About Knarled Roots & Entwined Branches
I dedicate this website to the memory of John Frederick Matthews, a baby who lived for
only 1 year and 10 months and whose background is unfortunately "questionable".
To give a brief overview of the background to this family history, I discovered baby John Frederick Matthews in the household of my 2xgt.uncle and aunt, William and Eliza Harris, in Paddington, in 1871, enumerated as a "nurse child" [one who has been adopted]. William Harris (born 1835) was the younger brother of my gr.gr.grandfather Charles Harris of Springfield, Essex, and had married Eliza Charlotte Sach in Bethnal Green in 1863. They had one daughter only, Mary, born in 1865 at Cheltenham and who died at age 17 in March 1883 from Phthisis. I set about trying to discover more about baby John and the reason why he had been given away to the Harris family and began by purchasing his birth certificate.
His mother, Susannah Matthews, formerly Beethom, had registered his birth in Woodbridge,
Suffolk, in October 1870 and subsequent research proved that she had married the named father,
Richard Charles Matthews in Graveley, Hertfordshire in 1866, but after the birth Susannah had
returned to Graveley, where in 1871 she lived as a schoolmistress, married but no husband
present and neither was baby John. Richard Charles Matthews was resident back with his parents
in London also enumerated as a married man in 1871 and I later discovered that he
bigamously married again in 1875 whilst Susannah remained unattached, claiming to be
a bachelor and using the singular name of Charles Matthews, and he and his new wife Annie
Plumley continued to make a life for themselves and their family of children in London, whilst
first wife Susannah was still alive and, at this time, continuing to live in Hertfordshire.
The reason I argue that baby John's background was questionable is because some 12 years after his birth, Susannah had another child, Mabel, in 1882 at Gorlestone, Suffolk, at which time she registered the baby's father's name once again to be Richard Charles Matthews, Ironmonger - exactly as it had been written on her marriage certificate, believing as she probably did, that she was still married to him, which of course she was - but so was Annie Plumley! This therefore begs the question that if she could fabricate the name of her second child's father, then she may well have done the same the first time, hence the reason for giving him away and continuing her life alone without Richard.
Consequent to all this, I have now discovered a link between the Matthews and Beethom families
and a family named Davis; Susannah's elder sister Ann Elizabeth Beethom marrying Archibald
Davis in 1858, they lived next door to the Matthews family at Hammersmith. I do believe this
was how Susannah met Richard Charles Matthews as she had been a witness at her sister's
wedding. Archibald Davis had a brother, Frederick Blake Davis, who was a wealthy Master
Shipbuilder and who I believe was the true biological father of baby John Frederick, making
Susannah's infidelity the reason why Richard Charles Matthews left her. What has brought me to
this conclusion, apart from the use of the name Frederick in the baby's given name, is that
when Susannah's daughter Mabel, born some 12 years later, registered the death of her mother,
she stated "widow of Richard Charles Matthews, Master Shipbuilder" - she was probably right on
both counts and had done her best with the knowledge that she had been given to get it right !!
I wish I knew what happened to Mabel as I think she too was probably the product of a continued
liaison between Susannah and Frederick Blake Davis - Susannah having been present at her niece
Hilda Davis' wedding in January 1882 along with Frederick Blake Davis, who was one of the
witnesses, whereby baby Mabel Matthews arrived exactly 9 months later!
Whatever his destiny, Richard Charles Matthews certainly got away with his Bigamy and eventually died in 1928 in Paddington at the age of 84. I have purchased most of the certificates and plotted the movements of the family connected to baby John from the earliest known days to their dying day and can prove beyond any doubt that my research is accurate. I have both original parish marriage certificates for Richard Charles Matthews aka Charles Matthews and his signature matches exactly on both entries.
Susannah eventually recorded herself as a widow in 1901 and died from natural causes at Ipswich in 1924 aged 79, her death being registered by her daughter Mabel, in attendance, unaware that her former husband was still alive and had made a life for himself and a new family.
Baby John Frederick Matthews forms the base of this tree, dedicated to the memory of his very short, but hopefully happy, life with the Harris's and a tribute to the care they bestowed upon him.
This website outlines and provides the evidence to all the above - I hope you find it to be of interest. Please leave a note in my Guestbook to tell me you have called by.
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Getting Around There are several ways to browse the family tree. The Tree View graphically shows the relationship of selected person to their kin. The Family View shows the person you have selected in the center, with his/her photo on the left and notes on the right. Above are the father and mother and below are the children. The Ancestor Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph above and children below. On the right are the parents, grandparents and great-grandparents. The Descendant Chart shows the person you have selected in the left, with the photograph and parents below. On the right are the children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Do you know who your second cousins are? Try the Kinship Relationships Tool. Your site can generate various Reports for each name in your family tree. You can select a name from the list on the top-right menu bar.
In addition to the charts and reports you have Photo Albums, the Events list and the Relationships tool. Family photographs are organized in the Photo Index. Each Album's photographs are accompanied by a caption. To enlarge a photograph just click on it. Keep up with the family birthdays and anniversaries in the Events list. Birthdays and Anniversaries of living persons are listed by month. Want to know how you are related to anybody ? Check out the Relationships tool. |
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