This blog is designed to record the findings of our family history, mainly for the benefit of the family, and to document the dead ends, the breakthroughs and the journey.
I’ll post the family stories as I’ve written them to now, and I’ll be grateful to anyone who can add further information or pictures, or point out errors.
Particular thanks to my sister Julia and my cousin Mandy who between them have done much more of the work than I have.

Thursday 23 February 2012

Some Perrys

This from my sister Julia, who is researching our Perry ancestors, of whom more later. She has received some interesting stuff from local historian Nigel Perry, who has been consistently helpful to us.
This is message l received from Nigel when l was stuck on Elizabeth Brown. l had looked at the two Elizabeth Browns and decided ours had a father called Edmund. l had also asked him about the Irish community.
 Hi Julia
The Irish were certainly a force in Stourbridge in the mid-1800s. Many lived in an infamous place called Angel Street (Coventry Street), which was demolished when our [new] ring road was built. I suppose they came over after the potato famine in the 1840s and to help build the new railway line in the 1850s.
With a bit of luck, I have probably located your Edmund Brown. Although the surname Brown is numerous, Edmund is not so common as a first name. Edmund does not seem to have stayed in one place for very long!
In the 1851 census, an Edmund Brown was living at Bentley Heath, Darlaston - the address looks like 'Bensley Office' off Stone Row - I can't be sure of the writing. He was an iron furnace labourer, aged 54, and born in 'Cavarthar' Wales. He was living with his wife Ann, aged 52 who was born in Chaddesley. Living with them was a son Edmund, born in Erdington Shrops. an ironroller aged 26 and unmarried. Also a daughter Helen aged 19 born in Stourbridge! Also a young baby son aged 2 months born in Rowley. But of far greater interest there was a visitor in the house named Ann Partridge aged 6, who was born in Stourbridge! Why would an six year old be with them -probably because she must have been related, perhaps Ann was her mother's sister?
I then checked the 1861 census, and found Edmund and Ann living in Miner??
Street, Wolverhampton. He was a blacksmith, born in 'Cabaitha' Glamorgan.
Somehow this Welsh name rang a bell in my distant memory. I found out that it was Cyfarthfa, a hamlet to the north west of Merthyr Tydfil, where significantly there was a large ironworks and blast furnace founded in the 1760s, which was in operation right upto the 20th century. A Stourbridge ironmaster Francis Homfray was briefly connected with the Cyfarthfa Ironworks (as well as co-founding the nearby Blaenavon Works). Then I discover that GKN through Dowlais took over The Cyfarthfa Ironworks in 1902
I then tried to find Edmund Brown in the 1841 census, but without success.
But I did find Ann Brown, aged 40, living at Round Court in the Town of Stourbridge. She had children William and Edmund, aged 15, daughters Elizabeth and Ellen [Helen?] aged 10 and Sarah aged 5 living with her, but no husband! So Edmund senior managed to escape being counted, wherever he was. I think Round Court was at the Stourbridge end of Enville Street, originally home to the weaving population of the town.
I do hope this helps you to delve further into your Brown ancestors - let me know

Wednesday 15 February 2012

Cousins removed

In the course of this research we have met, sometimes just online and sometimes in reality, people to whom we are related. I tend to blanket call them my cousins. But I was intrigues to day to find out what exactly is a second cousin twice removed. I found a useful chart here, so I thought I’d share it.
http://sonic.net/~fredd/cousins.html.  Other websites are available but this was the clearest for me.
So Mandy, you are my first cousin once removed, because your mother and I are first cousins, as your grandmother and my father were siblings.
And Geoffrey, here we get complicated, Our common ancestor is James the chainmaker. Your grandfather and my great grandfather were brothers. Your father and my grandmother were cousins. The children of cousins are second cousins, so you and my mother were second cousins, which makes  you a second cousin once removed to me and Julia. Glad that’s sorted.

Friday 10 February 2012

The Morris family story

The information in this document is from the joint research efforts of Geoffrey Morris and his late brother Peter Morris, Gill Hibberd, Julia Hamilton and Diana Nutting. After James Morris the chainmaker I have concentrated on the descendants of James Morris the jeweller , leaving Geoffrey to deal with the descendents of Alfred Morris, and of the descendants of James Morris the jeweller I have concentrated on Annie Morris (my grandmother) and left Gill Hibberd to deal with the descendants of Gladys Morris.

