Book ’em Again, Danno

In my last post, I was trying to find a more exact address for Thomas Palmer, bookseller of Gosport.  I had narrowed him down to ‘Upper South Street’ but not being a local, still had no idea where exactly upon the street he lived.  The breakthrough came when I found a newspaper article reporting a robbery at his premises:

Portsmouth Times and Naval Gazette 22 November 1862, p8 c3

John Daly, a Royal Artilleryman, was charged with attempting to break into the dwelling house of Thomas Palmer, almost opposite the Police Station, on the previous night. The prisoner was heard at the shutter by a policeman who was going to bed, and he gave information to a brother constable on duty, upon which he went outside the station gate and there saw the prisoner, without a jacket, standing by the window of the house, the shutters being open and partially broken. On seeing the policeman he ran away and was afterwards taken by P.C. Gibbs in a passage in North-street. Mr. Palmer, the occupier of the house, proved fastening up the house about 9 o’clock the previous night. Prisoner was committed for trial.

The old police station in South Street, Gosport – 1949

So now I knew that he lived “…almost opposite the Police Station…”.

Unfortunately, the police station no longer exists on South Street after being destroyed by enemy action in 1941.  I found a photograph of the building in 1949 on the Gosport Heritage site but it gave me no other details.  Luckily however I found a c.1896 map which marked the location of the police station which made the description, ‘almost opposite’ make sense.

Location of Thomas Palmer’s book store in 1862 (map c. 1896)

Interestingly, there is also a photo on the Gosport Heritage site captioned; ‘Portland Place; south side of South Street, running north-south almost opposite to the OLD police station.’  I’m pretty sure Palmer’s old book shop is just out of shot on the far left of this image (behind the first building).

Portland Place, Gosport 1941 via Gosport Heritage

That’s probably as close as I’m going to get but since the buildings on that block are long gone now, I still feel strangely accomplished.

(Previous post in series: Book ’em, Danno | Next post in series: Book ’em Once More, Danno)

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Book ’em, Danno

Thomas PALMER was a book seller and book binder.  I know this because of census entries, parish records and marriage certificates.

Thomas was listed as a ‘Bookseller’ on his son’s marriage certificate (1848)

The first indication of his profession was his son George Wright PALMER’s marriage certificate, where Thomas’ profession was listed as ‘Bookseller’.  George had given his place of birth as Portsea, Hampshire on the 1861 census which allowed me to locate his father Thomas in Hampshire on the 1851 and 1861 censuses despite George not being in the home (more about the 1841 later).  Like any keen family historian, I wanted to know exactly where this family lived.

Thomas was listed as ‘Bookseller’ on South Street, Gosport (1851 census)
Thomas was listed as ‘Bookseller & Binder’ on South Street (1861 census)

The censuses gave me South Street (no.53) as an address but where on South Street?   House numbering has not been consistent over time and I knew from comparing historical and modern maps that South Street, Gosport is a lot longer today than in the 1800s.  I turned to trade directories to assist me.

Kelly’s Directory of Hampshire 1867, p538

Thomas didn’t appear on the 1871 census but he DID appear in the 1867 ‘Kelly’s Directory of Hampshire’ as a secondhand bookseller in Upper South street, Gosport.  This would’ve narrowed it down a bit except I had no idea which end of the street was upper?

Post Office Directory of Hampshire, Wiltshire & Dorsetshire, 1855, p58

The 1855 ‘Post Office Directory of Hampshire, Wiltshire & Dorsetshire’ specified number 53 Upper South Street (as did the 1861 census) but I recall the street numbers of the past may not necessarily be in the same location as street numbers today.

Directory of Hampshire & the Isle of Wight, 1859, p351

However, the 1859 ‘Directory of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight’ listed Thomas at 61 South street.

There were no other appropriate directories on the Historical Directories site for me to search.  Thomas does not appear in the 1828 or 1844 Pigot’s directories of Hampshire, nor have I found him yet in the 1841 census.

