Where was Joseph Challis (1758 - 1834) of Ramsgate from?

By Debra van Driel Kluit and Clive Boyce

The first Challis family we have found living in Ramsgate, Kent is that of Joseph and Ann Challis and their children in the early 1800’s.  Joseph made his will in 1827 in which he refers to his honoured mother Sarah Challis. She died shortly after in March 1828 and was buried at St Lawrence, Ramsgate aged 91.  We know from Joseph’s will that he left nine surviving children: Ann Wife of Charles Smith, Joseph, Elizabeth, William, Charles, George, Francis, Henry, and James share and share alike”. We are direct descendants of Henry and Francis. Seven of the children were baptised at St Lawrence, Ramsgate. As the will puts them in order of baptismal dates it is very likely that all children are cited in strict order of age in the will and that Ann and Joseph were the first two children. Census data establishes that daughter Ann who married Charles Smith was born in London around 1790. We have not found her baptism and it is doubtful whether she was daughter of both Joseph and Ann. We suspect that she was daughter of a previous marriage. The next child, Joseph, had a twin sister Sarah, and they were baptised at St Mary, Marylebone in 1796. Sarah must have died young as she is not mentioned in her father’s will. She probably died of fever on 29 April in 1810, recorded as Ann Challis , aged 13. 1810 was  annus hornbills  for Joseph and Ann as their son John died in infancy on 29 April and their daughter Maria also an infant died “of bowels”on 27 August. There appear to be no baptisms for John or Maria but we presume that they were twins. There was another son Johnson born in 1812 who died in infancy. He was probably named after his paternal uncle Johnson Howes (see below). Joseph Challis was buried in Ramsgate on 5 Feb 1834 aged 76 So, we know he was born about 1758 and his mother, Sarah, was born about 1737. The consensus in family trees online is that Joseph was  baptised 25 Apr 1762 at Southminster, Essex son of Joseph Challis  and Sarah Lingley who were married 12 Oct 1761 at Sourthminster but there is no convincing baptism for Sarah around 1737 so the evidence for Jospeh coming from Southminster is very weak. We propose an alternative that establishes beyond doubt that Joseph Challis came from Witham, Essex. There was a Joseph Challis/Chalice was born 5 Apr 1758 and bap 23 April 1758 at Witham Essex son of Joseph and Sarah Chalice. Joseph Chalice senior married Sarah Havers on 21 October 1756 at St Nicholas, Witham. The transcript records her as Haven but she was actually Sarah Havers who was bap. Faulkbourne, Essex (about 2 miles from Witham) on 24 April 1737 dau. of Andrew and Ann Havers. Sarah married Jospeh Challice in 1732 when she was 19 which is reasonable given that both her parents were dead. Sarah had an elder brother John born 1733, and sister Ann born 1734 so we presume her parents were married about 1732 but their marriage has not been found nor has the baptism of Andrew Havers which we presume would be about 1710. Andrew Havers was buried at Faulkbourne in 1749 and his wife died in 1753, but their ages were not recorded. Joseph and Sarah Challis had a second son, William b 1760, who went into the army, was seriously injured and became a Chelsea pensioner. He married but there is no evidence of children. Joseph and Sarah also had two daughters; Sarah  b 1763 and Ann b 1766. Ann married Johnson Howes at Witham in 1800 and they live in nearby Hatfield Peverel. Johnson Howes died in 1838 and Ann made her will very shortly after his death. She left her estate to the eight children of her late brother Joseph Challis of Ramsgate. This establishes beyond doubt that Joseph Challis of Ramsgate was a son of Joseph Challis and Sarah Havers of Witham, Essex.