Theme: Lucky

Well, we finally got lucky.  Not that we hadn’t been trying for the last year and a half to find a connection, any connection, amid the thousands of distant matches in Terry’s autosomal DNA test results.  There were just too many early-generation gaps in our trees on all sides, and not a single match declaring the surname Boorman in their pedigree.  Until now.  This is definitely cause for celebration!

We have now contacted a brother and his sister (who also tested), third cousins who share the same great-great-grandparents: Mary Ann GREEN (1816-1862) and Thomas BOORMAN (1810-1894), a wheelwright and coach maker in Wandsworth Surrey England on the south shore of the Thames.  Terry is descended from their son William Scoons BOORMAN, and these newly found cousins are descended from William’s younger sister Louisa BOORMAN.

It’s now time to share Louisa’s story.

Louisa was born on 30 Jan 1844 in Wandsworth, Surrey, the 5th of fourteen siblings, and no doubt named after her maiden Aunt Louisa BOORMAN (1808-1879)   I have written previously about her father Thomas’s four sisters, and his own large family.  Louisa the younger is listed in the 1851 and 1861 census, living on the  south side of High Street in Wandworth with her parents and many of her siblings.  So she grew up in this London neighbourhood.

On 25 Aug 1864 Louisa married George Thomas Seeley, a 20-year-old clerk of New Wandsworth.  As non-conformists they were married in the East Hill United Reformed Church in Wandsworth. George was probably her relative as well, although researchers disagree on the exact path of this connection.  George’s maternal grandmother may have been Susannah BOORMAN (1776-1846) who married William TAMKIN.

Louisa and George  didn’t waste any time starting a family. By 1871 they already had 4 children: Florence age 5, Fred George age 4, Arthur W age 2, and Catherine age 8 months.  The young family family was then living at 7 Wilton Road in Hammersmith, London where George worked as an organist and music teacher.   Their two oldest children had been born in Battersea, just east of Wandsworth.  Arthur was born in Wandsworth, and Catherine was born in Hammersmith on the north shore.  So they were trying their luck in a variety of London area neighbourhoods.

The trend continued, and by 1881 this SEELEY family had traced a path from Hammersmith to Shepherds, back to Battersea and then on to West Ham in Essex where they lived at 1 Maud Villas, and where George was working as a clerk for the Iron Works.  Their family had grown to include seven children, with the added Reginald age 8, William S age 6, and Walter H age 3.   By 1891 they were living in Tatsfield Surrey with 7 children ranging in age from 25 to 2.  The youngest children now included Gertrude age 9, Edgar age 6, Margaret age 3 and Mabel age 2.  In 1901 only Margaret and Mabel were still at home, which was then at Freshfield Cottage in Horsted Keynes in the Cuckfield and Lindfield area of Sussex.  In all Louisa and George SEELEY had a dozen children, with seven of them being boys including Clement who died as an infant in 1880.

One thing that stands out about Louisa's life, is that they moved quite frequently. In trying to pinpoint some of these old addresses on modern maps, I quickly realized that some streets sadly no longer exist, and district names and boundaries have changed.  For instance,  Wilton Road (their residence in the 1871 census) no longer exists in Hammersmith.  Askew Crescent was listed on the same census page, and Clifton Road was also close by (as listed a few pages later) .  Both these streets now exist just north of Hammersmith in the Shepherd’s Bush (or White City) neighbourhood.  But not Wilton.  Looking at modern crossroads in this small area, the B408 is also labeled as the Old Oak Road, but it was also known as Askew Road according to the old London maps of 1940 .  Could it have been previously known as Wilton Road in 1871?

In the above interactive map, click on each marker to read event notes for each location. 
​Zoom in (+) to access partially hidden markers.

Louisa’s husband George SEELEY died in 1903 in the Cuckfield district of Sussex at the age of 58. As he had been living on his own means since at least 1891, I would hope that there were funds still available to support his widow Louisa and the two remaining dependent daughters after his early death.

In 1911, Louisa was a widow with private means, living with her youngest daughter Mabel in Chiddingly in the Hailsham district of Sussex.  But later that same year, Mabel married and soon emigrated to Australia with her new husband John Billings. Other family histories claim that they lived in Paramatta near Sydney.  So what happened to Louisa?  She probably remained behind in England, as she passed away early in 1931 in Twickenham, Middlesex at the age of 86 or 87. 

I wish I knew more personal details of Louisa’s long life.  Her portrait, which reportedly was taken in 1916 when she would have been 72, hints at a strong character.   But that's just my impression.  We look forward to learning more about Louisa and her descendants from Terry’s new DNA cousins.

