Charles Allen and two Harriets

Murfomurf

Murfomurf

Well-Known Member
I am trying to locate the marrriage of Charles Allen and Harriet Strain roughly between 1836 and 1838, in Gloucestershire, Warwickshire or Staffordshire.

Births of children from the Allen-Strain pair are listed in the GRO, eg.

GRO ALLEN, JOHN STRAIN GRO Reference: 1839 S Quarter in WEST BROMWICH Volume 18 Page 499
and
GRO ALLEN, ANN PHILLIS STRAIN GRO Reference: 1843 J Quarter in WEST BROMWICH Volume 18 Page 576

These seem to suggest that the pair really did marry, but maybe it was long after the children grew up. I need to find out! Among trees on the A site, people claim that Charles Allen married Harriet Parr in St Philip's, Birmingham in 1830, but if they had any children, none extended as far as June 1837 to land in the GRO records. Also, those trees sometimes list different names as the children of Allen and Parr. Nobody has bothered with proper sources for their claims, so I'm slightly flummoxed.

Perhaps someone with access to FMP might look up a few of these people? Incidentally, I have a baptism for a Harriet Strain in Alcester in Jan 1812, and a Charles Frederick Allen in Corse Gloucestershire in Aug 1809. Maybe Harriet Parr died and the same Charles went on to marry Harriet Strain??
 
If this is the correct family, they can be found in 1851 living at 69 Ninevah, Birmingham, Warwickshire:
Charles, 40, Brewer, b Gloucestershire
Harriet, 37, b Gloucestershire
John, 11, Pearl Button Maker, b Handsworth, Staffs
Ann, 7, Scholar, b Handsworth, Staffs
Harriet, 6, At home, b Gib Heath, Warwickshire
Ellen, 8 months, b Gib Heath, Warwickshire

piece 2059, folio 390, page 8
 
In 1841, they are living in Soho Street, Handsworth - Charles' occupation is also a Brewer and he and Harriet are not born in county. They also look like they have a 3 year old son Charles with them, born in county, as well as John.
 
Not that I can find a marriage, but on the 1841 census
Soho Street, Handsworth, West Bromwich (Staffs)
Charles age 25, Harriett age 25, Charles age 3, John age 1, have a visor in the household by the name of Amelia Strain age 20
Which reinforces that Harriet was a Strain.
HO107 piece 980 book 1 folio 15 page 22
 
Having found the baptism of their daughter Ellen (Helen Lucy) I then searched for her as Helen and found her with mother Harriet Slater in 1881 (RG11 p3007,f144,p23) then a marriage of Harriet Strain (father John) to William Slater 29 )ct 1859.
So it looks like she wasnt married to John Allen although she claimed to be a widow when Marrying William!
 
Last edited:
Daughter Harriet married William Avery and is with Harriet and William Slater in 1871
Ellen Lucy m John Henry Stevens 22 Mar 1893 in Leamington Spa but said her father Charles Frederick (dec) was a butcher, as did Harriet
 
Londoner said:
...then a marriage of Harriet Strain (father John) to William Slater 29 )ct 1859...although she claimed to be a widow when Marrying William!
Click to expand...
I thought that this one was another Harriet Strain as I expected any further marriage to be as Harriet Allen! You were quite perceptive using Helen Lucy as the clue to the exact Harriet I wanted, but she is actually registered as plain Lucy, while a deceased infant was registered as Ellen Lucy! Lucy's reg:
Lucy Allen
B:Mar 1882 Birmingham, Warwickshire, England; V6d p165; mother Lee
D:10 Aug 1961 Birmingham, Warwickshire, England
What a misleading bunch- and what of the Brewer vs the Butcher?
 
Came across maybe an odd complcation with a Harriet Strain marrying a Thomas Strain who died in 1837:
Thomas Strain 1810- 1837 Harriet Strain
FamilySearch: Marriage 18 Oct 1832 Place Birmingham, Warwickshire, England p584 https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QGDP-8FGF; Warwick County Record Office; FHL 813,729.

