charlwood, where two of their children were christened.

Whether the William Page you have found, who married Elizabeth, daughter of James Darking, has any connection to 'my' Page line is something I'll look into carefully.
Thanks again.

[Annette7]

Forgive me but how do you know that James Darking, croupier in London, came from Haverhill?

The baptism I found at Haverhill in 1792 would appear to be the chap in Haverhill in 1841 and 1851 who was just a labourer and appears to have spent his life there!  I don't think he was the croupier in Crockfords, London - surely James Darking, croupier was someone else of the same name?

Annette   

[yelkcub]

Good evening, Annette
Well, I think your discoveries about the life and occupation of the Haverhill James Darking do indeed show that I have been pursuing the wrong man. I think I must have become overexcited, in looking for possible JDs, by the Haverhill connection. I've had quite a lengthy break from my Page family research. I am still convince that if I can get close to why my ancestor Henry Page gave his son that tantalising and bizarre middle name, it might help me solve the several mysteries that have impeded my reseearch.
Thanks for your interest––and that of the other correspondents––and sorry about taking you along with me 'up the garden path.'

Ian

[trish1120]

It may just be as simple as him having a friend with the name Haverhill.

In my Tree I have a Elizabeth Louttid Leggett.

Mary Leggett nee Newby had a Sister who married a Louttid and that is how simple it was.

[yelkcub]

Hi Trish
You're perfectly right of course, the name of a friend of Henry Page, a wider family connection, or someone who had furthered his interests. Henry is an interesting person, hard to pin down and in many ways my 'brick wall'. One of his sons was financed to migrate to South Australia, set up in a good shipping business ... seemingly in return for marrying a woman of, shall we say, shadowy background. The sponsor was a Duke, an aristocrat, a family story that research tends to validate.

Horace was the only one of HP's children to be given an unusual (i.e. non-family) name. It only now occurs to me that he was the first Horace, too. Perhaps I ought to be looking for a Horace Haverhill?
Thanks for your reply.

[yelkcub]

Looking back at the notes I made years ago when first trying to solve this mystery: Horace's elder brother (James, the one who was set up in business in South Australia) named his house (now heritage listed) 'Haverhill House', further indication that the name was important within the Page family. Later in the 19th century one of James's grandsons was christened Horace Averil Page.
The plot thickens (again)