Tom Rowe

GEDCOM Note

In 1861, Tom Rowe was a scholar, aged 13 and living with his parents in East End, Boldre. Ten years later, on the night of the 1871 census, he was no longer living in Boldre.

In October 1872, Tom Rowe married Fanny Perkins in London, and Frank Rowe was a witness.

When Charles John Rowe was born in 1873 Tom's occupation was "Carpenter and Joiner", and the address given was 3 Goldington Crescent, Pancras, which was the address of the registrar of births at the time. On census night in 1891, Tom (carpenter), Fanny, Charles (Clerk, 18), Florence (5) and Ethel (2) were living at 6 St. Martins Place, St Pancras, London. Elizabeth Perkins (80) was living with them, "on her own means".

In 1901 Tom and Fanny lived at 23 Hargrave Road, Islington. Charles was also in the house on census night.

According to Grandad, Tom and Fanny Rowe had four children (two girls and two boys), but the first three died in infancy. Grandad's mother told him that the girls reached school age and were very clever. Except for the birth order and the existence of a second son, this accords with the records; Florence (about 8) and Ethel (about 5) both died in 1894.

Grandpa wrote that he "had recollections of my Grandfather Rowe wearing a green smoking Jacket." He also recalled that Tom Rowe was a cabinet maker for the education board, and owned a wooden writing kit made by Tom Rowe, which has now passed to Dad.

Tom Rowe died intestate and not possessed of real estate. Tom's occupation was recorded on his death certificate as School Furniture Repairer. His estate had a gross value of £666-0-8, and a net value of £650-12-5. He was buried in plot 20809 of section M6 of the Islington section of the Islington and St. Pancras cemetery in North London, which is about a mile from where our family lived in Muswell Hill. The grave is a "third-class public grave", which means that other unrelated people could be buried in the same plot. On 7 July 2000, Jamie (b 1994, Tom Rowe's ggg-grandson) and I located the plot, which was then in a bramble thicket in heavy undergrowth in woodland. The plot was not marked but we were able to identify it by removing moss and soil from markers on its immediate neighbours.