I have been trying to discover the earlier generations of the Carver family, to whom I belong, in the early part of the 19th Century.
My family originated in an agricultural area of Sussex, above the South Downs, between Horsham and Petersfield, in the registration district of Midhurst. There is a village near Easebourne called Lodsworth which is also close to Tillington and a hamlet, or common, called River. This is the epicentre of the Carver family, as well as many other Carver’s.
However, the problem is that there were a lot of people with the same surname in this area and making sure that I am discovering my family has been a task that involves triangulation and cross checking.
I think I have now found my Great Great Grandparents. I can only be certain by purchasing marriage certificates from the General Register Office. I have already ordered that of my Great Grandparents, and I shall wait and see what details that I can get from it. If it confirms that my two times Great Grandfather James Carver married Mary Boxall, then I have been accurate with my search. Marriage certificates frequently had that level of information carried forward into the next generation when the offspring married, it was included in their certificates. Not all marriage registration images are to be found in places such as Ancestry and FindmyPast. However, they will include, usually, an image of the page of the registration data held at GRO and taking those details to order a certificate is the only way to see the detail of a marriage. In Ancestry’s case they have also been able to cross check my relative with the woman he married, and this confirms the same registration data even though their names are not on the same page.
In the meantime, in the belief that my two times great grandfather did marry Mary Boxall, I am sharing the parish marriage register entry here:
James and Mary Carver, 1849 marriage entry in the Lodsworth parish register (via Ancestry.com)
With a number of Carver’s in this area of Sussex, it has been intriguing to read what the search engines come up with. There was one James Carver who was reported in the Brighton Gazette of 1859 of deserting his wife and family – they became chargeable to the Parish (receiving financial support from the parish under the Poor Laws) – he was ordered to pay nine pounds two shillings and sixpence expenses and costs – which he did. My ancestors were agricultural workers on the land. I cannot for an instance believe that my relative would ever have that amount of money on him to be able to pay these expenses and costs. I could, of course, be wrong.
So, how do I come to my view that I have found my relatives, James and Mary Carver?
The trusty Census returns have been helpful. In 1851 in a place near the hamlet of Tillington called River (can also be known as River Common), just a mile away from Lodsworth, James and Mary Carver were married and living with their one-year-old son James. James senior was an Agricultural Worker aged 24.
Moving to the 1861 Census return, I cannot find my ancestors.
I must move into 1871 and here I find them living on a farm called Woolhurst, in the hamlet of Selham which is about two miles south of Lodsworth. Although I think that Woolhurst Farm is closer to Lodsworth. James and Mary then had four children with them, James aged 22, who like his father is working as an agricultural worker, Mary Aged 12, George 7 and Emma aged 2. The puzzle for me is, where is William? (William was to become my Great Grandfather). He should have been in the count and should have been recorded as being 12 years old. He could have been missed, or he could have been staying with a relative at the time of the count.
If I then move to the 1881 Census return, the plot becomes more confusing. James and Mary Carver were then aged 53 and living in Smithbrook, a farm to the north of Lodsworth, at Woolhouse. With them were William aged 24, George 17, and Emma aged 12. James had left home and there is no mention of Mary who at the age of 24 would have left home probably. Were William and Mary twins given that they were the same age? Or did the Census enumerator, in 1871 make a simple error in counting William in the name of Mary (James’s wife) for some reason?
I am finding no evidence that James and Mary had a daughter called Mary.
James and Mary were still at Woolhouse in Smithbrook when they were recorded in the 1891 Census. They were both 63 and James continued to work as an Agricultural Labourer. Only their daughter Emma, aged 22, is living with them. She was working as a General Domestic Servant, probably in the village somewhere. Her brothers had left home.
Mary Carver had died by the time of the 1901 Census return and James had moved into a cottage to live with his daughter Emma and her husband, Eli Thomas Trussler, and their one-year-old daughter, Beatrice. Their address is Leggatt Hill, between Smithbrook and Lodsworth Common. Mary Carver had died in 1899 and was buried in the churchyard of the Lodsworth Parish Church. She was aged 72.
Six years later, in 1905, James Carver died at the age of 78. He also was buried in the churchyard at Lodsworth.
James and Mary lived their entire lives in and around the village of Lodsworth. They were loyal servants and workers to their local community. Farms and estates were dependent upon their labour and James was an agricultural worker possibly until the day that he died.
The Carvers, Rapsons and Boxalls are a group of families that are prominent in the Midhurst area and were all tied to working on the land, living and working on farms that were mostly owned by large estates in the area. They are connected by marriage as well as work and location and it is recently now for the first time that I am discovering the identity and origins of my paternal background. There is an absence of photographs or documentary evidence of this connection other than that which I can find online.
This is a rough sketch of the first generation who I knew nothing of and I shall try and paint a bigger picture in coming months.