Lets start a new line within the family tree, well not new new because it does eventually lead to the Blakesley and Stowe connection.
Stacey / Tansley: Samuel Stacey 1781-1838 = Ann Tansley 1774-1846. - - - - - - My 4th great grandparents.
son Peter Stacey 1801-1866 = Mary Tuff 1807-1846 - - - - - - - - My 3rd great grandparents
dau. Mary Stacey 1838-1883 = John A Blakesley 1834-1871 - - - My 2nd great grandparents
Stacey / Tansley
We'll start in 1781 in Low Leyton in the county of Essex with a gentleman named Samuel Stacey and a young lady named Ann Tansley also from Low Leyton. The village takes its name from its setting on the River Lea flood plain, indeed a small patch of Leyton Marsh still survives close to the Lea Bridge. By the 18th century most of the marshes had been converted to fertile farmland. Our couple were married there on the 17 January 1800 at St Mary the Virgin church, built in about 1658. There was little growth in the main village until the coming of the railway in the mid-19th century. Thereafter Leyton’s population doubled every decade for the rest of the century.
Little else is yet known about them except that they had a son named Peter, born about 1801, and baptized at the same St Mary the Virgin church on 7 October 1804. I think also a daughter, Ann, born 1812. An entry in the Greenwich Hospital records shows a Samuel Stacey admitted in July 1838 and his subsequent burial on the 17 July 1838 aged 57. The 1841 census shows an Ann Stacey (Tansley) aged 67 along with a Jane Stacey, possibly a granddaughter, still living in Low Leyton. The General Register Office (GRO) gives a date of death for an Ann Stacey as March 1846 at West Ham.
The communities Leyton, Greenwich and West Ham are all within a mile or two of each other and within five or six miles of central London.
Peter Stacey at some point in time moved to the city of London and worked as a porter at Lincoln Inn, one of the main law inns of London. There he met Mary Tuff, the daughter of William Tuff, one of the attorney clerks working at the Inn. On 8 November 1826 at St Anne's church, Soho, they were married and went on to have at least three children, William (1828-1908), Harriet (1833-1852) and our Mary 1838-1883.
Stacey / Tansley: Samuel Stacey 1781-1838 = Ann Tansley 1774-1846. - - - - - - My 4th great grandparents.
son Peter Stacey 1801-1866 = Mary Tuff 1807-1846 - - - - - - - - My 3rd great grandparents
dau. Mary Stacey 1838-1883 = John A Blakesley 1834-1871 - - - My 2nd great grandparents
Stacey / Tansley
We'll start in 1781 in Low Leyton in the county of Essex with a gentleman named Samuel Stacey and a young lady named Ann Tansley also from Low Leyton. The village takes its name from its setting on the River Lea flood plain, indeed a small patch of Leyton Marsh still survives close to the Lea Bridge. By the 18th century most of the marshes had been converted to fertile farmland. Our couple were married there on the 17 January 1800 at St Mary the Virgin church, built in about 1658. There was little growth in the main village until the coming of the railway in the mid-19th century. Thereafter Leyton’s population doubled every decade for the rest of the century.
Little else is yet known about them except that they had a son named Peter, born about 1801, and baptized at the same St Mary the Virgin church on 7 October 1804. I think also a daughter, Ann, born 1812. An entry in the Greenwich Hospital records shows a Samuel Stacey admitted in July 1838 and his subsequent burial on the 17 July 1838 aged 57. The 1841 census shows an Ann Stacey (Tansley) aged 67 along with a Jane Stacey, possibly a granddaughter, still living in Low Leyton. The General Register Office (GRO) gives a date of death for an Ann Stacey as March 1846 at West Ham.
The communities Leyton, Greenwich and West Ham are all within a mile or two of each other and within five or six miles of central London.
