About Amos Mitchenall, his brother George and their acquaintance Mr Cook, to which Maggie added recently.
Lets start with Amos. The sixth of William and Mary’s children, he had moved to Brixton where he lived at the Royal Oak in 1851. The pub was later destroyed during the Blitz, so you can’t go and visit it- it was at 1 Effra Parade, on Dulwich Road, Brixton. When Amos was there, the pub was run by the Martin family – father Robert had died in 1847, but his wife Elizabeth still ran the pub and daughter Laura was there. In 1851 Laura is stated to be 17 in the census, but one year later on the marriage record to Amos (they married on April the 27th, 1852 at St George the Martyr) she was 21. I’m certain it’s the same Laura, as all the other facts match.
Laura’s parents had also married early – both born in 1801 and married in 1819, they had had 12 children when Robert died in 1847. Her mother remarried a Mr Ebbs in 1862.
Anyway, Amos and Laura’s daughter Elizabeth Mary Ann Mitchenall was born in 1855 and baptised on June the 3rd 1855. In 1861 the family live together at Chalk Cottages, St Georges Place, still close to the Royal Oak, but Mrs Martin no longer there.
At this point, circumstance took a turn for the worse for Amos. He had family nearby - brothers George and James , sisters Ann and Rebecca, all lived quite close. They clearly saw each other quite regularly. In 1862, when James (living in Streatham) twin daughters were baptised, brother John was there and his daughter Elizabeth was baptised on the same day in St Matthew, Brixton (although John lived in Edenbridge).
I have no specific knowledge of Amos friends and associates – he might have been at the baptism - but wife Laura clearly had a close relationship with one Mr Frederick Cook. With daughter Elizabeth just 8, her mother had a daughter Jennie by Mr Cook in 1863, and then a son Harry in 1865. She married Mr Cook in 1868, a year after her husband Amos died.
In the 1867 Post Office directory Amos seems to be living in Chryssell Road Brixton, in Lodgings, but his death is registered in Lewisham. It would appear that Laura chose to live with Frederick Cook, leaving her husband, and that Amos died alone.
Mr Cook also seems to have been friends with Amos brother George, for in March 1868 George Mitchenall and Frederick Cook were at Newington Assizes, accused of Assaulting a Constable, an offence for which they were acquitted later in the month. So, shortly after Amos death, his brother is in cahoots with the man that went off with his wife? Conjecture, yes, but Amos seems to have had a difficult period before his death in 1867.
Just to confirm the facts, the story all sticks. I mentioned that Laura’s mother Eiizabeth Martin re-married a Mr Ebbs. Frederick and Laura had moved to Ealing by 1871. and in 1881 the widowed Elizabeth Edds is living with Fred Cook, her daughter Laura and her grandchildren. Only missing is Elizabeth Mitchenall, who disappeared from the records until I realised she was known as Cook in references after her mother set up with Fred. Fortunately, when she married in 1874, she was recorded as Mitchinell, although her signature looks correctly spelt. Her father is clearly stated as Amos.
Comments