Annie Elizabeth Morris (1890-1945)

Annie Elizabeth married Frank Billingham in 1914 and became Diana and Julia Hamilton’s grandmother. In 1911 she had left home and was living with her maternal grandfather William Perry at 4 Market Street Stourbridge, working from home as a dealer in fancy goods. Her marriage certificate in 1914 lists her as a domestic servant, which seems unlikely given the family’s prosperity.
Frank and Annie’s children were
Jack                                 1914
Frank S (Syd)                  1916
Jessie B                           1918
Dorothy E (Betty)             1921
Joyce                               1923
Mary Gwendolyn (Gwen) 1927

She died  on VE Day in 1945 of cancer.

James Morris the Jeweller


James Morris the jeweller was born in 1867, the eldest son James Morris the Chainmaker and Sarah Little. He was married to Ann Elizabeth Perry, but we have been unable to find their marriage record. In 1881 when James was 14 the census lists him as a chain striker, so it looks as if he was set to follow his father’s trade. But for reasons we don’t understand both James and his younger brother Alfred became jewellers with shops in Stourbridge and Lye respectively. There is a photograph of Alfred and his family standing outside the Lye shop.

James’s shop was at  10 Lower High Street, Stourbridge. The Morrises were prosperous and in 1901 had a living-in servant Ethel Bowen. By 1911 no servant is listed.

James and Ann had nine children.
Annie Elizabeth 1890
Frank                 1892
James Albert     1893
Dorothy E          1895
John Walter       1897
William C           1889
Samuel              1900
Minnie               1904
Gladys               1906

Samuel and William were both killed in 1st World war in 1918.

James Albert also became a jeweller and Frank a glass engraver. John Walter left home after an unspecified scandal, and settled in Kingston upon Thames where he re-married.

Gladys Morris married William Rowlands and became Paul Hibberd’s grandmother. We do not know what happened to Dorothy or Minnie, although I can remember my mother referring to “Auntie Dolly”.

Edwin Morris refers to James the jeweller in his autobiography

My father had an older brother, James, who also was trained as a watch and clock repairer. He learned the trade under a Mr. Ravenscroft at Brierley Hill, and continued the business after Mr. Ravenscroft’s death. There were also two sisters, Emily and Sarah, whom my father set up in a drapery business in premises he bought for them, not far from his own shop. He bought the next house as a home for his parents and a younger brother, Leonard, who, as sometimes happens with a child born much later than the main family [but not in my case!], was somewhat simple. He never went to school. Quite late in life, however, he gave my father a surprise. Leonard had been hob-nobbing with another man regarded as mentally wanting. My father remonstrated with him for this association, only to get the illuminating reply, "He ain’t daft. He only acts it."

James died in 1947 at the age of 81. Dad describes him as “bedridden” in the short time he knew him.

James Morris the Chainmaker

James Morris the Chainmaker was born on 17th September 1839 at 8 Court New John Street, Birmingham, on the edge of the Jewellery Quarter in the parish of St George His father is James Morris, a filer for silver plating, and his mother Roseannah Hannah Morris, formerly Cole.

By 1841 the family had moved to Pritchett Street, the next parallel street.

By the 1851 census. Rosannah was calling herself the wife of Thomas Betts, although we have no evidence that they ever married. James the Chainmaker is listed as James Morris, and there is a further child Emily Betts aged 2.

12 year old James is described as a lapidary, According to the dictionary this is a cutter, grinder and polisher of gem stones. William Betts is an agricultural labourer (a strange job for the middle of Birmingham) and Rosannah is a tailoress.

By 1857 the family has moved to Beefeaters Field (now Albert Street) Lye and Rosannah has married William Wooldridge who is a chainmaker.

The 1861 Census shows Rosanna (listed as Hosanna) married to William Wooldridge, together with James, Henry and  Louisa (presumably Emily Louisa) Morris.  William Wooldridge was a chainmaker, and they were living in Dudley Road Lye. James who is 20 is also a chainmaker. They are all described as being born in Birmingham, but we know that Rosannah was born in Cradley.