In belated recognition of International Women’s Day on March 8, I wish to focus this week on another of the amazing women in my direct female line: Eliza Pring COMPTON, my Great Great Grandmother.  I have written previously about my more recent maternal ancestors:

• My Mother - Mabel Marion ANDREW
• My Grandmother - Eleanor Louise “Nell” RICHARDSON
• My Great Grandmother - Isabella Harriet “Ella” COMPTON

Ella’s mother Eliza was also a COMPTON by birth.  In fact, I think that my multiple COMPTON ancestors went out of their way to contribute to my pedigree collapse!  Ella was the eldest of 9 children born to George COMPTON (1835-1903) and Eliza Pring COMPTON (1833-1890), who were also second cousins to each other, as outlined in the following chart. 

My Great-Great-Grandmother Eliza Pring COMPTON was born 13 Jul 1833 in St Eleanors, Prince Edward Island, a first generation Canadian.  Her parents Thomas Compton COMPTON and Hannah JEFFERY were well-to-do farmers who were born in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, England.  They were married in 1810 in St John’s Anglican Church in St Eleanors, but later converted to Catholicism.  Some of their younger children were baptized Catholic, including Eliza Pring COMPTON, the eleventh of twelve siblings.  This dichotomy of religions within the household must have caused some discord in both the family and the community.  But after her father died in 1850, Eliza converted to the Church of England, reversing the the religious affiliation started by her father Thomas and grandfather Harry Childeroy COMPTON (see also a second posting on Harry Compton's good deeds).  This must have taken great strength of character and conviction!  Eliza was later married and eventually buried in the churchyard of St Johns Anglican Church where her parents had been married.  Full circle.

Eliza’s middle name PRING is quite distinctive.  Some list it incorrectly as Pringle, but there is a maternal PRING relative who Eliza was most likely named after.  Eliza’s mother Hannah JEFFERY had an older sister named Eliza JEFFERY whose second husband was Samuel PRING.  As this sister didn’t have any children, Hannah decided to use her sister’s married name when she named her daughter Eliza PRING COMPTON.  There are other examples of this practice in my Compton lines.

The population in PEI was growing in the 1850s, but still the settlements were small and family sizes large, creating a shortage of suitable mates.  So as mentioned, Eliza married her second cousin George COMPTON (born 1835 in Charlottetown PEI) on the 11 Mar 1858 in St Johns Anglican Church, St Eleanors.  They settled in the area and took to farming some of the Compton land.   I’m not sure if this George was the one who won prizes for his sheep and turkeys at the Fall Exhibition in 1890, but I had previously attributed these prizes to another relative George Major COMPTON who married a different Eliza and also lived in this area.  It could have been either one.

George and Eliza Pring COMPTON had 9 children - 5 girls and 4 boys - who all lived to adulthood.  Three of these children ended up marrying cousins, and two never married.  We are very fortunate to have a formal portrait of all five of their daughters, taken sometime before Jun 1903 when the youngest daughter Nell COMPTON died, single at age 26.  I don’t know her cause of death.  My grandmother Nell RICHARDSON was born in 1894 and named after this aunt. I can certainly see the family resemblances. 

Eliza Pring had already died back in 1890 at the age of 57, after only her oldest daughter Ella had married, and only two of her 25 grandchildren had been born.  Eliza's husband George married again in 1895, but died in Feb 1903 (just months before their  youngest daughter Nell). Unfortunately, I have no photos of either of them.  I believe they lived their entire lives on Prince Edward Island, but have found very few records of their daily lives except for the births, baptisms and marriages of their children to mark and add colour to the passing of their years.

Theme: Where there’s a will
Updated 11 Mar 2018: added 2nd grave photo + Brattle Farm Museum youTube video

As quite a few early BOORMAN family wills have survived, I would like to expand on my earlier post about “Researching Old Boorman Wills in Kent” and share the story of another one of my husband’s paternal BOORMAN ancestors.  There were three William BOORMANs in three consecutive generations who all worked as wheelwrights in Headcorn or Staplehurst, Kent, England.  This is the story of the middle William ​who wrote quite an explicit will in 1785.  A will by Will.

Terry’s five-times-great (5G) Grandfather William BOORMAN Jr was born about 1719, probably in Headcorn Kent England, the son of William BOORMAN Sr (1692-1771) and Sarah CHAPMAN (1688-1755).  His parent’s marriage was recorded in the St Peter and St Paul Anglican church register in Headcorn Kent on 14 Oct 1718, and years later they were subsequently buried in Headcorn, conveniently listing their six children on their gravestone.  William Jr was their oldest child.

The earliest record we have of William Jr is from 1725 when he was bequeathed £5 by his paternal grandmother Elizabeth BOORMAN (nee HAYWARD) who died in Cranbrook in 1731.  Then on 23 Oct 1744, this William married Mercelina "Mercy" KNOWLDEN (1720-1750) in Linton (just south of Maidstone, and about 12km north of Staplehurst).  The distances here aren’t large, but these towns and villages were still distinct, so I wonder how and why  these two met?  I have not yet researched the Knowlden family so can only guess that religion or business could have been their point of contact.