Peter Stacey at some point in time moved to the city of London and worked as a porter at Lincoln Inn, one of the main law inns of London. There he met Mary Tuff, the daughter of William Tuff, one of the attorney clerks working at the Inn. On 8 November 1826 at St Anne's church, Soho, they were married and went on to have at least three children, William (1828-1908), Harriet (1833-1852) and our Mary 1838-1883.
The 1841 census puts them in the Holborn Buildings in St Andrews Holborn, below the bars and we find the complete family there. Peters occupation is marked CL or clerk.
The 'Bars' refers to the old City of London limits. When the City's jurisdiction was extended beyond the Walls, the Ward of Farringdon Without was created, but only the south side of Holborn was under its jurisdiction and became "above Bars". The rest of the area "below Bars" was outside the City's jurisdiction and was organised by the vestry board of the parish of St Andrew. Well, that's sorted that out.
In March that same year,1841, whilst working at Lincoln Inn, Peter was involved in the apprehension of two felonious gentlemen stealing from one of the chambers. Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 18 June 2020), April 1841, trial of JAMES BUNCHER JOHN RILEY (t18410405-1061).
In 1846, his wife Mary died. She had been admitted as an inmate to Bethnal House Asylum on 19 June and died there on 25 August. Cause of death given as General Paralysis; a condition linked with syphilis.
She never got to see their son William get married in 1848 to Esther Evans. William will go on to have a successful career as a 'last maker' for boots and shoes, all hand made in those days! His father-in-law, William Evans, was an accoutrement maker ( buttons and fittings for army uniforms), and the London City Directory of 1860 gives Williams street address as 'contract department', War Office.
The next census of 1851 puts Peter Stacey with just his youngest daughter, our Mary then aged 13 and a visitor Letitia Last, also 13, living at 8 Little Wild Street. Although Harriet is not at this address for this census, just 18 months later in September 1852 she dies and this is the address given for her at the time of her burial in Holborn. She was just 19 years old.
I have not yet been able to locate Peter in the 1861 census but in 1865 he is admitted to the St James and Clerkenwell infirmary. His death is recorded as being early 1866 in Clerkenwell.
On 13 November 1859 when she was 21, Mary married John Atkinson Blakesley at St John the Evangelist Church, Lambeth.
The 'Bars' refers to the old City of London limits. When the City's jurisdiction was extended beyond the Walls, the Ward of Farringdon Without was created, but only the south side of Holborn was under its jurisdiction and became "above Bars". The rest of the area "below Bars" was outside the City's jurisdiction and was organised by the vestry board of the parish of St Andrew. Well, that's sorted that out.
In March that same year,1841, whilst working at Lincoln Inn, Peter was involved in the apprehension of two felonious gentlemen stealing from one of the chambers. Old Bailey Proceedings Online (www.oldbaileyonline.org, version 8.0, 18 June 2020), April 1841, trial of JAMES BUNCHER JOHN RILEY (t18410405-1061).
In 1846, his wife Mary died. She had been admitted as an inmate to Bethnal House Asylum on 19 June and died there on 25 August. Cause of death given as General Paralysis; a condition linked with syphilis.
She never got to see their son William get married in 1848 to Esther Evans. William will go on to have a successful career as a 'last maker' for boots and shoes, all hand made in those days! His father-in-law, William Evans, was an accoutrement maker ( buttons and fittings for army uniforms), and the London City Directory of 1860 gives Williams street address as 'contract department', War Office.
The next census of 1851 puts Peter Stacey with just his youngest daughter, our Mary then aged 13 and a visitor Letitia Last, also 13, living at 8 Little Wild Street. Although Harriet is not at this address for this census, just 18 months later in September 1852 she dies and this is the address given for her at the time of her burial in Holborn. She was just 19 years old.
I have not yet been able to locate Peter in the 1861 census but in 1865 he is admitted to the St James and Clerkenwell infirmary. His death is recorded as being early 1866 in Clerkenwell.
On 13 November 1859 when she was 21, Mary married John Atkinson Blakesley at St John the Evangelist Church, Lambeth.
