52Ancestors52Weeks Week 15 Theme: Brick Walls. Who Were William and Catherine King? I Think I Might Know...

 Charles John King in San Francisco.  Written on back: "Papa".  I love how someone (my great grandmother? My Grandmother? ) took a pencil and tried to fill in the faded part of the photograph. I would love to know whose picture is on the wall....

  The theme for this week is brick walls.  I have previously written about two brick wall relatives:  William Hurd and Alexander Burrows. William Hurd was my 3X Great Grandfather who came from Somerset, England.  I have not been able to find any more information on his family in England.  The only written source I have for him is a short obituary written after he tragically died in the Ophir Mine in Virginia City, Nevada in 1876.   Alexander Burrows was my 2X Great Grandfather.  His family in Ireland was a mystery until several months ago when I received several Ancestry.com DNA matches to the Burrows in Sligo, Ireland.  Luckily I have been able to communicate through email and Zoom with my newfound DNA cousins this year and we have begun to break down those brick walls together.  His origins in Ireland are beginning to become more clear, but there is more work to be done there.  

  My third biggest brick wall has been my 2X Great Grandfather, Charles John King. I knew of his life before his marriage and after his marriage to Anna Levers in St. Austell, England in 1888, but I knew nothing of his life in Stoke Damerel, Devon as a boy.  Why did he join the Royal Engineers as a young man?   Why did he work as an architect/builder? What kind of family did he come from?  His Death Certificate listed William King as his father, and the line for mother said "Catherine ? ".   That was all the information I had to go on as far as his family.   Up until several days ago! DNA may have come through again. 

    
The DNA match and ThruLines hint that came up on Ancestry.com suggested that Catherine's full name might have been Catherine Levers Brown.  That was very interesting, as Anna Levers married Charles John King! Catherine had married a William King.  So, that got the ball rolling.  Maybe if I knew more about William and Catherine King I could piece some things together and break this brick wall.   

  I am still in the process of confirming dates and places, so this information is not written in stone yet.  But, it looks like William and Catherine King might indeed be my 3X Great Grandparents! After doing a quick search I found an 1851 Census for the parish of Stoke Damerel in Devon and the town of Morice (a suburb of Devonport, now Plymouth) which listed a William and Catherine King living on Charlotte Row with their son William. William Sr. 's  occupation was Carpenter and Joiner, and Catherine was a dressmaker.  I scanned the Census page and found a Samuel and Elizabeth Brown living right next door to the Kings.  They were Catherine's parents Samuel King and Elizabeth Levers!  

 I was then able to find an 1861 England Census that listed a 37 year old William King living with a Catherine L. King in the parish of Stoke Damerel in the town of Devonport with their children William, Samuel, Susan and Laura.  William's occupation was listed as carpenter.  Knowing that Charles was born in the parish of Stoke Damerel in 1863 meant that he would not have been on the 1861 Census.  Was he on the 1871 Census??

1871 England Census 

  By 1871 the family had moved to the parish of  Saltash, Devon which is several miles across the Tamar from Devonport. And, they added another family member who was listed as John.  Which was most likely Charles John King.  William's occupation was listed as carpenter, and he worked at the Alma Cottages Small Shop.  Both Susan and Laura were employed as Domestic Servants, while Catherine's occupation was listed as Shopkeeper. So, most of the family was employed. John was a Scholar (student).  I think that I had not found Charles in previous census searches because he went by John, and not Charles or C. J. King.  

1871 England Census Occupations

    So, continuing with the 1881 Census I found the family living on Fore Street; they had previously been living at No. 90 Fore Street and now they were living at No. 16 Fore Street (Tinma Cottage).  William's occupation was now a Master Builder and Carpenter Joiner.  The only two children still at home were Laura, whose occupation was now a dressmaker, and John, whose occupation at age 17 was now a carpenter's apprentice. Catherine was enumerated as Catherine Levers King and did not have an occupation.  She was 56 at the time, and passed away the year after this Census.  

   I am still trying to find documentation that Elizabeth Lever's parents were John Levers and Catherine Rowett.  Anna Levers was the Great Grandchild of John and Catherine Levers.  Charles John King was also the Great Grandchild of John and Catherine Levers.   They would have been second cousins! 

   I am also exploring other family members' naval  careers.  Charles' older brother William was in the Royal Navy, as was his older brother Samuel. Charles John King himself spent time with the 11th Royal Engineers in 1884-1885.  The Morice Town/Devonport/Plymouth area was the sight of the Royal Dockyards and Navy and in 1880 the Royal Naval Engineering College was established.  An 1841 Census listed Samuel Brown living in Devonport and working as a shipwright. His daughter Catherine Levers Browns' baptism registration listed his occupation as "Carpenter of a Man of War" (a Royal Navy term for a powerful warship or frigate armed with cannon and powered by sails).  This area makes perfect sense for these families and occupations. The pieces fit.  

  

  By the time C. J. King married Anna Levers, he had established his carpentry business in St. Austell, which included undertaker.   According to "A Brief History of Undertakers" by Richard Rawlinson, "Early undertakers tended to work as builders, joiners and carpenters, skills that translated to coffin-making at times of death in the village."  After the family informed the doctor of the death and the local "layer out" of the body  carried out the last offices and the parish priest performed the Last Rites the undertaker was summoned to measure the body and construct the coffin.  "The undertaker would return to the house to deliver the coffin, sometimes having to remove a window as the door was to narrow." The deceased would then rest in the front parlor until after the funeral, usually three or four days after the death.   https://www.goodfuneralguide.co.uk/2012/08/a-brief-history-of-undertakers/

  Charles John King became a prolific architect and home builder after he came to Northern  California  in 1894. I can see now how he made the life choices he did, and even why he married Anna Levers!  With some more work, I think that the mysteries surrounding my Great Great Grandfather's family in Devon and the connection to the Levers family will be solved.  I like to think he has a family and a more complete story now. I can't wait to do some more research! 

Relationship Reference:  Me->Margaret Hansen Boothby->Margaret (Betty) Hayes Hansen->Emma Lavinia King Hayes VanDuzer->Charles John King->William King and Catherine Levers King