Peasants to Puddles
My Family History - By Nicky Rowberry

The Puddles

Page 1

Annie Puddle

Annie Puddle was one of my great grandmothers. She has always felt like my most enigmatic ancestor and her origins have always been my biggest brick wall. But finally, after nearly 40 years of looking, I think I can shed some light on where she came from.

From the information I know of her, she appears to have been born around 1875 in Hereford, England, although there does not seem to be a birth certificate, a baptism record or even school records.

She first appears in the records in the 1881 census, aged five and boarding with an elderly lady Eliza Jones. They were living at 58 Catherine Street, Hereford. By the 1891 census, the pair of them had moved to 63 Catherine Street, and Annie was described as aged 17 and a General Servant. Both these censuses and all subsequent ones indicate she was born in Herefordshire. There was still nothing on the census return to indicate any relation between Annie and Eliza, as she was still described as a boarder.

Eliza Jones died in 1896 at 61 Catherine Street, aged 92. Earlier in 1896 Annie Puddle had her first child Eleanor Elizabeth Rowberry at the same address. On Eleanor's birth certificate, Annie gives her maiden name as Jones rather than Puddle, possibly because she was living with Eliza Jones still. Annie frequently used the surname Jones rather than Puddle, whether it was out of affection for old Eliza Jones, or dislike of the surname Puddle, I'll probably never know.

Annie went on to have a further 10 children (including my grandfather Alfred) with Albert Edward Rowberry. The family can be found in the 1901 census, living at 43 Blue School Street, Hereford. Annie this time was described as aged 25. She finally married Albert on 17th October 1903 (at which point she must have been 8 months pregnant with her 5th child by him). This time she gave her name as Puddle. For her father's name though, all she seems to have been able to come up with was 'Puddle', no first name. This suggests Annie may have been illegitimate, it certainly implies she was not on close terms with her father!

By 1911 the family were living at 80 Bath Street, Hereford and Annie was said to be 35. They claimed on the census that they had been married 15 years - presumably this sounded more respectable than the reality of 8 years, given that they had their 13 year old son Charles living with them. Life with Albert was not by all accounts an easy one. He had a tendency to drink and was hauled up before the magistrates in 1919 for not providing for Annie and the children. The neighbours seem to have sided with Annie describing her as "a steady woman" who "looked after the home properly and kept the children clean". The newspaper report below is from the Hereford Mercury of 21st May 1919. Image reproduced with kind permission of Herefordshire History

In 1921 the family were still living in Bewell Terrace, with their surviving 7 children; the eldest 4 now grown and earning money of their own to help their mother. Annie gave her age then as 45 and 8 months, suggesting a birth around August 1876. On the 1939 register the remains of the family had moved to Alexandra Avenue. For the year of birth Annie has put 63, but I think she meant this was her age rather than that she was born in 1863. There is just a question mark against her the day and month of her birth - she never knew when her birthday was. Albert is still with her, as are 2 of her sons, Wyndham and Arthur.

Annie Puddle outlived her husband Albert, dying in 1956 at Canonmoor Street at the grand old age of 84 (approximately of course). I only have three definite photos of Annie - the one at the top of this page and the two below, one taken at her grandson Les Rowberry's wedding in 1954 and the other at some unknown outing.

There is another much earlier photo that just might (and it is only might) be Annie with her husband Albert. It was taken probably in the 1890s or early 1900s by Greetham & Co in Hereford and was given to me by cousin Lin in Canada. The young woman in the photo looks similar to me to the older Annie Puddle. It's definitely a photo of part of the Rowberry family and is from the right place and time to be Annie. The woman is also wearing a small stick brooch similar to the one Annie is wearing in the later photo. Is this Annie Puddle?

