Who Was Simeon Webber?

In a previous article, A Story of Three Brothers, I briefly mentioned an English ancestor called Simeon Webber. When I started researching that branch of my lineage, I knew that Simeon was going to be a problem because there didn’t seem to be as much evidence for him as for his siblings. Before I returned to him, I did a quick check to see if anyone else had experienced difficulties and I quickly realised that there must have been more than one Simeon, and that other researchers may have conflated the few items of evidence from those different individuals. Several trees apparently had him with two concurrent marriages, with five children from each marriage, before dying in Chicago in 1890 — presumably of exhaustion.

So how many individuals were there? You’d think that with a name like Simeon Webber, they would be easy to follow. The Simeon Webber I was mainly interested in was born in Chard, Somerset, in 1828, and baptised on 11 Nov 1828.[1] He was with his parents, Benjamin and Alice, on High Street, Chard, in 1841[2], but I was not certain of his whereabouts after that. There was no obvious mention of him in the 1851 census, and no obvious marriage for him either.

In March 2015, I happen share a little information on an old 2007 forum thread that was looking for information on a similarly-named person. This was fortuitous as the original poster (Tracey Blagden) immediately got in touch by email. We shared what little we each had, which included the following obvious references:

• Item-1: There was a death of a Simeon Webber recorded in Tiverton, Somerset, in 1854.
• Item-2: There was a Simeon Webber in the Channel Islands in 1851. Although his place-of-birth was given as Bristol, Gloucestershire, Tracey believed that he had later Chard connections.
• Item-3: There was a Simeon Webber in Chard in the 1861 census. Wife not the same one as for the 1851 Simeon.
• Item-4: There was a death of a Simeon Webber reported in a Devonshire newspaper in 1867.

The problem here is not of explaining how he could have had two different wives, but of finding some of the missing references in order to determine which events belonged to which individual.

The Simeon referenced in the 1861 census (Item-3) is the same individual as identified in my 1841 reference, above, and in my previous article. I can be sure of this because he was born in the same small village, in the same year, and there was only one Simeon Webber born there. A transcription for that household yields the following information:[3]

Name	Relation	Occupation	Born
Simeon Webber	Head	Railway Navvy	1828	Somerset - Combe St. Nicholas
Elizabeth Webber	Wife	Housewife	1828	Dorset - Dorchester
Mary A. Webber	Daughter	Scholar	1852	Sussex - Battle
Elizabeth Webber	Daughter	Scholar	1855	Sussex - Crawley Down
George Harvey	Boarder	Railway Navvy	1802	Wiltshire - Christian Malford
Robert Salter	Boarder	Railway Navvy	1841	Somerset - Langport

Table 1 - Simeon Webber, 1861 census, Chard.

This gives a couple of very important clues that we will use for finding him in the 1851 census: his occupation was that of a railway “navvy” (or labourer), and his first daughter was born near Battle, in East Sussex, just after the 1851 census date.

Figure 1 - Battle Station, 1962.[4]

It is now easy separate the Simeon referenced in item-4. The newspaper reported the death, in 1867, of “Elizabeth Webber, widow of the late Simeon Webber, died 20 January at Hillside, Dodbrook. Simeon was rector of Fonthill Bishop, and vicar of Tilsbury”[5] — clearly distinct from a railway labourer. Looking at earlier newspapers revealed his death: “Jan. 24 [1858], at Fonthill Rectory, in his 75th year, the Rev. S. Webber, for many years rector of Fonthill Bishop, and vicar of Tilsbury, in the county of Wilts.”[6] This places his date-of-birth around 1783 and so we can eliminate him from our investigation as he would have been much older than the others. However, looking back just a little further, we can see that when this Simeon became rector of Fonthill Bishop, in November 1817, he was referred to as “Rev. Simon [not Simeon] Webber, B.A.”[7] — an alternative name used in several reports throughout his life. Maybe this could be a reason for the missing references to the other individuals too.

The first child of the Chard Simeon and Elizabeth was a Mary Ann Webber, born 2 Dec 1851 in Battle.[8] The father’s occupation was given as ‘labourer’, and the mother’s maiden name as Samson. Interestingly, there’s no obvious marriage of a Simeon Webber to an Elizabeth Samson but we’ll come to that later. This places Simeon in, or near to, Battle a few months after the 1851 census.

