D is for Deptford

One of my fifth great grandfathers was Thomas Plaisted (1777 – 1832), who lived with his wife and family at Deptford, a dockyard district on the south bank of the Thames. Plaisted was the proprietor of a wine bar in Woolwich, five miles to the east. (When I last wrote about this, at “Plaisteds Wine Bar”, I was under the impression that his wine shop was in Deptford.)

Until recently much of what was known about Thomas Plaisted was based on Arthur Plaisted’s 1939 “The Plaisted Family of North Wilts“. In 2016, however, a new edition formatted by Claire Plaisted was published. She notes that Arthur Plaisted’s work on the Australasian branch of the family is unreliable. It should be pointed out, of course, that Arthur Plaisted was writing in the 1930s, without our easy on-line access to records and without the benefit of digitisation and machine text-searching.

When my fourth great grandfather John Plaisted died in 1858 in Melbourne, Victoria, his death certificate gave his parents as Thomas Plaisted and Lydia Plaisted née Wilks. Using the Australian system of birth, death, and marriage records, I have been able to trace my Plaisted relatives back to Thomas Plaisted – owner of the wine bar – and his wife Lydia.

On 10 June 1797 Thomas Plaisted married Lydia Wilks (Wilkes) at St Bride’s Church Fleet Street by banns. The witnesses were William Winstandly and W Finch.

Their son John was baptised on 27 April 1800 at St George the Martyr, Southwark, with seven other infants. The baptism record states that he was born on 7 April.

Two children of Thomas and Lydia had previously been baptised at the same church. Both were called Thomas, the first baptised 12 August 1798 and the second on 10 March 1799. The first Thomas died in December 1798 and was buried on 14 December at St George the Martyr. The second Thomas died about June 1799 and was buried on 2 June, also at St George the Martyr. Both infants were stated to be from New Colley Borough, perhaps near Colley Borough, a place mentioned in 1845 in the London Gazette in connection with the London-Brighton railway.

The next child whose baptism record I have seen is Tabitha, born in 1806. It seems unlikely that there were no other children born between 1800 and 1806, and I suspect their baptism records have not yet been digitised. I have found two possible burials. On 18 January 1803, Joseph from New Colley Borough, son of Thomas, was buried at St George the Martyr. On 28 March 1805, Lydia from New Colley Borough, daughter of Thomas, was buried at St George the Martyr.

While reviewing the records associated with my Plaisted forebears I discovered that the younger children of Thomas Plaisted and his wife Lydia Plaisted née Wilkes were baptised at the Ebenezer Chapel and the Plaisted family seem to have become Dissenters. Tabitha, Elizabeth and Thomas Wilks were all baptised on 8 April 1813. Lydia was baptised not long after her birth on 10 April 1814 and Ebenezer was baptised in April 1817.

View of Ebenezer Chapel, an Independent Chapel that was situated on King Street in New Town, Deptford. 1840 Unknown artist. Retrieved from British Library.

On 17 June 1817 the births of these youngest 5 children were registered at Dr Williams Library:

• Tabitha, born 25 August 1806
• Elizabeth, born 7 March 1809
• Thomas Wilkes, born 21 July 1811
• Lydia, born 9 February 1814
• Benjamin Ebenezer, born 31 January 1817

All the children were born in the Broadway parish of St Pauls Deptford.

Dr Williams’s Library was founded in 1729. Amongst its aims was that, for a small fee, it kept a central registry of births mainly (but not solely) within non-conformist families, to avoid the necessity of having to have a child baptised in the established Church of England.

John Plaisted, my fourth great grandfather, was not baptised at the Ebenezer Chapel and I have found no evidence that he was a Dissenter.

from an 1862 map of Deptford – orange arrows show the location of Broadway and the Ebenezer Chapel. Retrieved from mappalondon.com.

“The Plaisted Family” has Thomas Plaisted born in Newnham-on-Severn, Gloucestershire. While it is not impossible that Thomas Plaisted moved from Gloucestershire to London, I think it is more likely that Thomas was the child of John Plaisted and Ann, born in Shoreditch on 14 October 1777 and baptised at St Leonard Shoreditch on 11 November 1777. I haven’t yet been able to verify this.

Arthur Plaisted gives Thomas’s death as 1860. In fact Thomas’s will was proved in 1832; Thomas died on 30 May one day after signing his will and was buried on 4 June at the Independent burial ground Deptford, High Street, formerly Butt Lane.

Map shows Deptford (D), Woolwich (W), St George the Martyr Southwark (So), St Bride’s Church Fleet Street (F), St Leonard Shoreditch (Sh)

Related posts

• P is for phthisis (tuberculosis)
• Plaisteds Wine Bar
• E is for enterprise

E is for enterprise

One of my fifth great grandfathers was Thomas Plaisted (1777 – 1832), who owned a wine bar in Deptford (I have written before about this, at Plaisteds Wine Bar). Deptford was a dockyard district on the south bank of the River Thames in south-east London.

