by John Slaughter  

I am pleased to welcome two new members, Debbie Brogan and Kathleen Saul.

I gave details of Debbie’s connection to the Sauls’ at Byfield, Northants in my report in the August 2009 journal.

Kathleen Saul lives in Australia having emigrated from the UK in 1984. From her research she had linked her husband’s Saul lineage back to a William Saul and Martha Hodgson of Cartmel, Lancashire who had raised their family there between 1800 and 1824. From correspondence with Kathleen we were able to confirm the line back to a John Saul who according to census returns was born in Cartmel around 1802. The difficulty that arose however was that the Cartmel baptism registers do not apparently include the baptism of a John. Member Peter Saul is a descendant of William and Martha and joined in the discussion. The vital piece of information was provided by obtaining a copy of the marriage certificate of John Saul when he married Margaret Greenwell at Kirkby Stephen, Westmorland in 1847. The certificate showed that John’s father was a William Saul, a farmer by occupation. This made it virtually certain that John was indeed a son of William and Martha. It may be that the baptism was missed from the register or perhaps it is recorded in another parish. John was also a farmer and lived at Soulby, Westmorland where he had six children by his wife Margaret. Kathleen has provided some information about the descendants and which has enabled me to add a new branch onto what was already a sizeable family tree.

Interesting new enquiries continue to be received. One such was from a John Souttar whose family history research had led him back to the diaries of a Dr John Dee who lived in Elizabethan times.  The diaries mention therein a Barnabus Saul and his brother Edward. The diary entries indicate that their father lived at Stratton Audley, Oxfordshire which is in the heart of one of our known Saul areas. John has very kindly put together a most interesting article about what is known of Barnabus Saul.

Mary Budleigh-Tennis was interested in the thread on the Forum concerning Isaac Sawle, recognising that he was her great grandfather. Her father was Norman Leslie Saul who had been born in Liverpool in 1909 to Charles Isaac Sawle and his first wife Agnes. It seems likely that Agnes died in childbirth and Charles later married Florence Weaver, by whom he had a further five children, all born in Liverpool. Charles Isaac’s father was Isaac Behenna Sawle, who had also married twice, and had his roots in Gerrans, Cornwall.

The information on our web site concerning Solomon Saul, the man who had changed his name from Saul Solomon, continues to attract interest. The latest to get in touch was Merilyn Priestley in New Zealand. It appears that Merilyn conducted research into her Saul ancestry some twenty years ago and has recently picked it up again. It may be that Merilyn was the source of much of the information that has recently been supplied by others. Merilyn correctly points out that the first evidence that we have of the change of surname is found on the 1861 census when one of Solomon’s sons, Walter, is recorded as a Saul. Merilyn has provided a lot of interesting information and photographs about the War records of some of the Saul descendants and which is the subject of a separate article in this journal.

Next an enquiry from Karen Cogan who found her great grandmothers brother listed in the military records on our web site. Her great grandmother was Harriet Ellen Saul who had been born in Guston, Dover, Kent in 1893 to David Saul and his wife Jane Ann (nee Smith). They had married in Dover in 1881 but David had been born in Datchet, Buckinghamshire in 1858. As far as we know David was the only son of three children born to Charles and Mary Piper. Buckinghamshire is not a native county for the Sauls so it is not surprising that Charles was not born in that county but at St Pancras, London. Charles had married Mary Piper at St Mary Newington, Surrey on 23 August 1852 and the marriage certificate records that his father was Joseph Saul, a stationer. It seems likely that Charles was baptised at Old Church, St Pancras on 15 August 1810 to Joseph Saul and Elizabeth. According to the IGI the child was born on 13 December 1805. Charles and Elizabeth had two other children baptised at Old Church, Elizabeth on 27 March 1803 (born 2 March 1803) and William on 15 August 1810 (born 7 December 1799). The IGI also records that a Joseph and Elizabeth had children baptised at St Sepulchre, London namely John on 30 October 1793 and Edmond on 4 September 1797. They could all be children of the Joseph Saul and Elizabeth Martin who married at Saint Andrew by the Wardrobe on 17 September 1786, but more research is needed to confirm this speculation.   

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