The family of Joseph and Ann Maria Redfern, Part 2

Later Redferns after 1851

Following on from my last piece about the older children of this couple, this piece looks at the children born after the 1941 Census.

By 1851, the family was still on Turner’s Hill, Joseph still a labourer but now with his age given as 48 and his place of birth as Rowley Regis as were the whole family. Maria was now 50, Eliza 20, Joseph 18, William 16 both boys working as labourers; Ann at 13 was still a scholar. In the interim between the censuses, Solomon, aged 9, John aged 7 and Samuel aged 5 had all been born. All were described as scholars.

Incidentally, when I looked at later Censuses, I noticed that Joseph’s widow Maria, later described herself as the widow of a Highways Labourer and in 1871, he described himself as a Furnace Labourer, although he and Maria had a boarder who was a Highways Labourer so perhaps he moved from one job to the other. Certainly other Redferns were Furnace Labourers, gruelling hot work for much of the year, I suspect. Their family has grown in ten years.  

In 1851 Eliza is still living at home, now aged 20, Joseph aged 18, William, aged 16 and Ann, aged 13, the two boys were working as labourers and Ann and the younger children were Scholars. But Elizabeth, like her mother, had no occupation shown. Also Solomon, aged 9, John, aged 7 and Samuel aged 5 had come along. The household is almost next to Turner’s Hill Farm so they were pretty high up on the hill.

Henry Redfern

I also noted that there was another Redfern in the later censuses, living with Joseph and Ann Maria and later with his own wife and family. This was Henry Redfern who was born in 1854, the illegitimate son of Eliza Redfern. Henry was baptised at St Giles on 22 Mar 1854 as the son of Eliza Redfern of Turners Hill with no father named and appears to have been raised by his Redfern grandparents as he was with them in the 1861 and 1871 censuses, and after his mother had married Daniel Hughes in 1859 and moved to Dudley.

Family trees on Ancestry state that on his marriage certificate in 1875 (when Henry married his cousin Elizabeth Redfern), his father’s name was given as Luke Lashford. I can find only one reference to this name in the locality and this was in 1851 when a Luke Lashford, born in Birmingham, was living and working as a butcher for Joseph Bowater at the Bulls Head in Tippity Green – the dates fit, so presumably this is Henry’s father.  After this census Luke Lashford disappears without trace. I cannot find a death for him, nor any other record of him later, it does look as though he may have ‘done a runner’! Fortunately, the Redferns were obviously a very supportive family for Eliza.

Henry worked for most of his life in the stone quarries and he and Elizabeth lived on Turners Hill all their lives, it appears from censuses, and had nine children. Their children were Mary A (1874), Henry (1875), Eliza (1878-1878), Joseph (1879), Martha (1882), Louisa (1885), Walter (1889), Sarah Jane (1891) and Ernest (1895) – another nine great-grandchildren for Joseph and Ann Maria.

It seems likely to me that, since Henry worked in the quarry for at least forty years, he may appear on some of the numerous photographs of quarry workers which are in various books and online. Alas, I have no way of identifying him if so but perhaps some members of the Redfern family might recognise a family likeness. Do tell if you can!

Younger children of Joseph and Ann Maria Redfern

Solomon Redfern 1841-1928

Solomon stayed in the hamlets all of his life, working in the quarry. He married Mary Ann Mole of the Club Buildings, Hawes Lane, on 8 Feb 1863 at St Giles when he was 21 and she was 22. They initially lived in Hawes Lane, possibly at the Club Buildings but by 1881 they were back in Perrys Lake where they stayed for the rest of their lives. In the 1901 Census, the address is given as Hailstone Quarry, following on from Perrys Lake in the list so perhaps they were further up the hill, actually within the quarry. Family members may be able to tell me this.

Solomon’s children:

Solomon and Mary Ann had six children that I know of.  These were William (1863-1863), Ann (1864-1948), Alfred (1866-1940), Edward (1868-1871), William (1872-1956) and Samuel (1876-?).

Of those children, the first William died aged 15 weeks, sadly not unusual in those days.

Ann (1864-1948) married Eli Eades at Reddal Hill church on 19 Dec 1891. They had three children, Annie in 1893, William G in 1895 and Jesse in 1901. Eli Eades was a draper and died in 1023. William appears to have followed him into this trade and they may have had a shop in Long Lane, somewhere in the area of Shell Corner. Ann lived on until 1948.

Alfred (1886-1940) stayed in Perrys Lake in Rowley, marrying Kate or Catherine Whithall, also of Perrys Lake on 25 Dec 1887 at St Lukes, Cradley Heath.  He appears to have worked at the quarry for his whole life and they lived at 12 Perrys Lake but had no children. He died in 1940 and Catherine died in 1954.

Edward (1868-1871) had died at the age of three and was buried on 12 Nov 1871 at St Giles, Rowley Regis.