So, the address list compiled so far is as follows:

  • 1851 – South street
  • 1855 – 53 Upper South street
  • 1859 – 61 South street
  • 1861 – 53 South street
  • 1867 – Upper South street

(Next post in series: Book ’em Again, Danno)

Next Steps:

  • view parish marriage record for Thomas & Ruth
  • find Thomas on the 1841 census
  • order Thomas’ death certificate

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It’s been a while since I looked into my Scottish forebears but was enticed back to search the Valuation Rolls held by Scotlands People. Happy to find William GLAISTER, smith, listed as occupier at the Smithy in Kelso (Bridge St & Abbey Row).  The owner of the property was David FLEMING, Blacksmith.

William Glaister appears in the 1865 Valuation Rolls

The next (and only other) Glaister mention was a Mrs Janet Glaister, occupying a house and stable at 56 Horsemarket, Kelso.

Mrs Janet Glaister appears in the 1875 Valuation Rolls

This threw me for a bit, as by 1875, William had emigrated to New Zealand.  The 1872 Hydaspes passenger list shows that his second wife, Janet, travelled with him so how could she be listed as tenant in Kelso?  Then I realised this Janet was the wife of William’s brother, Thomas who died in 1870.

William Glaister & family on board the Hydaspes (emigrating to New Zealand) in 1872

This encouraged me to find out more about exactly where the family lived and worked in Kelso.  I trawled the Kelso Chronicle for any GLAISTER mentions and managed to find address details through advertisements;

“W. GLAISTER begs to intimate that he has removed to those commodious Premises in Bridge Street known as FLEMING’S SMITHY.” (Kelso Chronicle, 03 July 1863, p1 c6)

Newspaper advertisement for William Glaister’s business (Kelso Chronicle 03 July 1863, p1 c6)

birth announcements;

“At Forest Field, Kelso, on the 9th inst, the wife of Mr William Glaister, smith and bellhanger, of a son.” (Kelso Chronicle 10 April 1863, p3 c6)

Edward Glaister’s birth announcement (Kelso Chronicle 10 April 1863, p3 c6)

and court reports:

Report of theft from the Glaister shop on Bridge St (Kelso Chronicle 21 February 1868, p2 c6)

The valuation rolls, birth records and newspapers have thus helped me to more accurately trace the movements of this family around the town between the census years and enabled me to pinpoint buildings in which they lived and worked.  The historical maps on the National Library of Scotland site, have allowed me to be even more precise.  For example, the Bridge Street smithy is actually labelled on the 1847 Kelso town plan.  Also, modern Forestfield is now a street name – old Forestfield seems to now be addressed as Inch Road.

[Fleming’s] Smithy as labelled on the 1857 Kelso Town Map

So, the addresses I have pieced together so far are:

1841 – Woodmarket, Kelso (with mother)

1843 – Kelso (marriage certificate)

1851 – Roxburgh Street, Kelso

1853 – Kelso (birth of son – parish record)

1857 – Forrestfield, Kelso (marriage to 2nd wife)

1858 – 9 Forrest Field, Kelso (birth of daughter)

1860 – 9 Forrest Field, Kelso (birth of son)

1861 – 4 Forrestfield, Kelso (transcription error for 9?)

1862 – Shop at the foot of Horsemarket, Kelso (May 26) (newspaper advertisement)

1863 – Premises at Fleming’s Smithy, Bridge Street, Kelso (June 3) (newspaper advertisement)

1863 – 9 Forrest Field, Kelso (birth of son – register & newspaper)

1865 – Smithy (Bridge Street & Abbey Row), Kelso (Valuation Rolls)

1866 – Foot of Bridge Street, Kelso (Abbey Row – birth of son – newspaper announcement)

1868 – Bridge St (theft) (newspaper article)

1869 – House and shop in Bridge St, Kelso (until Whitsunday 1869)

1871 – 4 Coal Market Square, Kelso (then R Glaister & Co 18 Woodmarket)

1872 – New Zealand

 

 

 

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A while back, my mother emailed the above photo of her grandfather, Eduard LEMMENS with his siblings.   The only ones identified at the time were Eduard (left) and his brother, Michel (right) whose records I had been unable to locate – I didn’t even have names of the sisters but at least the photograph was evidence that there were at least five.