The Coopers Arms, also known as Plaisteds Wine Bar, in 2008 (photograph from Wikimedia Commons taken by Ewan Munro and uploaded by Oxyman) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 ]

According to my cousin Helen Hudson in “Cherry Stones“, her history of her forebears, Thomas Plaisted was born in Newnham on Severn in west Gloucestershire. His Plaisted ancestors were connected with the village of Castle Combe in Wiltshire. Helen describes an excellent ploughman’s lunch she had there.

Helen’s research was largely based on the work of Arthur Plaisted, who published “The Plaisted Family of North Wilts” in 1939. With the benefit of direct access to many more records and with the power of indexes and digitisation, current family history researchers differ from some of Arthur Plaisted’s conclusions.

Two records of my fifth great grandfather I feel confident about are:

• his marriage to Lydia Wilkes in June 1797 at St Bride’s Church Fleet Street
• his will of 1832 and associated codicil, where he names his wife and children. In the codicil to his will he stated: “I Thomas Plaisted do hereby acknowledge that the house known as the sign of the Coopers Arms Woolwich Kent has been from the taking of the above house and is now the property of my son John Plaisted and I do hereby direct that the Licences be transferred to him or to whom he shall appoint witness my hand this twenty ninth day of May one thousand eight hundred and thirty two”. John Plaisted (1800 – 1858) was my fourth great grandfather who in 1849 emigrated to Australia.

The wine bar survived under different owners to about 2010. According to Google Street View in 2018, the building was is being used as a laundrette. Although it looks Georgian, the facade of the building apparently dates from a renovation in the 1920s. The distinctive lamp may date from the original building.

I don’t know why my 5th great grandfather migrated from Gloucestershire to London, or if in fact it was his parents who migrated. London’s population grew from about three-quarters of a million people in 1760 to 1.1 million people in 1801, when the first reliable census was taken. The Plaisted family were among those migrants to London. Some of London’s population growth was due to reduced infant mortality: by the 1840s children born in the capital were three times less likely to die in childhood than those born in the 1730s. However, population growth attributable to reduced infant mortality was outweighed by increased migration and rising fertility.

Thomas Plaisted ran a successful business, which survived and was run by his descendants for most of the nineteenth century. The building was bought in 1890 by a Mr E.J. Rose, who continued to use it as a wine shop and bar. It changed hands several times in the twentieth century and finally closed about 2010.

Related posts

• Plaisteds Wine Bar
• P is for phthisis (tuberculosis)

Sources

• Hudson, Helen Lesley Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic, 1985.
• Plaisted, Arthur Henry (The) Plaisted family of North Wilts, with some account of the branches of Berks, Bucks, Somerset, and Sussex. The Westminster publishing co, Westminster, 1939.
• Ancestry.com. England, Select Marriages, 1538–1973  Name: Thomas Plaisted Marriage Date: 10 Jun 1797 Marriage Place: Saint Bride Fleet St, London,England Spouse: Lydia Wilks
• 1832 will of PLAISTED Thomas, Kent, Jul 463 [PROB11/1803 (451-500) pages 100 R&L] transcribed by Jeanette Richmond
• http://www.dover-kent.com/2016-project/Plaisteds-Woolwich.html
• https://www.chrismansfieldphotos.com/RECORDS-of-WOOLWICH/Woolwich-High-st-/i-4RT9wb2
• Clive Emsley, Tim Hitchcock and Robert Shoemaker, “London History – A Population History of London”, Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 7.0, 04 April 2019 ) retrieved from https://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Population-history-of-london.jsp
• Google street view

Death at sea of Walter Wilkes Plaisted (1836 – 1871)

Walter Wilkes Plaisted (1836 – 1871), my 3rd great grand uncle, died of phthisis (tuberculosis) on board the SS Geelong during the passage from Singapore to Melbourne. His probate file, held by the Public Records Office of Victoria, includes an inventory of his effects, a fascinating insight into the possessions of a traveller of 1871.

death notice for Walter Wilkes Plaisted in the Melbourne Argus of 27 February 1871

Walter was the son of John Plaisted (1800 – 1858) and  Ann nee Green (1801 – 1882).  He was the fifth of eight children. Walter’s father, John, also died of tuberculosis and in fact the family quite possibly emigrated to Australia for the sake of John Plaisted’s health.

The Plaisted family arrived in Adelaide on the Rajah in April 1850.  Walter was then fourteen years old.  In 1856, aged 19,  he was witness in a court case about a forged check. He was a clerk of the South Australian Banking Company.  According to his father’s death certificate, John Plaisted had moved to Melbourne five years before his death, about 1853. Walter had obviously stayed in Adelaide, at least until 1856, after his parents moved to Victoria.

At the time of his death Walter was unmarried. He had made a will and left his possessions to be divided between his five living siblings.  At probate he was declared to be a gentleman usually residing at Gipps Street, Richmond. Walter’s property amounted to less than forty pounds. His brother Thomas was sworn to administer the estate.