Other researchers believe that his father William Sr was “probably a member of the Headcorn General Baptist chapel. There is no record of his children’s baptisms, [as] they too were members of the Baptist chapel and the registers of the chapel for this period no longer exist. The chapel was founded in 1675.“  No doubt these non-conformists met elsewhere, perhaps in members homes, before this chapel was built.

William Sr. was a wheelwright, a skilled trade that must have afforded him a good living as he was rated for property in Headcorn between 1723 and 1754 (at least). He died in 1771. His son William Jr also became a wheelwright, probably apprenticing with his father.  At some point before 1750 he moved to Staplehurst (only about 6 km west of Headcorn) to apply his trade there.  His parents remained in Headcorn. 

On 30 Jan 1766, a lease was signed (N/C 347 T1) between Wm BOORMAN of Staplehurst, wheelwright  and Jacob CHAPMAN of Staplehurst Minister of Christ of the Presbyterian Denomination.   The property in question was the Messuage or Meetinghouse called The Lower Grove or Presbyterian Meetinghouse, plus+ 12’ x 12’ on east. The plots to the south and east were the lands of this William Boorman.  The lease was witnessed by Hannah Quested and Wm Boorman the younger.  This was a prime piece of property fronting on High Street, on the corner of Chapel Lane in Staplehurst.  It is evident from these actions in support of this other church, that William Jr was also a non-conformist.  ​I haven’t seen the lease document, so don’t know what rents if any were charged to the church.  The family version of this story was that William had given land to his church. 

​Another researcher also suggests: “I think it was this William who was a tenant on some of the Bly Court lands in Staplehurst.  He bought Lower Grove, the house used as a Meeting House, then leased it to Jacob CHAPMAN the Minister on 30 Jan 1766.  His Workshop was part of the same site.” (I wonder if the minister was related to William's mother’s CHAPMAN family?).  The “new” United Reform Church built in 1825 still stands on the corner site, and was previously known as the Congregational Church as back as far as 1662 before they merged with the Presbyterians.  But by whatever name, they were all non-conformists.  Regarding  Bly Court,  the Bly Cottages are located a short distance down Chapel Lane next to the Providence Strict Baptist Chapel (that wikipedia says was previously a barn), so it was very possible for William to have lived on these lands close to his wheelwright shop. ​

We know from William Jr’s will of 1785 that he and Mercy had 3 children: Anthony, William (the third), and Mercy.  Other records detailing their births have not been found; any non-conformist records from that period haven’t survived.  We also know that in 1785, William’s wife was called Jane.  We found a burial for his first wife Mercy on 28 Sep 1750 in the All Saints Churchyard in Staplehurst, so the family must have been living there by then.   William married again on 24 Oct 1758 to Jane HUSMAR (some say HUSMAN) in Staplehurst, but there is no indication that they had any children together.  Jane too was buried in Staplehurst on 6 May 1786, the year after William wrote his will, but almost 4 years before he died on 9 Jan 1790.  All three are buried together.

We had the pleasure of visiting Staplehurst in 2012 on an memorable trip to England, and saw first hand the grave of William Jr together with both his wives Mercy and Jane.  The neighbouring stone was erected for William’s son William III and his wive Ann nee WELLER.  Not that you could tell from looking at the stones as they were virtually unreadable.  So we were unsure which stone was for which William.  In fact we wouldn’t have been able to find these stones at all without the help of some friendly folks in the church who referred us to a woman from the local historical society.  After we phoned her, Anita quickly arrived with her Monument Inscription booklet in hand, and led us to the BOORMAN graves.  She had been one of the volunteers who transcribed the stones over 20 year earlier (perhaps as early as 1980) when they were somewhat more readable.  Even so, she said they worked at night and shone flashlights obliquely so the shadows would improve the relief and visibility of the inscriptions.  The Staplehurst Society's MI index has been posted on their website and, together with the will,  have become the main sources for this family’s information. Previous monument transcriptions had been recorded back in 1922 by Leland Duncan, a member of the Kent Archeaological Society.  Some of the details vary between these two transciption.  For instance: Did Mercy, William’s first wife, die at age 30 or 36?

So, what other insights can we gain from William Jr’s Last Will and Testament? The will is crammed onto a single but large page.  I have transcribed it fully so can vouch for the following succinct highlights as written by another researcher (although the will does not explicitly say that Anthony was the youngest son, and lists him first):
“He made his will on 19 Mar 1785 when wife Jane was still alive.  Ref. No. Kent Archive Office PRC17/102.22.  Jane was provided for: youngest [?] son Anthony got 300 pounds if he returned home: son William of Headcorn got his father’s house and land in Staplehurst: and daughter Mercy and son-in-law James Carpenter got land in Cranbrook.  By 1818 son William was William Boorman, wheelwright of Staplehurst.”