William moved to Threlkeld in Cumberland to work in the quarry there, at some point between 1891 when the census shows that he was still in Perry’s Lake and 1900 when he married Sarah Ann Airey in Threlkeld. They had five children – Ernest in 1901, Edith in 1902, Alfred in 1903, Mildred in 1907 and Annie in 1909. By 1939, William and Sarah had moved to Langcliffe, Craven where William still gave his occupation as a Limestone quarryman. Their son Alfred lived next door but one with his family, he was also a quarryman.  William died in 1956 and Sarah in 1957, they are buried together in Langcliffe, Craven District, North Yorkshire, England.

I could at first find no trace of Solomon’s youngest child Samuel after 1901 when he was still living at home. None of the online family trees had any further information on him either. He did not appear to have died between 1901 and 1939 in the UK, he did not die in the First World War, I could not find him in the 1911 or 1921 Censuses . Did he start using another name? Did he emigrate?

But I think I have now found him. The 1939 Register, (which was not a census but a listing of the whole population taken by the Government just before the Second World War and which was to be the basis of rationing and later used by the NHS, ) is a useful source as it shows dates of birth, addresses, implied family groups, occupations but not places of birth. Many newer entries are redacted, blacked out for 100 years from their date of birth because those people are or are assumed to be still alive, although people who have died can be opened up. But I could search the Register for the whole country for a Samuel Redfern born in 1876. There were six Samuel Redferns in the whole of England and Wales in 1939 who had been born between 1875 and 1877. Of these most were in Derbyshire or Cumberland. But one was in the Cockermouth area, where, as I showed in a previous post, quite a number of Rowley quarry workers had settled, recruited by the quarries there for their sett making skills. Those had included William Redfern, Samuel’s brother who had settled in the Threlkeld area.  

It appears that Samuel had followed his older brother up to Cumberland, he had married in the Cockermouth area in 1908 to Mary Elizabeth Charters and they had two children William Lawrence in 1909 and Mary Frances in 1911. In 1939 Samuel was living in Rakefoot, Embleton, Northumbria with his wife and daughter, his occupation was given as a Roadstone Quarry Worker – the granite connection again! Using this information I was then able to find the family in the 1911 Census in Wythop Mill Nr Cockermouth and in Tile Kiln Cottage, Arlecdon, Cumberland in the 1921 Census, Samuel always working in quarries.

John Redfern 1844-1929

John was living at 26 Rowley Village in 1911, with his two daughters Ann Maria 1871- and Phoebe 1880.  He had married Leah Tromans on 24 December 1865 at Dudley St Thomas and states in the 1911 Census that they had had 8 children of whom only four were still alive in 1911. I can only find the birth registrations for six children between their marriage in 1865 and 1890, the last child I can find was John, born in 1883. The first two children Martha (1866-1866) and Sarah Ann (1868-1868) had both died in their first months and were buried in St Giles. It is possible that there were another two stillbirths which would not be registered but which would still be counted by the family as their children.

Some of the trees on Ancestry have a photograph of a farm called Upper House Farm, Wolferlow in Herefordshire, attached to the information about this John, stating that John farmed there with his son John before returning to Ockbrook, Derby and Stanley, Derbyshire where the family had originated from, a Moravian settlement , where John’s grandfather German Redfern had lived.

This may be possible and may come from family information, since the trees are those of Redferns. However, this may not have been over a prolonged time period as both John and his son John are in the Rowley and Blackheath area for all of the censuses that I have been able to find and all of their children were born in the area.  John the older died in Rowley Regis in 1948. Neither of them appears to have any farming experience from their listed occupations which does not necessarily preclude a period of farming, family members may be able to explain how this came about. There were certainly Redferns farming in Wimborne, Dorset but I have not looked at the Derby Redferns in any detail. His father was given as John Redfern, a labourer and hers as Joseph Stokes, deceased, also a labourer. The witnesses were Joseph Stokes and Jane Hadley.

Leah Redfern died in 1905 and was buried on 17 Aug 1905 at St Giles, aged 58. John Redfern , of 26 Rowley Village, where he had lived with his family for many years, died in 1929, aged 85 and was buried at St Giles on 4 Mar 1929.

John’s children

John and Leah’s known surviving  children were Ann Maria born 1871, Joseph born 1875, Phoebe born 1880 and John born 1882.

Ann Maria 1871-1955, Phoebe 1880-1955

Neither Ann Maria or  Phoebe married and they lived in Rowley Village with their father until his death in 1929, after which they appear to have continued to live together in the same house. Online family trees record that Phoebe died on 9 February 1955 aged 75 and Ann Maria died only a few days later on the 17^th, aged 84. Whereas Ann Maria seems to have taken care of domestic life for the family, Phoebe worked, in 1901 as a Nail Bag Maker, in 1911 as a ‘counter of nuts and bolts’ in Rowley, in 1921 as a ‘weigher of nuts and bolts’ at T W Lenches in Ross, and in 1939 as a ‘checker of nuts and bolts’ so it appears likely that she worked at Lenches all her life.

