​Elizabeth Leury was my Great x4 Great Aunt, she was born in 1790 in Slaugham, Sussex just two years after Jane who was my Great x 4 Grandmother.  She had two brothers, John the eldest and James and 4 other sisters; Sarah, Phebe who died at eighteen months, Lydia and another Phoebe.  Their parents were John and Sarah Leury.   It is Elizabeth’s husband William Juniper who is the subject of this week’s blog.  I am following the subject of this week’s #52Ancestors – Should have a been a Movie very loosely, it’s more a serial drama or a soap, think my favourite soap, Emmerdale and the saga of farming families.
 
Elizabeth and William were married on 8 December 1808 at the Parish Church in Cuckfield, Sussex.  According to the census records I found they had at least 5 children; William, Owen, Ellen, Edward and Susan.  I have not researched their baptisms as yet so this is not confirmed.  By the time of 1841 census, the first we can get copies of, William was 52 and Elizabeth was 50.  He was reported as a farmer at North Hall which is between Staplefield and Cuckfield.  For ancestors born before civil registration began in 1837 it is very hard to find much information about them and you have to think creatively so I did and I thought maps.

​My first port of call was the Tithe maps that are available on The Genealogist  For a history and explanation of Tithe maps visit  History | Tithe Maps 
 
I discovered that William Juniper was farming quite a substantial farm at North Hall, he rented fields, meads (meadows), woods, buildings, yards and gardens from Thomas Ellman who was said to be a cousin of John Ellman who first bred the Southdown sheep and is reported to have experimented with the breeding of Sussex Red Cattle.  The 1851 census tells us that William was farming 100 acres.  In 1861 it was 130 acres.  The tithe maps not only show the farm and the fields around it that were part of the farm, it also allows us to see who the neighbours were.  

​Looking at both the Tithe maps and the census records there were Abram Juniper near to North Hall, John Juniper next door at North Hall, I have not researched these two yet but they are likely to be sons of William and the two executors of his will in 1875 are John and Abraham, sons.  James Johnson rented a cottage and garden next door, he married Jane Leury, Elizabeth’s sister and was my Great x 4 Grandfather.  James was an Ag Lab and maybe worked on the farm for William.  There was Amos Juniper on the 1841 census closeby also a son of William, and Stephen Leury.  There are a number of younger Junipers, Johnsons and Leurys dotted around, who could be grandchildren, nieces and nephews and other relatives.
 
And just to add to the sense of the story being a soap opera, whilst trawling through the Cuckfield baptisms register I discovered the following:
17 January 1808, Mary baseborn daughter of Jenny Leury, reputed by William Juniper
Jenny is I guess, Jane the older sister of Elizabeth who eventually married William.  A true soap opera story, Elizabeth married her older sister’s ex!
 
From just one record I am able to start to build a picture of the life of William Juniper and his family.  I will add to this story by searching for a copy of his will, looking for deeds and other records at The National Archives and checking local newspapers.  Despite no civil registration and census records in the early 19th century and before there are records that can be searched for about ancestors.

​Solitude is the theme this week for #52Ancestors and I thought I would look at my tree to see if I could find any sole surviving children.  The first one I came to has an interesting story to tell.  Nephi Vincent was born in 1867 in Salt Lake City, USA.  He was the sole surviving child of my Great x 3 great uncle, Jesse Vincent and his second wife Ellen Holt. 
Jesse was born in Cuckfield in Sussex, 1830 and he married Sarah Nicholas 1852 in Cuckfield.  They moved to Battersea and then Chelsea in London where they had four children; Naomi born 1852, Brigham born 1858, Jemima born 1859 and Sarah born late 1861, she died and was buried at 11 weeks old in March 1862 and it looks like Jesse’s wife Sarah died shortly after.  I’ve ordered the death certificates to find out what they both died from.

​Jesse and his three remaining children emigrated to Salt Lake City in 1863 arriving at Castle Garden, New York on 20 July 1863.  According to his naturalisation record he made the application to become a citizen of the USA on 4 January 1862 and reading between the lines his intention was always to go to Salt Lake City.  I presume he belonged to a Mormon Temple in London which may explain why he was in London, the fact he had a son called Brigham, an unusual name in England is a clue.  Plus not an original record but there is also a record in Utah, U.S., Mormon Pioneer Overland Travel Records, 1847-1868 records on Ancestry stating he arrived in Salt Lake City and returned from there in 1847 at the age of 17.  His birth date and death date on this record match.  That needs checking out further to see if I can find the original record.
In 1865 he married Ellen Holt and together they had three children, Robert born 1864 but only lived for 7 months, Ellen born 1865 and died in 1866 and Nephi who born in 1867 by which time Jesse had become a citizen of the USA.  There don’t appear to be anymore children born to this couple.  This all needs further investigation because at least 1 child was born before they married in 1865.  

Nephi married Sarah Jane Stocking in 1885 and together they had 9 children and they and his parents remained in Salt Lake City. 
A contact back in 2015 sent me the photos that accompany this blog and some story about the family.  But it is only now that I am researching them a bit more thoroughly.  Some family trees have added another marriage to Jesse which I have not found before, unfortunately as is so often the case, there are no sources so I have no idea if this is real or not.  It was said to have been in 1881, but Ellen didn’t die until 1911 after Jesse.  However the Mormons were known to take more than one wife so it is a possibility I need to research.  Her name was Harriet.  All three of his wives were said to have been born in England suggesting they were all converts to the Mormon religion.  This is proving to be an interesting family that requires more research.

