Page 14 - New Light

 New Light.

Since the first issue of the Bermondsey Pettards new light has been thrown on some of the early family, noticeably much additional information about Christina Louisa Pettard has been uncovered which will be covered in detail later.

More significant is the inclusion of Thomas the seal skinners father, he appears on the marriage certificate of Thomas and Emma Mackglew as Joseph Pettard an Ivory Sawyer by profession, meaning one who cuts Ivory although this could also mean to be bone of tusk from sea animals.  So if only by name and profession we have now gone back one more generation, it could be assumed that Joseph was still alive at the time of his son’s marriage in 1841, normally if this is not the case the word deceased is added alongside the father’s name, but this may have not been the custom back in the 1840’s.  

 With no other information we can only at this point in time speculate on the time frame of Joseph the ivory sawyer, if he was, say 20 years of age at the time of the birth of his son Thomas in 1806 this would but Joseph birth somewhere around 1776.  If Joseph was indeed alive at the time of his son’s marriage then he could well have out lived him, Thomas death being recorded only some five years after his marriage to Emma, but at such a date one would expect a record of Joseph’s death to be registered which is not the case so far with my searches.

I am sure that Reginald Pettard obtained a copy of the marriage certificate of William and Emma which is in the keeping of Margaret Tomlin, however, it is only of late that I finally looked in detail at the document on-line and after considerable time spent deciphering the hand writing I am happy with facts disclosed above.  Namely Thomas’s father name and profession, also Thomas profession is a Furrier as opposed to later references stating seal skinner, but I guess both furrier and seal skinner could amount to the same occupation. 

Also I had wrongly assumed that our Alfred’s wife maiden name could have been Marsh due to the fact that Christina Louisa Pettard’s aunt was a Marsh, I now know that Christina’s mother’s side of the family was Watons.

        

                                St Olaves Sundial 1825