There are 3 children recorded living with Harriet Strain in the 1841 Census:
Alcester, Pce 1124 Book 2 Folio 6 p4
Harriet Strain 25
Geo Strain 8
Thos Strain 6
William Strain 1- whose child is he? Charles Allen's?

In 1851 George (no William or Thomas) are living with their Grandparents:
Alcester, HSO136 Pce 2075 Folio 321 p43
Thomas Strain 74
Hannah Strain 66
Elizth Strain 30
Merry Strain 24
George Strain 16

I later found young Thomas in 1851 living with David Cooper's family which was previously next to the Strain household, described as a Son in Law- David Cooper must have married one of the senior Strain's daughters.
HSO 18 Pce 2075 Folio 303 p6
 
Murfomurf said:
I later found young Thomas in 1851 living with David Cooper's family which was previously next to the Strain household, described as a Son in Law- David Cooper must have married one of the senior Strain's daughters.
HSO 18 Pce 2075 Folio 303 p6
Click to expand...
Possible
Code: 
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NVXK-VYR
 
According to the parish register image both Charles ALLEN & Harriet PARR were single and of the parish when they married at Birmingham St Philip on 24 January 1830 and the incumbent has specified two other grooms on the same page as being widowers when they married, so perhaps an indication that both Charles & Harriet were actually single. Not that I can find either of them with any certainty after that, nor have I found a baptism for a Harriet PARR so far although there are a lot of PARRs at Handsworth.

There is certainly an entry in the parish register of Alcester for the baptism of Harriet STRAIN on 5 January 1812 daughter of John & Sarah STRAIN. However, and perhaps relevant, there is a baptism at Gloucester St Mary de Lode on 23 June 1813 for a Sarah Harriet STRAIN daughter of Thomas & Elizabeth STRAIN, Twigworth St Mary, Butcher. Also a baptism at Dymock, Gloucestershire, on 22 October 1820 for Amelia daughter of John & Anne STRAIN, Dymock, Labourer. So perhaps there is a Gloucestershire connection as the 1851 Birmingham census record for Charles & Harriet ALLEN suggests.

Admitted into the church at Corse, Gloucestershire, on 31 January 1812 Charles Frederick ALLEN son of Charles & Mary ALLEN, he being privately baptised on 18 August 1809. Corse is not too far from Twigworth. 1841 census of Gloucester St Mary de Lode shows a Charles ALLEN aged 60, Butcher - perhaps Charles snr? Although having said that, there is a marriage at Gloucester St Mary de Lode on 31 December 1831 of Charles Frederick ALLEN to an Ann HORTON, so perhaps not the correct Charles ALLEN.

Think it is getting even more complicated!!

Janet
 
Lucy Allen
B:Mar 1882 Birmingham, Warwickshire, England; V6d p165; mother Lee
this was the daughter of John Henry Allen ( father Charles, butcher) who married Sara Ann Lee October 1859 other children George, Charles and Ellen.
with them in 1891 (Birmingham St George ED 21, p 2388, f110) is a nephew James E Graston who I think is the Elton who appears in 1881 with grandmother Harriet and I think I found a possible marriage of her daughter Ann to A Daniel Grayston but unfortunately my note went on the fire last night!
 
James Elton Grayston 1874 Birmingha has mmn Allen, Also Charles Frederick Grayston 1876
 
Londoner said:
Lucy Allen
B:Mar 1882 Birmingham, Warwickshire, England; V6d p165; mother Lee
...unfortunately my note went on the fire last night!
Click to expand...
The children of the Allen-Lee marriage are the ones I have been focused on but I needed to know the parents and forbears of the Allens, which is where I still seem stuck! I couldn't find suitable info from Gloucestershire but that data from @Janet is promising- but still not decisive. There seem to be unexplained holes in all the families we've come across which I thought FMP might help to solve. I need to draw up some logic tables of who was where and when, after just finishing a monster one for some Myatts. Brain is going to mush.
 
Out the window went Sarah Harriet Strain- she married Henry Yeates in 1833 Hempstead and died in 1846, Gloucester.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top