There is no Simeon to be found in Battle, but searching by occupation reveals a very likely candidate. The household of George Archer, a brick maker from Kent, had no less than four railway labourers lodging with them, and two of his sons were also railway labourers.[9] Of the four lodgers, the names of two were given to the enumerator, but the names of the other two were unknown. Also, the place-of-birth for all four was unknown. This can be interpreted as them arriving from another county, and not having been there for very long. I am suggesting that the ‘unknown’ entry aged 20 (which is obviously one of four estimated ages) is the missing Simeon. As well as the age and occupation, this is also relying on the fact that we know Simeon was in this area, and that he does not show up under any attempted variation of his name. However, Elizabeth Samson/Webber, who would have conceived around 2 Mar 1851 (at the other end of the census month) is still nowhere to be found.

Their second child, Elizabeth Webber, was born 8 Dec 1854 in Crawley Down, West Sussex, about 35 miles NW of Battle.[10] Simeon’s occupation was then given as ‘railway labourer’.

So how does this Simeon compare with the other 1851 reference in item-2? That Simeon was a mason, born c1826 in Bristol, married to a Tryphena (from the Greek name Tryphaina, derived from Greek tryphe, meaning "softness, delicacy"), and living on Alderney in the Channel Islands.[11] A transcription shows they had three daughters at that time.[12]

Name	Relation	Occupation	Born
Simeon Webber	Head	Mason	1826	Gloucestershire – Bristol
Tryphena Webber	Wife	-	1826	Gloucestershire – Bristol
Edna Webber	Daughter	Scholar	1845	Jersey – St Helier
Jemima Webber	Daughter	Scholar	1846	Jersey – St Helier
Martha Webber	Daughter	Scholar	1848	Channel islands – Alderney
Lucy Scamall	Visitor	Dress Maker	1829	Channel Islands – Jersey

Table 2 - Simeon Webber, 1851 census, Alderney.

Nothing seems to be that simple, though. There was no matching baptism for that Simeon, and no marriage to anyone called Tryphena. I was hoping for a quick find given such an unusual name.

The baptism of their first daughter, Edna, on the island of Jersey on 3 Nov 1844, gives her mother’s maiden name as Edmunds.[13] The baptism of their second daughter, Jemima — also born on Jersey — is not recorded in the same St. Helier parish. There was a Jemima Ann Webber at the right time but the parents were not the expected ones. It is possible that her baptism occurred after they had moved to Alderney, but the corresponding records are not online and I have not investigated them.

Moving to the 1861, we find Tryphena was a widow in the Union Workhouse, High Ham, in Somerset.[14] In their recorded order, the family then included:

Name	Occupation	Born
Jemima Webber	Scholar	1846	Somerset – Curry Rivel
Tryphena Webber	Scholar	1851	Somerset – Curry Rivel
Ellen Webber	Scholar	1853	Somerset – Curry Rivel
Tryphena Webber	Stone mason’s wife	c1821	Somerset – Ilton
Elizabeth Webber		1860	Somerset – High Ham
Amelia Webber	Scholar	1858	Somerset – Curry Rivel

Table 3 - Tryphena Webber, 1861 census, High Ham.

Some things to note here: the elder three children are all recorded as being born in Curry Rivel, about 6 miles SW of High Ham, rather than in the Channel Islands; it wouldn’t be the first time that “ditto” was used erroneously to speed things up. However, Tryphena was recorded as being born locally in Ilton, about 13 miles SW of High Ham. Recalling that both Tryphena and Simeon were recorded as being from Bristol in the 1851 census, then if Tryphena’s details were incorrect then so might Simeon’s be. Note that these villages are all quite local to Chard, which is a little further at 20 miles SW of High Ham.

We’re therefore looking for the death of Simeon somewhere between 1851 and 1861, and that brings us nicely to the remaining item-1: a death in Tiverton (about 40 miles W-SW of High Ham) in 1854. The corresponding death certificate recorded that a Simeon Webber, a mason, died 13 Sep 1854 of ‘dropsy’ in the Union Workhouse, Tiverton.[15]

There was no mention of the daughters Edna or Martha in this 1861 institution. There was a death recorded in 1869-Q3 of a Martha Webber in the same Langport registration district, but I haven’t investigated this. There was also an Edna Webber of about the right age working as a house servant in nearby Ilminster, although her place-of-birth was given as Curry Rivel rather than Channel Islands. Tryphena had four new children in 1861: Tryphena, Ellen, Amelia, and Elizabeth. Since Simeon died in 1854 then the latter two must have been with another man. It would appear that Tryphena later married a Walter Mansfield on 21 Jul 1861 in Curry Rivel[16], and that she died in c1899 in the Langport registration district aged 71.[17]

