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Witcomb family

  • Thread starter Thread starter Speedy
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Speedy

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Hi folks I am looking for any info no matter how small about the Witcomb (Whitcombe, Witcombe, Whitcomb) families of Birmingham, I am related to Rebecca Witcomb 1837, the family as I know it is as follows:-

William Witcombe c1803 Head
Maria (Baker) Witcomb c1805 Wife
John Witcomb c1825
William Witcomb c1827
Samuel Witcomb c1829
George Witcomb c1831
Henry Witcomb c1833
David Witcomb c1835
Rebecca Witcomb 1837
Emma Witcomb c1839

In 1841 they lived in Upper Hospital Street, Birmingham.

Rebecca Married Thomas Biddle also from Birmingham, I do have some info that I am happy to share or if you have any to share with me, we may be able to enlarge our knowledge on this family.

Bev
 
1861 census:
Witcomb Samuel Head 31 Married Gun Implement Maker
Sarah Wife 29 Machine polisher
William H Son 12 Brass Founder
Samuel Son 9
Joseph Son 7
Thomas Son 3
Francis B Son 1
William H Father Widower 58 Silversmith
Boswell Isabel Lodge Married 48 Spring Forger

Living @ 49 Kenyon Street

Any good?
 
Hi Charlie, I think you have found Samuel for me, thanx, I wonder if their son was named Thomas after his uncle, and a cousin? that would be interesting to know, or if the name Thomas came from his mother's side, now you've given me some thing to think about, once again thanx. :)

Bev
 
William Henry Witcomb baptised 24th may 1804 St. Phillips
perents George and Ann who also had a son Samuel 1799.
 
1861 Water Street,St pauls Birmingham

William H Witcombe age 33 brass founder
Mary Ann 34
John 13
James 7
Richard 5
George 2
Catherine 1

next door,

George Witcombe age 30 pearl button cutter
Sarah Ann afe 30
Henry 3
Ann 1

all born Birmingham
 
Alberta, thanx for that info, I hadn't found Williams Christening, so now I have his parents names, and I can now look for a marriage, and so on, you are a real gem.

Also the other info is good I had the family in 1861, but I didn't notice who was next door.

Some times I really think I must be walking round in a world of my own...lol
 
Rebecca Witcomb

Hi Bev

Your 'Rebecca Witcomb' is my Great Grandfathers sister !. I have traced the Witcomb's of Birmingham. Rebecca's brother William Henry Witcomb had 7 children, one of which is my great grandfather, Mark Witcomb,who's military history I have also traced. (Buried in Derby Cemetary. His red tunic and medals from 1882 Egyptian Campaign in Derby Museum )

Rebecca's father was also a William Henry and his father was George -I'd welcome any info on these two and further back if you have it.

Regards

Chris Witcomb
cgawitcomb@tiscali.co.uk
 
Another line of inquiry which you can get further info from Kew
 
Witcombs in Birmingham

Hi All

New to this site!
The first thing is I am also Chris Witcomb but have called myself Christopher Witcomb [from Wiltshire] so as not to confuse with the other Chris!

I also have Birmingham Witcomb background and have studied many of the famillies.
My particular wish is to find out more about Robert James Witcomb born 1805 - probably in Brum and his wife Louisa born 1809 definitely in Birmingham.
Anyone recognise them? particularly would like info on pre 1841 period.
He was a bricklayer / stone mason and moved all around the midlands.
His two eldest sons , John James [b 1835] and Robert James [1839] were born in Tamworth but later child Thomas was Christened in Brum [St Martins 1840 ]and later Mum and oldest son lived in Fox St. St Bartholomews in 1851.

In my hunt for them I,ve come across a lot of others !

As mentioned below there is WH Witcomb in 1841 census:

Upper Hospital St,1,Willm Whitcomb,38,,Silversmith,WAR, ,,Maria Whitcomb,,36,,WAR,
,,John Whitcomb,16,,,WAR,
,,Willm Whitcomb,14,,,WAR,
,,Saml Whitcomb,12,,,WAR,
,,George Whitcomb,10,,,WAR,
,,Henry Whitcomb,8,,,WAR,
,,David Whitcomb,6,,,WAR,
,,Rebecca Whitcomb,,4,,WAR,
,,Emma Whitcomb,,2,,WAR,

William Henrys wife was Maria. I have a birth cert for their son James b 1845 [who may not have survived childhood]. They were living in St Pauls Square by this time and WH was a silversmith. His wifes former name looks like Ballis but its difficult to read and could be Baker??

