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Archiver > ESSEX-UK > 2009-10 > 1255879522


From: Steve <>
Subject: [Ess] Family change of name?
Date: Sun, 18 Oct 2009 16:25:22 +0100


My wife's family come from the villages round Braintree. Mainly Stisted,
Cressing and the Notleys.


Her maternal line great grandmother's little bother was Samuel DOWSETT
(b1859 Cressing) and up until yesterday all I knew about his wife was
that she was Rachel J (b1859 Pattiswick) from the 1881 census. Yesterday
I thought that I would have a go at filling in a few gaps re her.

First thing was to find when they married, so a search on FreeBMD
quickly gave me
Q4 1879
DOWSETT Samuel Braintree 4a 747
Humphrey Rachel Thyrza C Braintree 4a 747

So there is the first thing, an unusual (to me) middle name. Though
apparently not that uncommon in the 19th century where they seemed to
like obscure Biblical names.

So I then look for a Humphrey family in Pattiswick in the 1871 census.
And there they were James aged 38, a miller's carter born Pattiswick,
Mary aged 35 born Bradwell and Rachel T aged 11 born Pattiswick with 3
younger children.

OK, now to search for the Birth of Rachel Humphrey in 1860 (& 1859).
Nothing. I widened the search by a couple of years and included all of
Essex. Still nothing.

Well Pattiswick is not a large place so search for Rachel (no surname)
born 1860 +/-1 in Braintree district. And there are only 4 (and a half)
of them and the first one is Rachel Thirza CARTER. So perhaps Mother
re-married?

I know, I'll have a look at the 1861 census, and there the family is
James 28, Mary 26 and Rachel 1 with the right birth places, but with the
CARTER surname.

OK, lets do a search for James and Mary's marriage. Search for James,
spouse Mary from 1850 to 1861, that way I have a chance in spotting
James Carter or James Humphrey. And there in Q1 1855 is James Carter
Humphrey, marrying a Mary Ardley.

So, it looks like it is the same mother and father for Rachel, just
sometimes they call themselves Carter and sometimes Humphrey.

This seems strange behaviour for people living in what is a tiny
agricultural village - you can't hide by changing your name when there
are only 2 or 3 hundred people in your village.

Any ideas why they could have done this?

Cheers
Steve

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