THE JERMYS OF CAISTOR AND LAKENHAM (c1700-1900)

Introduction.

       As described elsewhere on this website, a very large family of the original name Jermyn were settled from ca 1300 to 1800 in and around Hempnall in mid-south Norfolk. They were mostly yeoman farmers, weavers and tailors and left many Wills. They gradually spread out in all directions during the 18th century, with the younger sons having increasingly to make do with smaller farms - as husbandmen - and their sons in turn increasingly dependent upon employment as agricultural labourers. Several such families settled north of the river Yare in the parishes of Lt Plumstead, Salhouse, Sprowston, Wroxham, Woodbastwick and South Walsham by the early 1800s. Many of these can trace their origins back to Hempnall by way of a family settled for a time in Kirby Bedon - as described in the section on the Jermyns and Jermys of Broadland - where the spelling of the family name gradually altered from Jermyn, through Jermany and Germany, to Jermy.

       Thus we find that a William Jermyn born in Hempnall in 1676 to John Jermyn, Yeoman of Hempnall (1648-1687) and wife Hannah (nee Jermyn - possibly a second cousin) settled as a farmer in Kirby Bedon around 1700. He had a son, also William Jermyn born there in 1711 who became a husbandman. In his Will of 1714, the elder William requested to be buried back in Hempnall. His father John had been the Bailiff there and his grandfather, also John, the Steward on that estate. The Vicar at Kirby Bedon appears to have generally interpreted the otherwise consistent Hempnall surname of 'Jermyn' (as possessed by William when he 'emigrated' to Kirby by about 1700) as 'Jermy'. The younger William Jermy(n) married firstly Ann Scarlett and with her had sons William, Richard, John and Benjamin Jermy in Kirby. The eldest son William was born in 1738/9 and by the 1760s had become a farmer in Swanton Abbott. In his Will, he refers to his brothers Richard, John and Benjamin Jermy.

       A contemporary of the John Jermyn who was the Bailiff of Hempnall, son of the Steward there - was another John Jermyn, probably a near cousin - who was the first to become established at Kirby Bedon - where he married Mary Stout in 1671 - and had several children by her there in the 1670s/80s; ie before William the elder arrived around 1700. This latter John had a brother Thomas Jermyn who had already settled north of the river - in Gt Plumstead - where he died unmarried in 1703, leaving a Will. The next Jermyn/Jermy to settle in that area (in Lt Plumstead) was Daniel Jermyn in the 1730s, followed in the 1770s by brothers John, Benjamin and Robert Jermyn/Jermany/Jermy from Kirby Bedon, who settled in Salhouse and Woodbastwick nearby. Another John Jermy settled in nearby Sprowston by the 1780s; his origin, again south of the Yare, is considered below. The progeny of these early settlers spread extensively in that area and beyond - to the present day.

       Meanwhile, another Thomas Jermy had settled in Caistor St Edmonds (still south of the Yare) earlier in the 1700s where, as mentioned, he married a Sarah Burwood in 1720. At the present time, his origin is uncertain (born ca 1690s, say) but we may reasonably assume that he too likely descended ultimately from the Hempnall family of Jermyn, possibly by way of branches in Saxlingham, Shotesham or Stoke Holy Cross (where the Burwoods also farmed, I believe). Kirby Bedon was just 3 miles from Caistor, with Framlingham, Arminghall and Trowse, other possible sources, all nearby. Thomas and Sarah may well have had more than one son in Caistor who, in their time, would likely continue in that area also - initially within the same farming sphere. I haven't confirmed detail on all such potential lines yet but it appears that one son of Thomas - a William Jermy (probably his eldest) - did marry locally in Caistor, on 1 Oct 1749, to a Sarah Browne. They in turn had, besides several daughters, sons William (bp 24 Oct 1756) and John Jermy (6 May 1759). The elder son William married another Sarah about 1773/4 (just where not presently known) and had a son William himself baptised in Caistor on 22 May 1774. This latter, youngest William Jermy, remained in the area and married Mary Barber, also in Caister, on 27 Oct 1800.

[Note: The foregoing was written in about 2007 but more recently, in Sept 2009, the place of marriage for the above 'middle' William Jermy and his bride Sarah has been located. They appear to have left their local village (Caistor nr Norwich) on the day of their marriage in order to have a 'day-out' - in coastal Gt Yarmouth - where they married in St Andrew's church there - on 28 Jan 1773, she as Sarah Candler. William would have been just 17 and one might suggest that the marriage may have been necessarily 'anticipated'. They likely returned forthwith to Caistor where the following year their son William was baptised in May, as shown. (Might they have had an earlier child ca April 1773, one could cynically ask ? Or was young William's baptism simply delayed ?) The detail of the marriage concerned was gratefully provided by 'Brother Rory' (a cousin of early (and major) 'Jermy-searcher' Isobelle Charlton, and member of a Catholic order currently based in the Phillipines) who located same via the Internet when seeking evidence regarding another William Jermy (bn a little earlier) whose wife was also a Sarah and whose marriage details - but in distant Oxford- or Buckingham- shire - were equally lacking (and still are).]

