William Free's Life in Australia.
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Life in England
The Frees came from Haslingfield in Cambridgeshire in England. Haslingfield is a small village located some 5 miles south of the university town of Cambridge. The 1851 edition of 'A History, Gazeteer and Directory of Cambridgeshire' showed that Haslingfield's population at the turn of the century was 387. This had grown to 689 by 1841 and included the farmers William Coxall and William Finkell both of whom were probably related to William Free's mother Mary Finkell. Mary was born in Haslingfield on 2 June 1805. Her parents were John Finkell (1769-1847) and Elizabeth Harrop (1770-1851). Click here to see a complete listing of the known members of the Free, Finkell and other related families.
William's father, Samuel Free, was baptised in the same village on 18 July 1802, the youngest son of John Free (1754-1824) and Alice Harper (1764-1855). He married Mary Finkell at the All Saints Church of England (pictured on the left) in Haslingfield on 18 November 1824. The marriage was witnessed by Sarah Susannah Smith, Elizabeth Finkell (probably Mary's younger sister although it could have been her mother) and the registrar John Pearse. The couple lived at Haslingfield after their marriage and until their deaths in 1879 and 1882 respectively. The UK censuses and National Probate Calendar indicate that Samuel eventually became a yeoman farmer and his wife Mary a midwife.
William Free was baptised at Haslingfield in Cambridgeshire on 2 March 1829, the third of ten children. The 1841 census shows him, aged 12, living at Haslingfield with his parents and siblings: Mary (15), Elizabeth (12), John (8), Harriet (6), Sarah (3) and Ann (1).
William married Louisa Chapman, the eldest daughter of George Chapman (1802-63) and Rebecca Dilley (1809-86), at the Haslingfield parish church on 16 November 1848. Their wedding certificate indicates that he was a bachelor shepherd aged nineteen years and she was a spinster who lived in Barrington. The marriage was witnessed by John Free and Jane Barnard where all parties signed the wedding certificate with a cross or mark. After their marriage the couple lived at Barrington where their first child, Rebecca Louisa Free, was born on 29 June 1849. The 1851 census showed William, aged 22, living at Barrington with Louisa (19) and Rebecca (1). The couple's second child, John, was baptised in Barrington on 13 April 1851.
Two years later, William and Louisa and their two children emigrated to Australia from England on the Lady Kennaway under the British Government's assisted emigration scheme paid for from the proceeds from the sale of land in the colonies. It is likely they were recruited by Josiah Johnson who served as both an official for the Chesterton Union and an agent for the Colonial Land and Emigration Commission (CLEC). While the government paid for their passage out, either the union or the parish of Haslingfield probably helped them pay their application fee, purchase the clothes and other items they were required by the CLEC to take with them, and cover the cost of travelling from Cambridgeshire to the emigrant depot and departure port of Southampton.
The Lady Kennaway sailed from Southampton on 9 May 1853 and arrived at Hobson's Bay at Port Phillip in Victoria on 15 August the same year.The family's subsequent life and times in Australia are described in Life in Australia.
William and Louisa were not the only people from their extended family in Cambridgeshire to emigrate to Australia. Click here to read details about some of the other families who went.
William Free's siblings
Samuel and Mary Free (nee Finkell) had nine children in addition to our William, all of whom were born at Haslingfield. Three of these died and were buried at Haslingfield at relatively young ages: Mary Anne (15), an earlier William (1) and Elizabeth (14). We have been able to discover a little more about their remaining six children as follows:
1. John Free (1832-1915)
Born at Haslingfield in 1832, John was working there as a shepherd when he married his first wife, a Barrington girl Ann Miller (1834-68), at Haslingfield in 1855. They lived at Haslingfield and later Cambridge and had four children before Ann's death in around 1868:
1) Sarah Ann Free (1855-1936) who married a caprolite labourer, James William Gordon (1848-1934), in Cambridgeshire in 1875. She and James had ten children: 1) George John (1875-1950) who, with his wife Fanny Constable (1874-1943) and their three children, lived at Grantchester and worked as a gardener; 2) William James (1877-1963) who married Lily Thirza Maude Phillips (1876-1970); 3) John Charles who married Rose Still; 4) Ernest Samuel (1882-1961) who married Ethel Louisa Gifford; 5) Charles David (1884-1908); 6) Rhoda Emily Wagstaff (1887-1967); 7) Walter Herbert (1892-1918); 8) Florence Alexandra Pendall (1894-1967); 9) Helen May Bass (1895-1976); and 10) Lilian Thurza Alice Baker (1898-1975). Their youngest son, 326468 Cpl Walter Herbert Gordon, was killed in action in the Somme valley on 14 May 1918 and is buried at the Mailly Wood Cemetery there. According to Grantchester's online Roll of Honour,
When he left school, Walter became garden boy and boot boy to the Asshetons at Riversdale. In his spare time he was a keen angler and footballer. In 1911-12 he played for Grantchester in the Cambridge Football Association Junior Cup . . . At Riversdale he met Mabel Taylor to whom he later became engaged. Mabel had come from Peterborough as nursemaid to the Assheton children following her elder sister who was their nanny. When war broke out Walter was working at the New Lecture rooms in Benet Street. On 14 May 1915 he joined the 1st Battalion Cambridgeshire Regiment and quickly received promotion. He was a physical and bayonet instructor until he went to France in January 1917. In February 1918, he was sent home to recover from the effects of gas, but was soon back again at the front. On 14 May 1918, while off duty and playing cards in a dugout with some friends, he was hit from a shot by a sniper. The fatal bullet went through his breast pocket and through a photograph of Mabel whom he was due to marry on his next leave.
