I have said it before and will say it again, Family history is like detective work, you find names that match up with your criteria, name, date and place, but sometimes there are more people with the same name living in the same general area at the same time period. How do you know that you have the right person, especially in the time period before the Census returns were started.
I knew that my 3rd Great grandfather, William Henry Tozer was a painter and decorator, as was his son William Frederick Tozer (see blog February 2019 and September 2018) and via the Census returns I was able to see that he was born around 1810 in Dartford, Kent.
Many years ago I found his baptism record which was on the 9th March 1810 at Frindsbury, Kent, his birth was recorded as being the 13th January 1810 and his parents William and Elizabeth Tozer. A couple of other children are recorded as being from this couple, Charles James Tozer and Elizabeth Ann Tozer. To confuse matters though I discovered another couple called William and Elizabeth Tozer living in the same proximity who where also having their children christened around the same time at Chatham, Kent, they also had a son called William who was christened in 1813.
The William Tozer of Chatham was married to Elizabeth Dixon and he had a chemist and druggist business which produced and sold cough remedies.
The other William Tozer was married to a young widow from Dartford called Elizabeth Couchman, I discovered that she had three young children from her previous marriage, Thomas, Eliza and Selina, and it was via records from these children that I was able to confirm that my William Henry Tozer was from this couple.
First of all I discovered that William Henry's daughter Annette Maria Tozer was staying with her cousins Ellen and Ann Couchman in 1861. Also I found a newspaper article of 1837 that announced that William Henry's brother Charles Tozer was appointed as a Deputy Registrar to Registrar Thomas Couchman of Eling, Hampshire. Finally last week I discovered a Will of William's half sister Selina Couchman which confirmed without a doubt that I had the right family. Selina Couchman, married William Asquith a publican of the Rose and Crown in Leadenhall, London in 1824. In 1838 at the young age of 33 she left a Will which not only mentions her brother Thomas Couchman but also her brother Charles Tozer whom she left a silver watch and also her brother William Tozer of Gavel Lane, Southwark, Painter, who was one of her Executors. Gavel Lane was the same address which is recorded on William Henry Tozer's marriage certificate of 27th August 1837 to Maria Bishop.
From Selina's Will I also discovered that she had another younger brother, James William Tozer. After further research I discovered his christening record, but for some strange reason his christening didn't occur until he was 15 years old, and then in St. Dionis Back Church, London, which is close to Leadenhall where Selina, who was a widow was living, possibly with her widowed mother and brother and her two young daughters.
On the christening record his birth date is given as the 9th October 1819 whereas the record is 29th June 1834. His parents are recorded as being William and Elizabeth Tozer and his father's occupation was Publican.
As I mentioned in my last Blog, William Tozer senior was a Publican at the Crown and Anchor Inn at Dartford where he was father to his three step children and five of his own (two of whom died in infancy), though as I have discovered this week he also seems to have passed away at a very young age. On the 9th May 1817 a William Tozer was buried at Holy Trinity church Dartford, he was recorded as being aged 34 which corresponds with the birth date that I have for him.
I have also discovered that his widow Elizabeth remarried for the third time in 1824 to widower William Rashbrook of Chatham, her married daughter Eliza Jones nee Couchman was a witness at the wedding.
I have one mystery amongst all these facts, that is that her youngest son James William was recorded as been born on the 7th October 1819, whilst his father William passed away in May 1817. Maybe the year 1819 was recorded wrongly as it wasn't recorded until 1834, or did Elizabeth have a child from someone else after her husbands death or maybe one of her teenage daughters had an illegitimate child and this was the reason that he wasn't christened as a baby. There always remain mysteries to be solved.
I believe that the parents of William Tozer senior are Charles and Mary Tozer and I have a possible candidate for Charles, though this also needs more detective work to make sure that I have the right person.
His story will be written at a future time. Next week I will share some more interesting facts about William Henry Tozer the painter and decorator.