The birth certificate for Ellen records her birth in the Union Workhouse, High Ham, on 29 Sep 1853, to Simeon, a labourer, and Tryphena (Edmonds) Webber. Note the slightly different spelling of her maiden name. Both Tracey and I had notice a marriage of a Tryphena Edmonds to a Simeon Webber Adams, in Chard in 1844, but were confused over Simeon’s surname. That marriage occurred on 15 Apr 1844 at the Chard Register Office.[18] Simeon was a mason, and his father was recorded as a butcher named Alexander Webber. Tryphena’s father was another butcher named William Edmonds. Both bride and groom were living in Whitelackington, Somerset. The fact that his father’s surname was used as a middle name suggests that Adams was his mother’s name, and that his father and mother were never married. That would mean we were looking for an illegitimate Simeon Adams, born locally c1826.

Given these search criteria, there was just one good match: in Swell, about 8 miles SW of High Ham: Simeon Adams was baptised to Ann Adams at Swell St. Catherine on 23 May 1824.[19] No father is identified, and the note “B. B.” indicates base born (i.e. illegitimate).

Before leaving this particular Simeon, I wanted to find him in 1841 and it wasn’t proving easy. He was eventually located on a terribly faint census page in the household of a mason called Abraham Winbridge living in Kenny, Ashill, about 14 miles SW of High Ham.[20] The occupation of Simeon (age 16) was that of apprentice mason, and this tallies with the later occupation for Simeon Webber Adams, thus confirming that we had located the correct baptism.

So what became of the railway labourer? We know where he was in 1861 but we have not yet identified his marriage to Elizabeth Samson. In the 1871 census, the family had moved again to Portsea Island, Hampshire, just opposite the Isle of Wight.[21] They were at 26 Ebenezer Terrace, Landport, and had a Royal Navy seaman lodging with them.

Name	Relation	Occupation	Born
Samuel [Simeon] Webber	Head	Plate Layer Rail	1825	Somerset – Chard
Elizabeth Webber	Wife	Wife	1826	Dorsetshire [Dorset]
Alice Webber	Daughter	Scholar	1861	Somerset – Chard
Samuel [Simeon] Webber	Son		1868	Hampshire – Portsea
Infant	Daughter		1 Week	Hampshire – Portsea
Thomas Curtis	Lodger	Seaman R. N.	1843	Somerset – Bath
Mary J Curtis	Lodger	Seaman wife	1844	Hampshire – Landport

Table 4 - Simeon Webber, 1871 census, Portsea.

Ebenezer Terrace is no longer there but it was apparently just off Alfred Street, between Charlotte Street and New Row.

Before they’d moved there, they had another daughter in Chard: Alice, named after Simeon’s mother, and she was baptised 17 Nov 1861.[22] Since moving, they’d had a son, Simeon John Webber, born 29 Feb 1868 at 32 Ebenezer Terrace[23], although both his given name and his father’s were somehow recorded as “Samuel” in the census. By looking at the civil registration index, the young infant daughter can only have been Rosina Webber.[24]

Now that we know they were on Portsea Island, we can be sure that they were actually married very late on 18 Aug 1869 at the parish church of Alvertstoke, Hampshire.[25] Simeon is recorded as a labourer, as was his father (Benjamin), and also Elizabeth’s father (John). Bride and groom were both living in Gosport, Hampshire, and the witnesses were a Thomas Gilchrist and Mary Bennett.

The lateness of this marriage is hard to explain; if Elizabeth was trying to get out of a previous marriage then I found no evidence of it. However, it may be connected with the fact that they cannot be found in England after 1871. The next reference that I found for them was actually in Lake, Cook County, Illinois, in the 1880 U.S. census.[26] Simeon was an ‘earth contractor’, living with his wife, Elizabeth, and two children: Simeon (12) and Rosina (9). Given their previous residence near the major port of Portsmouth, and the fact that they had a Royal Navy seaman lodging with them, I think it’s likely that this was long planned — and hence the need to finally get their marriage sorted out — and that they possibly had some assistance. I suggest this because I can find no trace of their travel on any type of passenger list, and yet they obviously did make the trip sometime between 1871 and 1880.