James married Sarah Little on 4th April 1864 (registered 1865). James and Sarah had 8 children of whom 5 survived childhood

Emily     1865
James    1867 (Diana and Julia Hamilton and Paul Hibberd’s great grandfather)
Alfred     1870  (Geoffrey Morris’s grandfather)
Sarah     1874
Leonard 1885

By 1871 they were living in Pedmore Road Lye (next door to some Billinghams, but we have been unable to make a connection, so far, with our Billinghams)

In the 1881 Census James and Sarah are living in Engine Lane, Lye. James Junior (James the jeweller, our great grandfather) is working as a chain striker, aged 14. Other children at home are Emma, Alfred, Sarah and Walter

In the 1891 Census James and Sarah are living at Stourbridge Road Lye, with Emily, (no occupation listed) Alfred,(Jeweller & watchmaker) Sarah (Dressmaker) and Leonard.  Walter is no longer there.

In the 1901 census James and Sarah are living in Stourbridge Road Lye, with Sarah (Draper & Milliner), Emily (Draper & Milliner) and Leonard

By the 1911 census James is 71. He gives his birth year as 1840; his wife Sarah is 69. James describes himself as a former iron cable chain maker, now old age pensioner, while Sarah is a shopkeeper dealing in laces, cotton, pens and pencils etc. Son Leonard is living with them described as an invalid. They are living at 59 Stourbridge Road Lye, near to their son Alfred’s jeweller’s shop.. There is an apocryphal story that in his old age James used to sell watches from his sons’ shops in the pubs in the Lye.

James died in 1924

James is the first of our ancestors for whom we have a picture. We do not know who everyone was in this picture, and it includes some members of the Lickert family (Alfred Morris married a Lickert) James Morris is seated third from the left, with his son Alfred behind and Edwin his son  two places away to the right The old lady sitting third from the right is Grannie Lickert, The occasion was Edwin Morris’s 21st birthday in 1915. Julia and I believe that  the first seated man on the left is our great grandfather James the Jeweller, but we have no evidence for this.



James Morris the Silversmith

James was born in 1814 and died on 5th August 1849. An inquest recorded accidental death due to a contusion in the back. I have been unable to find the coroner’s report. In various documents where James’s name turns up, he is variously described as a silver plater, a spoon filer and a silversmith.

He married Rosannah Cole nee Westwood in 1837. They had one child that was certainly his – James (the Chainmaker). Rosannah had two other children who used the surname Morris: Emily Louisa born in 1849, who could be James’s child; and Henry, born 1854, who could not have been. On both their marriage certificates Emily and Henry put down James Morris as father. I have been unable to confirm birth dates for either of them, so cannot check their actual birth certificates.

George Morris and Hannah Wilkins

We know very little about George and Hannah, the parents of James Morris, the Silversmith except that they turn up in the 1841 census in the jewellery quarter in Birmingham in New Church Street in St George’s parish. I cannot find this street on a modern map. The 1841 census shows them as being born in 1786 and 1796 respectively, but unfortunately does not tell us what they did for a living.




Saturday 4 February 2012

The Timmins family story

Back to the paternal side of the family with my grandmothers family. Mandy did most of the research for this.

In 1881 Timmins was a name mainly confined to the Black Country, although by 1998 it had spread north and east across the country. It is still relatively uncommon in the south. In 1881 most of the Timminses were in Dudley, but the census shows 139 of them living in West Bromwich, of which we know that 7 are directly related to us. What makes our search more difficult is that there are, for example, three households with James Timmins born in 1848 or 9 as the head.

So let’s start with what we know and work backwards.

Lily Gertrude Timmins

Lily Gertrude Timmins (always known as Gert) was born on 17th August 1889 at 117 Overend Street in West Bromwich. Her father was James Timmins, (I’m going to call him James the 4th as there are a confusing number of people called James in this story) a whitesmith working at the Salter spring factory and her mother was Sarah Timmins (nee Cotterell). Gert was the youngest in a family of eight children and the only girl.

In 1911, when already pregnant with her eldest son Arthur she married Walter Hamilton. Before her marriage she appears not to have worked and it was not unusual then for girls in relatively prosperous families to stay at home and “help mother”. And with eight sons her mother could probably have done with the help. However in 1907 when she was 17 both of Gert’s parents died, and we do not know what happened to her between then and 1911, when she married. It can be presumed that she was living with her brother Alfred who continued to live with her and Walter after their marriage until his death in 1926. Dad tells me that he was badly gassed in the First World War, which would account for his early death.