Tuff / Turner William Tuff 1786 - 1861 = Rachel Turner 1785 - 1853 - - - - - - My 4th great grandparents
dau. Mary Tuff 1807 - 1846 = Peter Stacey 1801 - 1866 - - - - - - - My 3rd great grandparents
dau. Mary Stacey 1838 - 1883 = John A Blakesley 1834 - 1871 - - - My 2nd great grandparents
dau. Mary Tuff 1807 - 1846 = Peter Stacey 1801 - 1866 - - - - - - - My 3rd great grandparents
dau. Mary Stacey 1838 - 1883 = John A Blakesley 1834 - 1871 - - - My 2nd great grandparents
Tuff / Turner
William Tuff was born in Newbury, Berkshire, as shown on his census records for 1851 and 1861. I know nothing more about his early life but have to assume that he had a reasonably good education to enable him to secure his position as a clerk within the law courts.
On 17 March 1805 at St Brides Church, Fleet Street he and Rachel Turner were married. Again, nothing is known about Rachel's early life more than she was born in Cripplegate, London around 1785. She was able to sign her own name on the register, though she spells it as Rachell, and so has had some education. It would be easy to conjecture at this point that perhaps her father also had a connection with Lincoln Inn and that is how they met!
Together, William and Rachel have five children, Mary (b 23 dec 1807-1846), Rachel (1813-1849) William (1816-1882) Caroline Charlotte (1821-1909) and Hannah Amelia (1826-1907).
Our forebear is Mary, baptized 17 January 1808 at St Clement Danes, Westminster. The record doesn't give any further information as to where the family are living or her fathers occupation. All five of their children were baptized at this same church.
I shall run through the other children first, as this gives us a little clue as to the family unit.
William Tuff was born in Newbury, Berkshire, as shown on his census records for 1851 and 1861. I know nothing more about his early life but have to assume that he had a reasonably good education to enable him to secure his position as a clerk within the law courts.
On 17 March 1805 at St Brides Church, Fleet Street he and Rachel Turner were married. Again, nothing is known about Rachel's early life more than she was born in Cripplegate, London around 1785. She was able to sign her own name on the register, though she spells it as Rachell, and so has had some education. It would be easy to conjecture at this point that perhaps her father also had a connection with Lincoln Inn and that is how they met!
Together, William and Rachel have five children, Mary (b 23 dec 1807-1846), Rachel (1813-1849) William (1816-1882) Caroline Charlotte (1821-1909) and Hannah Amelia (1826-1907).
Our forebear is Mary, baptized 17 January 1808 at St Clement Danes, Westminster. The record doesn't give any further information as to where the family are living or her fathers occupation. All five of their children were baptized at this same church.
I shall run through the other children first, as this gives us a little clue as to the family unit.
Rachel Tuff married John Hutchinson, a glass cutter from Birmingham, in 1836. They moved up to Birmingham where their first three children were born but then returned to London where the remaining three were born. Rachel was only 36 when she died in St James, Clerkenwell in September 1849.
Her brother, William Tuff junior was living at 12 York Street, Blackfriars Road, Southark when he married Margaret Webb in September 1837. Their witnesses are his father William Tuff and his sister Caroline Tuff. The occupation of the brides father, John James Webb is given as a clerk, (attorneys). William follows in his fathers footsteps as a barristers clerk.
In the 1841 census we find living with William and Rachel Tuff two additional persons, John Webb and his sister Susan. John is a book binders apprentice and the other girls within the family are book folders. Later, John would call himself a barristers clerk. It would seem that the Tuff family all worked with or around each other in the witting and binding of legal documents within Lincoln Inn.