Joseph Redfern 1875-1943

Joseph married Eliza Stokes at St Paul’s Church, Blackheath on 22 Apr 1895. He was 21, a labourer and gave his abode as 74 Halesowen Street while Eliza was also 21 and gave hers as 97 Halesowen Street.  They had at least seven children and in 1911 were living at 91 Rowley Village. He was then working as a Brick Kiln Labourer. Their children were Joseph (1896), Ethel (1899), Doris (1902), May (1905), Leonard (1908) and Lily (1910) and Annie (1912). In 1901, the family were living in Rowley Village and Joseph was working as a labourer at the Cement Works; in 1911 they were at 91 Rowley Village, and Joseph was working as a Brick Kiln Burner; in 1921, still living at 91, Rowley Village, Joseph was working as a Yard Labourer at T W Lenches. The 1939 Register shows Joseph living at 6 Limes Avenue, Blackheath and working as a Works Watchman. With him is his daughter Ethel with her husband Thomas Astley, and Joseph’s youngest daughter Annie.

Although Joseph is noted as a Widower in the 1939 Register, Eliza appears still to be alive and she is listed in the 1939 Register in the Staffordshire Mental Hospital near Stafford, she lived until 1957 by which time she was back in Rowley Regis. There may have been an assumption that Joseph was a widower on the part of the person completing the 1939 Register as Joseph was living alone in Limes Avenue. Joseph died in December 1943 and was buried on 18 Dec 1943 at St Giles, Eliza in 1957.

John Redfern 1882-1948

John married Annie Crumpton in about 1906, in the Stourbridge Registration District. They went on to have at least nine children – Leah – 1906-1906, Percy in 1907, Lily in 1910, Phoebe in 1913, John in 1915, Arthur James in 1919, Harry in 1922, Hilda in 1924 and Stanley in 1928. The family lived in various roads in Blackheath and John was at times a labourer but in 1921, a storekeeper at British Thompson Houston. In 1939, the family were living in Grange Road and John was listed as a general labourer and also as an Air Raid Warden. Annie died in 1947 and John died in 1948.

So all of John and Annie’s  children stayed in the Rowley and Blackheath area for the rest of their lives.

Samuel Redfern

Samuel Redfern 1845-1911

Samuel was the youngest child of Joseph and Ann Maria and by 1861, at 15 years of age he was already a labourer, still living at home with his parents on Turners Hill. In 1871 he was again still living at home and both Samuel and his father were described as Furnace Labourers. In 1891, Samuel appears to have been a patient in the North Lonsdale Hospital, Barrow in Furness where he was described as a ‘Stoker at the Steelworks’. Yet another instance of Rowley men moving up to the North for work, in this case in the steel industry, rather than quarries. But he did, after all, come from a family where many of the men were furnace workers.

After that, records become sparse for Samuel. In 1901 he is still in Barrow in Furness living with his wife Sarah, formerly Hartley and a son named in the census as Henry H Redfern, Samuel’s occupation given as a Steelworks labourer. Samuel and Sarah had been married in Barrow in Furness in 1896. But there is no birth registration for a Henry Redfern in this area in 1882, I suspect that Henry was actually, as so often in those days, put down as Redfern because that was the name of the head of the household and he was actually Henry Hartley, that Sarah was a widow at the time of her marriage to Samuel and Henry was one of three sons of that previous marriage. And there is a Birth Registration for a Henry Hartley in Barrow in Furness in 1882 and a Henry Hartley appears in the 1911 Census in Barrow in Furness, too. So I do not think Henry was Samuel’s son.  

Samuel appears to have died in Barrow in Furness in the early months of 1911. His widow Sarah remarried in 1912.

Redfern Overview

Any errors in this research are all my own, corrections welcome. I have looked at Redfern Trees online and sometimes used those to guide me to additional information (I have said so where I have done this) but generally I have only included information where I can confirm information and sources.

So although I have not gone any further back from Joseph and Ann Maria in that first 1841 census, in two generations they had between them 11 children and at least 54 grandchildren in the Rowley area or within a few miles, shown on this screenshot here (of the Redfern part of my own family tree – Joseph is the paternal grandfather of the husband of my 1st cousin 3x removed, so not exactly closely related!). 

Copyright: Glenys Sykes, all rights reserved.

The screenshot is, I’m afraid, much too small for you to read the details but Joseph and Ann maria are at the top just under those little green symbols. And I couldn’t even get all of the grandchildren on the screen, too many of them, the tree is too wide but it gives an idea of how big their family was! And the majority of them stayed in the Rowley and Blackheath area, although a few went North, no wonder there are still many Redferns in the area today.

There are several Redfern family trees on Ancestry and the Redfern Family website https://redfernsworldwide.com/   and One Name Study which I mentioned in my last article so plenty of opportunities for co-operative researching!

More family studies from the Lost Hamlets coming in due course!