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Historical records matching Charles Woodham
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About Charles Woodham
Charles Woodham was baptised into the family of William Woodham and Elizabeth Whitebread in Sept 1829. But recent DNA comparisons show that Charles is not the son of William Woodham nor of Elizabeth Whitebread.
DNA evidence as of Dec 2021:
1. William Woodham had three daughters in Australia in the 1840s. None of their descendants match DNA with descendants of William Woodham in NZ (via Charles Woodham). The Australian descendants match DNA with each other and the NZ descendants match DNA with each other but there are no cross-Tasman matches. Since the NZ Woodham group descend from Charles Woodham it is a strong hint that Charles is not the son of William Woodham.
2. Descendants in Australia match with descendants of one of William's siblings in England, but Kiwi descendants do not. More evidence that Charles was not the son of William Woodham.
3. William leaves a thorough trail of evidence in Australia linking him with England and his wife Elizabeth ("a Pewsey girl"). There is no doubt that the man in Australia is the same William Woodham that married Elizabeth Whitebread (of Pewsey 1809).
4. William was in gaol at the time Charles was born and baptised, but he was a free man at the time that Charles was conceived. Therefore in the narrowest sense it is possible that William is the father but this possibility is overwhelmed by the data that contradicts it.
5. Descendants of Charles Woodham in NZ do not match DNA with any sibling of William Woodham or any of his predecessors. This includes for example Isaac Woodham who is thought to be William's father.
7. The DNA of four Woodham descendants in NZ shows a strong connection to the Whitebread name, strong enough to be unusual. Simultaneously there is a complete lack of convergence on any other surname that would reveal the identity of Charles's biological father. Putting these two observations together, the best model that emerges is that the father as well as the mother were Whitebreads.
8. The 15 or so Whitebread DNA matches obtained from four NZ-Woodham descendants form a halo around the family of James Whitebread 1794 and Mary Stroud and sits entirely under the umbrella of William Whitebread 1757 and his wife Mary Kimber. There are a handful of very weak DNA matches in the Kimber family related to Mary. It is most likely that both of Charles's parents are in this Whitebread umbrella.
9. The NZ Woodham descendants do not match DNA with descendants of Elizabeth's children to her second marriage (James Ruddle). This is very hard to explain if Elizabeth is the biological mother of Charles.
10.
There are no matches between the NZ Woodhams and siblings of Elizabeth Whitebread, or to her parents. Charles seems to have no DNA connection to EITHER of his parents, meaning he was an adopted child.
What is known, and with what level of confidence:
1. Charles was baptised as son of William Woodham and Elizabeth Whitebread (certain)
2. William was not the biological father (near certain).
3. Elizabeth was not the biological mother (high confidence)
4. Charles had significant DNA matching the descendants of William Whitebread 1757 and his wife Mary Kimber.
5. There is historical evidence of adoptions involving Whitebread children and/or Whitebread parents.
6. There are historical ties between the Woodhams and the Whitebreads of Easton and Savernake.
Most notably the 1841 census form showing Charles living with Whitebread relatives in Pewsey.
1829 - Birth
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Baptism place = Easton Royal, Wilts
Woodham Charles
Baptism = 1829 13-Sep
Father = Woodham William, (from) Easton, Labourer
Mother = Woodham Elizabeth
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http://www.wiltshire-opc.org.uk/Items/Easton%20Royal/Easton%20Royal... Easton Royal Baptisms 1801-1837
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1829 - Father imprisoned
http://www.wiltshire-opc.org.uk/Items/Easton%20Royal/Easton%20Royal...
Easton Royal Baptisms 1801-1837
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Father imprisoned, 'transported' between 1829-1833. Later found in Tasmania.