Public Records Office of Victoria: probate file for Walter Wilkes Plaisted, gentleman, usual residence Richmond, who died 7 February 1871, file number 8/804; VPRS 28/P2, unit 1

Inventory of effects of the late W W Plaisted a first class passenger from Singapore to Melbourne. Died on board S. S. ‘Geelong’ at sea 7th February 1871.

1 small parcel containing

1 gold watch & key (in case)
1 gold guard with appendages
1 set Gold studs
I pr gold sleeve links
1 gold scarf pin
2 pencil cases
Cash 6 Sovereigns 1 Rupee
1 Bunch Keys
…..

1 Black Box No 1 containing

7 prs Cloth Trousers
8 No    ”      Coats
9 No    ”      Vests
1 No Worsted Jacket
7 No Crimean Shirts [defined by oxforddictionaries.com as a coloured flannel shirt as worn by workers in the bush]
19 No White      “
18 prs     ”        Trousers
13 No     ”        Vests
11  ”        ”         Coats
7    ”   Chamber Towels
4    ”   Cotton Sheets
9    ”   Pillow Cases
4    ”  Sleeping Jackets
4    ”  Singlets
9 prs Socks
8   ”  Pyjamas
3 No Hat Covers
1   ”  Large Scrap Book
1 Book of Photographic Sketches
1 Portfolio containing papers
2 Albums containing Photographs
1 small Medicine Box
1 Packet Stationery
1 Masonic Apron (in tin case)
1 Flask
1 small Carpet Rug

—————–

1 Black Portmanteau No 2 containing

1 Bundle Magazines &c
1      ”      Books
3 Portraits (framed)
8 Pieces Prints (cotton)
2 Scarfs
2 Sashes
44 Neckties
2 doz Linen Collars
1 Book mark
1 pr Braces
1  ”  Kid Gloves
4 Cups
1 dressing Gown
3 White Handkerchiefs
1 Comb 2 hairbrushes
1 Tooth brush
1 Sponge
1 bath Scrubber
1 China basket of sundries

—————–

1 Black Portmanteau No 3 containing

3 prs Slippers
4   ”  Boots & Shoes
1 Red Blanket

—————–

1 Canvas Bag No 4
containing soiled linen &c viz
1 White Blanket
7 Sleeping Shirts
3 Prs Pyjamas
9 Linen Collars
1 pr White Trousers
5 White Handkerchiefs
3 prs Socks
4 Flannel Waistbands
1 Singlet
3 Bath Towels
4 White Vests
6     ”      Shirts
1 Felt Hat

—————–

Loose Articles

1 Rattan Chair
1 Silk Umbrella 1 Pith Hat

add Japan’d box & tray & Japanese Sword
3 Paper Kites
2 Malacca Canes

Sources

•  POLICE COURTS. (1856, January 3). South Australian Register (Adelaide, SA : 1839 – 1900), p. 4. Retrieved  from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article49746638
• Public Records Office of Victoria: will and probate files for Walter Wilkes Plaisted, gentleman, usual residence Richmond, who died 7 February 1871, file number 8/804; VPRS 28/P0, unit 99; VPRS 28/P2, unit 1; VPRS 7591/P2, unit 1

Related posts

• P is for phthisis (tuberculosis)

Deaths at sea

This week’s Sepia Saturday prompt is the sea. In fact, the prompt picture of Bondi Beach inspires thoughts of holidays by the beach, but I have recently been researching several members of my family who died at sea and I was reminded that the sea is not always benign.

The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault painted 1818-1819 and now hanging in the Louvre. The Méduse was wrecked off the coast of Africa in 1816. Of the 400 on board only 15 survived.

Arthur Branthwayt (1776-1808) was the second husband of my 5th great grandmother Elizabeth née Phipps (1774-1836). He died at sea in a shipwreck. He was travelling to Gothenburg and the Crescent, a frigate with 36 guns, which was lost off the coast of Jutland. 220 of the 280 aboard her died. A raft was constructed, similar to the Méduse‘s. Arthur Branthwayt’s wife, eight-month-old daughter and four step-children were not travelling with him.

Hampshire Chronicle 6 February 1809

Kentish Gazette 30 December 1808

Morning Post (London) 17 January 1809

Arthur Branthwayt’s grandson, Arthur Branthwayt Toker (1834 – 1866), my first cousin five times removed, is doubly related to me as his mother married her half-sister’s nephew by marriage, the son of Clarissa Champion de Crespigny (1776 – 1836). Young Arthur died at sea of typhoid fever while returning to England from New Zealand. He had been an officer in the 65th Regiment (later the York and Lancaster Regiment) and fought in the Maori Wars. He was unmarried.

 

from William Francis Robert Gordon’s album “Some “Soldiers of the Queen” who served in the Maori Wars and Other Notable Persons Connected Herewith”. Retrieved from the collection of Puke Ariki, New Plymouth, New Zealand

 

Wellington Independent 27 March 1866

In 1814 another shipwreck took the lives of Henry Gore Wade, his wife and children. Wade was the brother-in law of my fourth great uncle Philip Champion de Crespigny (1765 – 1851).  The Wade family were returning to England from India and died when the John Palmer was wrecked.

