We know from the baptism and marriage records of my 3xgreat grandfather Aaron Wales (b1827) that his father was also Aaron Wales, an iron founder, his mother was called Margaret and they were living – at least at the time of his baptism – in the Burnhams in Norfolk. Their marriage was fairly easy to find at Ancestry’s excellent Norfolk Records collection:
The parish register entry (extract left) shows that Aaron Wales, single man, married Margaret Sporne, single woman on the 8th January 1818, after banns, in the parish church of Burnham Sutton cum Ulph. Their witnesses were Mary Ellis and Thomas Sporne.
None of the parties could sign their name, and Margaret’s name on the signature line is shown as Margret W Sporne (although I’ve found no other evidence of a middle name beginning with W - this may be 'her mark').
In the 1841 census, the couple are living at Back
Street, Burnham Westgate, where Aaron Wales is occupied as a Blacksmith.
His age is 45, his wife Margaret’s is 40 (although both may have been rounded
down to the nearest five years). Two of their children are living with them: my
3xgreat grandfather Aaron Wales (14) and his older sister Susan, aged
15. An elderly woman called Elizabeth Wales, aged 70, is also living
with them: I later found out that she is Elizabeth Burgess, the mother
of Aaron Wales senior.
This
Flickr photostream has a number of images of Burnham Market (an amalgam of former
villages Burnham Westgate, Burnham Sutton cum Ulph), including two Foundry
buildings which may have been built on the site of the former Foundry Yard.
They had four children as far as I can tell, the eldest,
Mary Ann, born a few months after their January 1818 wedding, and baptised in May
that year. Oddly, her father is described as a ‘joiner’ on her baptism record, whereas he is an Iron
Founder on the other children’s baptisms.
They appear to have occupied the smithy at Foundry Yard,
Back Street, Burnham, for thirty years, as evidenced by the children’s baptism
records and the 1841-1871 censuses. These also confirm their birth years
and places as 1794/5, Holt, Norfolk (him) and 1798/9 Burnham Westgate (her). Elizabeth
Wales is still living with them, aged 85 (b1766) and from Holt, at the time
of the 1851 census, as is married daughter Mary Ann and son-in-law Willi
Smith (a journeyman blacksmith).
By the 1871 census, they are at the Kings Head
Inn, Burnham. Aaron is aged 77, described as a Blacksmith; but it seems
that the cottage they occupied for so many years had been put up for sale a
fortnight or so before census night.
In the newspaper collection at FindMyPast, there is an advert in the Norfolk News of 11 March 1871 for the sale, at The Hoste Arms in Burnham, of “those three cottages or Tenements … with the Wash-houses, Out-buildings, and Yards thereto belonging, and now in the several occupations Robert Dawson, William Frost, and Aaron Wales, at yearly rents amounting to £13. 10s. The Property is all Freehold, nearly new, and in a good state repair”.
The Hoste Arms still exists, and now provides luxury accommodation, food and drink.
For
the sources mentioned in bold, see blogpost: MyRoots: Lesly's family history:
Sources and resources: A quick view
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