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.
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’.
A search for census records under this name found someone of the right name, age and birthplace married to a Jeanette in London 1881.
1881 Census – CUSSANS
A quick search for marriage record with a ‘Jeanette’ as spouse brought up:
Marriage of William CUSSANS (search results)
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.
Marriage of William CUSSANS (parish register)
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!).
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…
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):
1851 census entry for ALLEN family
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)
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.
Carnation LOVELL was born into her gypsy family in Willenhall, 1889. Finding her family has led me on a bit of a run around over the years and I have decided I need to find some solid records and check my information is correct so far (a previous post can be found here).
She appears on the 1891 census with her parents (Matthew and Maria LOVELL), and elder brother Chandos, living in a gypsy tent in Darlaston, Staffordshire.
1891 Census – Lovells
She reappears on the 1901 census, living in a caravan on Sneyd Lane, Bloxwich, as Carnation FLETCHER with brother Chandos, younger sister Elizabeth and what appears to be her mother listed as married to Eli FLETCHER. All the children and Maria now carry the name, FLETCHER.
1901 Census – Fletchers/Lovells
I started to wonder if this was the same Carnation. Carnation’s birth certificate cites her mother’s former name as Maria ANSLOW. Her marriage entry to Eli (7 years after their appearance as a family unit on the census) also records her as Maria ANSLOW, spinster. So, this is clearly the same woman. This also indicates that Carnation’s parents were never legally married. This makes me curious about gypsy marriage customs – was this usual? Was Eli a gypsy or not?
I am yet to find Carnation in the 1911 census. I’m presuming her name was mistranscribed but all the variants I’ve come up with so far have given me no joy.
Instead, I have decided to gather more family records and information about gypsy life paint a clearer picture of Carnation’s life in my mind.
William WREFORD was my famous (in those times) wrestling ancestor hailing from Devon (previously mentioned here and here). So, the fact that the only likely death entry for him was registered in London was a bit worrying for me. Could I be confident this was really him?
Luckily, I had found a newspaper article mentioning he had died ‘in the metropolis’ to help put my mind at ease:
DEATH OF A RENOWNED DEVONSHIRE WRESTLER. – On Sunday last the veteran William Wreford died after a very short illness at the house of one of his children, in the metropolis. (Exeter and Plymouth Gazette (Friday, 07 December, 1866)
The Wreford Pedigree also notes that he died 26 November 1866 aged 74 which matches the death record, so I’m confident this is my William WREFORD.
The death record states William, a yeoman, died of ‘Natural decay’ on 26 November 1866 at 5 New Street, Bishopsgate [London]. However, the informant is listed as Thomas Cusiok/Cuscok (also living at 5 New Street), NOT one of his children.
Two of his children were living in London around this time. William’s son, also named William, had been living in London from at least 1840 – he had married at St Dunstan in the East, and was in the censuses until 1861 as living in the court behind St Clement’s church, Eastcheap. (He was in the police force but by 1871, he was a ‘coffee house keeper’ a little further north in Paul Street.)
Also, his daughter, Elizabeth had married a mariner (Alexander SMALL) in London, 1853 and was a widowed lodging house keeper by the 1871 census (where she lived further north in Tower Hamlets – I’m yet to find her on the 1861 census). Could Thomas Cusiok have been one of her lodgers?
I had some credits to spare at ‘Find My Past’ so I trawled the newspapers and found some references to my ‘celebrity’ ancestor, William WREFORD (introduced here).
In the Western Times (Tuesday, February 27, 1866):
Western Times – Tuesday 27 Feb 1866
The eyes of all classes of politicians are now on the pretty town of Tiverton, but we believe it is not generally known that there is now residing among us the greatest of living wrestlers. We allude to that respectable old yeoman, Mr. William Wreford, who may be truly said to be the hero of a hundred contests in the wrestling ring. The admirers of this most manly and ancient sport will be glad to hear that Mr. Wreford, though several years above seventy, still carries his manly figure erect, and has the most retentive memory. Mr. Wreford suddenly shot up to the height of fame by throwing the terrible Jordan at a great contest at Crediton, in 1812, when he was but nineteen years of age, and his huge opponent was in the prime of life. Mr. Wreford is a noble specimen, both as regards personal strength and social qualities of the good old English yeoman.