      As implied, there could have been one or two sibling or cousin lines descending in parallel to these Norfolk Williams in this same general area, near Caistor, through the 1700s. We may note that by the 1800s, there was still a family named Germany living in Caistor. If and when any further detail is obtained on both the origin or later expansion of these families, it can be placed about here:

      Thus, it was later concluded that the second son of William Jermy by his wife Sarah Browne,ie John Jermy (b 1759), left the area for Sprowston by about 1780, seemingly to gain employment on such as 'Mousehold farm' there. There he met and married Mary Chester - on 13 April 1782 - and with her had a large family in Sprowston - as described further in Part lll of the section on the 'Jermyns and Jermys of Broadland'.

       In the meantime, we may note that in addition to the family of Thomas and Sarah Jermy in Caistor, a Robert Jermy had small estates in both Caistor and neighbouring Trowse, and by his Will of 1729, left property to his wife Ann (nee Burgess) for life and then to their children Robert and Sarah Jermy. Shortly after, his wife Ann by her own Will left an additional £80 to the unborn child she was expecting when her husband Robert died that year - to provide him or her with funds eventually to purchase tools for what appears to have been the family business of Felmongering. This suggests that any earlier farming activities of this family in Caistor may have been gradually replaced with occupations more consistent with the nearby urban environment of Norwich. The Will wasn't proved until 1750. And we may also note that an Edmond Jermy (born ca 1775), a Yeoman of Lakenham, (beween Caistor and Norwich), wrote his Will in 1829 (proved 1832 in Dean & Chapter Court) making reference to the dispersal of much small property in Lakenham to his children Thomas, James and William Jermy and daughters Ann, Hannah and Harriet. The son Thomas Jermy was a Market Gardener of this same parish and wrote his own very long Will soon after this (in 1836; proved 1837) leaving much of the same property to his sons George, James and Edmond Jermy. There were Edmond Jermyns/Jermys spreading out from Saxlingham Nethergate and Hempnall earlier the previous century and he could well descend from the same line as the earlier Thomas and William Jermys of Caistor and later of Lakenham.

      Finally, we may recall that Clement Jermy Jnr of the Marlingford family (possibly died 1703) also lived in Trowse ca 1700 - seemingly as a coincidence. An Administration for him was granted by the Dean & Chapter Court in Norwich in 1707. He was, I believe, the middle son of Clement Jermy of the branch of the Marlingford family who had settled in Hethersett with his wife Anne. In a Chancery proceeding (C6/337/10) noted at the PRO, a Clement Jermy of Trowse, Gent (on the south-east outskirts of Norwich) defends himself (in the spring of 1702) against one Brigg Fountaine of Salle, Esq in a Norwich mortgage and property dispute. The Jermys of that family were never called Jermyn however (unless by error) and were never involved in farming other than as landlords.

The Jermys of Caistor and Lakenham

     In any case, our prime interest in this present section is the line that descends from Thomas Jermy who married Sarah Burwoood in Caistor in 1720. I believe he died in 1759 but seems not to have left a Will or an Administration (to help establish his origins and descendents). As mentioned, he does appear to have had two or even three direct descendents called William Jermy in Caistor. The last of these, born about 1774 (now known to have been baptised in Caistor on 22 May 1774), married Mary Barber there on 22 Oct 1800 with whom he had a family including sons George and Robert Jermy born in Caistor ca 1801 and 1816, respectively. Between these were daughters Hester and Martha. I'm not yet aware of what occupation or trade was followed by their father William, who died about 1752.

      The sons George and Robert seem to have left the farming world of Caistor and moved into neighbouring Lakenham, on the edge of Norwich, by the 1820s-30s, probably in their late teens - where they apprenticed in Silk Weaving and Bootmaking, respectively. The elder son George was married in 1824 to Maria Palmer, a Bootbinder, and by 1841 they resided in Harman Buildings, Lakenham, seemingly near a large Boot and Shoe factory there. Between 1825 and 1847, they had a family of 5 surviving children in Lakenham: Maria (1825), later a Bootbinder herself, George Jnr (1829), Robert (1832) an Ostler, William (1843) a Baker and Charles (1847), also to become a Baker. (An earlier Charles b 1838 died young.)

