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Regarding two Edmund Chandlers who were both born in Suffolk County in the village of Stradbroke in the early 1800s and who both married Mary Anns:
Of the many Edmund Chandlers in England in the early to mid 1800s, two are particularly easy to confuse with each other. Both married women named Mary Ann and both lived in Suffolk County in the village of Stradbroke. One (my third great-grandfather) is Edmund Chandler Jr. of Brundish parish and the other is Edmund Chandler of Fressingfield parish.
How to tell them apart:
Both couples had children named John and Edmund, but none of their other children were given names that overlap.
Edmund Chandler of Fressingfield was born on 29 Feb 1812 in Fressingfield, lived in Fressingfield, and died (presumably in Fressingfield) on 26 May 1904. He was a gardener and married on 26 Feb 1835 Mary Ann Aldous (1811-1881). They had 6 children. Here are two photos of him (in the group photo, he is left, seated) courtesy of julie18100 of Ancestry.com:
· In 1841 he was a gardener, living with wife Mary Ann and children Edmund, William and Eliza (two days old!).
· In 1851 he was a gardener and laborer and living with mother Martha, who was listed as a widow and head of house (“her husband was a gardener”) and wife Mary Ann. Sons Edmund and William are listed as agricultural laborers; also listed are children Eliza, George, Martha and Sarah.
· In 1861 he was a gardener living with wife Mary Ann, sons George, a bricklayer, and William, a wheelwright, daughters Martha and Sarah, and his mother Martha, age 90.
· In 1871 he was a gardener living with wife Mary Ann. They had a servant, Sarah Runnical, 17.
· In 1881 he was a gardener living with daughter Sarah, a seamstress, her husband Herbert Simpson, a bricklayer, daughter Eliza (domestic housekeeper, crossed out) and grandson William.
· By 1901 at age 89 he was still described as a gardener and was living with a housekeeper, Hannah Pipe, 60.
· He died on 26 May 1904, and his and Mary Ann’s graves are marked with a headstone in Fressingfield churchyard.
The Fressingfield Edmund went on to some local fame when he was presented with a photo of Queen Victoria in 1896 for having assisted in ringing the bells for each of her birthdays since her accession to the throne. (“The cheery and hale recipient of this gracious and kindly present was a little overcome by feeling himself the object of so much attention, but soon recovered his usual spirits.”) A 1904 newspaper article in the East Anglian Times after his death described him as a “good, all-round, honest cricketer.” His son Edmund served in the military in South Africa from 1899-1900.
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Edmund Chandler of Brundish was born in Linstead abt. 1808-09, lived in Brundish, later moved to Beccles, and died (presumably in Beccles) in 1894. He was a farmer in Brundish and was married to Mary Ann Gibson on March 27, 1834. Mary Ann was born in 1814 and died before 1861. They had five children.
· Starting in 1835, he was listed in the Brundish poll books. (The first, or "Great," Reform Act of 1832 gave the vote to men who occupied property in towns with an annual value of £10.)
· In 1841, he was a farmer and living with wife Mary Ann and daughter Mary Ann, age 1. Their daughter, Harriet, 6, was listed in the census as living with Barnabas and Sarah Gibson in Cratfield, about six miles from Brandish. Barnabas Gibson may have been Mary Ann's brother.
· In 1851, he was a farmer of 26 acres, employing 2 laborers, and living with wife Mary Ann and children Harriet (my second great-grandmother, who married Charles Betts), Mary Ann, Edmund and John G.
· In 1861, he was a farmer of 50 acres, employing 3 men and 2 boys, and living with daughter Mary Ann, who was listed as a housekeeper (wife Mary Ann having presumably died by then), children Edmund, John, Thomas, grandson Arthur and Ann Smith, servant, age 19.
· By 1881, he had moved to Beccles to live with his son Thomas, a printer’s warehouseman, and his family. Although 73, Edmund was working as a printer’s laborer.
· In 1891, he was still living with Thomas and his wife Maria and their 4 children in Beccles. He had no occupation listed so he may have retired.
· He died in January 1894.
—Meg Betts Torbert
May 2019