Pulham St Mary lies to the South East of Old Buckenham (both villages marked in blue)
These pages started out to chart the story of my ancestral group focussing around the 1851 census and the Old Buckenham area. However, in so doing I have found other groups in the adjacent areas, which probably have some connection going further back in time. I could just ignore them, but that would mean that I would lose a lot of useful information if I ever get to that "missing link" point, or alternatively I or anyone else may keep coming across the same red herrings. So I will delve a little deeper into a couple of the groups.
The IGI shows intruiging entries in the 1830s for christenings in New Buckenham Wesleyan chapel. These seem to relate to a CHILVERS group from Pulham St Mary Virgin. Pulham is comparatively some distance from Old Buckenham - about a dozen miles away, compared to New Buckenham, Carleton Rode and Bunwell. However, because of the New Buckenham connection you may be attracted to delving more. Don't worry - I've done it for you.
The family were of Edmund CHILVERS and his wife Sarah. Edmund was born around 1810 in Pulham St Mary and his wife Sarah 1813 in what is described as "St Margretts" - possibly Tivetshall St Margaret, a few miles to the North West. The IGI shows the marriage of Edmund CHILVERS to Sarah DUNN on either 7 or 17 October 1833 in Pulham Market, St Mary Magdalene. It also shows Sarah DUNN was christened on 12 November 1813. There had been CHILVERS in Pulham at least a hundred years earlier, as there is the record of the marriage of a Robert CHILVERS to a Sarah BULLEN in 1740 in Pulham St Mary Virgin.
The New Buckenham Wesleyan chapel records show the christenings of
The 1841 census finds the family in Pulham St Mary and lists Edmund and Sarah, along with Rosina, Ebenezer, Mary Ann, Daniel and Ellen.
For 1851 Edmund is a 42-year-old Ag Lab and his wife Sarah is 38. At home are Ebenezer, Daniel, Maria (presumably this is Ellen Maria), Edmond, Sarah, Henry and Elizabeth. Rosin (sic, but incorrectly transcribed as Rosie) CHILVERS is a 17-year-old house servant for a farmer, James UTTING and his wife Susanah in Bergh Apton. Strangely there is a Mary Ann CHILVERS, aged 15 and from Pulham Mary in the household of William SPALDING (aged 53), an Ag Lab from Pulham Mary, and his wife Susan, a 45-year-old from Great Bentley in Essex. What is odd is that this Mary Ann is noted as "daughter" of the head of the household, but this is fairly clearly an error - maybe a niece?
Rosina married a John Spratt LORD in the December quarter of 1853 in Loddon District, and the couple can be seen in the 1861 census in Hickling, to the north-east of Norwich. John Spratt LORD is 29 and a police constable, born in Woodton, 10 miles south-east of Norwich. They have 2 children - a little Rosina (3, born in Bergh Apton, where Rosina was working in 1851) and Henry John (3 months, born in Hickling). By 1871 they have moved to Neatishead where John S is still a police constable. Little Rosina and Henry have been joined by Ebenezer (8, also born in Hickling).
A name like Tryphena must be easy enough to trace - not in 1861 but for 1871 it is, with fascinating result! In 1871 Tryphena can be found, as for many of the CHILVERS family as a domestic servant - but in the household of farmer James UTTING and wife Sarah. Remember him? Rosina was in service with him back in 1851, but he's now in Barton Turf. Tryphena, by the way, was a not uncommon name at the time, particularly among religious groups such as Puritans who often revived names of quite minor Biblical personages. Tryphena appears in Romans 16:12 mentioned by Paul. It is of Latin origin meaning "dainty".