2) William George Free (1857-1907) who married Susan Mathews nee Oakman (1836-1917) at Cambridge in 1887. According to 'Tony's Family' tree on Ancestry, Susan's first husband was John Mathews (1827-85) who she married at St Giles Cambridge in 1855 and with whom she had at least two children. She and William did not have any children.
3) Samuel Free (1859-1890) who was born at Cambridge and, we think, also died there without marrying; and
Emily Free (1864-1938) who married a letter sorter, William Benjamin Preston (1865-1931), at Shoreditch in London in 1885 and had five children all born at Islington: 1) Emily Harriet Hart (1886-1973); 2) William John Preston who worked as a corn merchant; 3) James Victor Preston (1894-1956) who married Sylvia Lucy Cook (1912-75); Alice Maud Farringdon (1898-1989); and Winifred Ethel Preston (1902-28).
Following Ann's death at Cambridge in 1868, John married Lydia King (1845-1909) who came from Hardwick in Cambridgeshire. The couple's wedding certificate, contained on Ancestry's London parishes database, shows they were married at the church of St Sepulchre at Holborn in London on 27 October 1869. John was said to be a licensed victualler and Lydia the daughter of the labourer John King. The wedding was witnessed by Jonathon Abbs and Mary Ann Claydon (John Free's younger sister - see below). John and Lydia lived at St Giles in Cambridge after their marriage and had at least two children there: Alice Elizabeth Free (born in 1871) and Mary Free (1874). Lydia Free nee King died at Cambridge in 1909. John, who was by then the proprietor of the Plough and Harrow Inn on Madingly Road, re-married the following year, to an Alice Benton. The UK National Probate Calendar shows that Alice was the sole recipient of John's will following his death at St Giles on 3 October 1915.
2. Harriet Free (1834-97)
Harriet was born at Haslingfield in 1834 and married the farmer and publican James Coxall (1831-1910) at Haslingfield in 1856. The parish registers show that the marriage was witnessed by Philip Morris and his future wife, and Harriet's younger sister, Sarah Free. Harriet and James lived all their lives at Haslingfield and, like Harriet's parents, had ten children there, three of whom - Selina Ann (1856-8), Walter Frederick (1862-3) and Isobel Free (1864-5) - died early. James Coxall died at Haslingfield in 1910. His wife Harriet pre-deceased him by 13 years and according to Peter Coxall appears to have died in mysterious circumstances: 'Her bonnet was found floating in the village well on 1 May 1897. James, Harriet's husband, had a violent temper and threatened to kill one of his sons [Frederick] who left Haslingfield and settled in the Hackney area of London'.
Harriet and James' eldest surviving daughter, Selina Ann Coxall, who was born at Haslingfield in 1858, married William Sears there in 1879. Their wedding was witnessed by Isaac Hardman and Elizabeth Morris (Selina's cousin). She and William lived first with his parents at Watford in Hertfordshire and then at Harrow in Middlesex where William worked as a painter and carpenter. They had eight children including Ada Selina Coxall Sears who married Francis James Gregory (1876-1934) at Harrow in 1899. Selina's younger sister, Isobel Coxall (1866-1948) married a farmer's son Albert Lacey Warner (1865-1917) at Tottenham in London in 1885. The couple lived with Albert's family in his home county of Norfolk after their marrige and had five children we are aware of. A third sister, Kate Coxall, married Thomas Henry Gaylard (1861-1930), the son of Thomas Gaylard and Ruth Ann Ellen May of Plymouth in Devon, at Chelsea in London in 1889. They had three children including Bertram William Gaylard (1894-1917) who died on active service on 5 July 1917 while serving as a LCpl in the London Regiment (Prince of Wales Own Civil Service Rifles). His parents were then living at 16 Northfield Ave West Ealing in London.
Harriet and James' oldest surviving son, Walter Edward Coxall (1871-1955), worked as a schoolteacher and married Anne Alice Silk (1867-1957), the daughter of John Charles Silk and Sarah Ann Kefford, at Hackney South in London in 1895. 'Willie', as Walter was known as, and Anne had one daughter we are aware of: Vera Irene Gwendoline Coxall who was born at Hackney in 1896 and, sadly, died there in 1923.