Gert and Walter lived all their married lives at 17 Roebuck Street and she left there to live in a flat near Stan at 22 Caldwell House, Lyttleton Street, when the houses were pulled down in the 1960s. Roebuck Street was originally laid out as Park Village in the 1850s; and by the 1960s many of the Victorian houses, including the Hamilton homes, had been pulled down and replaced by light industry and the motorway.
The Timmins were not a tall family. Gert was under 5ft and Alfred was in a “bantam” regiment in the first world war, formed especially for short people. And I’m afraid that the Timmins genes have given us the hips.

Gert and Walter had 9 children who survived to adulthood and one who died as an infant


Arthur (1911-1991)
married Minnie Bates
Children Brian and Alan
Dorrie (Dorothy) (1914-2001)
married Arthur Hawthorn
one child Ann
Alfred, (1916-1980)
married Cathy Shelton
one child Graham
Frederick (1918-1979)
married Molly Thacker
no children
Syd (Joseph Sydney) (born 1920)
married Betty Billingham
children Diana and Julia
Stanley (1923-1997
married Irene White
children Nigel and Kerry
Norman (1926-1995)
married Olive Simmonds
children Paul and Geoffrey.
Betty (1929-2003)
married Don Wakelam
Children Deborah Beverley  and Donna
Donald(born 1931)
married Beryl Ashcroft
one child Lynne




This picture shows Gert (extreme left) with her daughters in law Minnie and Betty and her daughter Dorrie, and her grandchildren Brian, Ann, Diana, and Alan on the beach in Scarborough. Judging my the age of the baby (which is me) I'm guessing its 1949 or 1950. Dad tells me that the men were there as well but they were in the pub

Gert died on 29th November 1969, aged 80, of pneumonia following a fall. She was staying at the home of Betty and Don Wakelam at the time of her death, although she was still living at Lyttleton Street.

James Timmins (1848-1907) (James the 4th) and his wife Sarah Cotterill (1849-1907)

Lily Gertrude’s father, James Timmins (James the 4th) was born in 1848, the son of James Timmins, a whitesmith. The only birth certificate I can find for the time shows the father as George Timmins and the mother as Ann Timmins nee Worrall. This is the right name for the mother, but not for the father. James married Sarah Cotterill on 15th December 1872 at Christchurch West Bromwich when they were both 24. The witnesses were Rachel Cotterill and Isaiah Reece. Sarah and the witnesses were illiterate but James signed the register himself.

Like his father James was a whitesmith, and we know that he worked for George Salter the spring maker. A whitesmith is a person who works with "white" or light-coloured metals. While blacksmiths work mostly with hot metal, whitesmiths do the majority of their work on cold metal.

The couple had eight children

Thomas            1867-1948
Harry                1876-1940
Albert               1877-1882
Arthur               1876-?
George             1881-?
Albert J             1884-?
Alfred               1886-1924
Lily Gertrude     1890-1969

The eldest son Thomas Cotterill Timmins was born before their marriage on 28th October 1867. His birth certificate states his father as James Timmins, a whitesmith. At this stage both James and Sarah were only 16.The census of 1871 has Thomas living with his mother Sarah Cotrill and his maternal grandparents. By the census of 1881 Sarah and James have married and Thomas is living with them. Mandy has been in touch with one of Thomas’ descendants who assured her that James was Thomas’ father and his early years were spent with the Timmins family. Thomas died on 13th February 1948 and is buried in West Bromwich. Interestingly Dad has no recollection of him as one of his uncles.

In the 1871 census James is unmarried and living at home with his parents at George Street. Both James and his father are whitesmiths. In 1861 and 1851 they are in Thomas Street’

By the 1881 census James and Sarah are married and the family is living at 100 High Street. Their eldest son Thomas at 13 is already working as a whitesmith. In 1891 and 1901 they are living at 117 Overend Street where they remained till their deaths. Although by 1911 the family are no longer there we know from the extra information in that census that it was a five roomed house with a kitchen but no bathroom, so although the Timminses seem overcrowded by our standards, for that time they were relatively prosperous. 117 Overend street was last sold in 2007, when it fetched £88,000.

James died on 28th March 1907 at the age of 58 of heart disease, at 117 Overend Street and Sarah died shortly afterwards on 29th June 1907 of Brights Disease, which is a disease of the kidneys.


