William and Ann had a daughter named Elizabeth Ann Wreford born in Tiverton, Devon. While ’rounding out’ her story, I found her in the 1851 census in London. Elizabeth was in the home of ‘Aeneas B. Reid’ and his wife ‘Anne Maunder Reid’, recorded as a sister-in-law. Obviously the name Maunder jumped out at me. Mrs Reid’s age also tied in with the details for Ann and George Maunder’s daughter Ann (her baptism record can be seen in the earlier post).

Luckily, I could access the image of the marriage Ann Maunder (jr) to Aeneas Barkley Reid a couple years earlier in 1849. It confirmed her father’s name was George Maunder and also held the signatures of two witnesses: William Wreford and Mary Wreford.

(I believe these witnesses are likely to be Ann’s step sibling (son of William Wreford to his first wife) and his wife, who also lived in London at the time.)

After this discovery, everything has started tumbling into place. Another half sibling, Mary Anna, who I was previously unable to pin down, shows up in the census record with the Reids in 1861.

She also appears to have been buried in the family plot of Elizabeth Ann, who had married Alexander Small in 1853.

Mary Anna and Aeneas Barkley Reid also show up as witnesses to that marriage,

and the Small’s son is recorded with Elizabeth Ann’s brother Willliam in the 1861 census.

What tops it off for me, is seeing that my direct ancestor William Wreford was also buried in the Small family plot (4029).

All of this ‘coming together’ is very satisfying, and gives me an insight into how much the siblings lives were entwined with each other.

And of course, I’m now pretty confident William Wreford’s wife Ann Maunder was born Ann Anstey.

The post Maunder Thursday appeared first on Geneageek.

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.

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.

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

The post Killing Off William Wreford appeared first on Geneageek.

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?

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

The post Wrestling with Death (places) appeared first on Geneageek.