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Degerness and Ross Family History

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The inheritance for Ann Bourns

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Sorting out the Woods of King’s County worked out the numerous Richard Woods in the family in Parsonstown, King’s County (now Birr, Offaly).

While completing that project a deed relating to articles of marriage for Richard Woods and Ann Bourns was found.  This 1812 deed was the deed tells us that Ann is the daughter of Charles Bourns and mentions several other parties of interest in referring to other deeds.  This sparked curiosity as Ann appeared to be related to the deceased John Medlicott, but the specifics of that relationship were not clear.  The working hypothesis was that perhaps John was Ann’s grandfather on her mother’s side.  That hypothesis turned out to be incorrect.

Ann was actually the niece of John Medlicott, not a granddaughter as suspected.  She did not receive an inheritance directly from John Medlicott, but it is possible the inheritance ultimately came from him through his sister, Ann’s mother Dorcas.

See more about Ann’s inheritance and the many additional family members found here.

Good Character or Social Standing

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You have to wonder about the difference between two sentences in the 1840s in England. Both started out with drinking (too much) in pubs. One ended with transportation to Australia and 15 years hard labour, the other ended with a fine and a month in jail.

The first story I have told recently in a previous post. In 1844, Elijah Brown had definitely had too much to drink. He and his brother an friend refused to leave the pub. The constable was called and when he threatened them with the cage they they beat the constable severely. The constable was very lucky and did recover. The judge was not lenient and all three men were sentenced to transportation. There was definitely an ugly element here and Elijah was considered to be of bad character and had been in prison before. Elijah was a poor working man who lived in Isleham.

The second story is about the death of William Burman in 1842. William was also from a poor, hard-working family who lived in the rows in Great Yarmouth.

The story starts out the same. William is out with two friends and likely had too much to drink. Though at the trial his friend says he was not drunk, we could probably dispute that. A quarrel ensued over the price of gin and the pub owner and William argued. According to the testimony of his friend, the pub owner threw William down and beat his head on the floor. William never recovered and died from his injuries four days later. The pub owner was charged with manslaughter and allowed bail of £200 plus two sureties of £100. The pub owner stated that it was an accident; and witnesses confirmed that the pub owner did offer to pay for a doctor for Burman. At the trial, as well as the friend, there were two witnesses for the defense who, although they did not see what happened, did hear the argument between William and the pub owner. They both stated that William banged his head on the bar on the way down to the floor. It should be noted that at trial there were also many witnesses for the pub owner’s character, stating that he was a good man. The judge in the trial told the jury to pay more attention to the last two witnesses than the friend of William Burman. The jury came back with a guilty verdict and the judge ordered one month hard labour.

On the same page of the prison registers as the pub owner’s one month of prison for manslaughter is a man who received transportation for 10 years for house stealing; and another who received seven years transportation for two counts of biagmy.

In a quirky twist, Elijah Brown from the first story later became a pub owner in Australia.

So, is the difference in these sentences because of the pub owner’s good character, or maybe influenced by his social standing? Your guess is as good as mine, but the differences remain interesting.

London to BC in 1867

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In today’s world, we can fly from London to Vancouver in less than 9 ½ hours, then hop on a quick flight of less than 1 ½ hours to arrive in Northern British Columbia.  A long day, granted, but we can reach the west coast of Canada from England in less than a full day.

In 1867, however, the trip was much longer and arduous.  Robert Tomlinson was to become a medical missionary in northern BC.  The first nations were dying of Tuberculosis and Robert wanted to help.  He had graduated from Trinity College in the summer of 1866 with a bachelor of Divinity and was interning to become a doctor when he heard the Church needed medical missionaries in the Nass.  So eager was he to help out that he left his schooling without completing his degree.

He left Liverpool on the City of Boston on Wednesday 16 January 1867.  The City of Boston was a screw steamship that first sailed in 1864 and sank in 1870.  

The arrival in New York was recorded in the custom documents. 

The customs agent incorrectly recorded Robert’a age as 35 rather than the actual 25.  Perhaps he seemed older.  

The voyage from England to NewYork took a little over 10 days and Robert recorded in his diary that he had 5 days to remain in New York before the next part of his voyage.

Robert left New York heading to Panama on Friday 01 February on the Rising Star.  The Rising Star was owned by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company at that time.  

