Killing Off William Wreford

geneageek — Sat, 23 Jan 2016 22:32:43 +0000

On the hunt for William’s death certificate, I realised I hadn’t attached an 1861 census record to him yet.
The Wreford Pedigree recorded his death date as November 1866 and the last census I had him on was the 1851. The only appropriate death record I could find was registered in East London but didn’t know whether it was the right guy. So I searched for William WREFORD and found one in the house of his sister, Sarah BROOKS:

1861 Census – William WREFORD staying with his sister, Sarah BROOKS

I checked that William did indeed have a sister called Sarah (baptised 18 Apr 1797 in Morchard Bishop, Devon to the same parents, John & Mary) and then checked for a marriage between a Sarah WREFORD and a man named BROOKS.

Sarah WREFORD baptism

Marriage of Charles BROOKS & Sarah WREFORD (Chulmleigh, Devon)

It all checked out and I am confident that the William living with his sister in 1861 IS my William WREFORD (b. 1793). I ordered the death certificate and hoped there was some clue as to how he ended up in London. Unfortunately there was not. Since then, I learned that both his eldest son William (1817) and his daughter, Elizabeth lived in London at the time and am still tracing his other children. More information can be found in my ‘Wrestling with Death‘ post.

Next steps:

Trace all of William’s children
Find out who Thomas Cusiok/Cuscok

Aunt Sally

Looking for Lovell

Bigamy Blues - Part 3

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Wrestling with Death (places)

geneageek — Fri, 04 Dec 2015 14:48:00 +0000

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?

Next steps:

Who is Thomas Cusiok/Cuscok?
Find Elizabeth SMALL (nee WREFORD) in 1861 census

Stonewall Johnson

Punishment Book

R.I.P. Rose

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