Family matters.

I have a little more information on Elizabeth – in the form of a copy of her baptism parish record – ie 6th October 1793 at St Andrews Holborn.  I have put a copy of this on the website, though I admit you need good eyesight to read it.  The record also gives the names of her parents, Robert & Sarah Cleaver and an address of Staples Inn buildings, so I will be able to continue the search backwards to find out more about them.

I’ve had no luck with finding Elizabeth’s death.  I did send away for a very promising death certificate for 1864, but it was not her, so the search goes on.

My next task will be updating my information on the children of Robert & Elizabeth and at some stage I will be looking for Elizabeth’s siblings as well.  I need more time!!

If it’s true that the road to hell is paved with good intentions, then I certainly know where I am headed!  In order to possibly evade this fate I am resolved to take action on some of my good intentions.  I shall start by updating the information on various ancestors and recording any new information on this blog, my website, my genealogy program and in my printed files.

If I start with the earliest known ancestor, on my paternal side that brings me to Robert Hooker.  Sad to record that, despite much time spent searching, I have discovered nothing other than what is already recorded in this blog.  I’ll just check the website and the other records to see if they’re up to date, do what is necessary and go on to the next person i.e. Robert’s wife, Elizabeth Cleaver.

Greetings oh loyal reader(s) and my apologies for my long absence – I have been otherwise occupied with major surgery and recuperating therefrom.  With body and brain gradually getting back to normal (yes, for some reason, the brain decided it wanted a rest too and has only recently been kickstarted with some revision of Latin pronominal declensions), I decided it was time to get back to the family history – a decision made at 4am this morning when the brain decided it wanted to compose this blog rather than let the poor old body sleep.

My musings at this early hour were initially on the subject of syphilis.  Some time ago, my new contact Sam recognised in the cause of death –  (ie “paralysis of the insane”) –  of our mutual relative James Hooker(1821-1890) a description of the tertiary stage of syphilis.  This led us to speculation on his father’s death (the elusive Robert Hooker) and also on the state of  health of  wives and children.  Syphilis is a highly contagious sexually transmitted disease and in those days there was no effective treatment for it.

I have since learned a bit more about this disease.  In the mid 1800s about 1 in 10 people in England were infected by this disease and its effects varied from mild sickness, to blindness, high infant mortality through to insanity and death.  Not everyone who got it died from it, in fact it was possible to recover from it – and be re-infected.  The later development of antibiotics provided the cure for this condition.

The more I learn about our ancestors and their lives, the more I admire them – and I wonder if our descendants will look back 200 years at our lives with the same degree of admiration, vicarious pride and pity.

Well, my new contact, Sam, has been most generous and informative and I will gradually add the information she has given to me to the website.  As it turns out, we are related –  her grandfather and mine were brothers. 

We have both come to a dead end (if you’ll pardon the pun) when it comes to Robert Hooker (husband of Elizabeth Cleaver).  We cannot find an entry for his birth or his parents.  In the 1841 census there are numerous Hooker families living in London, with names like William, James and George being very common. The name Robert  crops up often enough in later generations for it to have been a family name,  so there is a trace of him, a signpost if you like, leading back – we just have to look  in the right direction!

I’ll let you know if/when we get there!  Meanwhile, many thanks to Sam for all her help!

I mentioned in the previous post that I could not find Robert in the 1841 census, but did find an Elizabeth Hooker  in the workhouse and I think that must be his widow. Unfortunately, the 1841 census is very short on detail, basically it gives name, address, approximate age and whether the person was born in the county where he/she is living at the time of the census.

In 1847 Elizabeth married Thomas Haines and so she appears in the 1851 census as Elizabeth Haines – she is noted as being married, not widowed, but there is no sign of Thomas and she is living with her daughter Christiana and son James.  So far, I have been unable to find the death notice of Thomas Haines, but I admit, I haven’t spent much time on that.

In the 1861 census Elizabeth is living with her daughter Christiana at Lambeth.  She is still noted as being married, but still no sign of Thomas and she is designated as the family head.  It is interesting that her neighbour is an Ann Haines, perhaps some relative of the ever-absent Thomas?

In the 1871 census I cannot find Elizabeth, so I think she may have died between 1861 and 1871 – this is yet to be confirmed.

The information I have so far on the children of Robert & Elizabeth is as follows:-

Elizabeth –  in 1842 I have her marrying a William Judges, a weaver – the witnesses to that marriage are her brother William and sister Christiana.  I have not followed her history through from there.

William Henry – in the 1841 census he is living at St Leonards Shoreditch and working as a fringe maker.  Interestingly, living at the same address and also listed as a fringe maker is William Judges (see above). William Henry Hooker seems to have a wife Mary and a young son William, but the 1841 census does not state relationships so they may have some other connection to him.  I have not followed his history from there.