According to Douglas Coxall's Coxall Family History from 47 to 1992, Walter's younger brother, Frederick James Coxall (1874-1935), 'ran away from home at the age of 14. He arrived in Islington in London where he worked [initially] as a ship fitter and later at Wenlock Brewery'. Ancestry's London parishes database shows that Frederick, who was then working as a labourer, married Elizabeth Ann Venneear (1870-1938) at St John the Baptist Church in Islington on 19 December 1896. Elizabeth was the daughter of John Daniel Venneear. The wedding was witnessed by Samuel Morris and Adelaide Wright. Frederick and Elizabeth had at least four children and, according to Douglas Coxall, 'two and possibly three of his descendants emigrated to New South Wales and South Australia'.
Carol Burrows tells us that Harriet and James' youngest son, Arthur Coxall (1876-1953), married Rosetta Nelson from Histon in Cambridgeshire, at Haslingfield at the turn of the century. She continues that they had three daughters: Elsie Evelyn Beatrice Coxall (1900-1989) who married Jesse Coe at Haslingfield in 1928; Hilda Irene Gwendoline Coxall (1902-1985) who married William Henry Doe at Haslingfield in 1928; and Ivy Doreen Annie Coxall (1905-81).
3. Sarah Free (1837-c1909)
Born at Haslingfield in 1837, Sarah Free married a labourer, Philip Morris (1838-77), at Little Eversden in 1857. According to the 'Gibson Family Tree' on Ancestry, Philip's parents were John Morris (1798-1882) and Sarah Pink (1800-97). The UK censuses show that Sarah and Phillip lived at Haslingfield after their marriage and had nine children prior to Philip's death there in around 1877. The widowed Sarah remained at Haslingfield, working as a charwoman until her death there in 1909. What of their children? We think their eldest son, John Morris (born at Haslingfield in 1858) was living and working as a labourer at the village of Newington (now part of Kingston upon Hull) in Yorkshire in 1881. We have not been able to trace him with any certainty after that. Nor have we been able to find his sister, Fanny Morris (1864), after 1881 when she was working as a servant at Little Bolton in Lancashire (the town where her aunt Ann Hardman formerly Claydon nee Free was also living at the time - see below). We have managed to find out a little more about their other seven children and their families as follows:
1) Sarah and Philip's eldest daughter Elizabeth Morris (1860-96) married William Perry, the son of an engineer, James Perry, at St Thomas' Church in Bethnal Green in London on 24 December 1885. Their wedding certificate tells us Elizabeth was then living at Haslingfield and William at Finsbury outside London. The 1891 census has William (34 and born at Histon in Cambridgeshire) and Elizabeth living at Shoreditch in London with their two children: George (2) and William Perry (1) both of whom were born in London. Boarding with them were two of Elizabeth's brothers, Thomas (a 25 year-old drayman) and Samuel 'Norris' (23 and working as a builder's labourer). Elizabeth died in 1896. The later censuses show William continued to live in London. In 1901 he was at Hoxton New Town in Shoreditch along with his two sons, George (13) and Thomas Perry (4). Elizabeth's younger brother, Thomas Morris, was still boarding with them as was another of her brothers, 24 year-old Philip Morris who was said to be a 'navvy'. At the time of the 1911 census William, a 55 year-old timber porter who was born at 'Harston' in Cambridgeshire, was at East Road in North London with his new wife of eight years, Annie Jane Perry (59, Shoreditch), son Thomas John Perry (a 14 year-old tea packer) and step-son, William Thomas Vennear (a 22 year-old warehouse clerk). Ancestry's London Marriages records show William and Annie Jane Venneer, a 50 year-old widow and daughter of Henry Woodman, were married at St Ann's in Hoxton on 31 March 1903.
We don't think William and Annie had any children. As the census returns showed, he and Elizabeth had at least three boys: Frederick George (1887-1949), William James (born in 1889) and Thomas John Perry (1896-1947). We know nothing about William beyond his date of birth. Ancestry's London Marriages records show that George, then a 27 year-old engine driver, married Maud Sarah Pain (1896-1980) at Hoxton's St John the Baptist Church on 27 September 1914. The wedding was witnessed by Charles and Alice Hones (see below). According to the 'Perry Family Tree' on Ancestry George and Maud had at least one son: Jeffrey W. Perry who married Audrey Clark and had two children: Robert Shaun Perry (1865-1992) and one other. The UK National Probate Calendar shows that George died at Denham in Buckinghamshire in 1949. His wife Maud died at their home at South Harrow in Middlesex in September 1980. Fred's youner brother, Thomas John Perry, married Rose Alice Ellett (1895-1975), at St Peter's Church at West Hackney in London on 17 September 1925. They had at least one child we are aware of, a son Geoffrey J. Perry, who was born 1 on August 1934.