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1841 - misread in Ancestry as Charles Waddison
Easton Street, Easton, Pewsey, Wiltshire near Hannian Lane (appears to be on corner)
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William Whitbread 84 [1757 or earlier] Ag Lab
Mary Whitbread 77 [1764 or earlier]
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Lucy Smith 49 [1791 or earlier] Visitor (crossed out)
Charles Waddam (sic) 11 [1829] ditto (implying also visitor and has also been crossed out)
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Jane Lanfian [sp?] 10 [1830] ditto
James Hedges 1 [1839] visitor [crossed out]
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all born in county
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Charles's mother = Elizabeth Whitebread (maiden name), thought to be born 1809 Easton Royal
Elizabeth's father = James Whitebread (1788-1848), born Easton Royal, died Pewsey.
James's father = John Whitebread (1751-1831), born Shelbourne, died Pewsey.
John's brother = William Whitebread (1757-1846), born Pewsey, died Easton Royal.
William's wife = Mary Kimber (maiden name) (1763-1857), born & died Easton Royal.
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Therefore Charles 'Waddam' (Woodham) was with his great grandfather's brother & wife!
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The ages match the 1841 census data.
Amazingly, despite the number of generations crossed, these people were all alive at the same time.
Charles was 12 years old, and the Whit(e)breads were nearly 90.
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There are two others listed just below these and I can't quite work out They also have "visitor" crossed out.
- Jane LANFEAR?, 18, not born in county
- James HEDGES or HEDGER, 1, not born in county
[] Lucy SMITH may have been the married daughter of William and Mary WHIT(E)BREAD.
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The child James HEDGES is with Thomas and Lucy SMITH in 1851
and Lucy is shown as born Easton so it would seem that James HEDGES is their grandson.
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1851 - Kintbury, Berkshire
- Thomas Smith 58, [1792] shepherd, b Whey Hill (sic), Hampshire
- Lucy Smith 60, [1790] wife, b Easton, Wilts
- James Hedges 11, [1839] visitor, scholar, b Kintbury, Berkshire
[] Probable birth for James HEDGES, Dec qr 1840, Hungerford,
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There is a network of the WHIT(E)BREAD family in this village in 1841.
The household listed next to William and Mary WHITBREAD is
- William WHITBREAD, 30 ag lab
- Elizabeth WHITBREAD, 50 and next to them is
- William WAIT, 60, ag lab with his wife
- Sarah, 50 and
- James 20,
- Jane 15, and
- Thomas 12.
This Sarah WAIT was nee WHITBREAD Further on there is
- Robert KEW 67 ag lab,
- wife Mary 65, [1785]
- Mary 19,
- William 14. [1826]
This Mary KEW was nee WHITBREAD []
(As an aside - it's unlikely that the boy William aged 14 is the child of Mary 65 given Mary's age,
so, possibly, another case of children living with relatives other than their parents)
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William Whitbread living in house next door. age 30 [1810 or before]. ag lab.
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Regarding the marriage of Elizabeth Whitebread (spinster) to James Ruddle in 1836,
the marriage was witnessed by Mary Ann Whitebread. A search for that name in the 1841 census
gave only one answer: Mary Ann Whitebread born 1796-1801 wife of James, who lived in North Savernake.
This is Mary Ann Stroud.
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1845 - In prison/workhouse, Hungerford
No proof this is our Charles.
Hungerford is across county border, in Berkshire, 6 miles from Great Bedwin
Britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
Salisbury and Winchester Journal – Page 4 of 4
Saturday Feb 01 February 1845
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[quote starts] Committed to the New Prison, Devizes: [several names, durations, reasons and locations for offence] ... Charles Woodham, 6w, and John Pettit, 3w, misconduct at the workhouse in Hungerford.... [endquote]
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A Charles Woodham was imprisoned for creating a disturbance at a poorhouse in 1845.
If this was our boy he would have been 16.
1848
britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk
Salisbury and Winchester Journal Page 3 of 4
Saturday 02 December 1848
[start]
Committed to Marlborough Bridewell ... James Lawrence and Chas Woodham, 21d each,
a misdemeanour at Hungerford ...