So for nearly 40 years, this is where I’ve been stuck with Annie Puddle – no birth or baptism record and no idea of who her parents were. Now thanks to the magic of DNA I think I have at least found her mother. There was a large family of Puddles living in and around Herefordshire/Gloucestershire and Wales and all descended from one couple – Richard & Mary Byron in Oxfordshire, who married in 1756. The DNA tests showed that my Dad and I matched at least 10 descendants of this couple. Most matches suggested the connection was fairly distant, but one match with my Dad indicated a much closer connection – something in the region of 2nd cousin once removed or ½ second cousin. This narrowed it down to the Puddle connection being through one of the children of James Puddle and Elizabeth Farr.

Of the 4 children who survived to adulthood, the sons either didn’t produce any children (that I know of) or did, but there are no living descendants to compare matches. But the youngest son John was probably too young to be the father of Annie since she was born about 1875 and he’d only have been about 15 at that time (not impossible though I know). The other son James was already married and living in Wales by 1875 so is unlikely to have fathered a child in Hereford in the mid 1870s.

So that meant the connection came down to Annie Puddle being the daughter of one of the two girls – Fanny or Jane Puddle. There was a DNA match with a descendant of Fanny but it was a much weaker match than the one with the descendant of Jane. Jane Puddle was also known to have been in Hereford in the mid 1870s as she had her first confirmed child there in 1877. So I think Jane Puddle is probably the mother of my Annie Puddle! It would be nice to get further DNA matches to confirm this, but for the moment this seems the most logical explanation.

Of course working out who Annie Puddle’s mother was, is only half the mystery solved. I still need to work out who her father was. It could be one of the Jones family and perhaps that is why old Eliza Jones took her in. Or that could just have been a good deed and her father is someone completely different. I will have to wait for more DNA matches to work this out.

Remarkably thanks to cousin Margaret, I now have a photo of the woman I believe to be Annie’s mother - Jane Puddle with her daughter Sarah Nurse on her lap and an unknown woman next to her (perhaps the sister Fanny, but who knows).

Jane Puddle was born in 1857; the 4th of 5 children to James Puddle and Elizabeth Farr. She was baptised the following year in Bacton at which time the family were living in the delightfully named Paradise.

The Puddles were still in Paradise, Bacton in 1861 with James working as a farm labourer. But by 1871 things had changed. James was now the landlord of the Apple Tree Inn in Bacton with 3 of his children (including Jane) and a grandchild. His wife Elizabeth and son James were now living in Brynmawr at the house of Lewis Cheese. Elizabeth Puddle it seems stayed with Lewis Cheese permanently and even took his name, although I’ve not found a marriage for them.

Jane Puddle had her first child (Mary Nurse) with the man who would become her husband (James Nurse) in Hereford in 1877; probably a couple of years after I believe she had my great grandmother Annie Puddle. Jane then married James Nurse in Birmingham in 1878, with her sister Fanny as a witness. James & Jane had 10 children in total, so Annie Puddle had a lot of half-siblings, although she may never have met any of them. It looks like the Nurse family remained in Birmingham after that, so Jane may never have seen Annie again. Sadly Jane Puddle (Nurse) died in Birmingham in 1907 aged just 50.

Jane Puddle was part of a huge family of Puddles in and around Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Wales. To read more about this Puddle family click:

The family tree below summarises what I know about Jane Puddle and her immediate family. For now I've shown Annie Puddle with a dotted line to Jane, but hopefully with more DNA results I might be able to firm that up. I've tried to make the tree as accurate as possible, but if you spot any errors, or any relatives, please feel free to E-mail me

Please click on one of the red links on the tree to move to a different page.

The family tree below summarises what I know about Eliza Jones's family (the old lady who took Annie Puddle in). In an attempt to find the link between the Puddles and the Jones, my friend Polly and I did quite a bit of research into this family. If you spot any errors, or any relatives, please feel free to E-mail me

If any of the above is of further interest, please feel free to contact me at: n.rowberry@btinternet.com

© Nicky Rowberry 2023

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Peasants to Puddles - My Family History. By Nicky Rowberry