Simeon was naturalised on 14 Mar 1887 in the County Court of Cook Co., Illinois .[27] He died on 31 May 1890 in Chicago, Cook Co., aged 66, and was buried in Oakwoods Cemetery.[28] On the 18 Jan 1893, the daughter, Rosina, married Maynard E. Brooks in Chicago.[29] Simeon John Webber (the son), of 324 Englewood Avenue, died 24 Jun 1913 and was buried at 10am on the 27^th at Mount Greenwood.[30]

We’ve now found some of the harder-to-locate references, and identified three distinct individuals with the same name. My particular Simeon Webber — the one born in Chard — was a railway labourer, but what was that? I ask because it seems to have been very much a type, and I noticed several newspaper references describing people as looking like, or dressing like, a railway navvy. The following is an extract from a new (in 1859) book that was printed in the newspaper; I like it because it gives a very rich and detailed, almost romanticised, image of this type, and easily makes up for me not having a picture of Simeon.

Figure 2 - Sketch of a Railway "Navvy", 1859.[31]

So, having identified three individuals with quite distinct occupations, how do their lives appear on a single timeline?

Year	Vicar	Mason	Railway Labourer
1783	Birth of Simeon c1783.
1817	21 Nov 1817, Simeon to become rector of Fonthill Bishop.
1824		23 May 1824, Simeon Adams baptised in Swell.
1828			11 Nov 1828, baptised in Chard.
1841		6 Jun 1841, Simeon Adams in Ashill.	6 Jun 1841, High St., Chard, with parents.
1844		15 Apr 1844, Simeon married Tryphena in Chard. 3 Nov 1844, baptism of Edna on Jersey.
1846		c1846, birth of Jemima on Jersey.
1848		c1848, birth of Martha on Alderney.
1851		30 Mar 1851, with Tryphena on Alderney. Tryphena (dau.) born c1851, possibly in Curry Rivel.	30 Mar 1851, possibly at Railway Hutt, Battle. 2 Dec 1851, birth of Mary Ann in Battle.
1853		29 Sep 1853, Ellen born in High Ham Workhouse.
1854		13 Sep 1854, Simeon dies in Tiverton Workhouse.	8 Dec 1854, birth of Elizabeth in Crawley Down.
1858	24 Jan 1858, Simeon died in Wiltshire.
1861		7 Apr 1861, Tryphena in High Ham Workhouse.	7 Apr 1861, Simeon with Elizabeth in Chard. 17 Nov 1861, Alice baptised in Chard.
1867	20 Jan 1867, Simeon’s wife (Elizabeth) died.
1868			29 Feb 1868, Simeon John Webber born on Portsea Island.
1869			18 Aug 1869, Simeon finally married Elizabeth in Alverstoke.
1871			2 Apr 1871, Simeon and Elizabeth on Portsea Island. Rosina born in Portsea.
1880			24 Jun 1880, Simeon, Elizabeth and youngest 2 children in Illinois, US.
1890			31 May 1890, Simeon died in Chicago, Illinois.

Table 5 – Timelines for the three Simeon Webbers.

Isn’t it true that things always look clearer in retrospect?

It struck me, having sorted through this apparently conflicting information, that Simeon’s trip was a one-way journey, and like so many emigrations it meant splitting the family between those-who-left and those-who-stayed. There must be a whole bunch of descendants of Simeon over in the US, and for them the problem of identifying the correct Simeon in England would be a whole lot harder. For them, they might have found an immigration record, or some other evidence, linking Simeon to England, but whereabouts in England? Those individuals with the same name must surely have created some brick walls for their research. It was slightly easier for me because I already knew the context of the Webber family in England, and I was building upon that before reaching the US.

---

[1] St. Mary the Virgin (Chard), Baptismal Register, p.195, entry 1559, baptism of Simeon Webber, 11 Nov 1828; certified image (printed from digital camera) supplied by Somerset Archive and Local Studies, 8 Apr 2015.

[2] "1841 England Census", database with images,  Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 13 Apr 2015), household of Benjamin Webber (age 50); citing  HO 107/8949, book 1, folio 30, page 1; The National Archives of the UK (TNA).

[3] Transcribed 19th Century UK censuses, database, FreeCEN (http://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl : accessed 8 May 2015), 1861 census, entry for Simeon Webber (age 33), Chard, Somerset; citing RG 9/1636, f.109, p.18, Chard civil parish, Bath and Wells ecclesiastical parish, ED 5, schedule 88.

