20 August 2009

All Cambridge today . .

There is only one anniversary today so let's celebrate the brief life of Lucy Wolf, my second cousin four times removed.

She was born today in Girton (Cambs), the daughter of Thomas & Elizabeth (nee Flavel) and was christened at the age of just 22 days. In my experience this is usually a clue that the child is not expected to live very long and, sadly, this was the case with Lucy, who died in October that year.

So, let's move back a day, to the marriage of Lucy's cousin James to Elizabeth Radford at St Andrew the Less in Cambridge in 1852. James was the son of Thomas & Ann (nee Hudson) and grew up in Gloucester Place, Cambridge. As an adult he worked as a labourer on the Eastern Counties Railway and died in November 1861.

He and Elizabeth lived in Staffordshire Street (still near the railway) and they had four children. The first, Elizabeth, died at the age of three but her three brothers Frederick, Arthur & James all grew to be men. Frederick appears to morph into a blacksmith by the age of 44; James, at the age of 19, was a bath attendant . . . . . the mind boggles!

The final view of the family was in the 1901 census - still in Staffordshire Street; Elizabeth was the head of the household, a 68 year old widow, and Frederick was also living there.

More soon.

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