2) Elizabeth's younger sister, Jane Morris (1862-1931) was working as a domestic servant in London at the time of the 1881 census. She married Charles Hones (1860-1900), the son of Wyont Hones and Maria Ivett from Haslingfield, at Shoreditch in London in April 1890. It seems that Jane and Charles, who worked as a labourer and drayman, continued to live in London after their marriage and had at least two children there - Alice Frances and Charles Hones jnr - before their father's death in 1900 (Jane died at Hoxton in 1931). Ancestry's database shows that Jane and Charles' daughter Alice was baptised at St John's Church in Hoxton on 15 February 1891 and married Edmund William Adlam (1892-1938), a 28 year-old soldier and son of Walter Joseph Adlam, printer, at St John's on 1 September 1918 (we think that Edmund's mother was Emma Ellen Colston). The wedding was witnessed by Walter Joseph Adlam and Sarah Morris. The Catherine House Index shows that Alice died in the Epping registration district of Essex in 1961. Her brother Charles Hones married Ethel Louisa Mocock, the daughter of James William Mocock (deceased miner), at St John's Church in Hoxton on 26 January 1913. The wedding was witnessed by Thomas Martin and Alice Hones. In April 1916, Charles enlisted in the British Army. He was then a brewery worker living at 20 Grange Street in Hoxton. His military record shows that his NOK was his wife Ethel Louisa and that he had a son, Edgar Charles Hones, born at Stockwell on 30 December 1913. Charles served in the 16th Rifle Brigade rising to the rank of L/Cpl. He was admitted to The Northern General Hospital in Lincoln on 5 June 1917 as the result of a GSW to the left buttock. After being discharged from hospital he was posted to the Command Depot at Ballyvonare in County Cork in Ireland. There, the record continues, he was reduced to the ranks for misconduct and sent back to France on 17 June 1918. At War's end, he transferred to the peacetime Army, serving from September 1919 to March 1920.
3) Although still to be confirmed, we think that William Morris, born in 1866, married a local girl, Elizabeth Douglas, at Haslingfield in 1889. They lived at Haslingfield all their married lives - William died there sometime before 1911 - and had one child, a son Percy William Morris (1890-1957) who married Annie Barnard in 1919 probably in Haslingfield although has also still to be confirmed.
4) As described above, at the time of the 1891 and 1901 censuses, William's twin brother, Thomas Morris, was living with his older sister, Elizabeth Perry, at Shoreditch in London where Thomas was working as a brewer's drayman. The London Marriages and Banns records show that in June 1902, banns were read at Haslingfield for a Thomas Morris and Jane Gilham. The 1911 census has a Thomas 'Morras', 45 year-old barman born at Haslingfield, living at Bromley in Kent with his wife Jane (32 year-old barmaid who was born at Hoxton in London) and their two children: Arthur Thomas (8 years old and born at Islington) and Lillian Emily 'Morras' (5, Enfield Middlesex). The census return reported that Thomas and Jane had been married eight years and had two children. It seems that sometime after this Thomas either died or Jane and their two children left him and emigrated to New Zealand. The
'Russell Family Tree' on Ancestry tells us that Jane gave birth to a son, Walter Harold Russell (1919-2002), at Waitemata in Auckland on 1 June 1919 and married Walter's father, Samuel Russell (1857-1926), at Auckland on 20 November 1920 (Samuel and Lydia/Jane and their son Walter are shown in the photo on the right which was taken in around 1921). Samuel, who was born at Bexley in Kent and was living with his first wife, Kate Chatfield (1861-1911), and their three children at Bromley at the time of the 1911 census, emigrated to New Zealand in around 1913. He died at Auckland on 24 September 1926 as a result of an industrial accident on the local wharves.
The NZ electoral rolls have Jane registered as Lydia Russell in 1928 and living on Faulkner Road Northcote in Waitemata together with an Arthur Thomas Morris, an electrician. The same roll shows a Lilian Emily Maddox living on College Road in Northcote with her husband, Robert Francis Maddox a carpenter (Ancestry's NZ Marriages Index shows a Robert Francis Maddox and Lillian Emily Morris were married in New Zealand in 1923). The 1935 and 1938 rolls show a Lydia Jane Russell, widow, living on College Road Northcote. Neither Lillian nor Robert were registered on the 1935 and 1938 rolls. Arthur Thomas Morris and his wife Philippa were at Pokeno, a rural community some 50 kilometres southeast of Auckland, where Arthur was working as a dairy farmer. According to the 'Russell Family Tree', Jane Russell formerly Morris nee Gilham died at Pukekohe in Auckland on 17 April 1969. She is buried in the Wesleyan Section of the Pukekohe Cemetery, the inscription on her gravestone telling us she was the 'loved wife of Samuel and loved mother of Arthur, Walter and Lillian'. What of Jane's children?