Morning Post (London) 31 March 1814

Morning Post (London) 1 April 1814

Gordon Skelly, who died in 1771, was my 6th great grandfather. His granddaughter Sophia née Duff (1790 – 1824) married Rowland Mainwaring (1783 – 1862). Skelly was the captain of the Royal Navy sloop Lynx stationed at Shields Yorkshire. He was drowned when his ship’s long boat, ,crossing the bar of the harbour, was overturned by breakers. At the time of his death his two children were aged four and three.

Leeds Intelligencer 2 July 1771

Entrance to Shields Harbour from The Ports, Harbours, Watering-places and Picturesque Scenery of Great Britain Vol. 1 by William Findon retrieved from Project Gutenberg

When I checked my family tree I found a number of others who died at sea:

• Charles Patrick Dana (1784 – 1816), my 4th great grand uncle, who died while travelling from the East Indies to England on the Sir Stephen Lushington.
• Michael Hickey (1812 – 1840), the brother of my 3rd great grandmother died on the voyage to South Australia from Cork, Ireland,  on the Birman.
• Kenneth Budge (1813 – 1852), my 3rd great grandfather, died of cholera while sailing near Elsinore, Denmark.
• Walter Wilkes Plaisted (1836 – 1871), my 3rd great grand uncle, who died of phthsis (tuberculosis) on board the SS Geelong during the passage from Singapore to Melbourne. His probate file, held by the Public Records Office of Victoria, includes an inventory of his effects, a fascinating insight into his possessions.

My great great grandfather, James Francis Cudmore (1837 – 1912) was born at sea aboard the Siren off the coast of Kangaroo Island. His mother, Mary née Nihill (1811 -1893) was travelling from Launceston to the very new colony of Adelaide to join her husband Daniel Michael Paul Cudmore (1811 – 1891).

My husband’s great great grandmother Margaret née Smyth (1834 – 1897) gave birth to a baby boy as she travelled to Australia from Ireland on the Persian. The baby is recorded on the passenger list but it is not known what happened to him after arrival. He probably died as an infant. His death was before compulsory civil registration.

Plaisteds Wine Bar

The theme for this week’s Sepia Saturday is ‘signs’.

A bar in London which had operated in one form or another as a seller of alcohol since 1790 until it closed recently in about 2010, bore the surname of my fifth great grandfather.

The Coopers Arms, also known as Plaisteds Wine Bar, in 2008 (photograph from Wikimedia Commons taken by Ewan Munro and uploaded by Oxyman) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]

On 29 May 1832 my fifth great grandfather Thomas Plaisted (1777-1832) signed his will and added a codicil:

I Thomas Plaisted of the parish of Saint Paul Deptford in the county of Kent being of sound mind and memory do hereby make my last will and testament as follows To my wife Lydia Plaisted I leave the interest and rent of all my property during her natural life at her decease I direct that the whole of the property before named be sold and divided in equal parts John Plaisted Thomas Wilkes Plaisted Elizabeth Plaisted and Lydia Plaisted each having an equal share of the same and to my daughter Tabitha Ewer I direct that a fifth part of the above property when sold that she shall have the interest of for her natural life and at her decease to become the property of her daughter and the same to be invested for better security in one of the public funds of the kingdom I also direct that the interest of the above fifth share be paid to the said Tabitha Ewer exclusively and I hereby appoint my son Mr John Plaisted and Robert Law my sole executors as witness my hand this twenty ninth day of May one thousand eight hundred and thirty two—Thos Plaisted—witness—Frederick Dove—John Ewer—El Miles

Codicil I Thomas Plaisted do hereby acknowledge that the house known as the sign of the Coopers Arms Woolwich Kent has been from the taking of the above house and is now the property of my son John Plaisted and I do hereby direct that the Licences be transferred to him or to whom he shall appoint witness my hand this twenty ninth day of May one thousand eight hundred and thirty two—Thos Plaisted—witness—John Ewer (1832 PLAISTED Thomas, Kent, Jul 463 [PROB11/1803 (451-500) pages 100 R&L] transcribed by Jeanette Richmond)

Thomas died the next day and his will was proved at London on 19 July 1832.

It looks as though in preparing the will Thomas had forgotten that he had already transferred some property to his son John. John Plaisted (1800-1858) was my fourth great grandfather.

The earliest advertisement I have been able to find is from the West Kent Guardian in 1835.

The West Kent Guardian 26 December 1835 page 1

In December 1836 the partnership between John and his brother Thomas Wilkes Plaisted (1811-1886) for operating the Coopers’ Arms was dissolved and Thomas Wilkes Plaisted continued to operate the business.

The London Gazette: no. 19450. p. 2606. 20 December 1836.

