James Edward GOODMAN (1813 – 1895) and Mary Ann KENNETT (c1816 – 1895)
James Edward GOODMAN was born to William GOODMAN (1778 – 1856) and Mary SUTTON (1784 – 1841). He was baptised on 31-Jan-1813 in Folkestone, Kent, England. He was the fourth of eight children born to the couple who had married on 29-Apr-1806 in the town.
Mary Ann KENNETT was born to James Matthews KENNETT (1785 – 1834) and Ann BUTCHER (1787 – 1887) around 1816 in Brook, Kent, England. Due to the interconnected descendants and limited records from this period hard to confirm the number of siblings she had but probably about fifteen.
As you see from the dates her father died about the age of 50 in 1834 so before civil registration began but her mother lived till records say 97 but think is actually more like 100. Her baptism was 08-Apr-1787 and death registered Q2 1887.
The next record for the couple is their marriage on 11-Aug-1838 in the Eastry district and they start a family straight away with daughter Elizabeth Charlotte GOODMAN (1839 – 1915) being born on 20-Apr-1839.
In the 1841 Census the three of them are living at Eastry Street, Eastry. James, aged 25, is an Ag Lab and wife Mary is given as the same age. In this census of course there was rounding to nearest five years’ of adult ages so unable to use this information. Their daughter is shown as one and a Caroline KENNETT, aged 14, is within the household as a Female Servant.
This would presumably be Mary’s younger sister who marries someone with the surname BUTCHER but they have not been connected back into the family but would likely be related. Also, Mary and Caroline’s mother Ann had a child out of wedlock before marrying called Henwood BUTCHER (1807 – 1893). Caroline also had a daughter out of wedlock and they married a son of Henwood. Keeping it in the family seems a oft repeated concept.
James and Mary then have the following children – Mary Ann GOODMAN (1842 – 1905), James Theodore John GOODMAN (1844 – 1854), Sarah Ann GOODMAN (1846 – 1908) and Richard Henry GOODMAN (1850 – 1922) before the next census was taken.
According to the 1851 Census transcription from Ancestry there are about thirty people in one household but this is not the case. There are a number of errors in the documents it would seem. In the village of Foord, which is actually just an area of Folkestone, the family are found at schedule number 51 next to Ivy Cottage. James now aged 38 is an Ag Lab and the five children are listed although the eldest is called Charlotte E in the record.
Based on the birth locations can tell that they moved from Eastry to Folkestone circa 1843. The two elder girls do not have an occupation but son James, at 7, is described as a Scholar. After this date they have another son Thomas William GOODMAN (1852 – 1917), before sadly losing their first about the age of nine.
Next came along Inkermann George GOODMAN (1855 – 1932) before ending with twins of Edward Stephen GOODMAN (1858 – 1923) and Alma Jane GOODMAN (1858 – 1937). The oldest two girls are no longer in the household but the surviving five children are listed with their parents in the 1861 Census.
In the same area of Folkestone they are living in 1 Old Farm House Cottage which is next door to a Farm Bailiff so presumably they all work together. James is described as 48 and still employed as an Ag Lab whilst Mary is 46 but the children do not show they are Scholars. This notation is only against the one child over several pages of the census returns.
The eldest three girls marry in 1863, 1864 and 1866 all at Christ Church, Folkestone and start families of their own. The first grandchild was actually born in Boulogne, France. Not sure why her parents would have been out of the country and her father’s job of Laundryman per the 1871 census does not seem to give any idea.
Meanwhile, James and Mary seem to be losing their children from the nest as only the twins, aged 12, remain. In this document Alma is written as Emma so presumably this was a mishearing by the enumerator. She is a Scholar but her sibling is a Labourer. James, now 58, is described as an Agricultural Labourer whilst Mary, at 56, is now noted as Laundress. They are found at 2 Back Lane, Folkestone which does not seem to feature on current maps.
Other weddings of their offspring take place in 1875 x2 and 1876 x2 but Edward doesn’t marry until 1896. His wife was significantly younger than him and would explain why he is still living with parents in the 1881 Census. Also, there is one of their daughters with her two children having been widowed before the age of 40.
James (68) and his son Edward (23) are both listed as Labourers now whilst the daughter is a Laundress. His spouse, now 67, no longer has a role but is presumably helping with the young grandchildren. Mary’s birth location is put as Dover in this now instead of Brook. They are housed in Broadmead Back Lane and near two Laundry companies which appear to have been going for a while per the other census returns.
Most times I see laundry work being undertaken it would seem an in house occupation, mainly for widows, to earn enough to keep their family so to see two businesses set up next to each other feels unusual. Is it perhaps something they could do by servicing the hotels being in a tourist area?
All the same people are in the 1891 Census but just another decade older. The address is now given as Sandy Lane, Cottage in Brickyard. James is still working as a Farm Labourer, aged 77, whilst Edward is a Brick Maker. The others do not have any employment but Mary is back to being born in Brook.
The road next to where they are living is Bournemouth Gardens which puts them near the [Royal] Victoria Hospital 1 still within the area of Foord. This institution began in 1846 with the current buildings opening in 1890 and perhaps the couple attended in their latter years.
Mary died on 10-Jan-1895 and buried a week later and then at the latter end of the year James also passed away. He died on 08-Dec-1895 and was buried on 13-Dec-1895.
The eight children who lived long enough to have families made them grandparents something like 57 times. However, a number of these did not survive out of infancy and between 1877 and 1884 at least seven died including twins two months apart who had lived about a year and half by that time.
It is only when you look at the wider family, who quite often stayed close to where they were brought up, that you really get to build up a picture of family life and how happy times were followed so quickly by sad ones. Due to the age range it is plausible that if looked further down that the next generation may have been having families but also perhaps losing children as well.
Footnotes –
References to be provided for evidence at a later date but most research has been done using Ancestry, FreeBMD and Google Maps.
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Victoria_Hospital,_Folkestone ↩︎
