With a tricky
theme for this week’s Sepia Saturday – well tricky for me as I’ve been sick and
my brain isn’t thinking imaginatively.
This is a photo
of my 3x great grandfather, Frederick ROWDEN (1826-1919) with his hat and his pipe.
This is the only
photo we have of him – this and a full length one of the same ‘pose’.
He looks like a lovely old man.
What a lot of
changes he saw in his long life.
Frederick was
born in the summer of 1826 in London. By the 1851 census he was living at 22
New Bond Street, Parish of St Michael in Bath, the head of the house and a
sugar boiler and lozenge maker, with his mother Elizabeth.
Imagine my
delight when last year on our holiday to the UK I found that house.
He married Elizabeth
Deakin PARKIN in Bath in 1852 and had a daughter Mary Louisa who was born and
died in that same year.
My great great
grandmother Emma Laura ROWDEN was born in Bath in 1853.
Frederick
migrated from the UK to Australia on the Gypsy Bride, arriving in February
1855. His wife and
daughter remained behind in England and his wife died in 1857.
By 1864 when his
young daughter came to Australia in the company of the lady who would become
Frederick’s second wife, his occupation was listed as pianoforte maker.
I don’t know how
he came to be doing this, as making pianos in Melbourne seems quite a change
from making lollies in Bath!
He was listed
through the years as being a pianoforte maker, pianoforte tuner, musical
instrument importer, music warehouseman, and music seller.
His second wife,
Elizabeth nee Bowden nee Downing had been married prior to marrying Frederick
and had had a child in her first marriage that died. Elizabeth died in 1879.
 |
| 22 New Bond Street, Bath (2012) |
Frederick’s
daughter Emma had married in 1874. By 1884, she had had six children and become
a widow. I wrote about this tragedy here.
It was this year
(1884) that Frederick married his third wife, Martha CREASEY (c1837-1929).
When Emma died
in 1889 leaving five young children. These children, including my great
grandmother Florence May PEARSON (1875-1947), were raised by Frederick and
Martha.
For many years I
couldn’t find the record of Frederick’s death. I never thought to look in the
1900s records. He died just a couple of months after his 93rd
birthday, in 1919 while WW1 was impacting Australia.
I’ll have to
write more about him later – I do like filling in the stories rather than the
dates.
How exciting for you that you found Frederick's house in Bath. And I agree totally with your last sentence:)
ReplyDeleteYes it was exciting, especially as so many houses were destroyed in the wars or in the name of 'progress' turned into high rise or shopping centres. My Mum's side's 3x great grandfather's house in Bath, interestingly in the same parish as this one from my Dad's side, wasn't there - it had been replaced by a shopping centre.
DeleteLozenges to grand pianos was quite a change. You have opened up your family history to us in a fascinating way.
ReplyDeleteIt was a huge change and one I would love to investigate further. From what I'm finding so far, Frederick's father was a carpenter, so no help there.
DeleteSpotted your comment on Alan Burnett's blog and was stupefied to see your name. I may go by the non-de-guerre of Chairman Bill, but my name is Phil van Bergen!
ReplyDeleteDutch born, but came to the UK when I was about 6 or 7.
Please to make your acquaintance.
I went over and commented on your blog. My husband's parents and older brothers were Maastricht-born and came here post WW2. My husband Paul was born here. Thanks for 'introducing' yourself.
DeleteIsn't it wonderful how a string of statistics and dates (name, occupation, address etc) can so easily turn into a fascinating human story when we begin to fill the gaps in between.
ReplyDeleteYou are so lucky to have all this historical info on your family. I have to do more work on mine!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, you should do more work on it - tell the rest of your family that you are, tell them about your blog - you'll be surprised what they start showing you they have. It's worked for me.
DeleteVery interesting to trace these documents and weave them altogether. People who immigrate history tells us, had to be flexible and be able to adapt to new circumstances. Apparently he found a niche in the piano business and was able to fill it. It's a fascinating and rich story. I hope you'll share more about him.
ReplyDeleteHow neat that your Grandfather had the hat and pipe for this week's prompt. I like doing the stories better than the dates too. My daughter wants me to do a family tree, but I don't want to go through all of that ... I want to tell about each family member and match them up with their photos.
ReplyDeleteKathy M.
You can probably do both - by filling in the stories, you can't help but collect dates and next generations along the way. I just love all the digitised old newspapers - so many stories, particularly in the country newspapers. Are they digitising them in the US too? Australia and Britain are doing a fabulous job.
DeleteJackie - how wonderful to have that photo and to have found the house. You are doing a great job with your research.
ReplyDeleteThat's a fine photo of your 3g-grandfather, presumably of him working in the garden. I'm guessing that many emigrants found that their former occupations weren't quite as in demand as they had been in their former lives, and turned their hands to whatever they could.
ReplyDeleteA fine photo and a worthy occupation too- a lozenge maker!
ReplyDeleteYes, and timely as with this sinus infection I've been sucking on a lot of lozenges!
DeleteA very nice photo, and I am impressed by all the information you found.
ReplyDeleteImagine what he would think of what you've been able to accomplish today with your computer and the net. It would certainly boggle his mind.
ReplyDeleteHe reminds me of a sea captain, or what I imagine a sea captain to look like. Making and tuning pianos had to have been difficult work.
ReplyDeleteWhat a long and interesting life he had. Thank you for introducing us to him.
ReplyDeleteNancy
A fine photo and history. Frederick's occupation interests me not only because of my musical background but also because I enjoy working in wood too. A piano maker is not an ordinary woodworker, as it requires great skill to build such a complicated instrument. In the second half of the 19th century the piano and reed organ became very desirable for middle class households and hundreds of companies started up around the world. Shipping a piano to Australia might have cost more than to make one there. There is a good documentary on the making of a Steinway piano which explains how many trades worked together to build one.
ReplyDeleteHi... Just noticed your blog because I Googled '22 New Bond Street'. Interesting that your ancestor was a sugar boiler and lozenge maker because, by 1851 my x3 gg grandmother's younger brother, Joseph Somerton, had a shop at these same premises. Over the years of the census, although in the same building, Joseph was listed as printer (the occupation of most of his male relations in Bristol e.g. his brother William Henry was the editor and proprietor of the Bristol Mercury), confectioner and toy dealer; I think the shop also sold 'fancy goods' so it must have been quite an emporium :-) I wonder if your chap knew my chap?
ReplyDeleteHi Jackie, I have just read this great profile of Frederick Rowden on your blog. Frederick is not in my family tree, but it seems like he worked for my great great grandfather, George Chapman, in his music warehouse in Swanston Street, Melbourne for a number of years. I just thought I would Google Frederick's name and I was lucky enough to find this page. If you are interested in seeing any other items about George Chapman that might give you some clues about Frederick, I have tagged items in Trove as 'George Chapman 1826-1895' and also as 'George Chapman Sr', so a Google search for either of those will take you to those links. Best wishes, Garry Chapman (Melbourne)
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for commenting. I'll look these up this weekend.
DeleteJackie,
Deletehere's the link to the tagged items, so hopefully if you have some dates for Frederick Rowden working in the music store you will find something of interest. I love your photo of Frederick. http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/tag?name=George+Chapman+1826-1895&allTags=1
Garry