William Furze 1796 Sancreed

[wendy]

Hi everyone

I am hoping someone may be able help me, I am searching for a William Furze born 1796 in Sancreed (from 1861 Census) he married Mary Carne in 5 May 1856 in Penzance Registry Office and had son John Thomas Furze born 1856, I am not able to find a birth for William or find him on 1841/51 census, he was 59 when John Thomas was born so must of been married before but every William I try to follow leads me nowhere, he was a Blacksmith and died in 1868 I believe.



I have been reading the threads but none seem to connect with this William.



Any help would be appreciated

[Cornish Terrier]

Welcome to the site Wendy.

The fact that William Furze was so old when he married Mary Carne does not necessarily imply that he had been previously married. Not everyone married at a 'conventional' age.

The problem with this William is, at least in my own experience, that he simply cannot be found prior to his marriage to Mary Carne. Unless his name has been completely botched in transcription then he simply cannot be found in any Census prior to 1861. William was buried at St Buryan 12th September 1868 age 72 having apparently died in the Workhouse.

All that is known is that he was supposedly born at Sancreed around 1795/6 which, if true, would probably make him a son of John Furse and Constance Williams who married at St Buryan in 1789. I found baptisms for all children of John and Constance except for a William but he would fit neatly into the gap between Elizabeth (1793) and another Elizabeth (1798) if the 1861 Census information is correct.

There may be other Furze researchers here who may have found more information but that is all I have been able to uncover.

BTW - you mention that William and Mary married in the Registry Office 5th May 1856 - do you have a copy of that marriage certificiate by any chance?

CT

[tonymitch]

Hello Wendy,

I have William Furze down as the 4th child of John and Constance. They had 10 children in all. All the others have records of their baptisms, but William seems to be missing. I'm an awful researcher and I haven't a clue how he came to be 'on my list', but there he is Born 1795/96 Married 1852 to 38 yr old Mary Carne in Paul and one child John Thomas Furze. I haven't followed John Thomas up at all. I'll dig around and see if I can find why and how he came to be in my list of children of John and Constance. I can't have just invented him! I'm a descendent of the Furze crowd being about 5 generations down the line (My g-mother was a Furze).

[tonymitch]

Hello again.....oops...William married Mary Carne on 5(? or may be 3) May 1856 in Penzance Register Office. I made a mistake when I wrote "Married 1852 to 38 yr old Mary Carne in Paul".....That should have read..."Mary Carne OF Paul"....Furthermore, you are correct in saying they were married in 1856 Not 1852 as I have it on my data base which would have made Mary (assuming my entry of her birth as being 1814 is correct) the age of 41/42 when they tied the knot.

(See what I mean about being an awful researcher?)

[wendy]

Thank you very much for the information, at least now I have William's parents and siblings names, typical though the one I am researching has no birth/census records. John Thomas 1856 is my friends great grandfather. Tonymitch can I ask who you descend from?

CT No I don't have a copy of William and Mary Carne's marriage certificate, this information was from The Cornish Telegraph. I will order the certificate which will hopefully confirm John is his father.

Thanks again!

[Cornish Terrier]

Thanks Wendy - If you do order the certificate could you please let me know when it arrives. The details will help me with other projects as well as confirming (hopefully) the identity of William.

CT

[tonymitch]

I've been looking at my records and I still can't find how William came to be linked into my Furze family, but he's a fairly recent addition. The rest of his siblings are easily found, but I have a couple of anomalies further back (which I'm sure CT will be able to either verify or put me right) for example, my notes on William's Mother, Constance (Williams) state....."There is no local record of Constance's death. Free BMD shows her death as the end of 1849. "There is however a record of the burial of a Constance FERGUSON of Church Town St Just aged 84 on 5 Dec 1849. I take it that this is our Constance"....

My Furze ancestors are from Uter (1806) William (1839) Margaret Ann (1869)who was my G-Mother. I have approx 80 Furze references on my data base and am in contact with a few in the USA. It's an interesting family.

[Cornish Terrier]

Tony - I've just checked the GRO Death Index and Constance 'Ferguson' is actually recorded as Constance FURZE. Therefore the name entered in the St Just Parish Register is incorrect. (I checked the PR also and it is clearly written as Ferguson so perhaps some of the Vicar's wine went missing that day! )

CT

[tonymitch]

Hi CT, Yep...exactly. Free BMD has Constance Furze, whilst the OPC has Constance Ferguson. I'm back on the board now after not contributing for some time. I've been reading stuff, but keeping my head down. Think I might chase up a few Furzes' and see where it leads.

[spikeharwood]

Interesting topic. I have connections with Furze the other end of Cornwall at North Petherwin. It's hard to believe that they would be related. One married into my Wickett/Woof line. I have DNA matches with several descendants of Wickett/Furze/Woof.

[tonymitch]

Fascinating family these Furze. It is said that they came from Devon. The family have a very chequered history which includes individuals who were rich mining engineers, world authorities on arts and crafts, people accused of murder, nursing pioneers, excellent musicians and by marriage related to the Native American Lakota Nation. Also by marriage, a man who died falling down a mine shaft, an opera singer and possibly (yet to be proved) an undercover agent (akna a spy). Descendants are in the UK, S.Africa, Australia, USA and, I'm lead to believe, China and Japan.

[wendy]

Fascinating Tony, I am sure my friend would really like to know more.

The marriage certificate arrived this morning for William and Mary (not a great copy)
married 5th May 1856 age 60 which ties in with the 1861 census, Widowed, Blacksmith, father John Furze - Deceased - Labourer. So it does look as though he is the son of John Furze 1766-1820 just wish I could find anything from his life before, thank you all for your help.

[Cornish Terrier]

Now that we know William Furze was a widower I believe I have found his first marriage:-

William Furze, bachelor, and Jane Benetta, spinster, both residing at Penzance, were married at Madron 19th July 1817. One of the witnesses was a Constance Ellis who may have been William's sister who married Justin Ellis at St Buryan in 1811.

I have not been able to find any children from the marriage and nor have I been able to find a burial for Jane.

CT

[tonymitch]

Thanks CT. I already had a William marrying Jane Benetta in 1817 and thought it could be 'our' William as the witness was very likely his sister Constance who had married JUSTUS Ellis. I still can't find how William came to be a member of the family on my records. No birth record, but we have marriage and death records and now confirmation, via marriage certificate, that his father was John so....I'm laying claim to him.

Wendy, as a matter of interest there are two children named Sarah (1805 and 1809) and no further information on them...except we have the marriage of a SALLY Furse to Anthony Remfry 1824. I have mail from a relative stating that 'Sally' is in fact Sarah so presumably Sarah of 1805 must have died, but I can find no record of this.