I believe WH's parents were George and Anne [formerly Adams] Witcomb, married in St Martins 15/3/1781
They had many children [but sadly for me no Robert -yet]
If I am right between 1783 and 1803 they had:

George, Bathsheba,William,Sarah,Elizabeth,Thomas, William Henry and Samuel. All Christened at St Philips except the first two who were St Martins
I have Christening and some birth dates if anyone wants

Bev - I think we've corresponded before elsewhere? [but I lost a lot of emails when PC crashed]

I have a fair amount of info on later Witcombs

Hope this useful info

Best Regards Chris [topher] :)
 
Witcombs in Birmingham

Hi Christ (Wilts)

Can't help with Robert James, but the William Henry you quote is indeed my great great great grandfather. You're also correct about George and Anne - and I believe George's parents were Uriah and Bathsheba.

I've been researching Mark Henry Witcomb, the later William Henry's son, specifically his military career with the 95th Foot/Derbyshire Regiment, he also appears to have stated he was once in the 2nd Warwick Militia - does your info on later Witcomb's include anything on Mark Henry and his time in the militia and/or army ?

By the way, if I'm a direct decendent of Uriah, George, Wiiliam, William, Mark etc etc - how are we related ?

Regards

Chris (Lincs)
 
Witcombs in Birmingham

Hi Chris (Lincs)

Shame you cant help me with Robert James [- I have found an RJ on the IGI website but he is in Upton St Leonards and from the census info he stays there!]

Re George & Anne
Interesting that you probably found the same link/info re Bathsheba & Uriah of Trowbridge? Bathsheba is not a common name and it would be probable that George named his first daughter the same as his mother.

Trowbridge is about 15 miles from me now! and there are, and were, a lot of Witcombs there. Perhaps one glimmer of hope for me is if George had a brother who also migrated to Brum [and had son Robert J etc] or if George and Anne had even more children

I'm sorry i dont have anything on Mark Henry - where did they [including WH dad] live as there are a number of repeated locations [like Water St, Hospital St Gleech st etc]

As for us being related ?
Until I can tie in Robert James I cant be sure we are !
[well not in recent history - but probably all Witcombs are related back to William de Whitcoumbe of Taunton circa 1210, including the US & Canadian ones who left Somerset for Massachusetts]

Regards

Chris[topher] (Wilts)
 
Witcombs in Birmingham

Hi Chris[topher] (Wilts)

Thanks. Sorry I couldn't help with Robert James. My overall Witcomb Family Tree shows George also having a son called Samual (but can't recall how I found him - might have been through Bev - I was really concentrating on a direct line up through to Uriah and beyond rather than other offspring).

Nice to hear we're possibly decended from a Norman !

If I come across Robert James, I'll be sure to let you know.

Kind regards

Chris (Lincs)
 
Any info appreciated

Hi all
Have just joined and am trying to get any info about the witcomb background . My grandfather Frederick Witcomb lived in Brackenfield road, Great Barr and was born around the 1900's.He worked for Dunlops during WW2 . Apart from his children thats all I know about the family.
I am currently living with my young family out here in Oman and have decided to build up the family tree..All my research will have to be online though...any ideas on ways to start.?
Nigel Witcomb:)
 
Hi Nigel Welcome to the site.

As you can see from this thread there is a fair amount of info' on 'The Witcombs'.
(Always try alternative spellings if you hit a 'Brick Wall'. This advice is given due to 'Miss -transcriptions', both now and in the past)

I use a number of 'Free internet sites' to get most of my info', however there are a few good ones you can pay to use Like 'Find my past and Ancestry.com'.
These I often use to confirm my free info' if I need cert's, although if you haven't a subscription, there are kind folk on this site who have, and will do look ups for you.

Some Sites:

https://www.freebmd.org.uk/ Births, Marriage and Death
https://www.cwgc.org/ Folk who died in both wars
https://freecen.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl Census Records
https://www.familysearch.org/Eng/default.asp Almost anything before 1911
Also another helpful site for military help is :
https://1914-1918.invisionzone.com/forums/index.php?

