Witnesses to a Wedding

It's been a few weeks since my last post here, so here's hoping to return to a regular and more frequent routine. There is certainly enough material from research so far that I find interesting, and more certificates in the mail. Spurring me on are the well wishes of strangers, distant cousins, no doubt, who have written to me or posted after reading the blog. Here goes!

I have already written of the marriage of my 2x great grandparents Ardeshir Kapadia and Zoe Young-Hanrott, and extensively about the parentage and name change of the latter (How Many Ways to Spell Zoe? and A Change of Name). For completeness I thought to send for the marriage certificate for this couple, BMD Marriage Index Mar1886 Lambeth 1d 559, and was not expecting much more information from it than I already had. But it contains some interesting names as witnesses.

First, the certificate itself, for this marriage solemnized at the Lambeth registry office 11 March 1886. The groom, Ardeshir Kapadia, was 21 years old, occupation listed as Law Student, living at 68 Blackheath Hill (in Greenwich SE10), and that his father was Rustomji Kapadia, Tea Merchant. The Lincoln's Inn Admission Register have his date of admission as:
     14 January 1885  Adeshir Rustomji Pestonji Kapadia, of Uny. of Bombay (20),
          o.s. [only son of] Rustomji Pestonjee K., of Bombay, general broker.

The bride, Zoe Devinia Halton Young-Hanrott (other sources have Devina, and no hyphen), was 26 years old, living at 50 Guildford Road, South Lambeth, and confirms her father as James Denoon Young, deceased, Civil Engineer - implying that Ardeshir's father was still thought to be alive at the time.

The witness signatures turn out to be quite interesting - to me at least! The first is Zoe Emmeline Peyen Payne and the second Euphemia Chamberlain Young.

I had previously encountered a Zoe Taylor, as Zoe Young-Hanrott's aunt. According to parish records of St Giles in the Fields, Holborn, Zoe Taylor was baptized 27 November 1840, daughter of William and Sarah Taylor. Living at 59 Great Queen Street, her father was a solicitor. Zoe Taylor is listed as age 10 in the 1851 England Census, living with her mother Sarah Halton (nee Birkett) Taylor, widow, and her sister Charlotte age 25, at the same boarding house as the widowed James Denoon Young. I have not tracked down a BMD Birth Index for her yet. Peyen Payne is a distinctive, possibly unique, surname. A google search showed the author and genealogist James Bertrand Payen Payne, who married Zoe Taylor (BMD Marriage Index Mar1864 St Geo Han Sq 1a 387). For more on his background see this brief biography. The dispute with Mrs. Moxon referred to in the biography, hinges around Payne's management of the Moxon publishing house, which controversially lost Alfred Lord Tennyson as one of its authors in 1868.

The article claims a single son, James Bertrand De Vinchelez Payen Payne, but baptismal records from South Acton 25 September 1878 have records for Mabel Zoe and Ralph Stephen Hacon Payen Payne, both as children of this couple, and the added information that James Bertrand senior was a Colonel R[oyal] A[rtillery].

James Bertrand Payen Payne

Euphemia Chamberlain Young has a BMD Birth Index entry of Dec1862 Upton on Severn 6c 317, and I can locate her 1871 England Census as visitor in the household of Elizabeth Dredger at 50 Guildford Road, Zoe Hanrott's 1886 address before she married. Euphemia is possibly a daughter of James Denoon Young and Charlotte. I have sent for her birth certificate.

Now see this 1881 England Census at 53 Camden Park Road
     Charlotte Dunn     Head   W      45          London EC
     Euphemia Young  Niece  Unm   18          Worcestershire, Ripple
     Violet Young        Niece  Unm  16           Surrey? Battersea
     Zoe Payne            Sister  Marr   35          London W
     Mabel Payne        Niece             7           Middx, Islington

This household came to my attention as one result of a search for Violet Young, Zoe Young-Hanrott's sister. When I first saw this around Christmas, I ignored it as the other names were all wrong, and Young is, after all, quite common. But in the light of the marriage witnesses, this is worth another look. We see Zoe Payne (and her daughter Mabel) who is the Zoe Emmeline Peyen Payne of the marriage certificate. Here also is Euphemia Young (mis-transcribed here as Eupheria), along with Violet, listed as nieces to someone named Charlotte, although, at least for Violet, I would have expected daughter.

Could this Charlotte Dunn be Zoe Young-Hanrott's mother? Her father, James Denoon Young, died in 1868. I searched for marriage records of Charlotte Young with Dunn, and found the following. First, BMD Marriage Index has Jun1877 Kensington 1a 129 Jabez Dunn and Charlotte Young. Further, London and Surrey, Marriage Bonds and Allegations 15 June 1877 records the oath of Jabez Dunn, Esquire that there was no impediment to his marriage to Charlotte Young, widow. Jabez Dunn died not long after (BMD Death Index Jun1879 Brentford 3a 75 Age:41), leaving Charlotte a widow once more for the 1881 census. All this would seem consistent with Charlotte Dunn being my 3x great grandmother. In any case, I have sent for the Dunn-Young marriage certificate.

Violet Young ought to be Charlotte's daughter, rather than niece. There is a baptism 19 August 1874 at Greenwich, East Church of Violet, daughter of James Denoon Young, Civil Engineer and Charlotte, his wife. Her father had died in 1868. It doesn't give a date of birth, but I suspect BMD Birth Index Mar1865 Wandsworth 1d 487.

However, for Charlotte Dunn to be our Charlotte Taylor, born 1826, the ages are all wrong! This 1881 Census for Charlotte Dunn gives 45 when she should be 55. Also Zoe Payne, born about 1840, is given as 35. Here are age records for Charlotte, assuming they are all the same person:
     1826 Baptism shows birthday as 15 January
     1841 Probable census with William and Sarah Taylor                                 age as 15
     1851 Census with mother Sarah Halton Taylor                                           age as 25
     1861 Census as Charlotte Young with children and stepchildren                  age as 31
     1871 Census as Charlotte Young, widow daughter Violet Young                age as 37
     1881 Census as Charlotte Dunn, widow shown above                                age as 45

These are all I have found so far, but clearly as early as 1861 some fudging of age is going on. But I do see the same phenomenon with Zoe Taylor, although her census age catches up with her chronological age by the time of her death.
     1840 Baptism 27 November, age unknown
     1851 Census with mother Sarah Halton Taylor                                           age as 10
     1881 Census as Zoe Payne, shown above                                                 age as 35
     1901 Census as Zoe Payen-Payne                                                             age as 58
     1911 Census as Zoe Payen-Payne                                                             age as 70
     BMD Death Index Dec1920 Greenwich 1d 1001                                      age as 80

I am certain that the 1881 through 1920 dates are for the same Zoe (and quite sure that the preceding ones are, as well), and I do see under-reporting of her age. Thus the same is quite plausible for Charlotte. I expect that the certificates I have ordered will confirm the identity of Charlotte Dunn. In which case surely Violet should not be niece, but daughter - maybe a census enumerator error. And who are the parents of Euphemia Chamberlain Young? In any case I will learn more of the family of origin of Zoe Young Hanrott.