More about Joseph Challis and his family

Throughout the last year myself and a distant cousin Clive Boyce have been researching the Challis family. As noted in a previous post we were finally able to prove that our joint 4x great grandfather Joseph Challis of Ramsgate, Kent was born in Witham in Essex on the 5th April 1758, the son of Joseph Challis and Sarah Havers. In this article I want to fill out his life with a little more background information, and to surmise about which Challis family he was connected to.

In the area around Braintree in Essex there were quite a few Challis families who were most probably all related to each other though as yet we have been unable to find a direct link because of missing, damaged or unreadable parish registers. Joseph’s father died in April 1768 and was buried in Witham on the 20th April 1768, the age that was recorded at his burial was 40 which would mean if this age was accurate that he was born around 1728.

In Finchingfield which is located about 15 km north of Braintree and 25km north of Witham, we have the family of Joseph Challis (b.abt 1697) and Susanna Fryer (b.1702) who were married in 1724. They had a total of 11 children, the oldest being named Joseph after his father, he was christened 14th April 1725, three years before the proposed birth of our Joseph, but still a possibility.

Another Challis family was that of Daniel Challis (the elder) born about 1664 and living in Bocking which is a small village about 2km to the north of Braintree and 15 km from Witham. Daniel married Rebecca Livermore in 1684 and had 10 children by her, after Rebecca’s death in 1707 he remarried a year later to Mary Bickner, a widow of Purly and had three more children by his second wife. At least one of Daniel’s sons Thomas born 1698 had a child who was named Joseph, who was born around 1730 and christened in 1733, this time a year or two after our Joseph’s proposed birth. Another of Thomas’s sons named Daniel after his grandfather was married in 1760 in Faulkbourne to Ann Havers, the sister of our Sarah Havers ! Creating a tangible link between our Joseph Challis and this family. Daniel the Elder’s son Joseph, born on the 18th June 1704 was married in Braintree to Hannah Puckle or Buckle on the 12th June 1728, as yet I have been unable to find anything else about Joseph and Hannah, did they also have a son named Joseph?

Yet another Challis family in the area is that of Daniel Challis (another Daniel) and Ann Wenden of Panfield, located about 3 km north of Bocking. This Daniel married Ann Wenden around 1699 and had a total of 10 children all born in Panfield between 1700 and 1719, none of his children were named Joseph. I am sure that all of these families are related to each other but which of the three our Joseph’s father belonged to is yet to be confirmed and may always remain a mystery.

What is certain is that Joseph Challis was married on the 21st October 1756 in Witham to Sarah Havers the 19 year old daughter of Andrew and Ann Havers. Joseph would have been about 27 depending on his actual birth date, so quite a bit older than his wife.

Sarah Havers was christened on the 10th May 1737 in Faulkbourne, a small parish just north of Witham. She was the third child of six children though her eldest brother John had died in infancy. Sadly when Sarah was 12 years old her father passed away, he was buried on the 6th May 1749. Four years later her mother Ann also passed away, leaving 5 young children, the eldest Ann being 19 and the youngest Andrew being only 6 years old.

Three years later Sarah married Joseph Challis and together they had four children. The eldest was our Joseph who was born on the 5th April 1758 and christened in St.Nicolas parish church in Witham on the 23rd April 1758. Three more children followed, William in 1760, Sarah in 1763 and Ann in 1766. Sadly baby Sarah died in 1765 aged 18 months and then 3 years later father Joseph also died and was buried in Witham on the 20th April 1768. His eldest son, our Joseph had just celebrated his tenth birthday and William was 8 years old whilst the youngest Ann was only two years old. Joseph’s wife Sarah never remarried but brought up her children on her own and thankfully lived to be 90. My next Blog will be about her eldest son Joseph and his further life but very briefly I want to write about his siblings William and Ann.

His brother William signed up for Military service in 1776, he was aged 16 at the time and served in the 3rd Regiment of Foots, also known as the Buffs, he served for about 9 years until he was released from service by an injury to his leg. During his time of service the Buffs fought in the American War of Independence (1775-83) and, apart from a return to Flanders in 1794, spent much of the 1780s and 1790s in the West Indies.

According to military records he was 5ft 6in tall, had a fair complexion, a long face, grey eyes and light hair and was born in Witham and was a labourer. In the records of the Royal Hospital at Chelsea he was 25 at the time and had served for 9 years and had a mutilated leg which had been amputated. On this record his place of birth is given as Braintree and his occupation as maltster. Sometime after his service William married someone called Ann but I have been unable as yet to find a record of his marriage. In 1841 he and his wife Ann are living in Bocking, he is recorded as being 80 and an army pensioner and his wife Ann is 75. William Challis died on the 14th June 1841 of natural decay, aged 82, he was recorded as being a Chelsea Pensioner. I have been unable to verify if William and Ann had any children, in 1841 they were living with Hannah Row and her son William and Hannah was the person who was in attendance at his death, was she maybe their daughter?

Joseph’s sister Ann was 8 years younger than him, she was born on the 11th March 1766 in Witham and as I mentioned earlier she was only two years old when her father died. Ann married quite late in life, she was 34 years old when she married 45 year old Johnson Howes in St. Nicolas church Witham. Johnson Howes was from Hatfield Peverel which is about 5km further along the London Road from Witham and it is there that they lived after their marriage. Fifteen months after their marriage Ann gave birth to a baby girl whom they named Ann but sadly their daughter only lived for a few days, she was christened on the 23rd January 1802 in Hatfield Peverel and buried in Witham on the 28th January 1802. Johnson and Ann don’t seem to have had anymore children.

In 1810 they were living at World’s End Farm which was located near the River Chelmer in Hatfield Peverel. Johnson Howes passed away on the 11th August 1838 at the respectable age of 83 and his wife Ann passed away a year later aged 72.

It was through the Last Will and Testament that Ann made shortly after the death of her husband that gave us the proof that our Joseph Challis belonged to this family, in her Testament Ann leaves everything to the seven children of her deceased brother Joseph Challis of Ramsgate!

In my next Blog I will try to go into more detail about Joseph Challis’s life and what caused him to end up in Ramsgate. Joseph and Ann’s mother Sarah Challis née Havers also ended up living in Ramsgate where she died and was buried on the 16th March 1828 at the grand old age of 90.