John Edgar was Johnson and Sarah's eldest child. He was born
in Preston St. Mary in 1820 - his christening was on May 12 and interestingly
his mother's name is given as 'Hannah' on the transcription of this record,
which suggests that his grandmother (neé Hannah Osborn) played a prominent role
at the event![1] He's
still living at home in 1841 and probably working at the family mill. A record of 1844 has him at Johnson's original
mill in Preston St Mary,[2]
and he probably transferred to the new mill that his father built in 1846. [3]
In the first quarter of 1843 he married Mary Ann Norman of
Bury St Edmunds; she appears in the 1861 Census return as one year younger than
her husband.
The 1851 Census finds his slightly younger brother, Edmund, still
living at home. It took me some time to track down John in that Census as his
name is mis-transcribed 'Tom' on Ancestry.com. But he's there, living in the Preston mill, and employing one man in the business. He
also has an apprentice and a domestic servant. This seems to be the height of
John's prosperity. He and Mary Ann have a seven year old son, Jonson (sic but
probably Johnson) Edmund (2) and James who's an angelic three months (watch
young James carefully). Another record has John still at the Preston
mill in 1853,[4] but this
mill had a new occupant two years later. What happened to John? The 1861 Census
gives us an idea.
In that year John is a miller in Bury St Edmunds about 14
miles north of Preston St Mary. He and Mary Ann have four children
(Jonson/Johnson has either died or left home): Edmund (12), James (10), Joseph
(8) and Hannah (1). The three older were born in Preston
and only young Hannah in Bury. The family are living in Bury, perhaps at number
222 St. Andrews St, but the street naming (which starts off as Cemetery Rd) is
confusing (to me at least). My guess is
that John left the Preston mill in about 1854
but his wife went back to Johnson and Sarah for help with giving birth, which,
if correct, suggests that the couple didn't leave because of a family row.
There were five windmills in Bury at this time,[5]
and I don't know which one John tenanted. One of these mills is last mentioned
in 1867, so maybe it was that one, because in 1871 John's still a miller but
he's moved again, this time to one of the four mills in Stowmarket, about 15
miles south east of Bury (and close to the former Edgar home village of Combs).
That means he and Mary Ann were almost certainly living there at the time of the
disaster that leads off the 'Historic Events' section of the Wikipedia article on the town:
Disaster struck
Stowmarket on 11 August 1871, when an explosion at a local gun
cotton factory claimed twenty-four lives and left seventy five injured.[6]
Thanks: http://www.eadt.co.uk/news/gallery_10_things_you_might_not_know_about_stowmarket_1_3583335
Only Hannah, now at school, is living with John and Mary Ann in 1871. But something interesting's happening: James, now about 18 and a journeyman butcher, has left home and is living in the same street as his parents - they're at 188,Lime Tree Place
and he's a lodger at no. 126. It's easy to see that an 18 year old then or now
might want to leave the parental home -but to become a lodger just down the
road? That's unusual and there's a possible explanation.
Only Hannah, now at school, is living with John and Mary Ann in 1871. But something interesting's happening: James, now about 18 and a journeyman butcher, has left home and is living in the same street as his parents - they're at 188,
At the Stowmarket Petty Session on October 22 James Edgar
was committed for trial on two charges of embezzlement.[7] He'd
been taken into custody the day before.
In January 1868 James pleaded guilty at the Suffolk Assizes
to two acts of embezzlement the previous October: on the 12th. he'd obtained the
sum of 3s 7d. and six days later another 5s. 2d. The victim was Edward Parish,
his 'master'. I can't yet confidently identify Edward Parish but I suspect he
was the man of that name born in Ipswich in
1828 to non-conformist parents. Religious belief would account for his comment
that he had taken James knowing he was not of 'the best of characters' in the
hope of reforming him. It seems that even at the age of 16 he had a bad
reputation, which he had fully justified by waiting only two weeks before
robbing his employer. In passing sentence the magistrate commented that this
was a bad case and that the court felt it couldn't take his youth into account.
He handed out six calendar months imprisonment with hard labour.[8] Parish
had acted as prosecutor, just as Johnson Edgar had when he too had been
embezzled by an employee back in 1837.[9] It
must have mortified the old man to learn that his grandson was a prisoner.
