John Smith's Family Tree Website

Walsh family

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Part 2: Mark Walsh (c1791 - 1854)

Family life and marriage to Elizabeth Vass

Mark Walsh was born c1791 in Barnet, Hertfordshire and was the eldest son of Michael Walsh and Sarah (maiden name unknown).. He was baptised 10 May 1791 in Chipping Barnet. He married Elizabeth Vass (c1795 - 1870) 30 October 1814 at St Mary’s Church, Lambeth, Surrey. Elizabeth had been born c1795 in Hertfordshire, the eldest child of Thomas and Rebecca Vass. It is not known why Mark and Elizabeth married the other side of London, especially as they spent all their married life in the Barnet area, first in the village of Monken Hadley, and then by the late 1820s, in Chipping Barnet.

Both Mark and Elizabeth were able to sign their names so had had some education. Mark worked as a journeyman carpenter but whether he had any ambition to become a master carpenter is not known. Mark and Elizabeth had ten children: Sarah, Michael, Ann, Rebecca Vass, William, Thomas, Elizabeth, Mary Vass, Richard and Eliza. Mark died in 1854, aged 63. He was able to leave some money to his wife in the form of an annuity (an annual payment). She died in 1870, aged 76.

Children of Mark and Elizabeth

Sarah (c1816 - ?) was baptised 24 March 1816 in Monken Hadley. Nothing else is known of her.

Michael (c1818 - c1899) was baptised 01 March 1818 in Monken Hadley. He never married and became a bricklayer. After the death of his mother, he went to live with his younger brother Thomas. He died c1889.

Ann (c1820 - 1861) was baptised 18 June 1820 in Monken Hadley. Before her marriage she was a servant living with the family of William Vass, who was likely to be a relative of her mother’s. She married victualler (publican) John Harriott (1817 - ?) 30 October 1842 at St Leonards, Streatham, Surrey. John’s parents had both died by the time he was 19 and he had younger siblings to look after. He became the publican of The White Hart in Southwark c1840. By 1845, they had a pub in Marylebone (name unknown) and then by 1848, they had The Grapes in Covent Garden. Sometime in the mid-1850s they had left and were living in an unknown location. Within a few years, they were running a pub in Marylebone. They had five children: Walter, Elizabeth, George, Annie and Charles. Ann died in 1861 and was buried in Camden 20 September 1861. John retired and died sometime after 1871.

Rebecca Vass (c1823 - 1872) was baptised 19 October 1823 in Monken Hadley. By the time she was 17, she was working as a live-in servant for an elderly couple. She married Charles Flitt (c1813 - 1866) 27 January 1845 in St Marylebone Parish, London. (Charles' niece later married Rebecca's younger brother Thomas and another sibling would also marry a Flitt-by-marriage.) They lived in Wood Street, very near to Charles’ parents. They never had any children, though they had nieces and nephews stay with them. Charles worked as a carrier, which often involved delivering goods between towns with a horse and cart. Charles did well enough to be able to employ three men and three boys by the 1861 census. Charles died 05 October 1866 and Rebecca appeared to take over her husband’s business as she was referred to as a ‘carrier’ in the following census. Rebecca died 19 April 1872 and was buried six days later in Monken Hadley.

William (c1826 - 1877) was baptised 09 April 1826 in Monken Hadley. He had a variety of jobs, working as a gardener, an ale brewer’s servant and a drayman delivering goods with a horse and cart (possibly working for a brewery). He married Ann Elizabeth Ewington (c1831 - c1896) in St Giles Church, South Mimms, in 1853 and they lived in South Mimms the rest of their lives. They had seven children: William Mark, Charles Michael, Elizabeth Jane, Frederick Thomas, Mary Henry, Henry Richard and Richard Flitt. After William died in 1877, aged 51, Ann worked as a laundress and took in a boarder and a nurse child (who could have been like a foster child). She died c1896, aged 67, and was buried 02 January 1896 at St Giles Church, South Mimms.

More information about Thomas (c1828 - 1899) appears in Part 3.

Elizabeth (c1830 - 1835) was baptised 16 May 1830 in Chipping Barnet and died aged five. She was buried 28 June 1835 at St John the Baptist Church, Chipping Barnet.

Mary Vass (c1832 - 1833) was baptised 19 February 1832 in Chipping Barnet and died aged 17 months. She was buried 05 May 1833 at St John the Baptist Church, Chipping Barnet.

Richard (c1835 - ?) was baptised 22 February 1835 in Chipping Barnet. In the 1851 census he was listed as a ‘scholar’ and lodging with his sister Rebecca and her husband. By the age of 16, children were generally in apprenticeships or working (especially if their family was impoverished) so Richard’s status was unusual. By the next census he was a carpenter, an occupation he undertook for the rest of his life. He married Elizabeth Rastin (c1836 - ?) 20 April 1863 at Christ Church, St Marylebone, London. Elizabeth was the widow of John William Flitt (c1824 - c1862, younger brother of Rebecca's husband Charles). Elizabeth and John had had two daughters, Florence and Rosa, and John had died c1862. Richard and Elizabeth lived in Bermondsey, Surrey, and never had any children. Elizabeth died sometime between 1871 and 1881 and Richard took in his orphaned niece, Eliza. By 1891, he was lodging in Camberwell and it is likely he died sometime within the next decade.

Eliza (c1837 - 1874) was baptised 31 December 1837 in Chipping Barnet. She went to live with her sister Ann as a teenager and helped work in the family pub. She married warehouseman Thomas Martin Le Fort (c1837 - 1874) 31 January 1864 at St James Church, Paddington, London. They had a daughter, Eliza, and lived in Hackney. Sadly both died in 1874, Eliza aged 36 and Thomas aged 37. Eliza Junior went to live with her mother’s brother, Richard, but there is no record of her after 1881.

Next: Thomas Walsh

Footnotes