[end]
There is a Charles Woodham who was imprisoned for 3 months in Middlesex in 1849.
No other detail known. He was in prison again in 1850.
1850 newspaper (unlikely to be ours) (Our Charles aged 20)
BANKRUPTCY COURT,
(Before Mr. ~ • H. Oirdlestone, North Audley-rtro«t. eleven — Charles Woodhame. insolvent, audit and dividend March 23, 1850 - Morning Advertiser - London []
1851
No record exists
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1857 newspaper (Not sure if same. Our Charles would have been 28 yo at the time)
Narrow Escape - . —On Wednesday, the 4th inst., Admiral Sir M. Berkeley and a party of friends left Berkeley Castle break, drawn by a pair of horses, for a day's shooting. Just they arrived at the Castle Lodge both reins broke, and the horses started off towards the stables a fearful pace. Charles Woodham, Sir Maurice's second coachman, was driving, and immediately jumped from the box across one of the horses and caught the broken reins, and was thus enabled to stop the horses before any damage had been occasioned. It is stated that Sir Maurice presented Woodham with a handsome present for his courageous conduct. November 18, 1857 - Hereford Journal - Hereford, Herefordshire, England []
I have been looking for Charles's parents. His mother had a child out of wedlock at age 16. She married William 3 years later (1828) and the child (Nelson Whitebread) was raised as a Woodham. Charles was born 1829, and a younger brother (to a different father) was born 1833 (James). Everyone falls off the planet after that.
1845, 1849-50 - Charles in prison?
A Charles Woodham was imprisoned for creating a disturbance at a poorhouse in 1845. If this was our boy he would have been 16. [] A Charles Woodham was in prison 1849-1850 (two occasions). [] The absence of census data on these people is consistent with transients i.e. homeless people. [] Charles Woodham from Wiltshire does not exist in any of the censuses, leading me to think that he might have been incarcerated or in hiding. [] There is a Charles Woodham who was imprisoned for 3 months in Middlesex in 1849. No other detail known. He was in prison again in 1850. [] There is a newspaper reference to a Charles Woodham in 1845, imprisoned for 6 weeks for causing a disturbance at a poorhouse. (Our CW would have been 16 yo). [] There's also mention of a Charles Woodham in the merchant Navy in the 1840s. This was later identified as our Charles's father's brother. []
Emigration
Emigration from Cornwall to Australia & NZ and other places, took off in 1861. HUGE numbers left in next half century. The men were usually MINERS. Kind of suggests that Charles went to Cornwall to work in the tin mines then found he could go to the colonies.
===MIGRATION====
The Robert Small (1860)
October 7th 1859 ~ January 27th 1860.
The Robert Small is classed as a bark, meaning a three-master, somewhat smaller than most long-range sailing ships of the age. The Robert Small was built in 1853 and was used to carry convicts to Australia that year. The ship made three voyages to NZ: to Wellington in 1858, to Lyttelton in 1860 and to Auckland in 1862. Some of its passengers were miners picked for the task of digging the Lyttelton rail tunnel, and it seems that our ancestor Charles Woodham was among them. [] A newspaper article from February 1860 says: “The ship Robert Small arrived here yesterday afternoon from London via Lyttelton. She left London on the 7th October and the Downs on the 10th of the month. She encountered heavy gales in the Bay of Biscay, which retarded the voyage at the outset and she arrived at Lyttelton on the 29th January, where she landed 140 passengers. She has brought a large cargo for this place [and] miners and navvies despatched by the contractors for the tunnel.” [] The Robert Small was the 82nd ship after the first four to visit Lyttelton. She carried Charles (42) and Susan Woodham (34) and their two children William (5) and Elizabeth Ann (2). [] Susan Woodham was born in Lyttelton in April 1860, three months after the family’s arrival. She is the first of our ancestors born in NZ. []
Life in NZ
Charles appears to have come out to NZ expressly to work on the Lyttelton rail tunnel for a UK-based enterprise. This venture failed due to the unexpectedly tough volcanic rock. The project was passed to an Australian company who succeeded. It is not at all clear how involved our Charles was in all of this. [] A Charles Woodham lived in Kaiapoi for a while. Not sure if he is ours. Newspaper The Press, Page 1: 6th November 1863 [quote starts] The North Road. The following is from the Bushmen in the Maori Bush near Kaiapoi. To His Honor the Superintendent SIR - we the undersigned wish to thank your Honor for the means you have taken to place the North Road between Kaiapoi and Christchurch in repair. [8 names listed, one of them Charles Woodham] Kaiapoi Oct 30. [end of quote]
Later in life Charles owned a cart and did deliveries around the city and possibly between the city and Lyttelton. I think I saw also that he did journeys for Cobb&Co through the passes in the alps.