She married a Charles WARNES in the March quarter of 1880 (Vol 4b Page 405), and the couple are found in the next three censuses in Pulham St Mary Virgin. There is a bit of a puzzle though about the 1881 census. The couple are in Old Workhouses, with Charles noted as son-in-law (born in Wingfield, Suffolk), Tryphena as daughter, and a 1-month-old Frederick as grandson of the Head of the household. The puzzle is that the head is named as Ebenezer, a 75-year-old Ag Lab from Pulham St Mary Virgin, not Edmund. A mistake? Well, probably not. There is evidence from other researchers of this family that Edmund was in fact Edmund Ebenezer. All solved!! Charles is also an Ag Lab. In 1891 the couple are living in Street, Pulham St Mary Virgin - Charles 36 years old, a labourer, Tryphemia (sic), which is transcribed a Josephemia, and two children Frederick (10) and Kate (7), both born in Pulham. In 1901 the family are all still together in Street - Charles is a gardener/domestic, Triphena (another spelling!) is a washerwoman, and Fred (now 20) is an Ag Lab, and Kate (15) a char/daygirl servant.
Looking for others in the family we note that Pulham is in Depwade district, and we find the death of a Jethro CHILVERS in the June quarter of 1849 in Depwade (Vol 13 Page 34). The fact that there was a second Elizabeth also indicates that the first Elizabeth died some time before 1850, and we find the death of an Elizabeth CHILVERS in Depwade in the December quarter of 1848 in Depwade (Vol 13 Page 29). An Ebenezer CHILVERS, recorded as being 62 years old, died in Hunslet in Yorkshire in the March quarter of 1900 (Vol 9b Page 243).
It looks however like there was another Jethro - a Jethro Robert CHILVERS born in the June quarter of 1859 in Depwade. This is another one of the clan, because in the 1891 census he is in Ubbeston in Suffolk, along with his father, Edmund CHILVERS, aged 84. Jethro is recorded as being an "invalid". Edmund seems to have died a year later in the March quarter of 1892 in Blything District, Suffolk (correct for Ubbeston). The pair in 1891 were noted as in-laws of a John PAGE and his 50-year-old wife from Pulham, Ellen - presumably the "Ellan" born in 1841. To complete the story of this little grouping Jethro Robert married in Dewsbury in Yorkshire in the September quarter of 1895, and can be found in the 1901 census in Headingley in Leeds, a bricklayers labourer. He is married to a Yorkshire lass from Staithes in Yorkshire, called Hannah, who was also 42, and they had two children Sarah (5) and John E (3), bothborn in Morley. Jethro died in Leeds North in March quarter 1937.
The younger son, James, was obviously influenced by Rosina's husband - as he can be found in 1881 in Halifax in Yorkshire as a police constable too. He lodged in 10 Dean Street in the household of a butcher William FIRTH.
Looking back through the censuses we can find another CHILVERS family group in Pulham St Mary. In 1841 we find a Charles CHILVERS with his wife Ann, and two children Harriet (4) and Hannah (2). In 1851 we find the family again, with a bit more information. Charles is listed as being 45 and from Pulham. He is, as was recorded also in 1841, an Ag Lab. His wife is Ann, 41, a schoolmistress from Weybread in Suffolk. Weybread is described as 9 miles east of Diss. Both Harriet and Hannah are shown as scholars (what else!!) from Pulham.
The family then seem to go missing until in 1881 we briefly find Ann again. This time she is a widow in Broad Street in Harleston in Norfolk, but Harleston is only 2 miles north-east of Ann's Suffolk birthplace Weybread. She is 70, but it is "our" Ann, because she is described as from Weybread in Suffolk, and occupation is listed as "Infants School". With her is a boarder, a 78-year-old retired lady, Elizabeth DUNN, from Harleston. You will recall that Sarah mentioned above was also a DUNN, so this could well be a distinct connection - maybe Sarah's sister? And where have the family been? Is it possible that they emigrated, but when Charles died Ann returned home? Another mystery to unravel!
Finally, we can note that the Shelfanger group, who are the subject of my page "Surrounding CHILVERS families", include a John CHILVERS who was born in Pulham around about 1789. There may be a link between this John, Edmund and Charles, but we just haven't found it yet. White's Directory of 1854 states that Pulham St Mary had a population of 924, so for there to be two (or even three) completely different unconnected families named CHILVERS is a bit unlikely. We just need to keep looking.
Page last updated 9 February 2007