Osborn Notes

Osborn

The marriage certificate of Thomas Osborn and Martha Lane (April 9th 1844 in Stepney) shows their two fathers as William Osborn (Brewer`s Servant) and John Lane (Plasterer). William, Great x 3 Grandfather had married an Elizabeth, according to the 1841 and 1851 census returns. He, in his turn had had a father named William Osborn. He had two brothers, John and Thomas. I cannot be sure about the date of birth or parentage of William (Senior), the Great x 4 Grandfather; but there is a possibility of a further previous William.

I have been helped in my reconstruction of this early ancestry by David Harbott, a fourth cousin through the marriage of Elizabeth (1817-1890) to George Harbott.

By the 1851 census, the Great Great Grandparents already had 3 children in Stratford. They were living at 2 Willows Court, Angel Lane in the Stratford St John parish of West Ham. Thomas was described as a labourer, and the children were Jane, aged 4, Martha, aged 2 and Rosetta, just one month old.

Ten years later, in 1861, the family had grown considerably and moved to a different address - 32 Primrose Court in Stratford. Thomas, William James , Mary Ann, and Ann were the other children; and father Thomas`s brother James, age 34, was also staying with the family. William James, Great Grandfather, had been born in Angel Lane, Stratford, on 30th December 1854.

The ages of Jane, Martha junior and Rosetha match the previous census; but there is a discrepancy with the ages of their parents between 1851 and 1861. So I needed 1871 data to check which was correct. It took me a while to discover that in the meantime they, or the census takers, had altered their name to Osborne. Again, however, the ages of the children all match the previous two censuses, though Ann has now become Ellen. But what is going on with their parents (or the census takers)? Thomas goes from age 24 in 1851 to 42 in 1861 and back to 45 in 1871; while Martha jumps from 26 in 1851 to 39 in 1861, falls to 44 in 1871 and then regains 56 in 1881.

In 1871 father Thomas was a Timekeeper; son Thomas was a Railway clerk; William was an apprentice fitter; and the three elder girls were Domestic Servants. They were now living at 19 Victoria Terrace. And who do we have next door to Thomas and Martha`s family, at No 20 Victoria Terrace, Stratford? Phillis Harwood, widow age 57, born at Etchingham, Sussex; and Emily, daughter age 14, a Domestic Servant, born at Stratford. So that is how the Great Grandparents met.

Also in Victoria Terrace, two doors away, at No 21 was another Osborn family: Father Henry, and sons - Edwin, Walter, John, and Alfred Osborn, the latter two born at Hockerell, the first two born at Stratford. Their mother was also a Martha! Just to confuse the Great Grandson, they spelt their name the `proper`way. More about this family below.

By 1881 Thomas senior had died. There appears to be some division in the family as to how to spell their surname, Martha going back to the original, but Ellen, Jane and William sticking to the 1871 `e`. It seems possible that the street numbering had been rearranged; it seems improbable that two families had moved to the same relative positions, 37 and 41 from 19 and 21. Ellen was a dressmaker, Jane a laundress, and William now a railway engine fitter. In the following year, 15th July 1882, Great Grandfather William James married Emily Annie Harwood. He was back to an Osborn on his certificate, and remained with that surname at the next census when he was living at 47 Dunmow Road, Leyton. By that time, he and Emily had produced Tom`s uncle Will, his aunts Emily and Nellie, and his father George Ernest (born on 4th January 1891). His auntie May came three years later.

The 1901 census showed little change, except that Great Grandmother Emily had died. There is something of a mystery here. I have been unable to track down any record of her death. However, great grandfather William remarried in 1902 - Alice Jane Arnold, a spinster some 8 years his junior. She became known as "Mater" and towards the end of her life lived with Tom`s auntie Nellie.

William Cecil married Alice Elizabeth Raker on 27th July 1910, when he was living at 18 Bond Street, Stratford. They had one child, Nancy. Emily Florence married William Robert Paul and had a son George William on 21st December 1914, living in Epping. Helen married Ernest Frederick Finnis on 18th September 1920, when she also was living at 18 Bond Street. Mabel Florence married Harry Webster in 1917.

I am fairly sure of the Great Great Grandmother`s family, though there are two Plasterers named John Lane in the same census street in 1841, and there are two mothers named Martha Lane living in the parish of West Ham (then in the Hundred of Becontree).

At the end of all those results, it seemed to me that I had been unable to trace any male Osborn descendants of 4 x Great Grandparent William other than our own family. But my doubts were aroused over a coincidence of addresses.

In 1851 and 1861 Thomas and Martha were living in Angel Lane, at Willows Court and Primrose Court. In 1851 Henry, son of John and Charlotte, was also living in Angel Lane. And though Henry, who was a horticultural labourer, had moved to Bishops Stortford in 1861, where some of his children were born, he was back in West Ham in 1871 and 1881 at the Victoria Terrace/Street home that was 2 doors away from Thomas and Martha. In 1901 two sons of Henry and Martha were also living in Victoria Street.

I am inclined to believe that Henry`s father John is William`s brother John: and I have added charts (brief) and (table) to show that ancestry, in case the families are linked.

Return to List of Names that have Notes or Open Osborn Brief Chart A or Open Osborn Table Chart 1