Our Charles Woodham died at 56 in Woolston Christchurch and Is buried there. His tombstone has been transcribed and the inscription is available through ANCESTRY, also giving the death dates of his wife and daughter Elizabeth.
1883/84 - City Directory
Charles Woodham living in Ferry Rd
(1870s ~ 1890s, another Charles Woodham living in St Albans, Woodham Rd, Kerrs Rd, Manchester st...)
1884 - Death
His death on May 24 1884 or close, was the result of an accident suffered two weeks earlier. (according to newspaper - see paperspast). He had been run over by his horse and cart. He was a "carter" who had worked for Dalgety & Co for ten years. (He was described as a carter in some other source).
newspaper 1880 says CW was fined for creating a disturbance in the street - drunken, shouting and swearing. I think this is our CW because he was called "Charles Woodham sen." If this is correct then it suggests that all the other newspaper reports of drunken, violent behaviour are of our CW.
Not necessarily. The City directory for 1891 has "Charles Woodham sr" and "Charles Woodham jr" listed.
No other sightings of this suffix are found in the data. I think now that perhaps baker-man had a son and that they are the reference to drunkenness.
Daughter Susan born April 12 1860 in Lyttelton.
Charles may have been a miner in England. This may have drawn him to Cornwall and Devon initially (tin mines) While there he may have learned about supported migration to the colonies.
The other Charles Woodham
NOTE! Another Charles Woodham arrived in NZ, a baker. A single man from Middlesex (a labourer) who disembarked in NZ (probably Lyttelton because it was reported in the Press, but Lyttelton was not mentioned in the article) in June 1867 (having sailed from England on Feb 15). [] I think this is baker-man. Baker-man must have had his own son because the pair of them are called "sen" and "jr" in the city directories. Anyway bakerman goes bankrupt on 3 occasions, and appears from time to time as a trade union representative or similar, seeking to regulate the baking industry. [] Charles Woodham, baker, Manchester St, 1876 (City Directory) Charles Woodham, baker, living on Colombo St South, between St Asaph and far end 1878 [] Another Charles Woodham living in Woolston 3 miles from chch, same year.
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Other Charles Woodhams who are easily confused. Definitely not our Charles.
