Thomas Lewis and Family
It is Elizabeth Cooper’s family history that gives us all the clues that we need to research Thomas’ family.
We are told that he married an “Ann” and that they had five children but that only one child, namely Susanna, had any further children. Susanna is usually referred to as Susan and this is true of her Census entries and her name as it appears on the Will of her father, Thomas Lewis. The Will is reproduced here or by selecting its drop down menu option. We can see from the Will that only three children are mentioned as beneficiaries, namely Ann, James and Susan.
We are also told by Elizabeth Cooper that Thomas went to live with Susan and her family after his wife had died.
We see, indeed, that Susan and her family are living with Thomas Lewis in 1851 in a place called Bensons Bush. Thomas died in 1852 but Susan and her family continued to live in this property at least as late as the 1881 Census and at times the property was referred to as “Tiplins”.
We see here that in 1841 Thomas Lewis was living in Newchurch East with the other two children who are mentioned as beneficiaries in his Will. This entry was difficult to find as Thomas has quoted his age incorrectly as 60 years. This should have been 65 (rounded down from 66 to a multiple of 5 as was requested for this Census).
The above Census entries and the Will identify three of his children but not his wife and any other children. However, we are told by Elizabeth Cooper that his wife had died. It is the graveyard of Earlswood Chapel that gives us these last pieces of information to complete his family. This is recorded below. Note that Thomas had six children but one, Ann, was from his first marriage.
In summary, Thomas’ six children are
Ann, born c1811
Thomas, 1812
James, 1815
Elizabeth, c1817
Susanna, 1819 and
John, 1822
Wife, Ann Madley, and two children
The gravestone on the left of the above photograph carries the inscription – “Ann wife of Thomas Lewis of the parish of Newchurch East died Oct. 18th 1835 aged 53 years. Also Elizabeth Lewis daughter of the above died September 12th 1835 aged 18 years and 9 months. Also Thomas Lewis son of the above died Nov. 29th 1819 aged 7 years and 4 months.“
We are looking for a spouse of Thomas Lewis with the forename of Ann. From the above inscription it is relatively easy to establish that “this” Ann was baptised on the 27th October 1782 and that her maiden surname was Madley. We can also identify a marriage between Ann Madley and Thomas Lewis in Newchurch on the 6th November 1811. This grave is certain to be that of Thomas Lewis’ wife and two of their children.
Of interest is that Thomas Lewis is entered as a “widower” on the marriage entry. It is also clear that his daughter, Ann, was born about 1805 (by inference from her entry in the 1851 Census), predating this wedding. Ann, therefore, is not a daughter of Ann Madley. It is believed that Thomas’ first wife was an Elizabeth Merrick and that they were married in 1799.
Also in the above photograph we can see that this grave is near to the gravestone of Ann Rosser on the front wall of the Chapel. Elizabeth Cooper, in one of her historical accounts, states that Ann Rosser’s gravestone was on the ground near to the door but broke away and was then fixed to the wall. From Elizabeth Cooper’s description the reddish stone beside the grave of Ann Lewis and her two children is the original place of Ann Rosser’s stone. The proximity of these two graves lends weight to the identification of Ann Lewis as a daughter-in-law of Ann Rosser and that the two deceased children are her grandchildren.