Missing Thirtle

What is a Thirtle?

A Thirtle is one of, if not the most elusive of ancestors! Over two decades the Thirtle (first name Charlotte) has eluded me, foiling my quest to name all of my great grandmother Mabel's great grandparents' parents (I know, I should get out more).

So, Charlotte Thirtle (or Thurtle) - where are you? This is what I know about her.

Married on 17 October 1819 at Horsford in Norfolk to James Booty, Charlotte Thurtle was about twenty years old. A woman who would appear to be her sister, Susannah, witnessed the wedding along with the groom's brother, Thomas. Susannah had been baptised in Horsford in June 1798, as had her siblings William (bp1791), James (bp1794) and Elizabeth (bp1810) - children of James Thirtle and his wife Ann. No baptism for Charlotte, though.

Late 1821 brought Charlotte's first child, John Booty, and he was baptised privately* on Christmas Day. On 6 January 1823, Susannah Thirtle married Thomas Booty at Horsford - two sisters married to two brothers, all living in the same village. Cosy.

But then just weeks later tragedy struck the Booty family: James, aged just 24 years, died and was buried on 19 February 1823, leaving Charlotte a very young widow with a toddler. Charlotte carried on with life and on 2 August 1824 married her second husband, a man originally from outside the village called John Jarvis. He was from nearby Corpusty and was 21.

Their son, James William Jarvis, was baptised privately on 15 May 1825 - a cousin for Martha Booty (Susannah and Thomas's first daughter).

November 1826 was a momentus month. On 12 November, Susannah and Thomas had their second daughter Charlotte (after her aunt, I believe) privately baptised. The two sisters now had four children between them: Charlotte with two boys and Susannah with two girls. A week later at Horsford, on 19 November 1826, Susannah buried both her husband and her sister.

Thomas Booty had died in Horsford aged 31 years and his sister in law Charlotte Jarvis - who had moved to her husband's village of Corpusty - had died aged just 27 years. Poor Susannah must have been beside herself.

It appears that Charlotte's older son, John Booty, remained in Horsford and lived with his maternal grandparents James Thirtle (died 1832) and Ann (nee Woodcock, died 1843) - he was living with his widowed grandmother for the 1841 census. His half brother James William Jarvis was raised by his father John and stepmother: within three months of Charlotte's death John had foudn a new wife in Maria Wright alias Bird** whom he married at Corpusty on 4 February 1827. James William Jarvis grew up, married and had ten children; he died aged 87 years in March 1912. His father John and stepmother Maria died within days of each other in January 1863.

Widowed Susannah Booty remarried, on 28 December 1828, and by her second husband James Doughty had a son James (who died in infancy) and a daughter Elizabeth before she died, aged 34 years, in May 1833. James Doughty himself died aged 33 years in November 1834.

So the story of Charlotte Thirtle is one of tragically early demises. Having searched the registers of Horsford to no avail, I'll keep checking other parishes in the hope of finding her baptism and the proof that Charlotte was the sister of Susannah, and daughter of James and Ann.


*Private baptisms for the labouring classes occurred when the child was perhaps not expected to survive. The act was undertaken either at the child's home or that of the curate or Minister. The child had then to be received in church at some point - if it survived. If it didn't, it could be buried in consecrated ground.

** Maria Wright was the illegitimate daughter of Margaret Wright, baptised at Briston in 1805 (so aged 22 when she married Jarvis); Margaret married Thomas Bird in Corpusty in 1828 (register reference to 'Maria Wright alias Bird' predates Margaret's and Thomas's wedding).

The Hills are Alive! Well...

I made an old woman jump recently.

Picture the scene. An Archives search room, silent other than for the whirr of micro film readers and the occasional pencil sharpener.

Suddenly, the beardy and slightly youthful (compared to the other researchers, at least) amatuer family tree detective exclaims "YES!" followed by "Found you!". The little old lady fair jumped from her chair. Glares worthy of Paddington Bear over half moon specs ensued, although I'm sure I detected a knowing nod from one old chap who looked as if he was checking for his own baptism record from the mid-18th century.

Fellow geneal-addicts will recognise that this was a Eureka moment for me - I had found a long searched for lost ancestor. I found the lead in a Will and I wholeheartedly recommend researchers to check out Wills for information/confirmation of relationships and social status - even suggestions fo family feuds. Even if your own ancestors didn't write a Will (or have anything to leave!), do check out Wills from people in the same community as they may receive a legacy or be Executor/Executrix to an aunt - or a witness at the signing of a Will. Servants and friends are sometimes named.

Similarly, Terriers can provide great leads on where your ancestors' homes and lands were located.

My whoop of joy was caused by finding the Will of Francis Hill of Itteringham in Norfolk, dated 1689. He mentions his wife Barbary, five sons and several grandchildren. One of the grandsons is Henry Hill, who was at the very top of my family tree for over 20 years. So this single document has taken me back two generations (I think Francis Hill must have been born about 1620), provided a detailed overview of the wider family, where they lived and what they did - and also given me solid leads for tracing other Hill families in central Norfolk.

YES indeed!

Jarvis reunion

On 15th August, over 100 people gathered in Corpusty, Norfolk at a family reunion of the Jarvis family. This year marks the 175th anniversary of the birth of James William Jarvis, who had ten children and was my great x 3 grandfather.

James died in 1912, and my grandfather's cousin Kath told me she remembered him. Not bad - a first hand memory of someone born in the reign on George IV.

I wasn't able to get to Norfolk for the Jarvis reunion, so I printed out a descendant family tree including all the people I have in my database who share James William as an ancestor. The tree covered 37 A3 sheets!

I hear that the reunion - or 'frolick' as such events are called in Norfolk - went very well and that several people brought photos and documents to share. I look forward to seeing those and adding more flesh to the bones of the Jarvis tree.