Son William III was a co-executor along with a John Merrall. As Jane, his father’s second wife, had already passed away before 1790, that would have greatly simplified the probate process. (Her name was Jane HUSMAR or HUSMAN when she married William, but it doesn't say if she was a spinster or a widow.)  Had she lived, the will required both William and Mercy to pay separate annual annuities to their stepmother, and defer transfer of some of the properties set aside for her use.

We know the least about son Anthony BOORMAN.  He was alive in 1785, but I can’t find record of his birth or marriage or death in England.  So perhaps he emigrated to one of the colonies?  At this point I don’t even know if he ever returned home to collect his inheritance.  £300 was a lot of money back then, and constituted at least half the value of his father's estate according to the probate notes (see image below).  Anthony's two siblings would have been greatly relieved if he was a no show, because the will required each of them to pay £150 to Anthony as repayment of their debts owed to their father.  Otherwise, these debts would be forgiven.  I can image that such large payments would have caused quite a cashflow problem, as the real estate was not theirs to liquidate during their lifetimes.  I would really like to find Anthony and see how his fortunes faired.  Could he have been the eldest son?

Daughter Mercy BOORMAN was already married to James CARPENTER and they had five children by 1790, although the youngest child wasn’t born until after 1785 when the will was written.  They inherited about 22 acres in Cranbrook with house, barn and buildings that was occupied by Richard Drawley (not sure if I’ve read this last name correctly), to be held in trust for their children upon their death (which occurred in 1825 for James and 1816 for Mercy).  Earlier generations of this Boorman family were rooted in Cranbrook, so I wonder if this land had been passed down from William Jr’s grandfather Thomas, a husbandman who died young in Cranbrook Kent in 1698 at the age of 31.  Mercy and James also split the household goods and books with brother William.

Son William BOORMAN III (1746-1824) inherited the most land from his father.  In 1785 he was living in Headcorn with his wife Ann (nee WELLER) and their ten children.  Were they living on property that previously belonged to his grandfather?  We haven’t yet found the grandfather’s will from about 1771 to find out details of that estate. But it would be fitting if a grandson took over his wheelwright business in Headcorn (just a guess at this point).  William III inherited his father’s dwelling house or apartment with orchard and garden shop and timber yard in Staplehurst AND the additional properties there that were bequeathed to Jane.   In a similar manner, these properties were in trust for their children upon their death (William would died in 1824 and Ann in 1829).  In addition, William split the household goods and books with his sister, and inherited the balance of the estate.  At some point after his father's death, William set up residence in Staplehurst (some say 1818?).  William and Ann were buried in the Staplehurst churchyard beside his father.

​William III’s youngest son Edward became the next BOORMAN wheelwright of Staplehurst, keeping up the tradition of trade if not the first name.  However, Edward did not own his property according to tithe records.  But that's another story!

William BOORMAN Jr's one-page will, with its wealth of details as well as properties, has made it possible for us to build this early Boorman family with some certainty, and to gain insights into how this family interacted.  William went out of his way to ensure (on his own terms) that his 3 children and considerable number of grandchildren   benefited from the impressive amount of property and belongings that he had amassed during his lifetime.  And he at least tried to entice his son Anthony home again.

​I have posted further information on Terry's BOORMAN heritage on our Boorman page.

REFERENCES and FURTHER READING

The Staplehurst Society - ​http://www.staplehurstsociety.org/
The History of Staplehurst - http://www.staplehurstsociety.org/Staplehurst%20History.pdf

Bly Court Manor - https://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101060739-bly-court-manor-staplehurst#.Wp8-55PwYy9

Boorman Family Research by John Squier - http://squierj.freeyellow.com/TreeSquier/Boorman/Tree5A-Boorman.htm#833_William_Boorman

​Kent Probate Index: Canterbury Probate Records (1396-1858) Database - https://wills.canterbury-cathedral.org/

Kent Archaeological Society - http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/
Kent Monument Inscriptions - http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/MIs/MIslist.htm

Wheelwrights Guild History - The Worshipful Company of Wheelwrights -  http://www.wheelwrights.org/history.php

The Wheelwright’s Craft, Witheridge Historical Archive -
http://www.witheridge-historical-archive.com/wheelwright.htm

Painting of Wheelwright Shop -  “Interior of the Coach-Wheelwright's Shop at 4 1/2 Marshall Street, Soho, London” by Clare Atwood (1866-1962), held at the Museum of London (© the artist’s estate) -
https://artuk.org/discover/artworks/interior-of-the-coach-wheelwrights-shop-at-4-12-marshall-street-soho-london-50516

Wheelwright - wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wheelwright
​
Brattle Farm Museum in Staplehurst Kent - youTube video shows old farm equipment, vehicles, tools and wheels: