Pennance Family History

Descendents of Levi Pennance & Harriet Quincey

Research Notes

02/10/04 - So the above is what we think is going on. The marriage certificate for Levi Pennance & Harriet Quincy has been ordered and let's hope that confirms the parents!

So, what happened to Frederick?

13/10/04

Transcript of the Marriage Certificate for Levi Pennance & Harriet Quincey

1867 Marriage Solemnized at St Lukes Church in the Parish of Wellington in the County of Stafford
When Married	Name & Surname	Age	Condition	Rank	Residence	Father	Fathers Rank
January 28	Levi Pennance	27	Widower *	Shoemaker	Wellington	John Pennance	Shoemaker
	Harriet Quincey	29	Spinster	Spinster	Wellington	John Quincey	Labourer

They signed in their own hand * Widower to who?

- The marriage certificate for Levi Pennance & Harriet Quincey gives the marriage date as Jan 28 1867. It indicates that Levi was 27 years old, which would give his birth year as 1840. That would fit nicely with his being the son of John Pennance & Sarah Bott. (but see note 26 on research log)

Levi's occupation on the certificate is given as 'shoemaker'. His father is given as John Pennance, also a 'shoemaker'. Fairly convincing then but not conclusive.

Now, we also have the certificate for the marriage of Thomas Levi Pennance to Mary Eleanor Pover on 9 June 1889, when he was 22yrs. His profession is Baker and his father is Levi Pennance (deceased), shoemaker. Take 22 off 1889 and BINGO, you come up with a birth year of 1867. Almost certainly then, this Thomas Levi is the son of Levi and Harriet.

1889 Marriage Solemnized at the Parish Church in the Parish of Caverswall in the County of Stafford
When Married	Name & Surname	Age	Condition	Rank	Residence	Father	Fathers Rank
9^th June	Thomas Levi Pennance	22	Bachelor	Baker	East Vale	Levi Pennance (deceased)	Shoemaker
	Mary Eleanor Pover	23	Spinster	Spinster	East Vale	John Pover	Miner

They signed in their own hand

Which leaves us with Frederick, christened (according to the IGI), in Eccleshall in 1869. So why can't I find him? The nearest I've got is a Frederick marrying in 1878. If he got married at age 11 then fine, I don't think it likely. So, where was he born?

14/10/04

OK OK, so I can’t find the birth record for our Fred. But what about this little lot from the 1881 Census data.

Harriet PENNANCE Birth Year 1839, Birthplace - Caverswall, Stafford, England, Age - 42

Marital Status – Widowed, Head of Household - Eliza BIRCH, Relation - Boarder

Dwelling - 20 Hope Street Caverswall, Stafford ......and here we go!

Fredk. PENNANCE Birth Year 1869 Stafford, England

Age 12

Occupation - Scholar

Relation - Boarder Son

...........and not only that but he is there with his brothers John Age 8 and Thomas Age 14 (Baker). All residing with the scary sounding Eliza Birch (washerwoman)

...........so WE GOT HIM! I still want to know why he isn't showing up in the Register of Births though.

16/10/04

So there Harriet is in 1881, living in the household of Eliza Birch with her three young sons Frederick, John and Thomas. Levi has died young (why?). Thomas (14) is a baker or more probably a baker’s apprentice at that age, and John (8) and Frederick (12) are going to school. Life is undoubtedly tough but Harriet will have the support of some family about her. Her husband’s father John (the shoemaker) is still alive and living nearby as are other family members. Thomas will be bringing in a little to help out. Maybe Harriet has some work as a servant or maybe she helps with the work of Eliza Birch and earns a little towards the rent.

So, what comes next?

17/10/04

I reckon the quickest route to finding out lies in the 1901 Census data. You could look for likely marriages and births worked out from the dates above but if we go straight to the census we might be able to resolve a lot quite quickly.

……and it looks like we can, here are some of the brief details:-

John Pennance (27) Longton Staffordshire Longton Baker ID 000123

Frederick Pennance (31) Staffordshire Hanley Forman Baker ID 000116

Thos Pennance (33) Salop Adbaston Stafford Bread Baker ID 000136

And this would be mum right?

Harriet Pennance (62) Salop Adbaston Stafford Forsbrook ID 000121

Of course the problem is that we need the full census transcript to find out who else is in these various households, wives, children etc etc. It’s nice to see mum still going strong. With three sons all in work she should hopefully have a pantry full of goodies and plenty of grandchildren to bounce on her knee.

I don’t at the moment have access to a full census transcript for these abodes so we are going to have to wait a bit to find out more.

09/11/04

Now we’ve plumbed the depths of the 1901 census we can reveal a lot more about the descendants of Levi & Harriet.

By 1901, Thomas (33) is well established as a baker and has a living in apprentice by the name of William Edge (18). Thomas works from home at Blythe Marsh in the parish of Forsbrook and is married to Mary (33). They have a son, Frederick George (9) and a daughter Sarah D (5). Mum Harriet now aged 62 is also living with them.

Frederick (31) is living at 28 Grosvenor St in the parish of Hanley with his wife Ellen (32) and their three daughters, Nellie (7), Eva (5) and Dora (3). They have a boarder by the name of William Slack (21) a millers waggoner. On census day they have a visitor, one John Bonnell (5). I have a hunch that Ellen Pennance may have been a Bonnell before she wed Fred.

The youngest son John (27) is married to Isabella (34) and they are living at 11 Hope St in the parish of Longton with their daughter Clarice (5). Also living with them is Maggie Clayton (31), sister of Isabella.

So, things are dropping into place a bit. They all seem to be doing fine working as self-employed bakers. How much do they work together? Are they close enough in proximity? Is Thomas baking the bread, John the Cornish pasties and Fred the cookies? Are they in danger of becoming a multi-national conglomerate – the Warburtons of Cheshire. Does the millers waggoner lad, William, cart the brothers produce round retail outlets or do they sell from home or both?

There’s one male and six female offspring so it might not be surprising if the Pennance name dies out in this line. There must surely be descendants of the female line somewhere though.

That’s the rub with this game, each answer leads to a bakers dozen, or rather three bakers dozen questions!

………so let’s add some yeast and leave it to rise.

21/11/04 ………Well then, a cursory search of the marriage index reveals the weddings of three of these Grandchildren, namely Nellie, Eva and Clarice. Nellie married Harold Eardley in 1930; Eva married Albert Marsden in 1922 and Clarice married John H Wilcox in 1923. This brings us not a million miles away from discovering some potential living relatives who probably don’t know that they are relatives. Whether or not we can trace them is another matter. It’s harder working forward in time and with surnames that are not so rare. At some point we’ll have a bash I expect. Weddings of the other grandchildren I have not found yet but then I haven’t had a thorough look.

---

[Table of Contents] [Surnames] [Name List]