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Hi I am trying to find more information about one of my ancestors Annie Barnard. She married my great grandfather, Arthur Jenner. Annie was born in 1871ish and her marriage cert states her father is Samuel Barnard, master blacksmith. She and Arthur married in Camberwell but on the 1891 and 1901 census it is not clear where she was born. I have not been able to find out where she was prior to her marriage in 1890. I cannot find a birth cert for her as I dont know where she is from or the exact year of birth. Does this name ring any bells with anyone. I would be grateful to hear from you if so. thanks

Hi, I haven't used this site before, hence the time delay from you posting your message. I have recently found the Barnard in my family tree, and Blacksmiths. The Barnards in my tree are mostly in Norwich, or Essex borders. This family eventually moved to Camberwell area too.
I hope this is useful, if not a bit late.
Best regards
Sharron Briggs

This is funny -- Coral is one of the few people I ever contacted from these board back before you could post replies to them. That function only arrived back in the summer sometime. And I'm a regular nuisance here now. ;)

I have a Barnard mystery of my own, but mine is in Wiltshire, and everybody else's Barnards seem to be in Norfolk.

Anyhow, it turned out -- per my firm theory -- that Coral's Annie wasn't a Barnard at all. She was a Parkhouse, born to her mother before marriage, and Barnard was her stepfather -- born Annie Parkhouse in Bath in 1869, to the unmarried Ann Parkhouse born abt 1844 who subsequently married Samuel Barnard. Back before that it got a little messy and complicated.

Coral was contemplating the theory, last I heard. ;)

As I recall, looking back at old email, this was the household in 1881:

Annie Barnard 35
Annie P. Barnard 11 <---
Eliza Barnard 1
Harriett L. Barnard 5
Samuel Barnard 31

Using a middle initial to represent the actual surname of a stepchild is a very common practice.

So this is stepfather Samuel in 1881:


Name: Samuel Barnard
Age: 31
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1850
Relation: Head
Spouse's Name: Annie
Gender: Male
Where born: Elm, Cambridgeshire, England

Civil Parish: Wisbech St Peter
County/Island: Cambridgeshire
Country: England

Street address: 5 Oil Mill Yd
Condition as to marriage: Married
Occupation: Coal Carter

Registration district: Wisbech
Sub-registration district: Wisbech


And this is him in 1891 ... lordy, I thought I'd found just about all the possible mistranscriptions of Barnard ...


Name: Samuel Barnaeel
Age: 42
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1849
Relation: Head
Spouse's Name: Annie
Gender: Male
Where born: Elm, Cambridgeshire, England

Civil Parish: Wisbech St Peter
Ecclesiastical parish: Wisbech St Peter
Town: Tydd St Giles
County/Island: Cambridgeshire
Country: England
Occupation: Carman

Registration district: Wisbech
Sub-registration district: Wisbech


Samuel's occupation doesn't fit with Annie's marriage certificate, but everything else does.


My own Barnards date from the late 1700s in Wiltshire, I've found -- although they tried to get away. In 1792 they were deported back to Wiltshire from Dorset under the Poor Law, as charges on the public purse. That couple's son died in the workhouse in Mere in 1869, while his own son was prospering well in Canterbury. What I've never found is who the wife of the Mere Barnard, mother of the Canterbury Barnard born c1821 in Bristol, was. But as far as I can tell, not related to the Norfolk Barnards in any way we'll ever know!

The early ones did name all their sons Richard, Joseph or Benjamin just like the Norfolk batch, though ...