      The younger son of William Jermy of Caistor, Robert Jermy (the Bootmaker) also resided in Lakenham by 1841 with his father William, then 67 (as per the Census that year). Robert was married in 1850, to Susan Aldborough, also a Bootbinder, and they continued living in Lakenham - on Prospect Place. They had only two children: a daughter Mary registered in Dec 1850 and a son Henry in June 1855, while still living in Lakenham. The 1851 Census shows Robert and Susan were born in Caistor and Forncett St Mary, respectively. We may note that George named his first 4 children after his wife, himself, his brother and his father, respectively, as well as having two he named 'Charles' - the basis of which choice is less obvious. Robert named his first after his mother seemingly but, again, the choice of Henry is not so explicable; possibly it was the name of Susan's father.

       George's daughter Maria Jermy married John Brighty in 1846 at St John de Sepulchre - just up the road from Lakenham. They had 2 children - a daughter Mary in 1850 and a son John in 1852 - before her husband died in Dec Q 1858. In the 1861 Census, we find that Maria, now listed as a Widow, is living on Portland Square, still in Lakenham, with her two children, aged 11 and 9, plus a young nephew Charles Jermy, aged 7+ (born about 1853), all oddly shown as born in St Giles, Norwich. [This seems suspicious and should be checked out.]

       Other things being equal, one would reasonably assume therefore that young Charles was the son of one of Maria's siblings - as George Jnr (born 1829), the younger Robert (born 1832) or possibly to any unmarried sister she may have had, born before 1836, say. (Her younger brothers would be too young to have fathered him.) If either of the elder brothers had married and then lost a wife shortly after the birth of this boy, possibly named after their younger brother Charles, they may have prevailed upon Maria to take him in for a time. 7 year old Charles may of course have been staying with her for just a night of two - when the Census data was collected that March - living otherwise with his parent(s) - whoever they were (or she was). The youngest son Charles (b 1847), who became a Master Baker, more certainly did marry - a Mary Ann in 1867 - and had a son Charles himself, in 1869. By 1881, the father Charles still lived on Trafalgar Street, Lakenham, with his father George, now 77, a Widower, and 5 children with the almost predictable names of Charles, Mary, Maria, George and Robert Jermy. This Charles, the Master baker, left a Will dated 6 March 1885, the Executrix being his wife Mary Ann.

The Family moves into Norwich.

       In February 2007, I was contacted by a young woman from Norwich - born Marion Jermy - who was seeking assistance in discovering more about her ancestry. She was aware of the details of her grandfather Arthur Jermy (born 1903) in Norwich but seemingly nothing prior to that regarding his origins. I soon identified Arthur's father as Charles Jermy, a Baker, with a wife Ellen who'd married in Norwich in 1897. The 1901 Census confirmed the family living in St Mary Coslany there, he a Journeyman Baker born Norwich about 1877. In the previous Census of 1891, he appears as a 13 year old son living in nearby St Martin-at-Oak with his parents - a Charles Jermy Snr, also a Baker, and wife Sophia, plus siblings Cecilia, George, William and Robert Jermy.

       We may note that these names, along with those of these latter two Charleses, prove remarkably consistent with those of the Caistor/Lakenham family reported on above (if then unknown), except for the eldest child Cecilia (possibly registered as Celia in 1975). Interestingly, all were shown as born in Norwich except for the father Charles - shown in Censuses as born in 'Middlesex' or in 'London' and, by virtue of the 1901 Census, specifically in 'Paddington' - around 1853. But no birth registration or church baptism record for a Charles Jermy has yet been found for that general district ca 1850-60. Nor was he found residing there in the 1861 Census. However, he was found to have later married in Norwich - in 1874, aged 20. Also, there was an intriguing birth register in the name of a Charles Henry Jermy in Sept quarter 1853 - but in Stepney, east London. Both the date and forenames would seem quite suggestive, if not the location. This certificate can always be ordered - to determine parentage; conceivably, it could be revealing. But why would a mother (presumably) leave Paddington and travel across London to Stepney just to register the birth ? Or was the report of Paddington in 1901 in error ? [No, seemingly not; the certificate showed that the Charles Henry born and registered in Sept Q 1853 in Stepney was not born to anyone of relevance to the Norwich area families being considered.]