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1830 - Baptism
Name: Charles Thomas Woodham
Gender: Male
Baptism Date: 28 Feb 1830
Baptism Place: Hungerford,Berkshire,England
Father:
Edward Woodham
Mother:
Anne
1841
Name: Charles S Woodham
Age: 11
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1830
Gender: Male
Where Born: Berkshire, England
Civil Parish: Hungerford
Hundred: Kintbury Eagle
County/Island: Berkshire
Country: England
Street Address:
Occupation:
View image
Registration District: Hungerford
Sub-registration District: Hungerford
Neighbors: View others on page
Piece: 21
Book: 7
Folio: 10
Page Number: 14
Household Members:
Name Age
Edward Woodham 50
Ann Woodham 48
Robert Woodham 13
Charles S Woodham 11
George H Woodham 8
1841
Name: Charles Wisham
[Charles Woodham]
Age: 16
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1825
Gender: Male
Where Born: Gloucestershire, England
Civil Parish: Marshfield
Hundred: Thornbury (Upper Division)
County/Island: Gloucestershire
Country: England
Street Address:
Occupation:
View image
Registration District: Chipping Sodbury
Sub-registration District: Marshfield
Neighbors: View others on page
Piece: 368
Book: 7
Folio: 24
Page Number: 14
Household Members:
Name Age
Samuel Woodham 60
Mary Woodham 55
Charles Wisham 16
Louisa Wisham 4
1861
Name: Charles Woodham
Age: 33
Estimated Birth Year: 1828
Relation: Head
Spouse's Name: Maria Woodham
Gender: Male
Where Born: Marshfield, Gloucestershire, England
Civil Parish: Berkeley
County/Island: Gloucestershire
Country: England
Street Address:
Occupation:
Condition as to marriage:
View image
Registration District: Thornbury
Sub-registration District: Berkeley
ED, institution, or vessel: 4
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Schedule Number: 100
Piece: 1749
Folio: 69
Page Number: 23
Household Members:
Name Age
Charles Woodham 33
Maria Woodham 36
Charles Woodham 9
Isaac Woodham 7
Mary S Woodham 5
1861
Name: Charles Woodham
Age: 31
Estimated Birth Year: 1830
Relation: Boarder
Gender: Male
Where Born: Hungerford, Berkshire, England
Civil Parish: Bethnal Green
Ecclesiastical parish: St Bartholomew
County/Island: Middlesex
Country: England
Street Address:
Occupation:
Condition as to marriage:
View image
Registration District: Bethnal Green
Sub-registration District: Green
ED, institution, or vessel: 14
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Schedule Number: 120
Piece: 256
Folio: 7
Page Number: 23
Household Members:
Name Age
Silas Ford 36
Mary Ford 34
Phillip Ford 6
Susannah Ford 4
Silas Ford 1
Eliza Jackson 28
Ellen West 13
Charles Woodham 31
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1871
Name: Charles Thomas Woodham
Age: 41
Estimated Birth Year: 1830
Relation: Head
Gender: Male
Where born: Hungerford, Berkshire, England
Civil parish: Hungerford
Town: Hungerford
County/Island: Berkshire
Country: England
Registration district: Hungerford
Sub-registration district: Hungerford
ED, institution, or vessel: 7
Household schedule number: 102
Piece: 1255
Folio: 60
Page number: 21
Household Members Age Relationship
Charles Thomas Woodham 41 Head
Ester Woosham
42 Wife
Ester Ann Woodham
5 Daughter
Hariett Caroline Wettig
46 Visitor
'
1851
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St Edmund the King and Martyr
Middlesex
England
London City
London City South
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Robert Gerrard 65
Mary Gerrard 54
Eliza Gerrard 21
Ann Grace Gerrard 12
Wm Duff Gerrard 15
Mary Jeff Gerrard 12
Jane Norton 52
Mary Mitchell 24
Alfred Nevell 15
Charles Woodham 21 [1829] Unm Porter Hungerford, Berkshire <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Henry Thomas 25
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view all 17
Charles Woodham's Timeline
| 1829 |
September 13, 1829
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Easton Royal, Wiltshire, England, United Kingdom
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September 13, 1829
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| 1854 |
1854
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Truro, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom
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| 1855 |
December 1855
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Bath, Bath and North East Somerset, England, United Kingdom
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| 1858 |
1858
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Tavistock, Devon, England, United Kingdom
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| 1860 |
April 12, 1860
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Lyttelton, Christchurch City, Canterbury, New Zealand
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| 1862 |
August 19, 1862
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Lyttelton, Canterbury, New Zealand
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| 1864 |
1864
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New Zealand
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| 1867 |
February 16, 1867
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Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand
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