The next family wedding is that of Caroline on the 3 January 1843 to the said John Webb, brother of her sister-in-law, Margaret. The groom, John Webb is said to be living at 8 Yardley Street and Caroline is just down the road in Exmouth Street, both roads in Clerkenwell. Three years into the marriage in 1846 John made a will leaving everything, what ever there might be to his estate, to his dearest wife Caroline. He died five years later in January 1851 so it is possible that John did not enjoy good health and made arrangements in advance. He and Caroline never had any children. Two months after the will is proved in July 1851, Caroline is remarried to John Hack. He made reflective mirrors but Caroline and a couple of her children continued in the book binding business. She died in Camden 1909 aged 88.
In April 1843 the 18 year old Hannah Tuff gave birth to a little girl and she was baptized Frederica Freeman, her parents being named as Hannah and Frank Freeman, and the little family was living at 8 Yardley Street, the same address as that given for John Webb at his wedding. However, Hannah goes back to using her maiden name of Tuff by the next census of 1851 when she is living back home with her parents, in John Street in Southwark just a few roads away from where they had been in York Street and the little Frederica is described as William and Rachel's niece!
I have found no record of a marriage for Hannah and Frank however, when Frederica herself gets married she puts her fathers name down as a William, not Frank, Freeman, an attorneys clerk! Hannah has been a very elusive character to follow, changing her name from Tuff to Ford to Freeman and back to Tuff but I am reasonably confident that she died as Hannah Tuff in 1907 aged 81.
Rachel Turner died in 1853 and was buried in St Giles, Camberwell on 10 July, aged 68.
The next census of 1861 sees the Tuff family having moved across the river to King Edward Street, Bridewell Precinct. William is still a attorneys clerk, Hannah Tuff and Frederica Freeman are also there, although Frederica is now re-classified as a granddaughter rather than a niece and a new grandson named John Ogden Tuff has arrived. No idea who he is.
In the 1841 census we find living with William and Rachel Tuff two additional persons, John Webb and his sister Susan. John is a book binders apprentice and the other girls within the family are book folders. Later, John would call himself a barristers clerk. It would seem that the Tuff family all worked with or around each other in the witting and binding of legal documents within Lincoln Inn.
The next family wedding is that of Caroline on the 3 January 1843 to the said John Webb, brother of her sister-in-law, Margaret. The groom, John Webb is said to be living at 8 Yardley Street and Caroline is just down the road in Exmouth Street, both roads in Clerkenwell. Three years into the marriage in 1846 John made a will leaving everything, what ever there might be to his estate, to his dearest wife Caroline. He died five years later in January 1851 so it is possible that John did not enjoy good health and made arrangements in advance. He and Caroline never had any children. Two months after the will is proved in July 1851, Caroline is remarried to John Hack. He made reflective mirrors but Caroline and a couple of her children continued in the book binding business. She died in Camden 1909 aged 88.
In April 1843 the 18 year old Hannah Tuff gave birth to a little girl and she was baptized Frederica Freeman, her parents being named as Hannah and Frank Freeman, and the little family was living at 8 Yardley Street, the same address as that given for John Webb at his wedding. However, Hannah goes back to using her maiden name of Tuff by the next census of 1851 when she is living back home with her parents, in John Street in Southwark just a few roads away from where they had been in York Street and the little Frederica is described as William and Rachel's niece!
I have found no record of a marriage for Hannah and Frank however, when Frederica herself gets married she puts her fathers name down as a William, not Frank, Freeman, an attorneys clerk! Hannah has been a very elusive character to follow, changing her name from Tuff to Ford to Freeman and back to Tuff but I am reasonably confident that she died as Hannah Tuff in 1907 aged 81.
Rachel Turner died in 1853 and was buried in St Giles, Camberwell on 10 July, aged 68.
The next census of 1861 sees the Tuff family having moved across the river to King Edward Street, Bridewell Precinct. William is still a attorneys clerk, Hannah Tuff and Frederica Freeman are also there, although Frederica is now re-classified as a granddaughter rather than a niece and a new grandson named John Ogden Tuff has arrived. No idea who he is.
And now to introduce the Blakesley family.
