Ann, Widow of Charles #2

All that I know of Ann's parents is from her marriage certificate where she lists her father as William Lewis, a carpenter.  In the 1841 census I found William & Sarah Lewis with three children living in Bryngwyn, Abergavenny:

Samuel   25
Ann      23
Edward   21

Lewis is a very common name, so no way of confirming that this is our Ann. 

 I did notice in the census records from 1861 on that there was always a Lewis family living near the Powells – did Ann’s uncle and brothers step in to help this young widow raise her children?  Edward & James are the right age to be her brothers.

Census records in Abergavenny with Lewis’s near Ann Powell:

1851	Haverfordwest
1861	Byefield Lane	Samuel Lewis	1799	milkman	Llanddewi
1871	St. Johns Square	Edward Lewis	1823	tailor	Llanarth
1881	Baker St, Lewis Lane	James Lewis	1822	carpenter
1891	#3 St. John’s Square	Lewis at #4			Abergavenny

Timeline for the Charles(2) Powell family in England and Wales:

1847 letter from Hargrave Square, north side of Alice Street,   Bermondsey, London to 15 Victoria St., Abergavenny, Wales

1851 census 159 City Rd., St. Martins, Haverfordwest

1861 census 95 Byefield Lane, Abergavenny, Wales

1871 census 137 St. Johns Sq., Abergavenny, Wales

     1881 census Baker Street, Lewis Lane, Abergavenny, Wales

     1891 census #3, St John’s Square, Abergavenny, Wales

     1901 census 18 Victoria St., Abergavenny, Wales

1905 Death Cert. 18 Victoria St., Abergavenny, Wales

Ann’s death certificate said she was the widow of “Charles(2) Glifford Powell, Tallow Chandler”.  This information was provided by her daughter-in-law, Emma Powell, widow of Charles(3) Glifford, the baker.  It is possible that because her husband was “Charles Glifford” she assumed that this was also father-in-law Charles middle name. Certainly in the letter of 1847 Charles, the father refers to Glifford as “my sister Mary's fancy name”.

In 1986 my mother and I visited the local cemetery in Abergavenny in search of information about the Powell’s.  From Ann’s death certificate I had a date.  The old caretaker at the cemetery found the record almost immediately and quickly took us to Ann’s grave.  This is the inscription on the stone:

Cemetery Records New Cemetery, Abergavenny (E75)

In loving memory of

Ann

wife of Charles Powell

of Lion Street

Died January 4th 1905

Aged 87 years

Also the Aforesaid

Charles Powell

who was interred at Haverfordwest

Blessed are the dead

which die in the Lord

(Ann is listed in the cemetery record book as a non-conformist)

My mother Doreen (Powell) Todhunter at her Great Grandmother Ann Powell's headstone in Abergavenny

     These bookmarks were given to John Lewis Powell when he left for Canada.  On the back it says "given to Father (John Lewis Powell) by his mother when he left home to come to Canada - September 1879 - October 1879.

  

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Charles Powell #2

Our Charles(2) married Ann Lewis, in 1846.  She was the daughter of William Lewis, a carpenter.  At the time of the marriage Charles was a clerk living in Blaenafan, Ann was living in Llanellen.  According to a letter from Charles he had been working at James & Harris.  Not sure what type of business this was.  My contact in Abergavenny tried unsuccessfully to find more about this firm – “an online copy of Pigots 1844 directory of South Wales Llanelly Parish and Brynmawr" lists William James and William Harris but no addresses are given.  They are listed separately under the section named “beer retailers” in the directory.  There are no trade names such as “James & Harris”.  A beer retailer could not sell quantities of beer of more than 4 ½ gallons!"

Shortly after their marriage, Charles and Ann moved to Bermonsday, an area of London on the south bank of the river Thames, part of the Borough of Southwark. Charles(2) occupation listed on his son Charles(3) birth certificate was tanner. Reading about the history of manufacturing in this area in the 1850’s shows leather goods were one of the products produced.  “Industries that were deemed too noisome to be carried on within the narrow confines of the City of London had been located here - one such, that came to dominate central Bermondsey, was the processing and trading of leather and hides.”

Why such a move for Charles and Ann?  I often find a move is because of encouragement from a family member or friend already living there.  Although Charles(2) left Bermondsey prior to the 1851 census I did a little more digging and found a Lewis D. Powell.  Was this Lewis Daniel, Charles(2) brother?  He was the right age and born in Abergaveny. Did Charles(2) encourage Lewis to join him in Bermondsey in the tanning industry?  Lewis was living a few doors down from where Charles and Ann had lived so he was very likely his brother.