       If Charles left London as a youngster or even as a baby he may well have met his future bride Sophia in Norwich by the early 1870s. We might therefore expect the 1871 Census to show him living locally as a teenager but no Charles Jermy of that age was immediately apparent there - nor in or near Paddington in London - in that Census. However, in the 1861 Census, a Mary Jermy, aged 10+, born in Lakenham, Norfolk (ca 1850), was intriguingly spotted living in St John's Paddington - with her aunt - one Frances Aldborough, an unmarried Dressmaker, also born in Norfolk - at Forncett St Mary. We may recall that Susan Aldborough, was also born in that parish; she had married Robert Jermy in 1850 and lived with him in Lakenham. Their daughter Mary was soon born to them there later that year and, at some point, she clearly went to live with or visit her aunt Frances in Paddington, London. And, at about that same time, our Charles Jermy, who would later marry Sophia French in Norwich, was himself born in Paddington (according to the 1901 census) - but to whom and was Robert his father? We recall also that Mary's uncle George Jermy Snr had recently named two sons Charles Jermy (in 1843 and 1847).

      One was thus very curious to learn who was shown on the 1874 marriage certificate for Charles Jermy and Sophia to be Charles' father. But, maddeningly, the space for that information was for some reason left blank. Charles was shown as aged 20+ and so born ca 1853. We thus had no birth or parental details for him - only the odd coincidence of his reported Paddington birthplace, in about 1853 (to whom we know not), and a Paddington residence in 1861 of a Mary Jermy whose cousin Maria Brighty (nee Jermy) had a nephew Charles Jermy, aged 7+ (and so also born ca 1853) living with her in Lakenham, Norfolk that same Census year (with a place of birth that appeared suspect). And we find that by March 1861 also, Mary's father Robert Jermy is shown now as a Widower living in Norwich itself with his son Henry (born ca 1855). His wife Susan (nee Aldborough, Frances' sister) had apparently died in about January that year (the death registered in Depwade RD - which included Forncett where Susan's Aldborough parents presumably still lived) and hence the daughter Mary was probably sent to live with her aunt Frances Aldborough in Paddington about then (if not earlier, if Susan had been quite ill and living at home in Forncett, say).

      When the 1871 Census for Norwich was further examined, it was found that Maria Brighty had also moved into Norwich - into smaller rooms in the parish of St James where, as a Seamstress, she had one lodger while her apparent nephew Charles Jermy (as Jeromy, a likely mis-spelling) and, significantly, shown as 'born London', was now also located - living as a lodger in nearby St Peter per Mountergate - as a Baker's apprentice, aged an appropriate 17+ (thus again born about 1853). He, it would appear, was the Charles Jermy who would marry his Sophia 3 years hence.

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      It thus strongly appears that Charles Jermy, the grandfather of Marion Jermy's grandfather Arthur Jermy, is of the same line that descends from Thomas Jermy and wife Sarah Burwood as that of the George and Robert Jermy who moved in from Caistor to Lakenham and then Norwich by the 1830s. But, who was Charles' father and, possibly, his unmarried mother ?? While Maria Brighty (nee Jermy) may have borne Charles herself, this would have to have been while her husband John was still alive (apparently); so there would seem little reason to name him Jermy. She had two married brothers but if either were Charles' father, there would be little or no reason why Charles wouldn't have known and reported this in 1874. There was time for Susan to have borne Charles in 1853 but not as an unmarried mother or widow. And there is no evidence that Maria had a younger unmarried sister. There were other Jermys residing in Lakenham then and it is not impossible that amongst them was a more distant unmarried cousin of Maria's (as Ann or Harriett, say; see above) - who knew the Aldborough girls (as fellow Bootbinders?) and went to Paddington to have Charles. We might keep in mind that Charles named his first child Celia (or Cecilia) which would normally have sone genealogical significance. But no earlier Jermy of that uncommon naming is apparent. We just don't know his origin at this time. Did Maria have a local friend Cecilia (who had Charles by one of Maria's brothers, say), have him christened as a Jermy, then left him with Maria ? It seems but one conceivable scenario.

       What we do know (now) is that the elder Robert's son Henry married firstly in 1880 to an Emma Farrell in Staffordshire (where he worked on Engines) and with whom he had three sons born there in the 1880s. These included significantly-named Edward Aldborough Jermy in 1883 who, in turn, with wife Eva Bickley whom he married in Islington, London in 1919, had there a son Kenneth Jermy, M.A. (1920-2002) who was much interested in his possible Jermy roots (hoping to establish his descent from the landed Jermy (not Jermyn) family of Norfolk). This proved not to be the case but nevertheless, he wrote learned articles about that family for the Norfolk Family History magazine and, for a time, was responsible for holding the extensive Jermy archive - transferred to him by its respected researcher Stewart Valdar once he had become too aged to continue augmenting it - before passing it on to its present and active holder Colin Jermy.

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