Hope this helps :great:

Pom :angel:
 
Christopher Witcomb said:
Hi Chris (Lincs)

Shame you cant help me with Robert James [- I have found an RJ on the IGI website but he is in Upton St Leonards and from the census info he stays there!]

Re George & Anne
Interesting that you probably found the same link/info re Bathsheba & Uriah of Trowbridge? Bathsheba is not a common name and it would be probable that George named his first daughter the same as his mother.

Trowbridge is about 15 miles from me now! and there are, and were, a lot of Witcombs there. Perhaps one glimmer of hope for me is if George had a brother who also migrated to Brum [and had son Robert J etc] or if George and Anne had even more children

I'm sorry i dont have anything on Mark Henry - where did they [including WH dad] live as there are a number of repeated locations [like Water St, Hospital St Gleech st etc]

As for us being related ?
Until I can tie in Robert James I cant be sure we are !
[well not in recent history - but probably all Witcombs are related back to William de Whitcoumbe of Taunton circa 1210, including the US & Canadian ones who left Somerset for Massachusetts]

Regards

Chris[topher] (Wilts)
Click to expand...

Welcome Chris :) you should get some movement soon knowing the good Folk on this Forum. If you had some dates it would help.

I had a brush with Trowbridge in late 60s early 70s I was a Rep selling Troll Dolls which were produced in Trowbridge.
 
Nigel Witcomb said:
Hi all
Have just joined and am trying to get any info about the witcomb background . My grandfather Frederick Witcomb lived in Brackenfield road, Great Barr and was born around the 1900's.He worked for Dunlops during WW2 . Apart from his children thats all I know about the family.
I am currently living with my young family out here in Oman and have decided to build up the family tree..All my research will have to be online though...any ideas on ways to start.?
Nigel Witcomb:)
Click to expand...

Welcome Nigel :) do you have anymore places or dates around Birmingham?
 
Welcome Nigel.

Had a quick look at FreeBMD, there is this one in 1909.

[SIZE=+1]Births Jun 1909 [/SIZE]Witcomb Frederick Ernest Aston 6d362

My advice would be to first obtain your Grandads death certificate (thats if he's dead of course) If you give a general date for his death, we can look it up for you.

barrie
 
Nigel.welcome.
What was your Dads name and year of birth,
With that info. we can work our way backwards.
 
More details

Dad was born 06/06/1936 - Gordon Frederick Witcomb...
1 of 6 children the others being Georgina,Johnny, Maggie ,Geoffrey, Katie..
Nigel:)
 
Hi Nigel

Gordon F Witcomb 2nd qtr 1936 Birmingham 6d 219

His mothers maiden name was Adams

If you could give us all the info you have regards your grandparents or maybe who was the eldest of your dads siblings we could look for grandparents marriage.


bren
 
Hi Nigel

I have found a marriage that might be a possible --

Frederick E Witcomb/Marion L Adams 2nd qtr 1932 W.Bromwich 6b 1383

Then Birth --

Georgina P Witcomb 1st qtr 1934 mmn Adams Birmingham 6d 1934

If you can have a look at your fathers birth cert or send for it you will be able to confirm if this is the marriage with the information you find on there.


bren
 
Looking at this makes that birth that barrie found in 1909 a very good possibillity


bren
 
Thats the one

The info on the family is correct Georgina is the eldest sibling and Grandmothers name I now recall was Marion..thanks..Any idea of who the great grandparents are ( I remember being told that there is a spainish connection somewhere!)
 
If you send for the marriage cert, using the info provided by bren, you will then have the fathers names and occupations, we can then help you look for them in the various census's.

barrie
 
Thats the one !

Hi Nigel [and all]

Very important is to identify the father of Fredrick !

I have a Fred Witcomb distantly in my line but have no birth details and no second name]but he would be about the right age

Its quite exciting because somewhere I have heard the West Bromwich family connection also.

The Fred I have was born in Birmingham to parents Joseph [b 1867] & Louise Hennrietta .
Joseph was one of my great grandfathers [Albert Edward] brothers.