James Timmins (1821-1879) (James the 3rd) and his wife Ann Worrall (1823-1884)

James was born in 1821 before registration started in 1836 and we therefore do not have a birth certificate for him or for his wife Ann Worrall. However later censuses show that he was born in West Bromwich and his wife was born in Arley near Nuneaton in Warwickshire.

The IGI shows only one James Timmins christened on 8th July 1821 in West Bromwich. His parents are shown as James Timmins and Jane Timmins, and I have them living in west Bromwich in 1841.

I haven’t found James the 3rd  and Ann on the 1841 census, which isn’t unusual, and its possible they weren’t married by then as their first child was born in 1843,. There is a Timmins family living in Thomas Street in 1841 and as the household head is also called James and is a bayonet maker (a precursor of spring maker), we can guess that this is his parents and siblings. Where James was that night we shall never know. He could have been missed off by the enumerator or staying somewhere else where they didn’t bother to include him.

There is a bit of a mystery. On James 4th’s birth certificate his father’s name is given as George . Is it possible that James 3rd was also known as George? It’s unlikely as he had a brother called George.
We know that Ann’s maiden name was Worrall because it is given clearly on the birth certificates of her children Cornelius and Eliza Jane. And the father’s name is given correctly as James. Ann Worrall appears to be a common name but neither Find My Past nor IGI has a record of an Ann Worrall marrying anyone called Timmins.

Like several of his sons and grandsons James was a whitesmith. In the 1851 census he is described as a spring balance maker and in 1861 as a whitesmith,

James and Ann had 7 children

George             1843 a whitesmith
Cornelius          1844 a whitesmith
Elizabeth           1847
James              1849 a whitesmith (our ancestor James 4th )
Eliza Jane         1851
Mary                 1854
Jane                 1856

It shows a distinct lack of imagination to call one child Elizabeth, one Jane and a third Eliza Jane

The family lived at a number of addresses in west Bromwich. In 1851 and 1861 they were in Thomas Street and in 1871 they were in George Street. In 1851 they had a married couple Thomas and Rebecca Morgan as lodgers. He was a stone miner. Rebecca may have been James sister. Her birth dates fit. In 1861 Thomas Worrall aged 11 months was staying with them. He was born in Willenhall and was presumably related. In 1871 their baby granddaughter Patience Jane Timmins who was born in Yorkshire was with them. Thomas Worrall doesn’t show in the area in the 1871 census and a 5 year old called Patience Timmins died in West Bromwich in 1876.

James died on 11th March 1879 in Overend Street. He died from Phthisis Pulmonalis which is an archaic term for tuberculosis. Ann died of a cerebral haemorrhage on 8th August 1884. At the time she was living at 5 Herbert street which appears to have been almshouses.

James Timmins (1791-1846) (James the 2nd)and his wife Jane (1793-1862)

Registration of births marriages and deaths began in 1836 so we have no certificates for James and Jane’s early years. The 1841 census shows them at age 50 and 48 respectively living in Thomas Street West Bromwich with 8 children. Our ancestor James the 3rd born in 1821 is missing. As the eldest child at home was born in 1813 when James the 2nd would have been 22 we can surmise that they were married around that time.

Their children are

Ann                  1813
Fanny               1817
James              1821
George             1823
Rebecca           1827
Hannah             1829
Mary Ann          1835
Eliza                 1837
Thomas            1838

By the 1851 census James has died and his widow Jane, who we now find was born in Oldbury is still living in Thomas Street with Ann, Fanny, Mary Ann, Eliza, Thomas and a widowed son in law called Joseph Cox, who must have been married to either Rebecca or Hannah. The women are working as nailers, while Thomas and Joseph Cox are both pole dressers. I can’t find what a pole dresser was.

Ann, the eldest daughter is also shown as born in Oldbury so we must presume the family lived there before moving to West Bromwich.

James died in January 1846, and Jane on 19th October 1862.

Cornelius Timmins and his wife Mary

I’m guessing now but according to IGI a James Timmins (James the 2nd?) was christened on 9th May 1788 at St Thomas Dudley, which fits with Oldbury, whose parents are Cornelius Timmins and Mary Timmins. As James 3rd had a son called Cornelius it seems likely that these are James 2nd ‘s parents. If so, Cornelius Timmins was born in 1763 in Sedgley and his parents were James (James 1st?) and Sarah. We shall have to wait until we can check parish records to discover if we are on the right track.