Find Ancestors

Top tip - using the Genes Reunited community

Welcome to the Genes Reunited community boards!

  • The Genes Reunited community is made up of millions of people with similar interests. Discover your family history and make life long friends along the way.
  • You will find a close knit but welcoming group of keen genealogists all prepared to offer advice and help to new members.
  • And it's not all serious business. The boards are often a place to relax and be entertained by all kinds of subjects.
  • The Genes community will go out of their way to help you, so don’t be shy about asking for help.

Quick Search

Single word search

Icons

  • New posts
  • No new posts
  • Thread closed
  • Stickied, new posts
  • Stickied, no new posts

Annie Matthews

ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date
Marked As Answer Marked as Answered

hilary jane

hilary jane Report 27 Jan 2018 15:30

I have been searching for Annie,my greatgrandmother,for many years.She was born in 1851,possibly in Hertfordshire.Her father was William Matthews,a farmer and she married Samuel Bright in Exeter in 1873.They went to India with the Royal Horse Artillery and Annie died of Cholera in 1880 and was buried in Meerut.Any information gratefully received.

Chris Ho :)

Chris Ho :) Report 27 Jan 2018 15:50

Can you tell us why Hertfordshire?...

Chris :)

Edits (just to add, that County often mistaken on Census for Herefordshire)

ErikaH

ErikaH Report 27 Jan 2018 15:59

First name(s) Annie
Last name Bright
Birth year 1851
Death date 20 Dec 1881
Death year 1881
Age 30
Burial date 21 Dec 1881
Place Meerut
Presidency Bengal
Archive Reference N-1-178

Chris Ho :)

Chris Ho :) Report 27 Jan 2018 16:16

British India Office Ecclesiastical Returns - Deaths & Burials Image (Find My Past)

(looking at above, am sure it says wife of John Bright?)...

Chris :)

(checks Devon Marriage image for Samuel Bright (FMP) his occ.R.H.A. Artillery Man, his Father, John Bright)


Edits (below on FMP, states Banns Withdrawn, says Samuel of Parish, St. Leonard's Exeter, Annie, of this Parish. Dates, June 5th 15th 22nd)

Bright Samuel — 1873 Devon Banns Heavitree, Devon, England

safc

safc Report 27 Jan 2018 16:31

????

MATTHEWS, ANNIE DANIEL Order
GRO Reference: 1849 D Quarter in PENZANCE UNION Volume 09 Page 212 Order

MATTHEWS, ANNIE WEST Order
GRO Reference: 1851 S Quarter in CRICKLADE Volume 08 Page 314

ArgyllGran

ArgyllGran Report 27 Jan 2018 16:43

Hilary -

In your tree on Ancestry, you say,

"Marriage
September 28th. 1873. • St. Leonards Exeter,Devon.
Samuel was stationed in Exeter with the Royal Horse Artillery. Annies family opposed the marriage as Samuel was " A mere soldier" and so Annie travelled to Exeter alone,the Sexton was the witness."


How do you know this? Are there letters? Where did Annie travel from? Is that where the Hertfordshire suggestion comes from?

How/where did she meet him? He was born and lived in Somerset before being stationed in Exeter.

ArgyllGran

ArgyllGran Report 27 Jan 2018 16:49

For our reference;


Samuel Bright
in the 1871 England Census
Name: Samuel Bright
Age: 18
Estimated birth year: abt 1853
Relation: Son
Mother's name: Sarah Bright
Gender: Male
Where born: Wilton, Somerset, England
Civil Parish: Wilton
Town: Taunton
County/Island: Somerset
Country: England
Registration district: Taunton
Sub-registration district: Taunton St Mary Magdalen
ED, institution, or vessel: 12
Household schedule number: 119
Piece: 2372
Folio: 48
Page Number: 30
Household Members:
Name Age
Sarah Bright 62
Henry Bright 36
Samuel Bright 18

Chris Ho :)

Chris Ho :) Report 27 Jan 2018 16:49

ah!, seeing Somerset AG!, would that be that Annie there 1871, says Born Stevenage, that Hilary has seen, I wonder?...

Am sure I saw her earlier with a Father, John...

Chris :)

(yes she is at below 1871, Visitor)

Eastover Drapers Shop, Bridgwater, Somerset


1851
Fore Street, Stevenage, Hitchin, Hertfordshire (with Parents John/Charlotte)

1881, Stevenage (with her brother Herbert, still unmarried)

ArgyllGran

ArgyllGran Report 27 Jan 2018 16:54

Just as a long shot, there's this Ann Matthews, born Hertfordshire, in Somerset in 1871:


Ann Matthews
in the 1871 England Census
Name: Ann Matthews
Age: 22
Estimated birth year: abt 1849
Relation: Visitor
Gender: Female
Where born: Stevenage, Hertfordshire, England
Civil Parish: Bridgewater
Ecclesiastical parish: St John
County/Island: Somerset
Country: England
Registration district: Bridgewater
Sub-registration district: Bridgewater
ED, institution, or vessel: 10
Household schedule number: 30
Piece: 2387
Folio: 37
Page Number: 6
Household Members:
Name Age
John Welland 26
Mary Welland 27
George Welland 19
Ann Matthews 22 - unmarried, no occupation

Chris Ho :)

Chris Ho :) Report 27 Jan 2018 16:56

(yes that's her I came across earlier AG, not Father as William!)

Chris :)

Birth
MATTHEWS, ANN (ELLARD)
GRO Reference: 1849 M Quarter in THE HITCHIN UNION Volume 06 Page 608

(John and Charlotte Marriage 1836 Herts.)


https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=matthews&yearOfDeath=1885&page=9#calendar

(Will of John Matthews, 1885, Stevenage. Brickmaker/Builder)


Deaths Mar 1885 (>99%)
----------------------------------------------------
MATTHEWS John 72 Hitchin 3a 280


Edits (below could relate to 1871 Census, notes Mary Birthplace, Stevenage)

Marriages Mar 1870 (>99%)
---------------------------------------------------
MATTHEWS Mary Tetbury 6a 495
WELLAND John Tetbury 6a 495


(yes, above is her Sister, she is with Father John, 1851 Stevenage)


Birth
MATHEWS, MARY (ELLARD)
GRO Reference: 1842 D Quarter in THE HITCHIN UNION Volume 06 Page 499

ErikaH

ErikaH Report 27 Jan 2018 16:57

The witnesses to the 1873 marriage were Robert and Mary Ann Plimsole

Samuel's father was John, a Dairyman, and no mention of his being deceased.

Both Samuel and Annie were living in St Leonard, Exeter at the time.

Chris Ho :)

Chris Ho :) Report 28 Jan 2018 12:49

Just adding below from pm received...

(and apologies as a bit busy at the moment!)

Chris :)

I am sure this MUST BE the correct Annie!!!!!!It all adds up,born in Herts. but in Somerset in 1871.The problem has always been,where did Annie meet Samuel? He enlisted in June 1871 and I have his Army papers and Annie was not in either of the 2 places Samuel was serving.But if she was in Bridgewater in 1871,they could have met as she was at a drapers shop and Samuel was a tailor working for his b-in-law,similar trades.The fathers job is correct,only the name is different,could she have given the wrong name to protect herself,the witnesses were strangers so would not know,they were the sextons.Or was it just a plain mistake as in the British India Returns for Samuel?

Chris Ho :)

Chris Ho :) Report 28 Jan 2018 14:09

Not looking like it, Stevenage...

Chris :)

(see additions for below posting)

27 Jan 2018 16:56