Thomas Blakesley d.1777 = Anna Simon d.1781 - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - My 6th great grandparents
son. John Blakesley 1741 - 1778 = Eleanor Jones - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - My 5th great grandparents
son. Thomas Blakesley 1768 - 1827 = Maria Wilkes 1759 - 1814 - - - - - - - - - - - - - My 4th great grandparents
son. Richard Atkinson Blakesley 1792 - 1847 = Mary Ann Griffiths 1802 - 1882 - - - - - - - - - My 3rd great grandparents
son. John Atkinson Blakesley 1834 - 1871 = Mary Stacey 1838 - 1883 - - - - - - - - - - - - - My 2nd great grandparents
dau. Eliza Letitia Blakesley 1866 - 1948 = Thomas Henry Arthur Stowe 1863 - 1918 ---My 1st great grandparents
We begin with Thomas Blakesley, a widow, marrying Anna Simon by licence at St Paul's Cathedral on 16 October 1739. Delving back so far can be both challenging and interesting. At this point in time I have no idea who Thomas's first wife was nor how old in 1739 either he or Anna Simon were. The issuing of a licence for a wedding to be held in the cathedral required a considerable sum of money to be held in the form of a bond should an irregularity be discovered at a later date, it also meant that banns did not need to be read out over the preceding three week period and therefore the couple could marry outside of the parish that they live in, which of course St Pauls was. It could also be a show of status, but I can't believe that one of MY forebears would do such a thing! but I think that they did. The cathedral was an almost brand new building and although the first services had been held back in 1697 the building itself had only been completed just 21 years earlier. Compared to any other building within London this was massive and would have dominated the lives of city folk for years previous. You could not do BIGGER anywhere if you tried.
The happy couple have at least four children. The first, born 1840, is named after his father,Thomas. The second son is our John, born 1841. That same year, 1841, little Thomas dies and so when the next son arrives in 1843 he is also given the name of Thomas, as so often was the custom then. Eighteen months later (Dec 1844) arrives little Anna, the darling of her mother.
What else was happening in London. The population was exploding. In 1715 it was estimated at 630,000 people, by 1750 when the new Westminster Bridge was opened it had swelled to 725,000 and by the end of the century it had reached 1,000,000. In order to try and improve the circulation of traffic in 1761 the seven ancient gates enclosing the City of London were removed. London's first bypass began in 1756, a 60 foot (20 metres) wide road running between Paddington and Islington and known as the 'drovers' road intended as a means to get livestock to Smithfield Market without coming through the city..
In order to trade within the City Walls of London you needed to be a Freeman and Citizen of the City and to prove that you needed to belong to one of the 'City Gilds' or livery companies as they were known in London. Thomas Blakesley was a box/trunk maker by trade and ran his business at 74 Mark Lane and so was a member of a gild. Mark Lane is marked in red on this 1772 map, below. Marked in blue is Fenchurch Buildings, a street 60 yards long and containing 20 houses, (60 yards =180 feet, 10 houses on each side gave a plot width of 18 feet per house) where Anna Simon lived. Think of smart Georgian terrace houses. This of an up market neighborhood.
When we get to the will of Thomas Blakesley it is clear that he was not just an ordinary tradesman. I doubt that Anna Simon's father would have had that in mind for his daughter.
What else was happening in London. The population was exploding. In 1715 it was estimated at 630,000 people, by 1750 when the new Westminster Bridge was opened it had swelled to 725,000 and by the end of the century it had reached 1,000,000. In order to try and improve the circulation of traffic in 1761 the seven ancient gates enclosing the City of London were removed. London's first bypass began in 1756, a 60 foot (20 metres) wide road running between Paddington and Islington and known as the 'drovers' road intended as a means to get livestock to Smithfield Market without coming through the city..
