In October 2012, as the Online Parish Clerk for Plympton St. Mary parish in Devon, England, I had a query
from “Paul” who was looking for any information about his 2nd
great-grandmother, Mary Elizabeth
Callard who he believed had been born in Plympton St. Mary parish, in1837
or 1838. He thought her father’s name may have been John Callard, who had also been born in Plympton St. Mary, around
1804. Paul had encountered a “serious brick wall” in his research. In
particular, he had been unable to find them on the 1841 or 1851 censuses, or on
any birth or marriage records. How he came to conclude that Callard was the
proper surname for his ancestor is documented below.
Paul
had begun his research looking for information about his grandfather, Charles James Stephens, who he found,
aged 10, on the 1901 England census, along with his parents, Charles and Emily Stephens. Paul
obtained the couple’s 1889 marriage certificate on which Emily’s father’s name was
recorded as Samuel Eastman.
A
further search of census records revealed Great-Grandmother Emily was living at
home with her parents, Samuel and Mary
Eastman in 1881. The record showed Mary had been born in Plympton around
1838. It also listed Emily’s two brothers, James, born in 1867, and Thomas
Henry, in 1876, and a sister, Catherine, born in 1878 – all of the children
born in Plymouth. Using this information, Paul went looking for marriage and
birth certificates for all of them. He assumed that the marriage of Samuel and
Mary would have taken place around 1866 and that all of the children would have
the Eastman name. No marriage record could be found before 1867, though, when
James was born.
A
birth record for Emily Eastman was also
not discovered. There was an entry in the civil records for a James Eastman of the right age; so Paul
put in an order for that certificate. The register office called to tell him
that they could not deliver the certificate because it had been cancelled, due
to the fact that there was no proof of a marriage between Samuel and Mary. They
would instead send him a copy of one that had been reissued in the name of James Kellow. He later visited the
Plymouth record office and asked for a copy of the original registration. The
request was refused but the office did apparently confirm that Samuel Eastman
was James’ father. Now armed with information about a second surname, Paul then
searched and found a record for the birth of Emily Kellow in 1868. He assumed, at this time, that perhaps Samuel
and Mary had never married and James and Emily had been given their mother’s
name.
A
search was then undertaken for Mary
Kellow, mother of James and Emily, on the pre-1881 censuses. In 1861, a Mary Kellow, aged 23, and her father, John Kellow, aged 57, were living at 6
High Street in St. Andrew, Plymouth. Both had been born in Plympton St. Mary
parish. The address given for Mary
Kellow, shown on the birth certificates of her children, James and Emily Kellow, was 7 High
Street, Plymouth, which seemed close enough to suggest the census information
was for the same person.
Paul
did not find Mary Kellow listed on
the 1871 census; so he looked, instead, for a womand named Mary, born about
1838 in Plympton, with two children, James and Emily, born around 1867 and
1869, respectively. He found a Mary
Callard, aged 33, born in Plympton St. Mary, living in the Union Workhouse
in Plympton St. Mary parish. But she had four children: William, aged 9;
Louisa, aged 6; James, aged 4; and Emily, aged 2. All of the children had been
born in Plymouth. It seemed clear that this was the individual he had been
looking for, and suggested that there were at least two family names for which
searches should be made.
I
found that the four children of the presumed Mary were all recorded in the
Plympton St. Mary baptism register on March 15, 1871, with the mother’s name of
Mary Kellow. They were in the Union
Workhouse in Plympton at the time of their baptism. No father for the children
or occupation for Mary was recorded. Armed with the census and baptism data for
Mary’s four children, Paul was able to find birth certificates for most of
them, as well. All of the births had been registered with the surname, Kellow.
Paul
knew his great-grandfather, Samuel
Eastman, had died in 1890. On a whim, he decided to see if his
great-grandmother had remarried. He found an 1892 marriage between a John Doble
and Mary Eastman, in Plymouth. He
ordered the marriage certificate and found both John and Mary had been widowed
and that, to his surprise, Mary’s father was shown as John Callard.
With
this information, a further investigation was made for a marriage of Samuel Eastman and Mary Callard, this time for an extended time period. It was discovered
that the marriage was solemnized on November 24, 1874, in Plympton St. Mary
parish – right in the middle of the birth dates of the children listed on the
1881 census. The marriage certificate showed that he was a 48 year-old miner
and she was 36. Her father was named as John
Callard. It also indicated Samuel had been previously married while Mary
was a spinster.
