Hi Dorri, Just a thought, but perhaps trying to get hold of his Royal Navy records might shed some light on the father, or his place of birth. I am have computer problems at the moment....I have been trying to get the addies for you, but it's playing up so a few ideas....before you go paying for them 1. The national archives documents online website.....I have found seamens lists etc and various documents of my sea going folk....three pound fifty to download. I found out many things on one of my seaman, including his date and place of birth. 2. British history online (again sorry hon I have to make you google...) I found snippets on another of my seamen that was in the Suez area during a skirmish....details his illnesses and all sorts. 3. But his records at a push should tell next of kin and birth date, place etc..... 4. There are also rootsweb lists.....I managed to get some lovely man on there to translate my royal navy jargon that I found from documents online and also tell me the history of the ships on which he served etc etc. So just a few idea... Happt hunting Cheers Pam from Adelaide Australia > > Hello Folks, > > Is anyone out there researching the Matthews family and has a James > Matthews born 1774-1775 possible father Thomas? > > I believe that this James was apprenticed as a Waterman/Lighterman on > 06/08/1789. For some reason he never completed his apprenticeship. I > have trawlled through the Watermen and Lightermen Company books, but no > reason is given why on any of the apprentice records. > > My James ended up in the Royal Navy and had some of his family in > Portsmouth. Between 1817 and 1828 he moved/returned to the Rotherhithe > area with at least one son, one daughter and his wife Mary. He became a > Waterman, I presume licenced by Trinty house, as the Company books do not > list him. Regretfully the Trinity House records are incomplete. I have > loads of information on the son and daughter, and I know when my 4gt > grandmother dies (1848), but again I do not know when she was born, > however from the 1841 census I know it is not Surrey.

<BC2612B86C094C349C4AAC813DC49997@GENHILLIER> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable MIME-Version: 1.0 Hi Pam=2C =20 Thank you for your ideas.=20 =20 Have spent quite a lot of time at Kew looking at the Navy Records in the pa= st. Sailors on Ships are now listed on the Archives site=2C not yet sure if= this exercise is completed yet. My problem is that James Matthews is a co= mmon name and I have been told that without a ship's name or your ancestor = was an officer you are looking for a needle in a very large haystack. Also= unless he ended up as a Greenwich pensioner the records do not list childr= en or marriage date=2C even there some years are better than others. I hav= e a relative that died in Greenwich=2C and the information for him leaves a= lot to be desired. =20 =20 =20 Now knowing his age at death I should be able to eliminate a few more possi= bles. It has taken quite a few years to get to this point=2C along with a = lot of research into The Royal Navy and the Watermen and Lightermen Company= . Family legend has that one of our female ancestors was a powder monkey= =2C serving with her husband...pretty sure that this is Mary=2C as I now ha= ve the names and occupations of all my mothers ancestors upto @1800=2C and = women were on board some of the ships of that time. =20 My James Matthews's son eventually became a master Lighterman=2C and his da= ughter married a lighterman. I just wonder if they already had links in Sur= rey when they moved there. =20 Shall carry on sifting through the evidence=2C =20 Best Wishes=2C =20 Dorri =20 =20 =20 =20 =20 ---------------------------------------- > From: pamhillier24@virginbroadband.com.au > To: eng-surrey@rootsweb.com > Date: Fri=2C 9 Oct 2009 18:54:59 +1030 > Subject: Re: [SRY] James Matthews 1774-1828 > > Hi Dorri=2C > Just a thought=2C but perhaps trying to get hold of his Royal Navy record= s > might shed some light on the father=2C or his place of birth. > I am have computer problems at the moment....I have been trying to get th= e > addies for you=2C but it's playing up > so a few ideas....before you go paying for them > 1. The national archives documents online website.....I have found seamen= s > lists etc and various documents of my sea going folk....three pound fifty= to > download. I found out many things on one of my seaman=2C including his da= te > and place of birth. > 2. British history online (again sorry hon I have to make you google...) = I > found snippets on another of my seamen that was in the Suez area during a > skirmish....details his illnesses and all sorts. > 3. But his records at a push should tell next of kin and birth date=2C pl= ace > etc..... > 4. There are also rootsweb lists.....I managed to get some lovely man on > there to translate my royal navy jargon that I found from documents onlin= e > and also tell me the history of the ships on which he served etc etc. > So just a few idea... > Happt hunting > Cheers Pam from Adelaide Australia > > >> >> Hello Folks=2C > >> >> Is anyone out there researching the Matthews family and has a James >> Matthews born 1774-1775 possible father Thomas? >> >> I believe that this James was apprenticed as a Waterman/Lighterman on >> 06/08/1789. For some reason he never completed his apprenticeship. I >> have trawlled through the Watermen and Lightermen Company books=2C but n= o >> reason is given why on any of the apprentice records. >> >> My James ended up in the Royal Navy and had some of his family in >> Portsmouth. Between 1817 and 1828 he moved/returned to the Rotherhithe >> area with at least one son=2C one daughter and his wife Mary. He became = a >> Waterman=2C I presume licenced by Trinty house=2C as the Company books d= o not >> list him. Regretfully the Trinity House records are incomplete. I have >> loads of information on the son and daughter=2C and I know when my 4gt >> grandmother dies (1848)=2C but again I do not know when she was born=2C >> however from the 1841 census I know it is not Surrey. > > *************************************** > Send your List messages using **PLAIN TEXT** and always **TRIM AWAY** sup= erfluous old messages in replies. > > List Admin can be contacted at: Eng-Surrey-admin@rootsweb.com. > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list=2C please send an email to ENG-SURREY-reques= t@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subjec= t and the body of the message =0A= _________________________________________________________________=0A= Save time by using Hotmail to access your other email accounts.=0A= http://clk.atdmt.com/UKM/go/167688463/direct/01/=