It turns out that Eduard was in fact one of thirteen children born to Frederic Jean LEMMENS & Celine Marie VAN WOUW (blogged about previously) but only these seven had made it to adulthood.

A search for Frederic in the Dutch archives website (openarch.nl) led me to all the records in which he was listed as father.

one of the search result pages on openarch.nl for Frederic Lemmens

There seems to be a wealth of information available online for those seeking their Dutch ancestors, albeit a little tricky to navigate for the non-Dutch speaking users (like me).  I was finally able to locate a birth record for brother Michel. His name had been spelled Micheal in the records which seemed to be the reason it was difficult to find him (unlike other ‘more fuzzy’ search engines I’ve used).  All their children’s birth records were there (all born in Vlissingen, Zeeland), as well as death records for the five who died as infants/children.  I have yet to translate these death records as I want to make a death counterpart to my ‘Super-Duper-Handy-Dandy Dutch Birth Record Translation Helper’ and am currently learning some basic Dutch to help me research this particular branch.

However, with this information I was able to find the names and birthdates of the surviving children and guess who is who in the photograph. Irma and Leontine were the easiest being the youngest but I have reservations about the older girls as I can only guess at their ages (sorry, ladies).  The woman I labelled as Valentine looked the oldest to me, and ‘possible Anna’ looked younger than ‘possible Esperance’ but of course, I could be wrong.  I am in the process of trying to date the photograph and glean as much information as I can from the image (ie. why the photo album on the table?).

 

Next Steps:

  • Date the photograph
  • Translate death records
  • Seek more photographs to help correctly identify each individual

 

 

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stphilips1829
St Philips Church, Birmingham c.1829 (where William & Catherine Yeomans were wed)

While tracing back through the life of James YEOMANS recently, I came to a standstill at his birth.  There were two likely baptismal records of Josephs whose fathers were both called William but which one was the correct one? One had a mother called Mary, the other, Elizabeth.  Never mind, I thought, I’ll just use the censuses.

1822josephside
Possible baptismal records of Joseph Yeomans side by side

The problem was however, that I couldn’t find Joseph YEOMANS in the 1841 census – the one that could give me his parents names and take me another step back in the line. I had Joseph’s marriage record so knew he was married in St. Philip’s Church, Birmingham in 1845 (now Birmingham Cathedral) and the ’51 and ’61 censuses located him there. A general name search (variants on and off) and an area limiting search came up with nothing. It’s possible he was living/staying elsewhere that night but also possible the transcription was askew.

yeomanssandford1845
Marriage certificate of Joseph YEOMANS & Catherine SANDFORD

The marriage certificate gives his father’s name as William YEOMANS – a tin plate worker. Joseph’s precise age is not given, only ‘of Full age’ to indicate he was at least 21. The 1851 census gives 27 which means he would only be 17 in 1841 and likely (although not guaranteed) still living at home. Locating it would hopefully solve the issue of which mother was his.

William and Mary YEOMANS were found quite easily, yet I could not find William and Elizabeth.

wrongwilliam
1841 census entry of a William and Mary Yeomans

Presuming it was likely a different spelling of the name, Yeomans, I searched using a variety of name combinations.  Finally, I searched for Jos* Yeomans and huzzah! There he was WITH his father William and mother, Elizabeth, who had been recorded as Wm & Elizth. For further proof this was the right family, both Joseph and his father were recorded as Tin Plate workers AND they were living on Summer Lane (the address given on Joseph’s marriage certificate).

1841josh
1841 census entry of Joseph Yeomans, with his parents William and Elizabeth

His age was a couple years out from the birth years given on subsequent censuses but it fit very well with the 1822 baptismal record.

Interesting to note that he gives his age as 1 year younger than his wife, Catherine on the 1851 census and 1 year older than her on the 1861 census which are both 2/3 years younger than his actual age. 

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