From Wikipedia comes the following description  "By the mid-19th century parts of Bermondsey, especially along the riverside had become a notorious slum — with the arrival of industrial plants, docks and immigrant housing. The area around St Saviour's Dock, known as Jacob's Island, was one of the worst in London. It was immortalized by Charles Dickens's novel Oliver Twist, in which the principal villain Bill Sikes meets a nasty end in the mud of 'Folly Ditch' an area which was known as Hickmans Folly — the scene of an attack by Spring Heeled Jack in 1845 — surrounding Jacob's Island. Dickens provides a vivid description of what it was like:"

"... crazy wooden galleries common to the backs of half a dozen houses, with holes from which to look upon the slime beneath; windows, broken and patched, with poles thrust out, on which to dry the linen that is never there; rooms so small, so filthy, so confined, that the air would seem to be too tainted even for the dirt and squalor which they shelter; wooden chambers thrusting themselves out above the mud and threatening to fall into it — as some have done; dirt-besmeared walls and decaying foundations, every repulsive lineament of poverty, every loathsome indication of filth, rot, and garbage: all these ornament the banks of Jacob's Island."

From a letter written by Charles(2)in 1847, as well as information on his son’s birth certificate - Charles(2), his wife Ann, and newborn son Charles(3) were living at Hargrave Square, on the north side of Alice Street, Bermondsey.

The following description is taken from the original records of Charles Booth's[1} survey into life and labour in London, dating from 1886 to 1903.  Although written some 50 years after our family left, a telling description nonetheless. Hargrave Square – “2 story house with forecourts.  Crowds of children here; many doors open; dirt abundant; the houses are four-roomed with wash-houses and small yards”[1].  Certainly in Charles letter he describes a living condition that was troublesome and expensive.  The move to London was probably precipitated by the desire to improve his family’s living condition and circumstances through the perception of higher wages offered in London.

In reality expenses were so high that any financial gain was quickly used up by the high cost of living.  As Charles pointed out in his letter, being away from family and friends meant they had to pay for “every little turn that is done for them”.

”… I have to inform you that we have felt the result of the expenses attached to what I have before mentioned we can scarcely manage to make to ends meet as the price of provision being so remarkably high and being away from all friends we have to pay for every little turn that is done I have endeavored to better my situation but Trade being so dull I have been quite unsuccessful my present situation is not one to my mind as the wages is low, I will give you a brief of both of my earnings and of my expenses in the first place my standing wages is 18 shillings per week sometimes I have over time and sometimes none.  I have only one room to live in and do everything which we pay 3 shillings per week for where you cannot swing a cat round without killing it 1s/9d per Cwt. for coal; bread 1s/6d the half peck loaf; potatoes 1 1/2d per lb. and everything is very dear it is my intention before next winter set in if I cannot suit myself better than the present to try for a country berth as things are more reasonable in the country.”

It is not surprising that by 1849, Charles and family had made the move to Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire in Wales.  In the 1851 census Charles occupation was listed as a Tallow Chandler (to make or sell candles).  Their address in the 1851 census was 159 City Rd., St. Martins, Haverfordwest.

Daughter Ann was born in Haverfordwest in 1849, as were all the other children (except for the mystery son William who was born in Abergavenny).  In John Lewis Powell’s family bible it states that the family moved to Abergavenny in 1857, probably as a result of Charles death June 20^th 1857.

By the 1861 census Charles widow Ann was living in Abergavenny with her six children, her youngest William, being only a month old.  This child was born 3 years after her husband’s death.  Is this an error by the census taker or was Ann looking after a relative’s child?  Did she remarry someone who also had the last name of Powell?  The birth of this son was a red herring for me when I was looking for Charles(2) death, I was looking after 1861 – not 1857.  Something else odd - why would she use William again, she had already named child #5 Alfred William. 
My contact at the Abergavenny library found a burial for William Powell of Byefield Lane aged 10 months on 11 Jan 1862 at St. Mary's Church.  The 1861 census did not show any other Powell family living in Byfield Lane.  There was no record of his burial at the "old" cemetery in Abergavenny.  So far this child remains a mystery.
Young William died at 9 months old, on the 9th of January and Ann is listed as his mother. 

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[1] http://booth.lse.ac.uk/cgi-bin/do.pl?sub=retrieve_catalogue_notebook&args=b364,60,80

p364, p121 Alice Street, Rothsay Street, Hargreave Square, Hargreave Place, Williams Street, Ferrand Street Charles Booth online archives

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