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Chapter Six

THE CHILDREN OF

JOHN & SARAH HANNAH LEA







Henry, nicknamed "Harry", was the first child of John and Sarah Hannah and had to carry his mother’s maiden name of Gladwin as he was born one month before they were married.   He also died at the fairly young age of about thirty years after being married and having three children.   Henry and his family were living in Stroud when he was taken ill and died.

The second child was Fredrick born in 1866, he emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, USA when he was twenty four years old.   He met his wife in America and she too was English.   Fred worked for a paving company and he too had a considerable size family who are flourishing abundantly today.   He emigrated in 1890 but returned to his family in England a few years later for a short period, and thanks to Mr Leonard Ing, a friend and member of the Wiltshire History Society who gave me a copy he obtained from London, a copy of Fred’s return ticket can be seen.   The name Lee is not an error or misprint on the ticket but for reasons best known to themselves, Fred and his wife had their name changed from Lea to Lee.


Fredrick Lee (Lea) and wife Annie (nee Chappell) emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, USA in 1890


Kate was John and Sarah’s third child and first daughter.   She was born in the little but quaint village of Charlton, two miles east of Malmesbury, in 1869, as a copy of the 1881 census for Malmesbury and district later in the book will show.

Charlton also has the entrance to Lord and Lady Suffolk’s estate next to the parish church.   Two huge gate posts lead the way to what I am told is a wonderful old English mansion, but unlike most houses in the country, this one is not open to the public.   There are some very old, very well kept houses in Charlton with gardens covered in flowers throughout the summer.   It also has a beautiful old church, but should anyone pay a visit and look at the headstones, don’t get carried away with the name Lea which appears on every fifth or sixth stone.   Although the name Lea is not a common one throughout the country, Charlton has had more than its fair share.   I spent three months sifting through Charlton records before I realised I was barking up the wrong tree and that there had been a Lea family existing there for as long as our family had been living in Stratton St. Margaret.

Kate, I have been told, ran a small pub in Foxley Road, Malmesbury called “The Plough” with her husband James Exton.   I have visited the premises during the last year and the occupier, a retired school teacher, was kind enough to show me the room used for drinking.   He could remember having had a drink there himself before it was turned into a private house some years ago.   It was a very small room, very unlike a bar in a modern day public house with at the most three barrels of beer on the floor and bottles of whisky, gin and maybe wine stood on a table in the corner.

James and Kate were married in Cleveland, Ohio after emigrating as Fred had done.   They too have left a considerable family.   This part of their lives I have gone into later on in the book as it is fairly extensive.


Kate Lea
Born in Charlton Nr. Malmesbury 1869.   Emigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, USA in 1890.


       
A front view and rear view of what was once 'The Plough' public house run by James Exton and Kate Lea in Malmesbury, Wiltshire.
Photographs (left) 1990, (right) 2001



The beautiful village of Charlton, near Malmesbury, and its church, St. John the Baptist.   Photographs 1992



Missing photograph of Kate Lea's birth certificate
Details show name spelt Lee, and William named as father

Copy of correspondence re certificate:

"Because of errors on the birth certificate it would seem that KATE was registered by her father, JOHN who had not been blessed with an education.

One can well imaging John standing one side of the registrar desk being asked: “Child’s date of birth? John answering correctly, “Ninth of July”.   Then “Child’s name?” “Kate, sir”: The Registrar automatically filling in the next column regarding the child’s sex and probably without looking up ask: “Father’s name?” Now John misunderstanding this question gave his father’s name instead of his own.   Hence we have WILLIAM as the FATHER and LEA incorrectly spelt as LEE.

After the remainder of the form had been filled in and John was asked to make his mark, he would not have noticed the errors whilst doing so, as he was unable to read or write.   Now these discrepancies would not have occurred had Kate’s mother registered her, as “SARAH HANNAH” was a “scholar” having been educated as a child.

But perhaps you may feel as I do, that the obvious errors have added a little more interest to this particular certificate."



Winifred Lea and husband Edmond Boswell.
They spent their lives at Minehead in Devon, where their grandchildren are living today.



The following list of names have been taken from a page that appears in a book published in 1980 entitled “1100 Years A Borough” to celebrate the anniversary of the first royal charter granted to the Borough of Malmesbury.   They are names of some of the Malmesbury people who emigrated during the latter half of the 19th Century, and what an interesting list it is.   For instance, James Tompson worked with John Stoneham, named further down the list, when they were both in the United States.
Missing copy of the official list of emigrants from the Malmesbury area

Missing copy of Fred Lee's passage ticket to America


The next entry in the 1881 census shows a young girl nine years old and born at Charlton, Wiltshire, as being the next in line of John and Sarah’s family.   Her name was Kathleen.   This came as a great surprise as there had previously been no mention of a daughter by that name, but never the less it is there and she is recorded as being the daughter of John and Sarah Lea.   A request to the registry office failed to produce a birth certificate for her and to date no further evidence has emerged to substantiate her existence.   So this entry and Kathleen remain a mystery and is perhaps a subject for future research.

Francis John Lea was married to Fanny Maria Jones at Foxley Parish church on the 28th April 1900.   They were both 26 years old.   Witnesses at the ceremony were his father, John Lea, and younger sister Winifred.   Fanny was from the parish of Bremilham, no longer in existence as the parish was joined to the Foxley parish many years ago.   Francis was always known as “Jack” to his brothers and sisters and it was a surprise to his family living today that he was christened “Francis”.   His grandchildren at Tetbury only ever knew him as “Grampy Frank”.

Colonel Pitman who lives at the old rectory adjacent to Foxley church, and is responsible for the church and grounds, was kind enough to spend time with me looking through the old church records kept in a wooden chest inside the building that dates back to the thirteenth century.   The family had had several recordings of past events that have taken place there such as the marriage of Francis John and Fanny Lea.   Minnie Lea, daughter of Albert Hope Lea and wife Fanny (Nee Curtis), was baptised on the 11th January 1903.

Ernest Lea and wife Annie were both confirmed there on 19th May 1905 and my great grandfather John Lea was buried in the church grounds on the 20th June 1924.

John was an asthmatic and was taken ill with bronchitis.   He was admitted to Malmesbury workhouse at 81 Bristol Street, Malmesbury, just a few weeks before his death, he was 79 years old.

~~oo0oo~~

Additional material in the folder, not showing on this page due to copyright regulations:
Copy of Kate Lea's birth certificate.
Copy of the official list of emigrants from the Malmesbury area.
Copy of Fred Lee's passage ticket to America.
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This page was last updated on 10th April 2007.