Christiana – In the 1841 census I have her working as a servant at an address in Lambeth. In 1851 & 1861 she is living with her mother, but in 1871 I have not found her so far. I have a possible death in 1874, but will need to send for the death certificate to confirm that.

James – The only James I have been able to find in the 1841 census is one living with another Hooker family and working as a mason – I am not convinced this is my man though.  From then on, he is easier to trace, so I have him in 1851 still living with his mother and sister and marrying Elizabeth Evans later that year.  He then appears in the 1861, 1871 and 1881 censuses and I have a death certifiicate for him in 1890.

Robert & Sarah Ann – as mentioned in the previous post, I have not found either of these two in the 1841 census, but did find death notices which could refer to them.

Well, I think that pretty well summarises the information I have on Robert Hooker/Elizabeth Cleaver and their family. I think it is now time to compare notes with my new contact and hopefully we will be able to help each other.

It has been an interesting month, I have been contacted by two people, each offering help – a rare pleasure indeed.  One of them has most kindly offered her information regarding Robert Hooker.  We have yet to compare notes, but with that in mind I thought I’d better put together in one place all that I know about him. 

1. Birth – I have been unable to find any concrete evidence of his birth.  I have assumed for convenience  that he was born about the same time as his future wife (Elizabeth Cleaver b. 1794). His parents therefore have not been identified.

2. Marriage –  he married Elizabeth Cleaver in 1812.

3. Children –   these are the children I have been able to find so far –  

1813 – Elizabeth,  1815 – William Henry,  1818 – Christiana,  1821 – James, 1823 – Robert, 1825 – Sarah Ann.

There is also a Robert Hooker who died in 1813, who could have been their firstborn, but I cannot find a birth entrance for him, just a death notice.

3. Occupation – the fascinating thing about Robert is that he seems to have had 2 distinct occupations ie hairdresser and mathematical instrument maker (with a third one of Book clasp maker on one of the children’s birth notices). I thought at first I must have two different Robert Hookers, but if I look at his son James (my ancestor),his birth notice records Robert as a hairdresser whereas James’ marriage certificate records him as a mathematical instrument maker.  Robert seems to have alternated between the two with no discernible pattern – perhaps it depended upon the availability of work.

4. Death – I have not as yet found proof of Robert’s death, though I have 5 possibilities in mind.  Of those, I think I can discount 3, as they are all after 1841 and I think he was dead by then.  I can find no record of him in the 1841 census, but I did find an Elizabeth Hooker living in the St Lukes Workhouse in 1841, so she may well have been left destitute.  If he died earlier (I have 2 possibilities, 1824, and 1832) then the family may have been in dire straits.  In fact, I have found likely death notices for the last 2 children, who both died in the workhouse (Sarah Ann in 1827 & Robert in 1830) – neither of them appear in the 1841 census. 

I notice in my previous post on Robert I have raised various other questions – to some of which I have found answers, while others are still awaiting investigation.  I will deal with them in my next post.

A note to all my many readers waiting anxiously to hear from me – I’m still here, still puddling around in old records, but not finding anything much I consider conclusive.  When I do, you’ll be the first to know 😀

Well, new year, new resolve, so I have gone back to check on the earlier jobs I set myself and will start with Clara Guy.  I have upgraded my membership with Ancestry.com.au to include access to the London Metropolitan Archives and thus have been able to find a baptism record for Clara.  I still cannot find the civil registration of her birth and it may be that her parents did not register her at all.  I looked up several of her siblings, some of whom were registered/baptised and some not, so it was probably just a random thing.  In my own family, the younger members (including me) were not christened -apparently it was all organised, but, being wartime, the church was bombed, so plans changed and the family went home and ate the christening cake instead – and never got around to trying again.  It must have continued to worry my mother a bit as I remember she used to say “we ought to get you kids christened”  – but was easily dissuaded by this budding atheist.

Anyway, back to Clara – I still have to detail her parents, husband and children and read more about conditions in London in those years.  Now I have an address (see certificate on website) I can look it up on up the poverty map of London – more details of that later.

I’m about to take a break from information- gathering as other priorities take over. However, am looking forward to resuming as Ancestry.com.au now has London Parish Records online  – they should prove an invaluable source of information.  Needless to say, my yearly subscription cost will go up –  by about $50 I reckon – but still cheaper than going over to UK and hunting down all this information for myself .

Well, I’ve really come to a full-stop on this one!  It turns out that the Elizabeth Sarah I was interested in (wife of Henry Simmons) was another person entirely – as evidenced by the birth certificate of one of their children.  So, Henry is removed from the family tree and I am none the wiser about my Elizabeth Sarah.  I have not been able to find any record of her beyond the 1871 census, not in deaths or marriages or later censuses – so that is the task now – to find this elusive lady!

I will postpone contacting the owner of the Ancestry.com family tree until I have some correct information I can offer.