Genealogy Chat

Hi. i could do with some help. my wife has a newspaper cutting (said to be from the Times) dated Nov` 1926. it came from her grandfather who kept it from new. in it her ancestor, Henry Richard Town, of North Mymms says his father was born in 1781, was on the "Victory", helped to carry Nelson down below when he was wounded and died in 1865 aged 84 at Littlehampton ( sussex i think) I `ve checked and his death is recorded as 1865 in littlehampton and the census files say his name is William Town. the National Archives list a Thomas Town, born in London as serving on HMS Thunderer. the question is. What do we do next to prove, or disprove this ancestor did serve at the battle of Trafalgar? I`m not an expert at this so any help would be welcomed. thanks, Nick.

http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/aboutapps/trafalgarancestors/

thanks for your help. i`ve looked at this site before. i think i may have to pay for a researcher to sort it out. i`d better start saving!
kind regards
nick

You could try writing to the museum at Portsmouth on the historical dock. They may be able to point you in the right direction

Try googling for HMS Victory Trafalgfar Roll

Nick

don't go to the expense of hiring a researcher, at least not yet.


The first thing they will do is look through the censuses


if you don't have access to censuses back to 1841, we do

We also have access to several other sites that may help to sort out whether there were brothers William and Thomas, or if it was William Thomas.

Jut leave this thread up for a few days, and have some patience as peopel try ot sort things out for you.

Meanwhile, you could access those sites that people have given you. The Trafalgar Roll Call looks very interesting




sylvia

Just for the record, here is Henry Richard Town in 1871

1871 Census

Name: Henry Richard Town
Age: 29
Estimated birth year: abt 1842
Relation: Head
Spouse's name: Annie
Gender: Male
Where born: Littlehampton, Sussex, England
Civil parish: North Mimms
Town: Marshmore
County/Island: Hertfordshire
Country: England
Registration district: Hatfield
Sub-registration district: Hatfield

Henry Richard Town 29 Railway Signalman G.N.R.
Annie Town 27
William Edward Town 6
Walter Frank Town 4
Mary Emily Henrietta Town 2
Herbert George Town 1 month

Address:- Marshmore



First question, can he be found with father?


Second question, is his story accurate?



sylvia

William Town in 1841

1841 Census

Name: William Town
Age: 50
Estimated birth year: abt 1791
Gender: Male
Where born: Sussex, England

Civil parish: Little Hampton
Hundred: Poling
County/Island: Sussex
Country: England

Registration district: Worthing
Sub-registration district: Little Hampton

William Town 50 Toll Keeper
Charlotte Town 30
Mary Town 4
Wilhelmina Town 3
Charles Town 7 Mo


Address:- Toll Bar



Leah Tupper 40 Hotel Keeper
Phillis Tupper 25
Thomas Tupper 20
Drusilla Tupper 15
Emily Tupper 10
Leah Garton 25
Thomas Pachan 40
Elizabeth Pearen 15
George Bushby 15

Ancestry shows the Tuppers etc as being in the same household as the Towns, they are NOT, they live in the Beech Hotel


I was hoping that this census might have something like "Retired Mariner"!



sylvia

Possible marriage for William and Charlotte

from the International Genealogical Index on www.familysearch.org ...... a free site.


This is an Extracted record taken from the actual parish register

WILLIAM TOWN Pedigree
Male Family

Event(s):
Birth:
Christening:
Death:
Burial:

Marriages:
Spouse: CHARLOTTE BOWE Family
Marriage: 17 SEP 1835 Saint Alphage, Greenwich, Kent, England

----------
Messages:
Extracted marriage record for locality listed in the record. The source records are usually arranged chronologically by the marriage date.