Alberts Other siblings were John, Robert,Arthur, Ernest, and Minnie [all born between 1861 and 1876]

It is not unlikely that Fredrick had "Ernest" as his second name because Joseph named several of his children with the names of his brothers and sisters e.g. Robert Arthur [b1895]

If Fredrick is the same one then I can help you to go back several generations [until my brick wall] since you would be a decendant of my gg grandfather John James Witcomb [b1835]

I'll have a further look at my info [since I've been concentrating on going up the line rather than across]

Best Regards
Chris Witcomb [Wiltshire]:)
 
More info

I've been talking to relatives and have come up with these snippets of info are they of any use ...

  • Frederick Ernest Witcomb born in Alford road ,Witton ,Birmingham this was the back of Kynoch works.
  • His father was a coal merchant and owned horses. One of his cousins Joe had a hansom cab business in Hockley Brook.
  • His Dads name was Alfred and had three sisters: Doris,Nell,Jessy.
  • Apparently a cousin Doug Witcomb captained WBA at some point in time !
keep in touch
Nigel
 
more info

Hi

Nigel : Looks like its not the same Fred as mine !

I had a look thru my info but couldnt find too much yet - although the cousin Joe might be :

98,21 Geach St,1,Joseph Whitcomb,Head,M,37,,Cab Proprietor,Employer,Birmingham Warwickshire,, ,,,Mary Whitcomb,Wife,M,,32,,,Birmingham Warwickshire,,
,,,Emily Parker,Sister,S,,20,Warehse Woman,Employed,Birmingham Warwickshire,,

[Location/name/relation/sex/age/job/birthplace]
[from 1891 census]

and :
95 Brearley St., Joseph WITCOMB Head M[=married] Male 27 Birmingham, Warwick, England, Coachman
Mary WITCOMB Wife M Female 22 Birmingham, Warwick, England
Annie GOUGH Boarder U Female 20 Birmingham, Warwick, England Steel Pen Worker
Census Place Birmingham, Warwick
[from 1881 census]

Geach St and Brearly st still exist [but mostly redeveloped] and are about half a mile apart!

There are many W[h]itcomb[e] families in 1 mile radius of this area of North central Birmingham -streching way back to pre 1841 [including WM Witcomb mentioned in earlier posts]

Back soon
Best Regs
Chris
 
I am trying to trace an ancestor Robert James Witcomb born in Tamworth 1839 [and especially his father of same name born about 1806, where? and his mother Louisa 1809- 1887 born and died Birmingham]

Robert junior was born blind and was in the Islington [row?] Blind School [5 ways] in 1851 census and I believe stayed there many years to become a teacher [of music]before starting his own business

He was a pianist and organ player [in church? St Lukes?] and later advertised as a music teacher and possibly a retailer of pianos in the Edgbaston area ?

He was married twice , first to Elizabeth Whitehurst [1837-1885] a marriage which produced two children Charles Percy and Lucy Mary and then later [following death of first wife] to Elizabeth Adcock [who was also blind and may also have been a teacher at the blind school]

He lived to 1909 in Edgbaston area.

I believe the centre opened in 1847 in Islington House Broad St but then relocated to Carpenter rd in 1852 [and closed in 1954]

I have read that many organists , pianists and piano tuners came from blind schools including Birmingham . The opening of these Schools may have been due to the large numbers of blind children in early Victorian times [then an unknown result of parental Syphilis]

I am related to Robert Juniors older brother, John James Witcomb who is my gg grandfather.

I would like to know if there any documents for admission to the blind school [as would be completed by parents]
Also if there is a register of teachers at the institute across the period

I also read somewhere that there was a blind piano tuner and retailer from Islington called Mr Richards who may have been later in same business?

Also is there a list of St Luke organists 1855 - 1907?

Any help , comments appreciated

Best Regards
Chris
 
Hi

I wonder if anybody connects with these:

Charles Percy Witcomb , born 1872 in Birmingham, Married Elizabeth Anne Gosling in 1901 in Birmingham and possibly moved to East London soon afterwards?

Charles Percy's older sister: Lucy Mary Witcomb born 1869 in Birmingham UK - possibly went to New York after 1900?

These were the children of Robert James and Elizabeth Witcomb of Edgbaston , Birmingham.

Any connections with these names?

Best Regards all

Chris
 
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