​The theme this week for #52Ancestors is Starts with a Vowel and I thought it was time I wrote about my paternal Grandfather, Alfred Sydney Baldwin.

Alfred or Syd as I believe he was known as, I always knew him as Grandad B, was born on 8 March 1916 at 39 Melbourne Road in Eastbourne, Sussex, a small terraced house near the centre of Eastbourne.  His parents were Reuben Leonard and Ethel Mary Baldwin formerly Cruse.  Reuben was a Wine Merchant Bottle washer and Porter.  Alfred had one older brother; William James (Bill) who had been born in 1914 in Hailsham.  Alfred was baptised some months later, on 20 August 1916 at Eastbourne Christ Church.  I have wondered whether there was such a large gap between birth and baptism because they were waiting for Reuben to be home on leave, it being the middle of WW1.  I presume he had been involved in the fighting but so far have been unable to trace his service record. 

In 1920 his younger brother Herbert Leonard (Len) was born on 15 March 1920 in Hailsham and a year later in 1921 the census shows the family living at 6 Sackville Road in Hailsham, Bill and Syd were both at school and Reuben was working as a Farm Labourer for A Burtenshaw JP.  The family remained living in Sackville Road for many years and my parents bought a house there in the 1980s and I spent 7 years living at number 13 with them. 

I have just noticed that in fact Reuben and Ethel’s marriage certificate shows them living at May Villa in Sackville Road, in 1913 which is the house that Ethel’s widowed mother Alice was living in at the time of the 1911 census so they may have lived with her until they moved to Eastbourne.  Bill was born in 1914 in Hailsham, so presumably Sackville Road.  I have been unable to find a baptism for him which would give his home address.
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My dad tells several stories from Grandad about his time living in Sackville Road, for instance all the houses had outside toilets which were all on the same sewer and they used to wait till a neighbour had gone to the toilet and they would set a firecracker off and put it down the sewer.  Whoosh would go the sewer and whoever was on the toilet would get a bit of a shock!  

​Syd married my grandmother Ivy on 4 August 1934 at the Registry Office in Hailsham.  Syd was 18 and Ivy was 21.  Syd was working at a Deck Chair factory as a woodworker.  That was Green Brothers in Hailsham where David Smith, Ivy’s adopted father worked.  He entered his father Syd as a Brickmaker.  Syd was living at 6 Sackville Road and Ivy; 19 Garfield Road.  She was a Domestic Servant.  The marriage was witnessed by Emily Smith, Ivy’s aunt and adopted mother and Reginald Harmer possibly her youngest uncle and Emily Smith’s youngest brother. 
 
In July 1935 Richard (Dick) was born to Syd and Ivy and then on the 1939 register taken just before the beginning of WW2, he is recorded as under school age alongside his parents Syd and Ivy at 24a Bellbanks Road, Hailsham.  This house they lived in until they retired to a bungalow in the 1980s.  I have many memories of visits to 24a Bellbanks, the outside toilet, dark and cold and scary in the winter and Christmases with Granny’s delicious sausage rolls, nobody made sausage rolls like them.
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Anyway I digress, Syd was recorded in 1939 as a woodwork packer and Ivy was on unpaid domestic duties, in other words looking after the house and family.  Also living with them was Leonard Fears who I have mentioned in a previous blog was also informally adopted alongside Ivy by Emily and David Smith.  He was a Baker’s Roundsman.  

​With the onset of WW2 Syd joined the Royal Sussex Regiment and fought overseas, we know little about his war experiences but we do know that he was in North Africa and to Sicily and up through Italy.  I have recently sent off to The National Archives for his service record and await whatever turns up to tell us more about his war.
 
My dad, Leslie Roy was born 30 January 1943 at 24a Bellbanks Road and that is where Syd was recorded for the Electoral Register of 7 May 1945. 

In 1950 Bill aged 36 was killed accidentally at work at Green Bros and Syd identified his body and gave evidence at his inquest.  More of that on a previous blog #52Ancestors - William Baldwin - Sussex Genealogist

On a search for newspaper articles recently I found a curious report in the Sussex Express dated 26 March 1954 where Syd appeared in court alongside a friend Leslie Wallage.  The paper reports;
‘Amazing case of stolen Tea Trolley – Given the highest characters by their employers, two men were each fined £5, with a £2 7s 3d costs at Hailsham Magistrates Court on Wednesday.'

Alfred Sydney Baldwin (38) of 24a Bellbanks Road, Hailsham pleaded guilty to stealing, when a servant of Green Bros, a tea trolley, the property of his employers, between February 1 and 25.  Leslie Wallage (43) admitted receiving the trolley knowing it to have been stolen.  When interviewed, Baldwin admitted that he gave the trolley to Wallage, stating that he had no authority to give it away and that he was a fool.  The secretary and accountant to Green Bros told the Court that they were both first class men, thoroughly reliable and conscientious.  He could not speak too highly of them and the directors would like to be able to re-employ them.  The Chairman said it was a somewhat amazing case for two men who had been given such characters. 

Syd was re-employed by Green Bros and remained working there till his retirement.    
​Syd died in 1993 on 28 June after some time in hospital.  He died of Bronchopneumonia and chronic bronchitis.  His death certificate records his occupation as Foreman Packer, Furniture Manufacturers, retired and he lived at 34 The Gages, Hailsham.  One of the last conversations I had with him before his death was on my return from holiday to Italy and we discussed some of the beautiful places we had visited in Italy.  Hopefully soon with his service record I will know a bit more of these places he visited and perhaps I will share that with you.