On arrival in Panama, the passengers were put on a train to Aspinwall. 

Robert noted that the crossing of the Isthmus “occupied but a few hours”.

From there, they boarded the SS Montana sailing for San Francisco.  That sailing lasted about 13 days and included two Sundays.

On arrival in San Francisco, Robert rested there two weeks with other members of the Church Mission Society before heading on to the next part of his journey.

Robert sailed from San Francisco to Victoria on the CSN Steamer the Active, the same ship that Active Pass is named after.  They left on 09 March. 

They encountered heavy winds and the run was nearly double the usual time.  They had to put in at Crescent City and again at Port Oxford.  Robert did not arrive until 10:45 on the night of 13 March.

The SS Otter, the Hudson Bay Company’s Steamship running between Puget Sound and Alaska had left Victoria on 28 February and was not due back until May 23.  So Robert had potentially another 2 ½ months to wait.

Luckily, Robert did not have wait for the next trip of the Otter, but was able to sail north on a Schooner called Kate on 23 April. 

If you’re counting, Robert’s trip took more than three months, definitely longer than our current one day.

It should be noted that Robert’s time in Victoria was not wasted as he met his future bride during that time, but that’s another story.  You can read some of it on the history pages for Robert and Alice.

Sarah and Elijah – updated

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In my last blog post I discussed the lives of Sarah Wells and Elijah Brown.

While I am still not convinced on a personal level that Elijah would have left his young children to move back to the UK with Sarah, further document review has only confirmed that it is still possible.

A closer look at the 1881 census indicates that these two were living on Ferry Drove, where Elijah was living in 1841. While that does not confirm they are the same people, it certainly leans in that direction.

Both Elijah and Sarah died in the same place – at East End in Isleham in 1885. That only tells us that these two were most likely the same pair that were in Isleham on the 1881 census.

Elijah’s died on 13 February and the death informant was a lady named Martha Webber who lived in East End in Isleham. So that really doesn’t give us any information either for or against.

However, Sarah’s death information was her daughter Eliza. So we do know that we have the right Sarah. Sarah died on 18 April and was listed as the widow of Elijah Brown, a farm labourer.

I am unable to find information on Elijah’s third wife Esther Hawkins (nee Summerfield) after they married in Tasmania in 1875. His surviving Australian children all lived long lives.

A marriage notice for Elijah’s daughter Lillah Brenda in 1883 indicates that Elijah was in England, and formerly from Franklin, Tasmania. This definitely leads us toward thinking that, in fact, Elijah did return to England and joined again with Sarah.

So, on the weight of probabilities, Elijah and Sarah do appear to have gotten back together in their later lives.

Sarah and Elijah

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Two young people were born in the Fens of south-east Cambridgeshire, England in the early 19th century.  This is the story I have been able to reveal so far. 

Elijah and Sarah

Elijah Brown was the fourth son and middle child of Robert Brown and Elizabeth Fletcher.  He was born in Isleham, Cambridgeshire, England in September 1819.  Sarah Wells (my fourth great-aunt) was also born in Isleham in October of 1822, she had an older sister and three brothers, two older and one younger.

In 1841, Elijah was living with his parents, his brother Isaac and sisters Sarah and Eliza at Ferry Drove near the river Lark.  At the same time, Sarah was living with her father and her younger brother James (my gggg.gpa) at the Pits is Isleham.  Both of their fathers were listed as “lampman” in the occupation, so it is likely through them that the two met.

The Pits was a triangular former chalk quarry lying 20 ft below street level.  This area was inhabited by labourers and was very crowed with approximately 400 people housed in only 78 dwellings (1834 numbers, by 1861 it was reduced to 308 people in 70 dwellings)5.  Ferry Drove, or track, was also mainly populated by labourers and located between the Pits and the River Lark.

The red arrow is Ferry Drove

Elijah was still living at the East End of Isleham and Sarah at the Pits when they met.  They were married on 11 August 1842.  They had two children very close together: Eliza born 25 June 1843 and Elijah born between July and September 1844.  Elijah was working as an agricultural labourer.