In order to trade within the City Walls of London you needed to be a Freeman and Citizen of the City and to prove that you needed to belong to one of the 'City Gilds' or livery companies as they were known in London. Thomas Blakesley was a box/trunk maker by trade and ran his business at 74 Mark Lane and so was a member of a gild. Mark Lane is marked in red on this 1772 map, below. Marked in blue is Fenchurch Buildings, a street 60 yards long and containing 20 houses, (60 yards =180 feet, 10 houses on each side gave a plot width of 18 feet per house) where Anna Simon lived. Think of smart Georgian terrace houses. This of an up market neighborhood.
When we get to the will of Thomas Blakesley it is clear that he was not just an ordinary tradesman. I doubt that Anna Simon's father would have had that in mind for his daughter.
When our John was 14 years old he was apprenticed to his father to become a box maker. (Left)
As I said earlier, to trade within the City you needed to belong to a gild or livery company. What becomes a little confusing is that the gild that you belonged to did not have to represent the trade that you carried on. Control of the trades in London was slowly slipping away from the gilds as by now so many people and trades-persons lived and worked outside of the city walls.
Gild membership could be gained by several routes. You could be apprenticed to someone already in that trade, the most common route and your parent or a trustee would pay a premium for you. This could vary between nothing for a family member, free for our John (1d for Christopher Matthews to his father John in 1780) or up to several hundred pounds for a very prestigious trade. It could also be transferred to you by patrimony or more importantly for many, by marriage. Under the English custom of coverture in place at this time, all of a woman's movable property, stock, employees, profit and her company membership would become her husbands upon marriage.
What is so often overlooked by today's writers who bemoan the lack of opportunity perceived for women in the past is that a good number of gild members in the 18th/19th century were women, trading in their own right.
Thomas Blakesley belonged to the Haberdashers Guild. He made wooden boxes or trunks so he could have belonged to any number of other gilds so I get the feeling that perhaps more than just the trunk making business was being conducted by Thomas Blakesley.
Trunk making may not sound very exciting but you have to put yourself in the time that they were living. Up until the coming of the railways (1840's) the only way to travel around the country was by horse drawn carriages or by stage coach and absolutely everything that you might need not only for the journey that you were making, overnight stays etc., but also for your destination including any stock that you may have purchased perhaps for your business would have to be boxed up for both transport and for security. Indeed, it was the theft of boxes and trunks from the back of stage coaches that was the stock in trade of most highwaymen.
Think of the novels of Jane Austin and genteel folk to-ing and fro-ing from country to town house with all of not only their own necessary belongings but also those of their servants, cooks and maids. Trunks for this group of clientele would have been covered in leather and bound with bands of metal and with possibly additional embellishments. As I said earlier, this was a smart area of London and would have produced and supplied quality items.
Just as today, this road and area was full of merchants, importers and exporters with warehouse filled with merchandise. The East India Docks were just but a very short walk away and all of the goodies of the East ended up here in this part of London. This was even then the insurance capital of the world. Lloyds of London was just a few yards away from no.74 Mark Lane.
Thomas's son, our John Blakesley, married Eleanor Jones by licence on 10 October 1764 at their local church, St Lawrence Jewry and they had at least four children, Ann 1765, our Thomas 1768, Eleanor 1770 and Elizabeth in 1776.
Thomas Blakesley senior died around May 1777 and I have included his will made 29 April 1777 for those of you who have good eyesight.
As I said earlier, to trade within the City you needed to belong to a gild or livery company. What becomes a little confusing is that the gild that you belonged to did not have to represent the trade that you carried on. Control of the trades in London was slowly slipping away from the gilds as by now so many people and trades-persons lived and worked outside of the city walls.
Gild membership could be gained by several routes. You could be apprenticed to someone already in that trade, the most common route and your parent or a trustee would pay a premium for you. This could vary between nothing for a family member, free for our John (1d for Christopher Matthews to his father John in 1780) or up to several hundred pounds for a very prestigious trade. It could also be transferred to you by patrimony or more importantly for many, by marriage. Under the English custom of coverture in place at this time, all of a woman's movable property, stock, employees, profit and her company membership would become her husbands upon marriage.