In the 1841 census John Plaisted was living with his wife, seven children, sister-in-law, and a female servant at Camberwell. His occupation was described as wine merchant. (Class: HO107; Piece: 1052; Book: 5; Civil Parish: St Giles Camberwell; County: Surrey; Enumeration District: 13; Folio: 6; Page: 6; Line: 9; GSU roll: 474651. Image of census viewed on ancestry.com)

In 1842 John Plaisted was a Wine and Spirit Merchant and had been in partnership with John Vickers, John Vickers the younger and Benjamin Vickers. The partnership was dissolved and a new partnership formed without Benjamin.

The London Gazette: no. 20175. p. 3653. 9 December 1842.

An advertisement for Vickers, Plaisted, and Co’s Diamond Grape Sherry in the Times 22 January 1845 page 10

In August 1848 the Vickers Plaisted partnership dissolved.

The London Gazette: no. 20888. p. 3097. 18 August 1848.

In 1849 John Plaisted emigrated to Australia with his family on the Rajah.  I have written previously about how John emigrated probably because he had tuberculosis.

Flickr has an image of a spirit bottle from Plaisted’s of Woolwich at http://www.flickr.com/photos/71171743@N05/6947203397/

P is for phthisis (tuberculosis)

My fourth great grandfather (4*great) John Plaisted (1800-1858) died of phthisis, more commonly known as tuberculosis.

In early colonial days the disease was a part of daily life and few families were lucky enough to avoid it. There was no cure. The usual medical advice was a move to a warm, dry climate, a nutritious, nourishing diet, and complete rest. 

According to the 1841 census, John Plaisted was a wine merchant in Camberwell, Surrey, England. But in 1847 he sold his business and retired to South Devon.  In 1849 he sailed to Australia on the Rajah arriving in Adelaide in 1850 with his wife, six children and his sister-in-law. His wife’s brother and sister had already emigrated to Adelaide. Although we don’t know for sure, it seems quite possible that he came to Australia as the climate would be better for his health. (Hudson, Helen Lesley (1985). Cherry stones : adventures in genealogy of Taylor, Hutcheson, Hawkins of Scotland, Plaisted, Green, Hughes of England and Wales … who immigrated to Australia between 1822 and 1850. H.L. Hudson, [Berwick] Vic. Page 58)

Adelaide was recommended as a good climate for tuberculosis sufferers. Charles Hill, for example, who emigrated to Adelaide in 1854, came in the hope the climate would be beneficial.  (Goldsworthy, Kerryn (2011). Adelaide. NewSouth Publishing, Sydney page 68 retrieved from Google books http://books.google.com.au/books?id=567RCN4BIoMC&pg=PA68)

The Plaisted family moved to Melbourne. They were living at 100 Collins Street when John finally succumbed to his illness.

Tuberculosis is an infectious disease caused by a bacterium. The most common type is an infection of the lungs.  A common symptom is a persistent cough and later coughing up blood.  The patient loses his appetite and then weight. Other symptoms include a high temperature, night sweats and extreme tiredness. Tuberculosis was a slow killer; patients could waste away for years.

Tuberculosis was often seen as a romantic disease. In 1821 most famously the poet John Keats died aged 25. In 1828 Lord Byron wrote  “I should like to die of consumption. The ladies would all say, ‘Look at that poor Byron, how interesting he looks in dying!”

John Keats in his Last Illness, engraved after the sketch by Joseph Severn, from the book The Century Illustrated Monthly Magazine, May to October, 1883 By Joseph Arthur Palliser Severn 1842-1931 image retrieved from http://www.spectator.co.uk/books/8684451/8684451/

The graph below shows that the death rate from tuberculosis was 4,000 deaths per 1 million people in 1838 fell to around 3,000 per million in 1850. In the 1800s nearly a quarter of all deaths were due to tuberculosis. In Australia in the late nineteenth century tuberculosis was the leading cause of death, “20 times deadlier per capita than all cancer conditions today put together.” In Australia there are still about 1,200 cases each year but it is relatively under control. However, worldwide 1.7 million people still die of the disease each year. (Britton, Warwick. “TB in Australia.” Infectious Diseases. Centenary Institute of Cancer Medicine and Cell Biology, 14 Apr. 2014. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. <http://www.centenary.org.au/p/ourresearch/infectious/tuberculosis/TB_in_Australia/>.)

Graph of Death rates from respiratory tuberculosis in England and Wales from Integrating nutrition into programmes of primary health care, Food and Nutrition Bulletin Volume 10, Number 4, 1988 (United Nations University Press, 1988, 74 p.) retrieved from http://preview.tinyurl.com/lyodwzf  “Death rates from respiratory tuberculosis in England and Wales shows the fall in tuberculosis in England and Wales before BCG or therapies such as isoniazid and streptomycin were available. Similar declines were observed for the other common infectious diseases. McKeown concludes that improvement in food supplies and nutrition is the only reasonable explanation for these declines in mortality. Similar trends are occurring in developing countries today in areas in which some nutritional improvement has occurred despite little or no access to medical services.”

