by John Slaughter  

Welcome to new members Carolyn Logan, Pauline Brooker, Valerie Cutts, Francis Ellison and Martin Saul.

Carolyn Logan lives in the USA and has traced her Saul line back to a Peter Saul who, according to the census, was born in Pennsylvania around 1825. He married Mary Ann Heitter on 22 October 1846 and later moved to Stephenson County, Illinois. They had four children Sophia born 1847, Thomas Alfred born 1850, Ella Margaret born 1857 and Peter Frank born 1861. Their father Peter, died shortly afterwards on 26 November 1861. Carolyn is descended from Peter Frank who apprenticed himself to a photographer and moved to Iowa. After his first wife died he married Carolyn Mary Ward. Carolyn has been unable to trace any connection between Peter and the other Sauls in the Pennsylvania area. There is a story that the family originally came from England but details are sketchy and no connections have so far been found.

Pauline Brooker is a cousin of Margaret Holland, a one-time member and whom I mentioned in my previous report had been in contact again. Their Sawle ancestry has been traced back from the Sawles at Wandsworth, Surrey to Falmouth, Cornwall. It was a Robert Sawle, who together with his wife Mary Louisa (nee Elvans), left Cornwall for Surrey. Robert had been born in Falmouth in 1814 and had married Mary Louisa there in 1840. Robert had been a stonemason in Cornwall but his occupation at the time of the 1881 census was given as solicitor’s clerk. The Falmouth ancestry has been linked back to a Robert Sowall and Susanna Kneebone who married in Falmouth in 1756.

Valerie Cutts has Norfolk connections and in particular appears to connect to the Sauls at Cawston, although there is some confusion and therefore room for doubt. Valerie’s 3 x great grandmother was Ann Maria Saul who married Charles James Mitchell in 1864. According to her marriage certificate her father was Robert Saul, a miller, and censuses stated that she was born at Cawston around 1845/6. However this information does not reconcile to either the baptism register for Cawston or the GRO birth index. The birth index does not show an Ann Maria but there are two Maria Sauls born in the Aylsham Registration District, one in 1841 and one in 1845 and Valerie has obtained both certificates. The Maria born in 1841 turned out to be the daughter of William Saul and Mary Ann of Cawston, born on 17 December 1841. Confusingly, though William and Mary Ann baptised their children at Cawston, there is no baptism of a Maria or Ann Maria. However they did baptise a Susan on 16 January 1842 who I suspect is Maria.

The birth certificate for the Maria born in 1845 revealed that she was the daughter of Sarah Saul, spinster of Cawston, and born on 3 January 1845. There is no baptism for this Maria at Cawston either. Sarah is possibly the daughter of John Saul and Elizabeth (nee Risborough) baptised at Cawston on 21 November 1819. My suspicion is that Valerie’s ancestor is the Maria born in 1845 and that she gave her father as Robert Saul on her marriage to hide her illegitimacy. However, as I say, there is certainly room for doubt.

Norfolk is also the county where we find the Saul ancestry of Francis Ellison. His 2 x great grandmother was Mary Saul who married Robert Read at Acle in 1849. Mary can be identified as a daughter of John Saul and Hannah (nee Shingles), Mary having been baptised at Acle on 16 July 1816. John and Hannah had seven children baptised at Acle before Hannah died in 1827. It is possible that John remarried at Great Yarmouth on 22 February 1836 to a Sarah Kerrison. This family chart links back to a John Saul of Little Plumstead, Norfolk who was born around 1696.

Our final new member, Martin Saul, has been very active with his research into the Sauls at Leamington Spa. Martin’s grandfather was Arthur Saul who was born at Leamington Spa in 1902 and married Nellie Swann. Arthur appears on our chart of the Leamington Sauls but I did not previously have details of his descendants. Arthur was one of eight children of Henry Saul and Emily Busson and hopefully Martin will be able to provide further information as to what became of them. Two generations back from Henry is William Saul and Charlotte (nee Carter), William being one of two brothers who moved to Leamington from Horley in Oxfordshire and jointly founded the Leamington branch. Martin has been particularly helpful in finding the previously unknown marriage of their parents John Saul and Ann Tompkins that took place at Leek Wootton in Warwickshire in 1803.

On the enquiries front I have had further correspondence with Nick Saul with whom I previously corresponded in 2001. Unfortunately due to a misfortune he had lost some family papers including information that I had sent him in 2001. At that time we had traced his line back to a William James Townsend Saul who had been born in 1846 in the Shoreditch district but according to the 1851 census was the grandson of Jonathan and Jane Saul. Nick has now obtained the birth certificate and which gives William’s parents as John Saul and Jane (nee Townsend), so the relationship on the 1851 census appears to be in error. There are however some discrepancies between the IGI entries for this family and the census returns so Nick needs to consult the Shoreditch registers to get a clearer picture. The IGI suggests that Jonathan was also baptised at Shoreditch in 1801 the son of Samuel and Elizabeth but again this needs to be followed up with the original registers. Nick is in contact with a second cousin and hopefully between them they will be able to provide further information on the more recent generations.

An enquiry was posted on the Discussion Forum in May 2006 by a Forum Member seeking information about an Isaac Saul and Mary Ann (nee Arnott) of Victoria, Australia. Member Dorothy Hughes kindly offered to assist as she had obtained information about this family whilst researching whether there was any connection with her own Sauls and before concluding that there was not. From the information we have it looks as though Isaac emigrated from the UK to Australia in July 1853 aboard the Ladybird and married Mary Ann Arnott in 1864. They appear to have had seven children of whom three died as infants. Mary Ann died in 1884 and sometime afterwards Isaac moved to New South Wales. Looking through our UK records there is a possibility that Isaac could be the Isaac born at Leamington Spa, Warwickshire in 1838 the son of William Saul and Charlotte (nee Carter), so possible connection to Martin above. Isaac is on the 1851 census at Leamington in his parents household but no trace has been found of him in the UK after that. It is likely that the Australian records will need to be researched to confirm this or otherwise.

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