James's entry in the court register shows that this was his
first offence - no previous misdemeanours or felonies.[10] James
served his time in Ipswich County Gaol, and his prison record states his level
of education as 'imp', which it seems is a possibly inaccurate attempt by a
warden to estimate his ability to read and write as 'imperfect'.[11] The
jail housed both men and women; one wing was the prison, the other the lunatic
asylum. Often described as well-run, and humane, it shut in 1930 and was
demolished in 1933.[12]
Any hope that James had learnt his lesson was quickly
quashed. He presumably came out in July or August 1868[13] but before the end of the year he was in trouble again. In the early hours of Sunday, November 29, he and forty to fifty others had been
drunk and riotous in Stowmarket's Stowupland Streeet. James had been in a fight
when P. C. Barker arrived, the officer told the court, and the other man had
run away. Barker had tried to get James to go too, but he refused and was
arrested. Also appearing in court was another of the group, George Reynolds,
who, Barker claimed, had been misbehaving even though his father had just died.
Both he and James were 'very troublesome characters', but 'Edgar was the
worst'.This opinion was reflected in the sentences: Reynolds was fined 5s. and costs, or seven days in prison if he couldn't pay, while James was hit for 15s plus costs, with a fortnight if he failed to find the money.Reynolds paid at once, James was allowed a week to come up with his. (Bury and Norwich Post, December 1, 1868, 5).
So it's possible that James was lodging close to his parents
because they refused to have him at home. Nevertheless, it seems that he did now change his ways, as I've not found any record of his appearance in the justice system after 1868.
John died in the Cosford registration district in the April-June quarter of 1874. This includes
Preston St Mary, so perhaps he went to his brother Thomas at Down Hall Farm in
his last illness or perhaps he inherited something after Johnson's death in
1872 that brought him home - I'll discuss this issue in a future post.
What happened to Mary Ann and James?
In 1881 James was still a butcher and lodging with his aunt
the widowed Louisa Williams in Stowmarket. I can't find Mary Ann in the 1881
census but by 1891 John has died and she's a widow living on her own means in
the family of - her son James Westrop(e) Edgar at 98 Union Street ,
Stowmarket. Although we can't rule out a set of coincidences, this seems to be none other
than the man who we're following, who for some reason is now using his middle
name as well. In 1884 he'd married Elvina Burrows. He's described as a general labourer so the butcher's trade
obviously stopped yielding him a living. By 1901 he's turned to bricklaying -
still in Stowmarket, but Mary Ann, now aged 80, is no longer living with him;
she's a lodger with (Ms.) Zilpah Johnson - in Stowupland Street where her son was arrested
for disorderly behaviour. Mary Ann died in the Stow registration district in the first
quarter of 1910.[14] In 1911
James was still a builder and was living at 15 Union Street in Stowmarket. He and
Elvina have had 13 children, 7 still living. James died in the last quarter of
1918 in the Stow
registration district.
[1] Ancestry.com. England & Wales Provo , UT , USA
[2] http://www.suffolkmills.org.uk/newsletters/072%20November%201998.pdf
[3] http://edgarfamilyintheworldblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/the-wealth-of-edgars-johnson-and-his.html
[4] http://www.suffolkmills.org.uk/newsletters/072%20November%201998.pdf
[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_windmills_in_Suffolk
[6] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stowmarket
[7] Bury and Norwich
[8] Ipswich Journal, January 4, 1868.
[9] http://edgarfamilyintheworldblog.blogspot.co.uk/2015/08/johnson-edgar-1-johnson-has-his-day-in.html
[10] Ancestry.com. England & Wales
[11] http://www.whodoyouthinkyouaremagazine.com/forum/topic7073.html
[12]https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=8VbdNsRAvPsC&pg=PA40&lpg=PA40&dq=ipswich+county+gaol+well-run&source=bl&ots=AvdQWZ5ld1&sig=mqBYibUf0iUNPyDAwJjxb99X-uA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0CCYQ6AEwAWoVChMI8KjjtNbdxwIVQjYaCh1voAEe#v=onepage&q=ipswich%20county%20gaol%20well-run&f=false
[13] Unless
he was held in prison from the day of his arrest (October 21) and his sentence
included time served.
[14] http://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=bmd%2fd%2f1910%2f1%2faz%2f000110%2f070
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