4.1) Born at Islington in London, Arthur Thomas Morris (1903-82) married Philippa (Phyllis) Rendall (1907-87) at Matata on New Zealnd's Bay of Plenty on 8 October 1930. The 'Rodgers Rendall Family Tree' on Ancestry tells us Phyllis was born at Cambridge in New Zealand's North Island, the eldest daughter of Arthur John Rendall (1876-1957) and Florence (Florrie) May O'Keefe (1883-1954) who were married there on 16 May 1906. They had ten children in addition to Phyllis and are buried together in the Whakatane Hillcrest Cemetery. Phyllis' grandfather, John Rendall (1846-1911), was a native of Scotland's Orkney Islands. He sailed with his father and siblings from Liverpool to Melbourne in Australia in 1852 and then, in 1855, on to Nelson in New Zealand's South Island. He married an English woman, Ellen (Nelly) Handy (1848-1920) at New Plymouth on 26 March 1873 and had four children. The New Zealand electoral rolls show that, after their marriage in 1930, Arthur and Phyllis Morris lived in the Auckland suburb of Northcote, then on a dairy farm at Pokeno in the Waikato region of New Zealand's North Island, and then back in Auckland at Pukekohe where Arthur's mother was living and he worked as an electrical contractor. Arthur and Phyllis both died at Pukekohe, he in 1982 and she five years later. They are buried together in the Pukekohe Public Cemetery, their headstone informing us they were the 'loved father and mother of Leonard, Desmond, Joan and Keith'.
4.2) Arthur's sister, Lillian Emily Morris (1905-81), married Robert Francis Maddox in New Zealand in 1923. The NZ electoral rolls show Lillian and Robert, a carpenter, living on College Road Northcote in the Waitemata district of Auckland in 1928. The New Zealand Police Gazettes, 1878-1945 show that a Robert Francis Maddox, who was born in New Zealand in 1902, was tried at the Supreme Court in Auckland on 2 August 1929 for the attempted murder of a neighbour who had allegedly made improper advances to Lillian. Newspaper reports of the trial state that Robert was then working as a quarryman and was living at Takapuna. Although acquitted of the charges, it seems Robert and Lillian may have gone to ground or even left the country. For they do not appear on the electoral rolls again until 1946 when they were living on Settlement Road in Papakura in the Franklin district of Auckland. They remained there until the early 1960s when Robert retired and they moved to Coopers Beach at Manganui in New Zealand's Northland. The 1972 roll shows them back at Auckland and living at 94 Michael's Ave Onehunga. Only Lillian was there in 1978. The Auckland Council's burials database shows that Lillian Emily Maddox died on 13 May 1981 and is buried in the North Shore Memorial Park Cemetery (Central Division, Section 2, Low Rise, Block A Row B, Plot 03). We don't know if she and Robert had any children.
4.3) The 'Russell Family Tree' on Ancestry tells us that Jane's third child, Walter Harold Russell (1919-2002), was born at Auckland and married Helena Mary Leatham (1918-2007) there in around 1941. He served in the New Zealand Army both during and immediately after the Second World War, rising to the rank of Captain. The New Zealand electoral rolls show that he and Helena lived mainly in Auckland after Walter left the Army. Walter died there in 2002 and Helena in 2007. They are buried in the Pokeno Cemetery in New Zealand's Waikato District. Their headstone informs us they are the 'loved father and mother of Patricia, David, Graham and Stephen'. According to the 'Russell Family Tree', their eldest daughter, Patricia Lorraine Russell (1942-2010) married John Edward Hare (1936-90) in 1963 and had two children.
5) Samuel Free Morris (1869-1932). The UK censuses show Samuel living at Haslingfield in 1871 and 1881 and at Shoreditch in London with his sister Elizabeth Perry and her family in 1891. According to Ancestry's London Marriages database he married Eliza Adelaide Marsden Waight at St Paul's Church at Clerkenwell in London on 7 March 1897. Born in the City of London on 12 July 1868, Eliza's parente were John George Waight, a butcher, and Emily Marsden who were married in the Parish of St Bride Fleet Street in 1865. The 1901 census shows Samuel, a 32 year-old brewer's carman who was born at Haslingfield, and Adelaide Morris, 32 and born in 'London City' living in Lambeth in London with their two children: Sarah (3) and John Morris (1) both of whom were born at Lambeth. The 1911 census has Samuel Morris, a 42 year-old brewer's drayman, and Adelaide (42) living on Fullerton Road in Wandsworth in London together with Sarah (now 13) and John Morris (10). Also there was Adelaide's 39 year-old brother, John Waight, who was working as a butcher. The Catherine House index shows that a Samuel F. Morris, aged 63 years, died in the Battersea RD of London in 1932 and Eliza A M Morris died there in 1956 aged 87 years.
6) Joseph Morris (1872-1952). We think Joseph lived all his working life at Haslingfield and that he married Elizabeth Foster either at Haslingfield or nearby Histon (Elizabeth's place of birth) in 1910. The 1939 England and Wales Register shows Joseph, a general labourer born on 23 December 1872, and Elizabeth Morris, born on 27 May 1867, living on Barton Road in Haslingfield. The Catherine House records tell us that an Elizabeth Morris died in the Camridge RD of Cambridgeshire in 1943 and a Joseph Morris died there in 1952. We don't know if they had any children.