--------
Source Information:
Batch No.: Dates: Source Call No.: Type: Printout Call No.: Type:
M006321 1615 - 1636 942.23 C4G V.2 Book 6906350 Film
M006321 1637 - 1659 0363062 Film NONE
M006321 1801 - 1811 0254589 Film NONE
M006321 1812 - 1819 0254590 Film NONE
M006321 1820 - 1827 0254591 Film NONE
M006321 1828 - 1834 0254592 Film NONE
M006321 1834 - 1837 0254593 Film NONE




children of William and Charlotte .... all extracted records from the I G I



MARY ANN TOWN - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Christening: 21 MAY 1837 Saint Mary, Littlehampton, Sussex, England

HENRY RICHARD TOWN - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Christening: 16 JAN 1843 Saint Mary, Littlehampton, Sussex, England

ALBERT TOWN - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Christening: 12 JAN 1851 Saint Mary, Littlehampton, Sussex, England

CHARLES TOWN - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Christening: 13 DEC 1840 Saint Mary, Littlehampton, Sussex, England

JOSEPH TOWN - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Christening: 06 NOV 1853 Saint Mary, Littlehampton, Sussex, England

WILHELMINA TOWN - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Female Christening: 11 NOV 1838 Saint Mary, Littlehampton, Sussex, England

GEORGE TOWN - International Genealogical Index
Gender: Male Christening: 05 APR 1846 Saint Mary, Littlehampton, Sussex, England




sylvia

Thanks for all your help. i always knew about henry richard and i was able to follow him in the census files and thats how i found his fathers name of william. william is certainly old enough to have been a former mariner, littlehampton is on the coast . i didn`t know about the marriage in kent which brings him closer to london. thomas town on the national archives came from london.i think in the early census william says he came from Arundel but maybe he moved around alot. i have a gut feeling there is truth in this story. it`s just proving it. i don`t believe he was on the "victory" though. we all like to exaggerate. i will follow the other suggestions as well when i can. i`m sorry it takes a while to check the messages!

just tried googling hms trafalgar roll and thomas town did not come up on the list as being on the Victory but on the national archives he is on the Thunderer.so the only fact i have at the moment is that a man called Town was in the battle

Would add that he married near the Royal Naval Dockyard. Not an uncommon name though is it. Fair bit older than the wife isnt he? Wonder if there is an earlier marriage somewhere. What occupation appears on the childrens birth certs or baptisms?

Parish register on ancestry shows the marriage with William as a widower. (and Charlottes surname as Bone)

Well, its not an uncommon name is it. I think the way forward is getting the baptism records for the kids or indeed their marriage certs.

I`ve just emailed ST Alphage to see if they will be able to give me any more information on william such as an occupation, but i`m sure this will take quite some time.i`m not a member of Ancestry.com so i`m grateful for the extra marriage details. if he married in 1804 i suppose he could still be in battle by 1805. if he had any children around 1804/5/6, then that might make it more problamatic.

Nick

I have the Trafalgar Roll on CD and I'm afraid apart from Thomas Town born London C1785 and a David Towne son of David & Elizabeth born 1769 London, there is noone matching or even resembling your man on any ship. I've checked other spellings, the crew of the Victory and even those born Sussex.

Jan

I think that somehow i need to find if there was any children from the 1st marriage. Also, people did not always use the same name (slim chance i know). As he married in Greenwich it still gives the small chance of a maritime connection.I would be quite satisfied if it was proven he wasn`t at the battle. i`ve just got to get to that point

HI Nicholas

Have you got Williams death cert?

I have an ancestor who was a Whitesmith on all census, but when I got his death cert it said he was a Greenwich pensioner, so I was then able to look up hs naval records.

Jacqui

No i must get the death certificate. more information the better. i`ve been thinking that another option is to find the service record, if there is any of Thomas Town who served on the Thunderer, although i would have to pay for research on that one as i would not have a clue how to do that. That would have to be a last resort though.Thanks for your suggestion.

Just got the death certificate. Occupation says Toll gate keeper, aged 84 . not really surprised so at least that detail is covered .

I see there is a William Towns who is an in-Pensioner at Greenwich in 1841 (10th page of 39 records). He could have entered at any time from 1805 onwards. This sounds hopeful