Other blog entries about the Plaisted family  and their relations:

• Tabitha Plaisted 1806 – 1891
• The Green family in Australia

Tabitha Plaisted 1806 – 1891

Tabitha Plaisted was born 25 August 1806 to Thomas Plaisted and Lydia Wilkes. Her birth was registered at Saint Pauls Deptford, Kent in the non-conformist registers maintained at Dr Williams’s Library. Her maternal grandfather, Thomas Wilkes, is recorded as well as her parents.¹

Tabitha Plaisted married William Ewer on 14 October 1828 at St Bride, Fleet Street, London. She was 22 years old. Neither had been married before. Witnesses were Thomas and Elizabeth Plaisted.²Their daughter Eliza Lydia was born 22 October 1831 and baptised 14 November at St Paul, Deptford. William’s occupation was butcher and they were living at Broadway.³

On 1 December 1838 William Green, a gardener aged 26, arrived in South Australia on the Lloyds together with a wife, Elizabeth, aged 28, and a daughter aged 6. On the same ship were William’s sister Sarah (née Green) and her husband Alfred Bessell Bock.⁴ As will be shown below, it seems likely that William’s wife was in fact Tabitha and the daughter was Eliza. The death certificates for both Tabitha and Eliza indicate they spent time in South Australia before living in Victoria and the time adds up to arrival in 1838. Tabitha was still married to William Ewer but he stayed in England.

Eliza Lydia Ewer married Joseph Torrey in Melbourne on 22 September 1854. They had two daughters: Emeline Eliza born 11 August 1856 at Richmond, Melbourne and Cordelia Grace born 11 August 1858 at St Kilda, Melbourne. Eliza died on 4 March 1859 of dysentery.⁵

On the 4th inst., at her residence, Sandridge, in her 27th year, after an illness of five days, Eliza Lydia, the beloved wife of Joseph William Torrey, Esq., of Roxbury, Mass., U.S.A. American papers please copy.⁵

A puzzle was created by an 1859 shipping record I found where the two small Torrey girls are going to Boston to live with their grandparents and accompanied by William and Eliza Green.⁶ Details do not quite match as the girls names are different but I think it must be them – the timing is more or less right and the details are too coincidental. William Green aged 40 thus born about 1811 is close; Eliza similar name to Elizabeth; two small girls surnamed Torrey who on later US censuses say they arrived 1860 – not exact but near enough. However the girls were Emmeline Eliza and Cordelia Grace – Mary and Sarah do not seem obvious from those names but may have been pet names. I was also not sure when William’s apparent first wife (Eliza/Elizabeth) died. They were pulling into Boston in September 1859 and she was still alive. Did she die in America and then he returned to England and then married Tabitha in November of 1859? Not impossible but awfully fast for a widower to remarry! Importantly, although William Green was related to the Plaisted family by the marriage of his sister Ann née Green to John Plaisted, it was not a close connection to the two young Torrey sisters before he married Tabitha in 1859. The situation seems different though if William’s wife is in fact the young girls’ grandmother who is taking them to Boston, that is William Green’s wife Eliza is Tabitha.

I then realised that when John Plaisted wrote his will he mentioned his sister Tabitha Green. John’s willl also refers to a loan from his Aunt Tabitha Gibbon to his sister and the possibility of Mr or Mrs Green repaying the loan.⁷ John Plaisted died in 1858, before Tabitha and William married in London. Furthermore if Tabitha Plaisted was in England in 1849 when John left for Australia, then Aunt Tabitha Gibbon could have given her niece the money in person. Instead she sent it via John; giving it to him in 1849 before he left for Adelaide!

William and Tabitha were apparently free to marry in 1859 as Tabitha declared herself a widow when William and Tabitha married at St John, Deptford on 23 November 1859. William Green stated he was a bachelor (indicating he had not been married to Elizabeth / Eliza) and his occupation as gentleman. St Paul’s would have been a closer parish to the usual residences of the Plaisted family than St John’s which is about 1 mile away. The witnesses to the marriage were apparently not related to either Tabitha or William; perhaps they wanted to keep the union quiet having been apparently married for nearly twenty years. A possible death for William Ewer has been found in the April quarter of 1859.⁸

Tabitha and William stayed in England apparently to look after Tabitha’s mother. On the 1861 census William Green was living 4 Monmouth Place in Deptford with Tabitha and his mother in law Lydia Plaisted. William’s occupation was house agent. Lydia Plaisted née Wilkes died at 4 Monmouth Place, New Cross, on 30 April 1861, a few weeks after the census of 7 April. She was aged 89 and cause of death was given as old age and debility.⁹

William Green died in Prahran on 15 December 1881. His wife Tabitha was the informant on his death certificate. He was aged 68. She stated he had been 13 years in South Australia and 24 years in Victoria. She stated he had married at the age of 25 years in London, that is in 1838, to Tabitha Plaisted, maiden name Ewer (a transcription error). The number of years in Australia implies that William spent six years away from Australia from 1859, returning about 1864.¹⁰