7) Phillip Morris (1876-1941). Philip was living at Haslingfield at the time of the 1881 and 1891 censuses and at Shoreditch in London in 1901. On 19 May 1907 he married Emily Ellen Beere, the 28 year-old daughter of Frederick Beere, labourer, at St John the Baptist Church at Hoxton. The wedding was witnessed by Herbert White and Alice Hones. At the time of the 1911 census Philip, then a 34 year-old assistant turncock, was living at Bowes Park Wood Green in London. Also registered there were his wife Emily Ellen (32, Hereford) and their two children - Edward Albert (3) and Alice Emily Morris (1) - both of whom were born at Bowes Park. The 1939 England and Wales Register has Philip Morris, a Water Board turncock, living at 85 Beresford Road Walthamstow in London with his wife, Emily, and three children: Edward, a plumber, Ethel Jane Morris later Brown, and Mary A. Morris. Although still to be confirmed, we think Philip died in England's Essex South Western registration district in 1941. The England and Wales National Probate Calendar shows that Emily Ellen Morris of 35 Beresford Road in London died at London's Langthorn Hospital on 7 May 1965 (administration of her will was granted to 'Alice Riley married woman'). What of their children? We know nothing of Phillip and Emily's youngest daughter, Mary, beyond her date of birth (22 March 1917). We have discovered a little more about their other three children as follows: 1) Edward Albert Morris (1907-88) was a plumber by trade and seems to have lived with his parents until at least the early 1940s. We think he married a widow, Grace Caroline Nunn nee Garner (1903-76), in the Wood Green RD of Middlesex in 1948. They later lived at Cromer in north Norfolk where, according to the UK National Probate Calendar, Grace died in 1976 and Edward in 1988. We dont't think they had any children (the 'Nunn combined tree' on Ancestry tells us Grace had at least one child from her first marriage, a son, Douglas Alfred Nunn (1927-2006). 2) Alice Emily Morris (1909-99) married Frederick John Riley (1909-71) in Essex in 1927. The England and Wales Register shows them living at Chingford in Essex in 1939. Frederick died in the Plymouth RD of Devon in 1971 and Alice in the Waltham Forest RD of Greater London in 1999. 3) Ethel Jane Morris (1913-98) married William Brown in the Walthan Forest RD of Greater London in 1970 and died there in 1998.
4. Ann Free
Born at Haslingfield in 1839, Ann married Daniel Coxall, there in 1859. Ann was then 19 years old and Daniel 20. The marriage was witnessed by Ann's brother-in-law, Phillip Morris, and an Ann Wilmott. Born at Haslingfield on 3 May 1838, Daniel was the third son of William Coxall (1795-1879) and Alice Harpur (1801-67) who were married in the All Saints Church at Haslingfield on 25 January 1825. As described above, Daniel's older brother, Phillip Coxall, had married Ann's older sister, Harriet Free, at Haslingfield in 1856. Another brother, John Coxall (1827-97) and his wife Rebecca Cann (1831-1923), who were married at Haslingfield in 1850, emigrated to Adelaide in South Australia four years later.
After their marriage in 1859, Daniel and Alice lived initially on Barton Road in Haslingfield where Daniel worked as a foreman at the local caprolite mine. In 1871 they had living with them Daniel's father, William Coxall, then a 73 year-old widower and agricultural labourer, Ann's five year-old niece, Alice Claydon, and three lodgers. By the time of the 1881 census they had moved to Little Bolton in Lancashire where Ann's younger sister, Mary Ann Hardman and her family, and Fanny Morris, the daughter of Ann's sister Sarah, were also living and working. We have not been able to trace them after that with any certainty although Ancestry's London Marriages data base shows a Daniel Coxall, a 52 year-old widower and night watchman, married a Sarah Morris, a 56 year-old spinster, at Hamstead's Trinity Church in Middlesex on 15 July 1889. Their respective fathers were said to be William Coxall and John Morris (both deceased). We think it is possible that Sarah was the older sister of Daniel and Ann's brother-in-law, Phillip Morris (1837-77). Born at Little Eversden in 1837, that Sarah's parents were John Morris (1799-1882) and Sarah Pink (1800-97) who were married at Little Eversden in 1818. At the time of the 1881 census, Sarah Morris was unmarried and working as a cook at St James in London.
Whoever they were, it seems Daniel and Sarah emigrated to Canada in 1890. The 1901 Canadian census shows him and his wife, Sarah 'Coxhall', living at Burrard in British Columbia. Daniel had been born in England in 1838 and emigrated to Canada in 1890 with Sarah (said to be born in England in around 1832). Daniel Coxall died at Vancouver on 20 January 1913. He was 75 years old. His wife Sarah had died there on 13 January 1905 aged 74 years. This all remains speculation of course especially as we have not yet been able to find any record of Ann Coxall nee Free's death.