Later that year, the following was printed in the Exeter and Plymouth Gazette (Friday, 07 December, 1866):
Exeter and Plymouth Gazette – Friday 7 December 1866
DEATH OF A RENOWNED DEVONSHIRE WRESTLER. – On Sunday last the veteran William Wreford died after a very short illness at the house of one of his children, in the metropolis. Mr. Wreford bore a name familiar to all the lovers of wrestling, both in the provinces and the metropolis. Indeed, there is probably none who appeared before the public so frequently and for such a long period as he did, for though by profession he was, like his ancestors, a farmer, yet he passionately loved the most ancient of all pastimes, and for a period of nearly thirty years generally contrived to be present at all the great wrestling matches in Devonshire, and almost invariably maintained the high reputation which he gained before he was twenty years of age. Mr. Wreford was born at Morchard Bishop, near Crediton, the inhabitants of which have been from time immemorial noted for their great stature and strength. Indeed, the father of Abraham Cann, the champion wrestler, was a native of Morchard Bishop, and according to the testimony of the ancients was in many respects a superior wrestler to his renowned son. At 18 years of age, Mr. Wreford attended a great wrestling match at Crediton, and at its close stood high in the prize list; this was in 1811. The next year his name became a household word throughout the whole county, for having again contended at Crediton, nearly at the close of the play he found himself pitted against the terrible Jordan, a man of gigantic stature and strength, and who according to one author was so feared in the Plymouth wrestling ring that the committee at last excluded him in their advertisements from contending for the prizes offered by them; but at Crediton Jordan was destined to play the part of Goliath, for after twenty minutes contention, Mr. Wreford succeeded in throwing his huge adversary such a tremendous back fall, that the crash occasioned thereby was almost similar to that produced by the felling of an oak tree, and young Wreford amid the deafening applause of an immense concourse of all classes was triumphantly carried on the shoulders of several stalwart men to the Ship Hotel, in Crediton, there to receive from the committee something more weighty, if not so verdant, than that which the Grecian heroes of old were crowned. In 1813 Mr. Wreford visited the metropolis and contended with the champion Fouracres, whom he threw the best Cornish wrestlers at Plymouth, and, with one or two others of their party, bore off very heavy prizes. In 1825 the writer was personally witness to a great gathering of renowned wrestlers at Credition, when there was a vast assemblage of gentry and yeomen, who betted freely on their favourites. At this memorable match Mr. Wreford had to contend with the renowned James Stone (who on account of his prodigious strength and activity was nicknamed by one of the London daily papers “The Little Elephant”) and a terrible encounter ensued, for the men grappled with each other in such a way as almost to realise Homer’s description of the struggle beween Ajax and Ulysses. In truth the first shock resembled the meeting of two fierce bulls. At first Mr. Wreford appeared to have the advantage, but before ten minutes had elapsed he was literally hurled into the air, and fell with terrific violence on his back; yet he was quickly on his legs again, declaring that he would seize the first opportunity of recovering his lost laurels. Not long after he and Mr. Stone again met at Southmolton, when for the first half hour they contended with varying success, after which it was apparent that the strength of the “Little Elephant” was the most unduring, and at the end of seventy minutes, Mr. Wreford having been much shaken by repeated falls on his side, was reluctantly compelled to give over the contest through his opponent with his usual magnanimty offered to forego claiming the prize until the next day, thinking that his friend’s indomitable pluck and well-known elasticity of body might possibly then enable him to renew the struggle. That this was no fanciful picture, the fact of Mr. Wreford throwing, six or seven years afterwards, the celebrated Cornish wrestler Francis Olver, though several of his ribs were broken before he took his opponent by the collar is, we think, conclusive evidence. Until the last few months Mr. Wreford has been residing at Tiverton; and when we saw him in January last he was as erect as a bean-stick, and in every respect appeared twenty years younger than he really was. He then gave us an extraordinary proof of the retentiveness of his memory, for testing his many statements by the records of the Crediton Old Wrestling Club, we invariably found them correct. Mr. Wreford was a well informed, genial-hearted old man, full of anecdotes of celebrated wrestlers and of scenes of the old coaching days and he and Mr. Robert Stone, brother of Mr. James Stone, and himself a renowned wrestler, quite laughed at the general idea of the “dangers of the wrestling ring,” and well vindicated the practice of wrestling, which had been handed down in rural districts from father to son for many hundred years, and both, to the writer’s great amazement, declared that their legs were without a blemish, though they must have received thousands of severe kicks.