What is so often overlooked by today's writers who bemoan the lack of opportunity perceived for women in the past is that a good number of gild members in the 18th/19th century were women, trading in their own right.
Thomas Blakesley belonged to the Haberdashers Guild. He made wooden boxes or trunks so he could have belonged to any number of other gilds so I get the feeling that perhaps more than just the trunk making business was being conducted by Thomas Blakesley.
Trunk making may not sound very exciting but you have to put yourself in the time that they were living. Up until the coming of the railways (1840's) the only way to travel around the country was by horse drawn carriages or by stage coach and absolutely everything that you might need not only for the journey that you were making, overnight stays etc., but also for your destination including any stock that you may have purchased perhaps for your business would have to be boxed up for both transport and for security. Indeed, it was the theft of boxes and trunks from the back of stage coaches that was the stock in trade of most highwaymen.
Think of the novels of Jane Austin and genteel folk to-ing and fro-ing from country to town house with all of not only their own necessary belongings but also those of their servants, cooks and maids. Trunks for this group of clientele would have been covered in leather and bound with bands of metal and with possibly additional embellishments. As I said earlier, this was a smart area of London and would have produced and supplied quality items.
Just as today, this road and area was full of merchants, importers and exporters with warehouse filled with merchandise. The East India Docks were just but a very short walk away and all of the goodies of the East ended up here in this part of London. This was even then the insurance capital of the world. Lloyds of London was just a few yards away from no.74 Mark Lane.
Thomas's son, our John Blakesley, married Eleanor Jones by licence on 10 October 1764 at their local church, St Lawrence Jewry and they had at least four children, Ann 1765, our Thomas 1768, Eleanor 1770 and Elizabeth in 1776.
Thomas Blakesley senior died around May 1777 and I have included his will made 29 April 1777 for those of you who have good eyesight.
I far as I can make out, this trunk-maker had probably retired as he was living in Copdock, just outside of Ipswich, Suffolk, owned the lease to 74 Mark Lane and owned a small estate at St John in Battersea.
He left £450 to his son , our John plus the business and to his daughter Anna, the rent and interest from the Battersea estate. The rent and interest from that estate was to be passed on to her children and then was to revert to the children of our John. Meanwhile, his widow Anna had a house in Highgate, London. I have not been able to discover anything much regarding the daughter Anna more than she married a William Wetherill, a portrait painter, in December 1772.
Unfortunately, our John died just one year after his father and according to various trade directories produced in 1789 and 1790 the business at 74 Mark Lane described as a 'trunk maker wood/furniture/carriage trade' was being run by his sister, Eleanor.
He left £450 to his son , our John plus the business and to his daughter Anna, the rent and interest from the Battersea estate. The rent and interest from that estate was to be passed on to her children and then was to revert to the children of our John. Meanwhile, his widow Anna had a house in Highgate, London. I have not been able to discover anything much regarding the daughter Anna more than she married a William Wetherill, a portrait painter, in December 1772.
Unfortunately, our John died just one year after his father and according to various trade directories produced in 1789 and 1790 the business at 74 Mark Lane described as a 'trunk maker wood/furniture/carriage trade' was being run by his sister, Eleanor.
According to her will, proved in 1810, Ann died a spinster and left most of everything to her mother for her life time and then to her step father John Chapman. She left a very small amount, £50, to her brother Thomas and £100 to her nephew, our Richard, with instructions that he should have no interference from his mother or father!!
I shall not say much about Thomas except that he ran an ivory comb making business in Bishopsgate, London. In his will in 1824 it is very clear that he made a LOT of money, describing himself as a comb maker and ivory merchant. By the 1850's his son Henry James Blakesley was in Shipping Insurance. Need I say more.
I shall not say much about Thomas except that he ran an ivory comb making business in Bishopsgate, London. In his will in 1824 it is very clear that he made a LOT of money, describing himself as a comb maker and ivory merchant. By the 1850's his son Henry James Blakesley was in Shipping Insurance. Need I say more.