By John Slaughter
Welcome to new members Sarah Kearns and Carol Constable and a welcome back to Barbara Sault.
Sarah Kearns is a descendant of Silas Saul, a prominent solicitor in Carlisle, Cumberland but she, like us, had never been able to establish his origins. We knew that he had been born around 1762 and it was thought that he had come from a Quaker tradition but no evidence could be found of him in the Quaker records. The one clue I had was that he was mentioned as a nephew in the Will of a Joseph Saul, a Quaker, that was proved on 21st June 1805. I had Joseph on a separate chart. Sarah had found that Silas had been apprenticed on 16th February 1791 to a John Graham, an attorney. This clearly explains how he became a successful solicitor.
Member Richard Saul had a copy of the will of Joseph Saul which helpfully mentioned several relatives, in addition to Silas. Armed with this I did more research online and found two death announcements in the Carlisle Journal. The first announced the death at Calvo, Cumberland on 11th June 1802 of a John Saul, described as ‘the father of S Saul, attorney at law in this city’. The second announcement was in the same publication on 13th October 1810 and announced the death of Mrs Saul of Calvo described as: “the mother of S Saul, attorney at law in this city”. The Quaker records recorded several Saul deaths where the place of abode was given as Calvo including that of John in 1802 (aged 76), Joseph in 1805 (aged 74) and Elizabeth, widow of John, in 1810 (aged 72). We can establish that John and Joseph were indeed brothers from the Quaker records which records births in 1727 and 1730 of John and Joseph respectively to a George Saul of Newcouper.
Richard Saul sent me a copy of the will of John Saul and he mentions therein his wife Elizabeth, daughters Leah and Rachel and Rachel’s son Jonah, none of whose births are recorded in the Quaker records. Of more curiosity though is why was his son Silas was “cut out of the will”. Perhaps it was that Silas did not appear to follow the Quaker tradition of his forebears and as a successful businessman became a freemason. I think there may have been a conflict between the beliefs and practices of the two. Fortunately Silas’ uncle Joseph appears to have been a little more forgiving. It is always good to break down a long standing wall so thanks to Sarah and Richard
for their help.
Carol Constable is the brother of one time member Christopher Saul. Their ancestry has been traced back to a Robert Saul and his wife Mary at Mundesley, Norfolk. They had died there in 1834 and 1874 respectively and there is a gravestone to them in Mundesley churchyard. They had married at South Repps in 1801 but I have never been able establish Robert’s origins. My own Saul ancestor were from Mundesley but can find no evidence to connect them.
Barbara Sault’s grandfather added a “t” on emigration to Canada. His forebears came from Stalham, Norfolk where the earliest marriage to be found was in 1778 between a John Saul and Jemima Francis. Some of the descendants became successful timber merchants in Norwich and Great Yarmouth, and several articles have been written about them over the years. Barbara’s line went down a different route and I am hoping Barbara will be able to tell me more.
I received an enquiry from David Valerio who advised this he has a Sawle connection derived from a Margaret Sawle who married Joseph Edward Clark in 1884 in Ilfracombe, Devon. Margaret had been born on 19th March 1859, her parents being Robert Sawle and Emily Tregerthern. This links to the largest Sawle tree we have.
St Mary’s Stalham, photo with kind permission of the church, via the Church Secretary