Cranwell Cranvil Cranville family

5 September 2008

 

 

 

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Dr Geoffrey Mann

geoff.mann@btinternet.com

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5 William CRANWELL 1807-1886

 


spouse's records

1m Eliza GRAVES 1828
 2m Keziah LAWRENCE 1855
 3m Ellen WHEELER 1877

 

 

 

 

William CRANWELL was an agricultural labourer who lived and died in the village of Gt.Hormead in Hertfordshire.  He was baptised there in 1807 and married Eliza GRAVES in nearby Newport when he was 20.  They had seven children between 1828 and 1838 but two died young; all but the first were baptised at Gt.Hormead.

 

The fate of William’s wife Eliza is a mystery.  She registered the birth of their last child, John, in nearby Buntingford on 18 December 1838, but no further trace of her can be found.  Just over two years later in the 1841 census, William was living in Gt.Hormead with four of his children and a widow named Keziah, but without Eliza. Keziah was still with him in 1851 as his housekeeper, and William eventually married her in 1855 when he was 48 and Keziah was 60.  No death certificate or burial for Eliza has been found

 

Keziah died in 1876 aged 82, and the following year, William now aged 70, married another widow, Ellen.  They were together in the village in 1881, but later went into the workhouse where William died in 1886 aged 79.  Ellen also died in the workhouse in 1893.  They were both buried in Gt.Hormead churchyard.

 

 

 

C=Christened

 

           age

   DATE   WC EG

 

                       EVENT

20Sep1807     

22Jan1828 20 22

     1828 20 22

25Oct1829 21 24

12Sep1831 23 25

 8Jul1832 24 26

28Apr1833 25 27

 4Feb1835 27 29

 6Nov1836 28 31

26Feb1837 29 31

16Dec1838 30 33

?             

 6Jun1841 34  

30Mar1851 44  

             KL

20Jan1855 48 60

 7Apr1861 54 67

 2Apr1871 64 77

 1May1876 69 82

             EW

24Apr1877 70 66

 3Apr1881 74 70

28May1886 79 75

 3Jun1886 79 75

 5Apr1891    80

 4Mar1893    83

 

 

William baptised at Gt.Hormead son of Thomas & Sarah CRANVILLE

William & Eliza GRAVES m at Newport ESS

son William born?

son Thomas baptised at Hormead; W a labourer

dau Mary baptised at Hormead; W a labourer;

dau Mary buried age 11m

son Benjamin baptised at Hormead; W a labourer

dau Sarah baptised at Hormead; W a labourer

son Benjamin buried age 3

son George baptised at Hormead; W a labourer

son John born at Hormead; registered by Eliza on 18Dec and baptised at Hormead on 24Dec; W a labourer

Eliza died?

census: Wm at Gt Hormead with 4 children and Keziah; no Eliza

census: Wm a widower, with 3 children, his mother Sarah, and Keziah a housekeeper

 

W married Keziah LAWRENCE widow at Gt.Hormead

census: Wm & Keziah in Hormead village; W an ag.labourer

census: Wm & Keziah in Hormead village: W an ag.labourer

Keziah buried at Hormead

 

Wm married Ellen WHEELER widow at Gt.Hormead

census: Wm & Ellen living at Spark's Field, Gt Hormead

Wm died of asthma in the workhouse, Layston

Wm buried at Hormead

census: Ellen CRANVILLE, widow, in Buntingford Union Workhouse, Layston

Ellen buried at Hormead; died in the workhouse

 

 

 

 

PRINCIPAL RECORDS

b=born  m=married  d=died

C=Christened       B=Buried

BIRTH:

 

1851, 61, 71, 81 census records give William’s birth at Gt Hormead in 1807, 1803, 1802, 1801 respectively; 1841 census gives a date between 1806 and 1811; the death certificate gives birth year as 1799. The earlier records (41/51 census) are probably most reliable, and later records seem to have progressively exaggerated William's age.  The 1851 census shows that William's mother was Sarah. There are only two CRANWELL families in Gt Hormead at beginning of 19C, and only one of them has the mother's name Sarah.  William was baptised to this family in 1807 in good agreement with the 1851 and 41 census age:

 

C 20Sep1807 William s Thomas & Sarah CRANVILLE

 

MARRIAGE

 

Sarah CRANWELL-4 was baptised at Gt Hormead in 1835, daughter of William & Eliza. Baptisms to these parents at Gt Hormead begin in 1829, but there is no suitable marriage there.  The birth certificate of their youngest child gives Eliza's surname as GRAVES, and the m was found in nearby Newport, Essex:

 

m 22Jan1828 William CRANWELL & Eliza GRAVES of Langley at Newport ESS

 

the census records show that William remarried Keziah (of Halesworth NFK) and Ellen (of Langley ESS); both m are in the Hormead register;

 

m 20Jan1855 William CRANWELL wdr 48 & Keziah LAWRENCE wid 50

m 24Apr1877 William CRANWELL wdr full & Ellen WHEELER wid full

 

there is a suitable burial of Keziah in 1876 (see below), but no record of the death of Eliza has yet been found

