Family Tree Leaves

I have come across this challenge started by Amy Johnson Crow on a number of family history blogs and thought I would give it a try.

The idea is to write about 52 ancestors in a year using a weekly prompt provided by Amy.

I am starting at week 25, but first I thought I would go back to week 23 when the topic was ‘Wedding’ and share this wonderful group photo.

The photo was sent to me by a Granddaughter of the happy couple Margaret Sophia Cashford and Charles Roddis who married in Canterbury, Kent during the summer of 1911.

I am not related to either family but the gentleman seated on the bottom far left of the photo is believed to be Henry Thomas Legge, step-father of Margaret Sophia and a younger brother of my 2nd great grandfather Alfred Legge.

Henry Thomas Legge (1853 – 1939)

Margaret Sophia was just eleven years old when her twice widowed mother Maria married Henry Thomas in 1899, so he must have been an influential figure in her life and possibly the only father she would remember and he certainly looks proud to be at his step daughters wedding.

Henry Thomas, the fourth child of my 3rd great grandparent’s Benjamin Legge and Ann Taylor was born in Canterbury in 1853. He was also a widow with three grown up children when he married Maria, having lost his first wife Sarah three years previously.

Following the family trade

Like his father, grandfather, my ancestor Alfred, his uncles and many cousins, Henry Thomas was a Whitesmith by trade, forging and finishing items in white metal. He started out working for his father as an apprentice (1871 Census) before specialising as a Locksmith (1891 Census).

The Oddfellows Club and Rising Sun Inn

In later life Henry Thomas became a Publican. He was recorded on the 1901 census as living with Maria, and two of her children, Margaret and Rose at the Oddfellows Club, in Canterbury, and then ten years later he was recorded on the 1911 census as the Licensee of the Rising Sun Inn.

As Margaret Sophia’s wedding was just a few months after the 1911 census, the photo may have been taken in the garden of the Rising Sun.

Move to Derbyshire

Henry Thomas was still the licensee of the Rising Sun in 1913, but he and Maria moved at some point to Derbyshire where they died in 1932 (Maria) and 1939 (Henry Thomas).

References:

‘Margaret S Cashford & Charles Roddis (1911) Marriage England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes GRO: Q3 Canterbury 2a 2103 (1911). Indexed at https://www.freebmd.org.uk/

‘Henry Thomas Legge’ (1857) Baptised Henry Thomas son of Benjamin & Anne Legge, Smith, Blackfriars, 31 May 1857, Born 21 May 1853. St Alphege Parish Church Canterbury Baptisms. Accessed at Canterbury Archives (2004) and available at https://www.findmypast.co.uk/

‘Henry Ths Legge’ (1861) Census return for Canterbury, Kent. Public Record Office: PRO RG9/520, folio 137, p. 7 (1861). Available at: http://www.ancestry.co.uk

Henry Legge’ (1871) Census return for Canterbury, Kent. Public Record Office: PRO RG10/1969, folio 7, p. 7 (1871). Available at: http://www.ancestry.co.uk

Henry Legge’ (1881) Census return for Canterbury, Kent. Public Record Office: PRO RG11/959, folio 81, p. 25 (1881). Available at: http://www.ancestry.co.uk

‘Henry T Legge’ (1891) Census return for Canterbury, Kent. Public Record Office: PRO RG12/706, folio 9, p. 12 (1891). Available at: http://www.ancestry.co.uk

‘Henry T Legge’ (1901) Census return for Canterbury, Kent. Public Record Office: PRO RG13/794, folio 60, p. 13 (1901). Available at: http://www.ancestry.co.uk

‘Henry T Legge’ (1911) Census return for Canterbury, Kent. Public Record Office: PRO RG13/794, folio 60, p. 13 (1911). Available at: http://www.ancestry.co.uk

‘Legge Henry Thomas’ (1913) Kelly’s Directory for Canterbury, Kent. Available at: http://www.ancestry.co.uk

‘Henry Thomas Legge & Sarah Elizabeth White’ (1874) Marriage England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes GRO: Q2 Bridge 2a 1079. Indexed at https://www.freebmd.org.uk/

‘Sarah Elizabeth Legge’ (1896) Death England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes GRO: Q2 Canterbury 2a 446. Indexed at https://www.freebmd.org.uk/

‘Henry Thomas Legge & Maria Lefford’ (1899) Marriage England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes GRO: Q4 Canterbury 2a 1893 (1899). Indexed at https://www.freebmd.org.uk/

‘Henry T Legge’ (1939) Death England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes GRO: Q1 Derby 7b 777 (1939). Indexed at https://www.freebmd.org.uk/

‘Maria Morris & Richard Cashford’ (1868) Marriage England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes GRO: Q4 Canterbury 2a 1055 (1868). Indexed at https://www.freebmd.org.uk/

‘Maria Cashford & Thomas Lefford’ (1893) Marriage England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes GRO: Q4 W Ashford 2a 1548 (1893). Indexed at https://www.freebmd.org.uk/

Maria Legge’ (1932) Death England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes GRO: Q1 Derby 7b 790 (1939). Indexed at https://www.freebmd.org.uk/