On 24 February 1844, while Sarah was pregnant with their second child, Elijah and his brother Joseph and friend John Whiterod, were out drinking at the pub in Isleham.  The local constable, William Brown (no relation as far as we know) came into the pub at 11 o’clock to send everyone home.  When the three left the bar, they waited outside on the highway making a racket.  The constable told them to go home and they took exception to that.  In fact, they beat him and kicked him in the head so severely that the surgeon thought he might have permanent brain damage.  The three were tried on 24 March and convicted.  Each received a sentence of transportation for 15 years.

Cambridge Chronicle and Journal 20 Mar 1844

Elijah

Prison records from Millbank Prison indicate that Elijah was of bad character and had been in prison previously on an assault charge.  The records tell us that Elijah could read and he could print “imperfectly”.  He was 5’1” tall with a dark complexion.  His eyes were dark grey, his eyebrows dark brown and his hair dark brown to black.  He had an oval face, a low forehead and a long nose with a small mouth and chin.  He had a small scar on his right knee.

Transportation seems to have improved Elijah’s attitude slightly as he was sent to work in the community starting in 1846.  Elijah was recommended for parole on 14 September 1852 and was paroled on 21 June 1853 after serving eight years and seven months of his sentence.  This was not the shortest time before pardon for prisoners at that time, but neither was it the longest.

While he was working in the community he met Eliza Houghton Stanton.  Eliza was born to Isabella Houghton in 1830 in Isleham, and her mother married John Stanton when Eliza was less than a year old.

Eliza’s parents and siblings had arrived in Australia as assisted immigrants in 1848.  John was listed as a gardener.  We are unsure how, or when, Eliza arrived as she was not listed on the same ship manifest as her parents.

Somehow, Eliza was living with or near her parents in Franklin, Tasmania, Australia where Elijah was on work release.  The two had a child in 1852, and were married in 1853 after Elijah’s pardon.  Another eight children followed. 

Eliza’s name on their marriage certificate 26 November 1853 indicated that her last name Griggs.  Her name then was varied on the birth documents as shown in the following table.

YearChildMaiden NameInformant
1852Robert GeorgeHoughtonWilliam S? – friend
1854IsaacHoughtonEliza
1856Elizabeth AnneStauntonElijah
1858EltheldredaStauntonEliza
1860Althea MariaStauntonEliza
1861TitheraHoughtonElijah
1863Lillah BrendaGriggsElijah
1865Charlotte AngelinaStauntonElijah
1871Elijah HenryHoughtonFM Stanton – aunt

When the oldest child was born, Elijah was listed as a prisoner, for every child after that Elijah is noted as a victualler. 

In 1857, Elijah received a land grant in the township of Franklin in Tasmania for the sum of 57 pounds.  The bordering land was owned by Joseph Griggs and Joseph Jackson. 

Elijah was on the other side of the law on 23 April 1865 when it a theft was reported.

Eliza died from cirrhosis of the liver and jaundice in November of 1874.  Her youngest, Elijah Henry would have not quite reached the age of three at that time.  Likely the youngest five children were still at home.

Elijah wasted no time, in less than nine months (August 1875) he married Esther Hawkins, a widow aged 24 years.  He was 55 at the time.  Elijah was likely looking for a housekeeper and mother for his children.

Sarah

In 1851, Sarah was living with her brother James at the Pit in Isleham.  Her two young children were with her.

After that Sarah disappears from the census records.  It is, of course, possible that she is one of the six Sarah Brown’s that were married during between 1851 and 1861.  All of the Sarahs in Cambridgeshire in the 1861 census (born in Isleham around 1821) were also there with their husbands in 1851.  Eliza and Elijah also disappear from the census records.  Although it is possible that Eliza is the Eliza Brown working as a servant in Newmarket, St. Mary in the 1861 census.

Elijah and Sarah

Immigration records in 1877 show an Elijah Brown of the correct age sailing from Australia to England, without family.  Would Elijah have left his 6-year old son at that time?

On the 1881 census in Isleham, we find a Sarah and Elijah Brown.  This Elijah was a farmer of 5 acres.  Is this the same Elijah and Sarah? 

Could Elijah have returned to England to live with Sarah? 

Death certificates have been ordered for the Sarah and Elijah in Isleham that died in 1885, we shall see what the records tell us.

For the conclusion, see this post

Information for this blog was derived from:

Ancestry, Find My Past, Family Search, Tasmanian Archives as well as https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/cambs/vol10/pp420-427#fnn63