Tabitha died on 18 December 1891 at 93 Lewisham Road Prahran. The informant on her death certificate was her nephew Thomas Plaisted. He stated Tabitha was in Australia for 53 years; 13 in SA, 40 in Victoria: calculated arrival in Australia about 1838. He knew she first married aged 25 but did not know the first name of her husband, stating him to be “unknown Ewer”. He stated her second marriage was aged 30 to William Green in England. He declared there to be no issue by the first marriage and believed Eliza, now dead, to be the child of the second marriage, ie the daughter of William Green. Tabitha’s Plaisted relations were obviously not entirely abreast of her marriage details, which, as can be seen from the information she provided on her husband’s death certificate, Tabitha had been prepared to conceal.¹⁰

Tabitha Plaisted is my fourth great grand aunt.

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^{1. Source Citation: Place: Saint Pauls Deptford, Kent, Eng.; Collection: Dr. William’s Library; Nonconformist Registers; Date Range: 1806 – 1806; Film Number: 815998. Index record retrieved from ancestry.com.au}

Diana Stevens notes (email of 21 February 2013): Tabitha’s birth was registered at the Ebeneezer Chapel and later also at Dr Williams’s [note spelling) Library. The Plaisted’s lived in the [CE] parish of St Paul in Deptford.
Non-conformist registers did not have the same standing as the established church and Dr W started a system of registering children from the London area which was accepted as a sort of birth certificate.
Incidentally have you noted that John Plaisted did not bother to have his children baptised after registration presumably because they had state certification and didn’t need the church. Philip was sent to get Tom’s baptismal certificate when he was in London studying music, obviously he needed to prove who he was!↩

^{2. Guildhall, St Bride Fleet Street, Register of marriages, 1826 – 1829, P69/BRI/A/01/Ms 6542/8. Retrieved from ancestry.com.au ↩}

^{3. London Metropolitan Archives, Deptford St Paul, Register of Baptism, p75/pau, Item 006. Retrieved from ancestry.com.au ↩}

^{4. PIONEERS AND SETTLERS BOUND FOR SOUTH AUSTRALIA VOLUME 2: 1836-1838: LLOYDS 1838 PASSENGER LIST WITH INFORMATION FROM FREE PASSAGES APPLICATIONS http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/fh/passengerlists/1838Lloyds%20Passengers.htm RETRIEVED 4 February 2013. For more information see my earlier post at http://ayfamilyhistory.blogspot.com.au/2012/06/green-family-in-australia.html ↩}

^{5. Death notice in Family Notices. (1859, March 16). The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 – 1956), p. 4. Retrieved February 17, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article5677957}

Death certificate for Eliza Lydia Torrey; Death Place: Victoria; Age: 26; Father’s Name: Ewer Thomas; Mother’s Name: Tabitha Plaisted; Registration Year: 1859; Registration Place: Victoria; Registration number: 1007; Estimated Birth Year: abt 1833. The informant was her husband. He stated that she had been 24 years in Australia: 6 years in Victoria and 18 years in South Australia. He seems to be out by about three years when compared with the shipping record and her mother’s death details.

Birth dates of daughters from photographs of headstone at Forest Hills cemetery, Jamaica Plain, Massachussets from Find A Grave Memorial# 78569432 http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=pv&GRid=78569432&PIpi=52043533 Retrieved 17 February 2013.

Australia Marriage Index, 1788-1950 about Eliza Lydia Ewer; Spouse Name: Joseph William Torrey; Marriage Place: Victoria; Registration Place: Victoria; Registration Year: 1854; Registration number: 2719. Ancestry.com. Australia Marriage Index, 1788-1950 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. ↩

^{6. Copy of report and list of the passengers of the Ship Golconda of Boston …, bound from the Port of Melbourne for Boston. National Archives and Records Administration (NARA); Washington, D.C.; Crew Lists of Vessels Arriving at Boston, Massachusetts, 1917-1943; Microfilm Serial: T938; Microfilm Roll: M277_55 Cabin passengers listed include William Green aged 40, Eliza Green aged 48, Mary Torrey aged 3 and Sarah Torrey aged 1. All four were Australian (country to which they severally belong) and all four intended to live in the United States (country of which they intend to become inhabitants). ↩}

