Kent Archives - Geneageek

Mystery Grandson Solved

record — William James Cussans birth entry

In my last post, I mentioned that I wanted to find out more about the mystery grandson, William CASSANS, found staying with the ALLEN family in the 1851 census. I’ve actually wanted to do this for years – ever since I first found this census record. If I could find who his mother was, I could add another child to that family and perhaps open up more doors. Even though I guessed it was a spelling issue, I was never able to locate this child anywhere else. To be fair, I wasn’t that bothered since he wasn’t a direct line from me, but seeing his name again bugged me and I set about to solve this mystery.
William CASSANS was only 3 years old (so born c.1848 in Gillingham) and staying with his grandparents William Henry & Sarah ALLEN in the 1851 census.

8eedf9ce3b2390097afb3a386e21682f — 1851 Census – William CUSSANS with the ALLEN family

I had previously searched the subsequent censuses under various spellings since Cassans gave me nothing. (Some of the variants I found included; Cussans, Cussons, Cossons, Cousins and even Custance)
A search within two years of 1848 on findmypast, brought up the birth of a William James CUSSANS, registered in the Medway area, and a death in London that looked ‘promising’.

united-kingdom-records-in-birth-marriage-death-and-parish-records

A search for census records under this name found someone of the right name, age and birthplace married to a Jeanette in London 1881.

LNDRG11_208_213-1200 — 1881 Census – CUSSANS

A quick search for marriage record with a ‘Jeanette’ as spouse brought up:

1873 fits with the age of the first child (6 years in 1881, therefore born a year or two later in 1874/75) but notice there is also another possible bride listed.
Ordinarily, a certificate would need to be ordered to actually prove which of these women was the one he married, however since this marriage took place in London, I was able to find the parish register entry in the London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 records on the ancestry website. As well as proving the marriage, this record gave his father’s name as James CUSSANS, an upholsterer.

Tracking William back to the 1861 census finds him in London with his parents, James (yay!) and Emma, who was born in Faversham, Kent (double yay!).

MDXRG9_175_177-0106 — 1861 Census – Cussans

But was his mother an ALLEN?

Well, my many hours hunting the Kent parish registers showed that William Henry and Sarah did indeed have a daughter named Emma so the last thing I had to do was look for a marriage between a James Cassans and an Emma and…

BAM! I love it when a plan comes together…

The ALLEN Key

William Henry ALLEN, son of Henry & Susanna ALLEN, was born around 1790 in Faversham, Kent.
I can state this for sure because of Bishop’s Transcripts. Before this discovery, I only knew that William Henry ALLEN was a carpenter and the father of Mary Ann Allen since he appears on his daughter’s marriage certificate in 1848 (also seen in this post).

Marriage Certificate of George Wright PALMER & Mary Ann ALLEN

This information backs up the 1851 census record I had for the family (although the names of the visiting grandchildren made me pretty confident anyway):

So I now know that the family lived on Chatham Hill, Chatham between 1848 and 1851 (at least) and that Henry was a carpenter born in Faversham, Kent around 1790. (I also know the names of a few more children but I’m focusing on William for now). Next stop, parish records…
Unfortunately, the Medway Ancestors project doesn’t seem to have the parish registers for Faversham online but I recently did a search on Find My Past and it came up with the Bishop’s Transcript record. Bishop’s Transcripts were a copy of the parish records, often summarised, that each church sent to the Bishop. Information can vary from the register and the transcript so it’s always worthwhile to check out both if you can.

Canterbury Baptisms – Bishop’s Transcripts (St Mary’s of Charity, Faversham)

…William Henry Allen, son of Henry & Susanna Allen [May 30, 1790]…

Yay! I now know the name of William Henry’s parents and have unlocked a few more avenues of research for this family.

Next steps:

~~Find out more about William Cassans (unknown grandchild)~~
View the actual St Mary’s of Charity parish records
Find out more about the Allen’s residences

Marriage Entries vs Marriage Certificates II

In 1848, George Wright PALMER married Mary Ann ALLEN in the parish church of Gillingham, Kent (St Mary Magdalene). George was a gunner in the Royal Navy and Mary was a carpenter’s daughter. Here is the certified copy of their marriage entry ordered from the GRO (click on the images to see a larger version):

George Wright PALMER and Mary Ann ALLEN marriage certificate – 1848

The next image is of the marriage entry from the Gillingham Parish Church records:

George Wright PALMER and Mary Ann ALLEN marriage entry -1848

I am lucky enough to be able to view the parish records on the Medway Council’s City Ark website. These images have been published as part of the ‘Medway Ancestors’ project, thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. If you have ancestors in the Medway district – it’s well worth a look.

Again, I now have my ancestor’s signatures, as well as that of Mary Ann’s father, William Henry ALLEN. Fortunately in this case, the certificate was an accurate copy of the actual marriage entry. You may however find otherwise. If family historians ever have the opportunity to check parish records, they should. One small transcription error can lead to years of frustration. The information gleaned from these have been known to break down ‘brick walls’ in the past.

And hey, even if the information is the same, at least you’ll have your ancestors’ signatures or marks.