Lost and Found

Lost and Found

Diana ROBINSON (nee GARDNER) of Rochester in the USA is looking into the history of her great grandmother Jane STUBBLEDAY who married William Dawson FLETCHER at St. Mark's Church in Lincoln on Feb. 20, 1848.  The trouble is that William, on occasions, did not use his middle name of Dawson and this has caused some problems with identification.  Jane’s maiden name can also be found being spelt in various ways by the family with one of her children it is down as STUBLEY.  As Jane only put her mark on documents it is thought that she would not be able to correct the registrar’s mistake.  What she would like to know is why, when Jane was born in Wyberton, would she be in Lincoln getting married and where was she in 1841 because she can’t be found on the census?  Here we have the Son of Robin and a Gardener plus the person who puts the feathers onto arrows but STUBBLEDAY is not to be found.    STUBLEY  is  thought to be a place in Essex.  There is always a chance that the name could have changed from DOUBLEDAY.
Robin DUNN has dropped me a line.  His family comes from the north of the county.  A look at the 1901 census on line gives the names of George and Elizabeth as being the eldest members there.  The trail through the 1881 census lead to brothers John and Joseph and their families.  Most families in Lincolnshire were farm labourers but Joseph was the odd one out being a blacksmith by trade.  Robin says that the family was living in Wrawby at one time.  My transcript of the register confirms the link between Wrawby and South Ferriby with the same pairs of names turning up and this takes the family back to the baptism of William, the son of John & Ann in 1753.  The surname DUNN is also the Old English word dunn for dark brown and was sometimes used as a nickname for a dark or swarthy person.  The dark brown hedge sparrow is called a dunnock and gets its name from the same root.
Janice is now an OAKMAN and her husband  George’s family come from Cambridgeshire and many of these lived in the Foxton area in the 19th century.  There were none living in Lincolnshire in 1901 and only 51 individuals in Cambs, there were even less in 1881.  The name comes from the Old English Acmann  and is a straight forward sort of name as it translates to OAKMAN.  Almost without exception the word oak in a name such as OAKES, NOKES or NOCK, OAKER   and OAKENROYDE are all linked to people who live near the oak trees or in a  clearing (royd).  Oakman is slightly different as at one time  (1219 in Yorkshire) it was used as a Christian name as in Alexander filius OKEMAN.
Bits and Bobs
Spalding Tuesday February 6th 1855 - Groundless Alarm - on Friday morning, at three o'clock, police constable MEASURES, while crossing the Victoria Bridge, heard cries of murder, fire &c. On proceeding in the direction of the sounds, he observed females with their heads out of the upper windows of the house of Mr. CULY, who, in answer to his inquiries, stated that someone was breaking into the house. The constable looked well around the premises, but saw nought but a heap of snow, which, it appeared, had just fallen over the back door from the roof of the house, and had awakened the inmates.