^{7. Will of John Plaisted, wine merchant of Melbourne, died 10 May 1858, probate granted 3 June 1858: PROV, VPRS 7591/P1, Unit 7, 1858 2/509 (digitised copy, viewed online 17 February 2013) Page 1 includes “… also the sum of Fifty eight Pounds to my Niece Eliza Torrey and the like sum Fifty eight Pounds to my Niece Lavinia Lydia Robertson … also the sum of Ten Pounds to my dear Sister Tabitha Green as a memento …” On page 2 there is an explanation after the signatures of John Plaisted and the witnesses “Memo: The two sums of Fifty eight Pounds each left to my Nieces as before stated was given to me by my Aunt Tabitha Gibbons in 1849 to be given to my Sister, she after expressed a wish that at her decease she should like it divided between my Nieces, this sum was paid to me in part payment of a debt owing to me and acknowledged in a letter to my Aunt by my Sister. I do not see any probability of Mr or Mrs Green paying it I therefore fulfil her wish by leaving them this amount.” Diana Stevens noted (email of 16 June 2012 ) The note about the two legacies to his nieces is very interesting in light of our new theory. If John’s sister Tabitha was in England why didn’t Aunt Tabitha Gibbon give her the money in person? Instead she sent it via John, gave it to him in 1849 before he left for Adelaide!↩}

^{8. London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 about Tabitha Ewer; Spouse Name: William Green; Record Type: Marriage; Event Date: 23 Nov 1859; Parish: Deptford St John; Borough: Lewisham; Father Name: Thomas Plaisted; Spouse Father Name: Charles Green; Register Type: Parish Register. Source Citation: London Metropolitan Archives, Saint John, Deptford, Register of marriages, P75/JN, Item 008. Retrieved from Ancestry.com.}

England & Wales, FreeBMD Death Index, 1837-1915 about William Ewer; Date of Registration: Apr-May-Jun 1859; Registration district: St George Hanover Square; Inferred County: London; Volume: 1a; Page: 144 Retrieved from Ancestry.com Certificate would need to be purchased to attempt to confirm that this is the right William Ewer.↩

^{9. Ancestry.com, 1861 England Census (Online publication – Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2005.Original data – Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1861. Retrieved from Ancestry.com.au, Class: RG 9; Piece: 392; Folio: 49; Page: 12; GSU roll: 542629}

Death certificate of Lydia Plaisted; Date of Registration: Apr-May-Jun 1861; Registration district: Greenwich; Inferred County: London; Volume: 1d; Page: 360

Monmouth Place cannot be found on modern maps, nor on the Booth Poverty Map of 1898-99. The Booth map (http://preview.tinyurl.com/cjwxy7k ) shows considerable rebuilding has occurred over the last 100 years in the area covered by the census and similarly the description of the census enumeration district does not correspond to the street names identified on the Booth map. ↩

^{10. Death certificate for Wm Green; Death Place: Preston, Victoria; Age: 68; Father’s Name:Chas; Mother’s Name: Sarah Young; Registration Year: 1881; Registration Place: Victoria; Registration number: 11652; Estimated Birth Year: abt 1813}

Death certificate for Tabitha Green; Death Place: Prahran, Victoria; Age: 86; Father’s Name: Plaisted Thos; Mother’s Name: Lydia Wilkes; Registration Year: 1891; Registration Place: Victoria; Registration number: 17477; Estimated Birth Year: abt 1805 ↩

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My thanks to Plaisted cousins Jeanette Richmond and Diana Stevens: we worked together in June 2012 to puzzle out the details of Tabitha’s emigration and marriage.

The Green family in Australia

Ann Green married John Plaisted in London in 1825.  In April 1850 John, Ann, six children and Ann’s sister Abigail Green arrived in South Australia on board the “Rajah”.  John was suffering from consumption.  Ann’s sister Sarah was already living in Adelaide.

Sarah Green married Alfred Bessell Bock about 1831 in Buckinghamshire.  The Bocks arrived in South Australia on board the “Lloyds” in December 1838.  Alfred was a jeweller and commenced business in South Australia shortly after arrival.

Also on board the “Lloyds” was William Green.  He is probably the brother of Ann, Abigail and Sarah.

The Plaisteds together with Abigail Green shifted to Melbourne in the 1850s.  John Plaisted finally succumbed to consumption in 1858.  His widow Ann remarried to William Cowper.  Ann died in 1882 in Essendon.  Abigail died in 1880 in Richmond.

Alfred and Sarah Bock moved to Victoria about 1861 and Sarah died in Ballarat in 1883.

In 1859 William married Tabitha Plaisted, the sister of John,  and emigrated to Australia dying in Preston in 1881.  At the time of his death he had been 13 years in South Australia and 27 years in Victoria.  It seems he returned to England in 1859 accompanying the grand daughters of Tabitha to their paternal grandfather after the death of Tabitha’s daughter Eliza Torrey, nee Ewer.  A shipping record shows William and Eliza Green accompanying two small girls surnamed Torrey to Boston from Melbourne arriving September 1859.  William’s first wife Eliza must have died after this. (update it seems Eliza was Tabitha my later post ).

Benjamin Green died in Melbourne in 1866.  He had been there only two months and was at the house of his sister Ann and her husband William Cowper. He was a professor of music.  On the English censuses of 1851 and 1861 he was in lodgings with the occupation of musician.  In 1851 he was accompanied by his brother Charles.  I have not found what happened to Charles.

sources: Australian death certificates, shipping records and parish records from ancestry.com, newspaper articles from Trove.nla.gov.au