 

Ellen WHEELER's maiden name was DRIVER; she was born in Langley c1813 and married George WHEELER there in 1833:

 

m 14Nov1833 George WHEELER & Ellen DRIVER at Langley ESS

 

DESCENDANTS

 

Bc1828 William;     1841 census has a William age 12 living with William senior; he is almost certainly the eldest son but his C has not been found at Hormead.

from Gt.Hormead register:

 

C 25Oct1829 Thomas   s William & Eliza CRANWELL, labourer; m  5Mar1853 Thomas CRANWELL bch 22 & Mary BRETT spr 20

C 12Sep1831 Mary     d William & Eliza CRANWELL, labourer; B  8Jul1832 Mary CRANWELL 11m [b 1831

C 28Apr1833 Benjamin s William & Eliza CRANWELL, labourer; B  6Nov1836 Benjamin CRANWELL 3 [b 1833]

C  4Feb1835 Sarah    d William & Eliza CRANWELL, labourer

C 26Feb1837 George   s William & Eliza CRANWELL, labourer

C 24Dec1838 John     s William & Eliza CRANWELL, labourer

certificate:

 

[no name], boy b 16Dec1838 at Great Hormead fa: William CRANVAL, labourer; mo: Eliza CRANVAL formerly GRAVES

r 18Dec1838 at Buntingford, Bishops Stortford, HRT by Eliza X CRANVAL mother, of Great Hormead

 

DEATH

 

William died between 81 and 91 census, and there is a suitable burial at Gt Hormead in 1886; the corresponding death certificate confirms he was a farm labourer.  Both certificate and burial records give his age as 87, whereas the above birth discussion implies a true age of 79 at death; his age however had steadily been exaggerated in successive census returns and he believed he was 80 in 1881 in agreement with his supposed age at death.  There is little doubt that the following records refer to William-5:

certificate

d 28May1886 William CRANVILLE male age 87 farm labourer of Gt Hormead, Buntingford, at Union Workhouse Layston of asthma

r 31May1886 at Buntingford, Royston, Herts by William LODGE master of Union Workhouse, Layston

from Gt Hormead register:

B 3Jun1886 William CRANVILLE 87 workhouse [b1799] at Gt Hormead

 

the burial of William’s first wife Eliza has not been found; she registered the birth of John on 18Dec1838, but was not at home in the 1841 census, in which William was living with Keziah, his housekeeper and future second wife.  It seems probable therefore that Eliza died between Dec 38 and Jun 41; however there is no burial record at Hormead and no certificate found at GRO or in the Hertfordshire record office up to 1855.  In 1851, William was a widower living with Keziah, but did not marry her until 1855 - was there some doubt of Eliza's death?

 

the burial of the 2nd and 3rd wife are recorded at Gt.Hormead:

 

B  1May1876 Keziah CRANWELL 84 [b1792]

B  4Mar1893 Ellen CRANVILLE 81 workhouse [b1812]

 

 

CENSUS

 

1841 Gt Hormead HO107/443 f10

 

William    CRANVILL           30  1810    ag lab                         y

William    CRANVILL           12  1828                                   n

Thomas     CRANVILL           10  1830                                   y

Sarah      CRANVILL           4   1836                                   y

George     CRANVILL           3   1837                                   y

Keziah     LAWRENCE           40  1800                                   y

Stephen    LAWRENCE           20  1820    ag lab                         y

 

1851 Gt Hormead, the village HO107/1707 f15

 

William    CRANVILL    he wdr 44  1806    ag lab                         Gt Hormead

Thomas     CRANVILL    so unm 22  1828    ag lab                         Gt Hormead

Sarah      CRANVILL    da unm 17  1833                                   Gt Hormead

George     CRANVILL    so unm 15  1835    ag lab                         Gt Hormead

Sarah      CRANVILL    mo wid 80  1770    pauper                         Clavering ESS

Keziah     LAWRENCE    ho wid 57  1793    [ho=housekeeper]               Halesworth NFK

 

1861 Gt Hormead, the village RG9/811 f75

 

William    CRANVILL    he mar 52  1808    ag lab                         Gt Hormead

Keziah     CRANVILL    wi mar 66  1794                                   Aylesworth, Norfolk

Thomas     WITHAM      bo wdr 61  1799    ag lab   [bo=boarder]          Gt Hormead

 

1871 Gt Hormead, village RG10/1357 f65

 

William    CRANVILL    he mar 69  1802    ag lab                         Gt Hormead

Keziah     CRANVILL    wi mar 79  1792                                   Aysworth, Norfolk

 

1881 Gt Hormead, Spark's Field RG11/1409 f69

 

William    CRANVILL    he mar 80  1800    ag lab                         Gt Hormead

Ellen      CRANVILL    wi mar 67  1813                                   Langley, Essex

 

1891 Buntingford Union Workhouse, Layston parish RG12/1100 f78

 

Ellen      CRANVILLE      wid 79  1811                                   Langley Essex

 

 

 

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