I
found a possible baptism entry in the Plympton St. Mary register for Mary’s
father, dated November 16, 1803, under the name John Kellar, son of Matthew
and Betty Kellar. If correct, we now had a third surname for the family!
The couple apparently had other children baptized in the parish as well,
including: Ann, daughter of Matthew and
Betty Kellow, baptized in 1800; James, son of Matthew and Elizabeth Keller (a fourth spelling), baptized in 1806;
Mary, daughter of Matthew and Elizabeth Callard,
baptized in 1813; and William, son of Matthew
and Elizabeth Kellar, baptized in 1816. In spite of the variance in
spelling of their surname, we were confident that they were all of the same
family.
I
did find the marriage for Matthew Kellow
and Betty Turpin, in Sheepstor
parish, in 1800. I also found the baptism of Matthew to John and Jane Kellow, in St. Germans parish, Cornwall, in 1678. The
date and birth place fit with the information for him on the 1851 census where
he was shown as Matthew Callar.
A
marriage entry was found for John Kellar
and Emma Goad, in the Plympton St.
Mary register, in 1830, that seemed to fit the family. He signed the marriage
register with that name while she made her mark. There were also entries in the
Plympton St. Mary baptism register for three children of John and Emma,
including: Emma Jane, daughter of John
and Emma Kellar, baptized in 1831; Louisa, daughter of John and Amy Kellar, baptized in 1833; and Ann Eliza, daughter of John and Amy Kellar, baptized in 1835.
But
there was still nothing for Mary Elizabeth! We assumed that the family had moved
out of the area prior to 1838, the year the censuses suggested she was born.
On
the 1841 England census, the family was found living in Charles, Plymouth and
shown as John and Amey Killar, with
children, Emma, aged 10, Louisa, aged 8, Ann, aged 5, Mary, aged 3, and James,
aged 6 months. No information was given as to their birthplace, other than in
the County of Devon, but the ages of Emma, Louisa and Ann did fit the baptism
dates in Plympton St. Mary. By 1851, the family was living in St. Andrew, Plymouth.
Amey had died by then – in Plymouth, in 1844. John Kellar had three children living with him in 1851 – Emma, Mary
and James. John and Emma were indicated to have been born in Plympton, Mary in
Shaugh parish and James in Plymouth, the latter two giving in indication where
the family had travelled and worked since leaving Plympton St. Mary parish. On all
censuses John was shown as a labourer.
A
reference for a birth was finally found for Mary Elizabeth Kellar on the civil registration index, in the April
quarter of 1838, in the Plympton St. Mary Registration District. A search of
the FamilySearch website resulted in a hit for a baptism record for Mary Elizabeth Keller, on April 20,
1838, at St. Andrew Ebenezer Wesleyan Chapel, Plymouth. Her parents were shown
as John and Emma.
We
seemed to have completed a circle of names at this point and could conclude
that Kellow, Kellar, Callard and some other minor variations, were all surnames
of individuals of the same family.
The
pedigree for Paul’s grandfather, Charles
James Stephens, along with the many different spellings of names for
various individuals, now looked like this:
John KELLOW = Jane STEPHENS
(m. 1751, St. Germans, Cornwall)
| 12 children baptized as KELLOW
| John buried probably as KELLOW
|
Mathew KELLOW =
Betty/Elizabeth TURPIN (m. 1800, Plympton St. Mary)
| Matthew married as KELLOW
| Two children baptized as KELLAR, one child baptized as
KELLER,
| one child
baptized as KELLOW, one child baptized as CALLARD
| Matthew shown as CALLARD in 1841 and CALLAR in 1851
| Mathew buried in 1852 as KELLAR
|
John KELLAR = Amy/Emma GOAD
(m. 1830, Plympton St. Mary)
| John married as KELLAR
| John shown as KILLAR in 1841, KELLAR in 1851,
| KELLOW in 1861
and CALLARD in 1871
| John’s death in 1877 registered as CALLARD
|
Mary Elizabeth KELLAR = Samuel
EASTMAN (m. 1874, Plympton St. Mary)
| Mary’s birth registered as KELLAR
| Births of four children registered as KELLOW
| Children all baptized as KELLOW in Plympton St. Mary
| Family shown as CALLARD in 1871
| Mary married as CALLARD
|
Emily KELLOW/EASTMAN = Charles
STEPHENS (m. 1889, Plymouth)
| Emily married as EASTMAN
| One brother continued to be known as CALLARD
|
Charles James STEPHENS