5. Alice Free (1841-1925)
Alice married a Haslingfield local, Thomas Okey (1840-1924), there in 1860. At the time of the 1851 census the then 10 year-old Thomas was living with his parents, Robert and Sarah Okey nee Morley, on Harston Road while Alice and her family were at nearby Back Lane. Described as 'scholars' on the census form, they would both have attended school at Haslingfield as well as Sunday School where lengthy sermons were partially compensated in winter by the presence of warming, if too often smokey, stoves. It is more than likely they and their schoolmates would have clambered over the 'clunch', the local name given to the chalk escarpment that sits on the edge of the village. Home to a local quarry with its winding paths and overhanging shrubs, the 'clunch' in Spring was also the source of such wild flowers as bee and purple orchids, bluebells, thyme and mignonette. It was also the site of Quarry Farm which Thomas would later run.
The 1861 census has the 20 year-old Thomas, then a labourer, and Alice (19) living either on or next door to Alice's parents' farm on Barton Road. They were registered as living 'near the church' at Haslingfield at the time of the 1871 census. With them was Alice's seven year-old nephew, William 'Clayton', the son of her younger sister Mary Ann Claydon nee Free (see below). The 1881 census shows Thomas (a 40 year-old farm bailiff) and Alice living at Chrishall Grange in Essex. The 1891 census has them back at Haslingfield and living at 'Quarry Farm' where Thomas was said to be the farmer. Their neighbours at 'Little Rose' farm were the publican and farmer, James Coxall, and his wife Harriet who was also Alice's sister. The 1901 census has Thomas (a 60 year-old farmer) and Alice (59) still at Quarry Farm together with an orphan girl, Alice D. O. Collins (10 and born at Camberwell in London). All three were still there at the time of the 1911 census together with Alice Collin's daughter, Violet (aged 3 and born at Haslingfield). The Catherine House index shows that an Alice D. O. Collins was married in the Chesterton registration district of Cambridgeshire in the April quarter of 1911. Her spouse was either John W. Else or William L. Newling.
Thomas and Alice both died at Haslingfield, he in 1924 and she a year later. They had no children of their own we are aware of. The National Probate Index shows probate from Alice's will was granted to a Henry George Huddlestone (1860-1951), a local wheelwright. Born at Orwell in Cambridgeshire, Henry married Emma Swan (1861-1955) there in 1889. The 1911 census shows them living on Cantelupe Road in Haslingfield along with their three children: Grace Mary (21), Leonard (15) and Leslie Huddlestone (13). Both Henry and Emma died in Cambridge. We don't think they were related to Alice.
6. Mary Ann Free (1843-1913)
Samuel and Mary's youngest daughter, Mary Ann Free, was twice married. Her first husband was Josiah Claydon who she married in 1865 and with whom she had three children before his death in Essex in 1871. The UK censuses show that one of their sons, William Claydon, served as a private soldier in the 3rd Dragoon Guards.
In 1874 Mary Ann re-married, to Isaac Moses Hardman (1849-1914), a goods porter and caprolite miner who had been born at Barrington in Cambridgeshire. At the time of the 1881 census, Isaac and Mary Ann were living at 100 Leicester Street in Little Bolton in Lancashire. They had with them Mary Ann's daughter by her first marriage, Alice Claydon, and three of their own children: Ann (3), Samuel (2) and Louisa (3m).
One of their descendants, Dave Hogue, tells us that Isaac and Mary Ann - pictured in the photo on the right - and their children emigrated to Canada in 1890. They sailed from Liverpool, left the ship at Ottawa and took up farming in Ontario's Purple Valley. An extract from the 1891 Canadian census, sent to us by Peter Smith, shows the following members and future members of the family living at North Bruce in Albemarle: 1) 'Isack' Hardman (41), Mary Ann Hardman (47) and Alice 'Clayton' (24) who were lodging with Charles Hardman (24 and who had sailed on the 'Vessel Cook') and Barrington-born Robert Neaves (28 and who would marry Mary Ann's daughter, Alice Claydon, later in the same year); 2) Samuel Hardman (12), Louisa Hardman (10) and 'Ellenor' Hardman (8) all lodging together; and 3) William Chapman (43), Harriet Chapman (36) and Arthur John Chapman (13) all lodging together with a David Caldwell (38) from Ireland (Peter tells us Harriet was Isaac Hardman's sister).
The 1901 census has Mary Ann and Isaac still living at Albamarle along with Samuel (21) and Eleanor Hardman (18). Their daughter Louisa had married David Edward Hogg (later Hogue) at Lion's Head in Ontario on 19 July 1898. By the time of the 1911 census, Mary Ann and Isaac and their two unmarried children had moved to Toronto where Mary Ann died on 25 November 1913, aged 70 years. Dave tells us her 'funeral service was held at the Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Wiarton and she was buried at Colpoys cemetery which is on a hill above Colpoys Bay in Ontario'. Isaac Hardman died at York in Ontario on 14 October 1914.
Dave's grandparents, David Edward and Louisa Hogue, continued to live in Ontario's Purple Valley where they had five children: Annetta (Nettie), Mary Louisa (Louie), Eunice Lillian (who died as an infant), Leslie David (Les), and Wilfred Earl (Tip) Hogue (Dave's father). Dave tells us his grandfather 'worked for a time with the Canadian National Railways before becoming a cement contractor. With the onset of the First World War, he joined the 49th Battalion of the Alberta Regiment on 14 January 1915, 'just ten days after the 49th began recruiting'. He died of stomach cancer in Kent in England on 6 November 1915, a mere three days before his battalion left for France. Dave adds 'the family now wonder whether he knew he was dying and joined up to ensure his wife would receive a service pension'. After the war the widowed Louisa sold her Canadian holdings and moved, with her four surviving children, to Portland Oregon in the United States so she could be near her beloved sister Nellie. She died there in 1932. Her grandson recalls with affection: 'If you look at a picture of my grandmother Louisa you think she is real dignified, while she was really down to earth. There were water fights that were usually started by her. The water fights involved all her children and there were no holds barred. [My father] Tip loved them'.
Dave's 'Hogue Family Tree' on Ancestry tells us all of Louisa's grown-up children married: 1) Annetta (Nettie) Hogue (1899-1966) was twice married, first to a Jones with whom she had three children: Earl Leslie Jones (1923-2007), Reginald Day Jones (1924-93) and one other, and second to Theodore Miller who she married at Vancouver in Washington State in 1946 (no children). 2) Mary Louisa (Louie) Hogue (1901-81) who married Daniel Thomas Davis (1897-1951) at Vancouver in Washington State in 1930 and had one child: Marjorie Louise Shelb nee Davis (1933-95). 3) David Leslie (Les) Hogue (1909-59) who married Gladys Barnard (1909-2003) at Clark in Washington State in 1932 and had two children: Clinton Earl Hogue (1935-86) and one other. 4) Wilfred Earl (Tip) Hogue (1912-62) who married Helen Marie Plitnick (1914-74) and had two children: Dave and his older sister Sharon Louise Hogue (1938-2008). As detailed in Dave's family tree on Ancestry, Tip, pictured in uniform below on the right, served for a time in the Oregon National Guard (he left the Guard after it became increasingly involved in union-busting activities). Tip was also a keen musician:
The Hogue family always had a piano and Tip's sister Louie played. In 1923 when Tippy was 11, she taught him to play 'Rock of Ages' and nothing more was thought about it. Two years later, when Tip and his buddies came to the house, they asked him to play some music on the piano. Aunt Louie was aghast, she didn't realize that he had been playing at school for two years. Tip later gravitated to the accordion and that was his instrument of choice for the rest of his life. My ancestry on my mother's side is Lithuanian and I remember all the eastern European music that Dad played. In fact for a long time we were invited to the annual Polish Community's picnic and Dad played the Eastern European music for them.
From Dave Hogue's 'Hogue Family Tree' on Ancestry, this photo is of members of the Hogue and Albright families
at a picnic at Wiarton Ontario in Canada in May 1915. Standing (L/R): Louie and Nellie holding Tudy.
Seated: David, Les, Louisa holding Tip, and Val. The photo was taken by Nettie Hardman.
Also from the 'Hogue Family Tree' on Ancestry, the photo on the right is of Mary Louisa (Louie) Hogue and her husband to be,
Daniel Thomas (Dan) Davis in 1930. The photo on the right is of Louie's younger brother, Wilfred Earl (Tip) Hogue,
in his Oregon National Guard uniform in 1934.
Dave Hogue's two aunts, Annette (Nettie) Hardman (1878-1952) and Eleanor (Nellie) Hardman (1883-1949), married respectively Samuel Barnard Spragge (1862-1919) and Valentine (Val) Albright (1881-1952). Dave tells us Val also joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force, lying about his age in order to get in. After the war, 'uncle Val relocated to Vancouver in Washington State and worked at the Swift plant in North Portland, Oregon. One of the ironies of life is that my maternal grandfather [Andruis Plitnikus (1878-1955)] transferred to the Swift plant in 1909 and worked there until he went to work for the shipyard in 1942 . . . I doubt he met uncle Val. I first met Val and aunt Nelly in the late 40's, when they came to visit aunt Louie. He had been long retired and they lived in Ocean Park, Washington where he died in 1952. Aunt Nellie died there in 1949'. The girls' only brother, Samuel Free Hardman (1879-1950), married Alice Loretta Junke (1885-1965) at Toronto in Canada in 1914 and, according to the 'hyatt Family tree' on Ancestry, had five children: Gardiner, George, Irene, Thomas and Lloyd Hardman (1917-1999) who married Eileen Arnett (1922-79) and had one child.
Image sources:
Haslingfield parish church and gravestone both from private collection. Note that the gravestone is of John Free (1831-1875), the youngest son of Samuel's brother William Free (1788-1855) and his wife Elizabeth Higler (1790-1854), and John's seventeen year-old niece Harriet Elizabeth Free, the daughter of William and Elizabeth's youngest daughter Ann Free.
Isaac and Mary Ann Hardman nee Claydon nee Free, courtesy of Dave Hogue.
Frees in England Cambridgeshire BDMs Free family Rootsweb site Cambridgeshire Emigrants William Free in Australia Free family photographs