[4] Entrance to Battle Station, East Sussex, on the London - Tunbridge Wells - Hastings main line. View northward, showing main station building on Up side. Date 30 Aug 1962. Attribution: Ben Brooksbank [CC BY-SA 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons.

[5] “Deaths”, Exeter and Plymouth Gazette (25 Jan 1867): p.5, col.4.

[6] "Deaths", Oxford University and City Herald (30 Jan 1858): p.9, col.1

[7] "Preferred", Cambridge Chronicle and Journal (21 Nov 1817): p.2, col.4

[8] England, birth certificate for Mary Ann Webber, born 2 Dec 1851; citing 7/304/371, registered Battle 1851/Dec [Q4]; General Register Office (GRO), Southport.

[9] Transcribed 19th Century UK censuses, database, FreeCEN (http://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl : accessed 8 May 2015), 1851 census, household of George Archer (age 35), Battle, Sussex; citing HO 107/1636, f.426, p.11, and also f.427, p.12, Battle civil parish, Battle ecclesiastical parish, ED 1f, schedule 31.

[10] England, birth certificate for Elizabeth Webber, born 8 Dec 1854; citing 2b/115/428, registered E. Grinstead 1855/Mar [Q1]; GRO.

[11] Alderney is the most northerly of the Channel Islands, about 3 miles by 1.5 miles in size. The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies (not part of the UK) in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy.

[12] "1851 Channel Islands Census", database with images,  Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 10 May 2015), household of Simeon Welber/Webber (age 26); citing  HO 107/2531, folio 509, page 22; TNA.

[13] "Baptism, marriage and burials records", database, Jerripedia (http://jerripediabmd.net/BMD_UserStuff/Baptisms.aspx : accessed 10 May 2015), baptismal entry for Edna Webb [Webber], 3 Nov 1844, parents Simeon Webb [Webber] and Triphyna [Tryphena] Edmunds; citing St. Helier parish, index 1/2386.

[14] "1861 England Census", database with images,  Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 10 May 2015), entry for Tryphena Webber (age 40), Union Workhouse, High Ham, Somerset; citing  RG 9/1629, folio 70, page 8; TNA.

[15] England, death certificate for Simeon Webber, died 13 Sep 1854; citing 5b/264/201, registered Tiverton 1854/Sep [Q3]; GRO.

[16] "England Marriages, 1538–1973", index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:NFMG-YVW : accessed 10 May 2015), Walter Mansfield and Tryphena Webber, 21 Jul 1861; citing Curry Rivel, Somerset, reference p.77; FHL microfilm 1,526,603.

[17] Transcribed GRO Index for England and Wales (1837–1983), database, FreeBMD (http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/seach.pl : accessed 10 May 2015), death entry for Tryphena Mansfield; citing Langport, 1899, Mar [Q1], vol.5c:264.

[18] England, marriage certificate for Simeon Webber Adams and Tryphena Edmonds, married 15 Apr 1844; citing 10/648/59, registered Chard 1844/Jun [Q2]; GRO.

[19] Transcribed UK parish registers (pre-1837), database, FreeREG (http://www.freereg.org.uk/cgi/Search.pl : accessed 10 May 2015), baptism entry for Simeon Adams, 23 May 1824, [father unidentified]; citing St. Catherine (Swell), register no. 5, file no. 4954.

[20] Transcribed 19th Century UK censuses, database, FreeCEN (http://www.freecen.org.uk/cgi/search.pl : accessed 10 May 2015), 1841 census, entry for Abraham Winbridge (age 50), Abdick and Bulstone, Somerset; citing HO 107/929, f.7, p.19, Ashill civil parish, Ashill ecclesiastical parish, ED 1, [book 10]; images for this page are unreadably faint to the naked eye, but Ancestry’s ‘enhanced image’ option was used to confirm the FreeCEN transcriptions.

[21] "1871 England Census", database with images,  Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 10 May 2015), entry for Simeon Webber (age 46); citing  RG 10/1127, folio 59, page 32; TNA.

[22] "England Births and Christenings, 1538-1975", index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:J31P-JXX : accessed 10 May 2015), Alice Webber, 17 Nov 1861; citing Chard, Somerset, reference item 3 p.186; FHL microfilm 1,526,463.

[23] England, birth certificate for Simeon John Webber, born 29 Feb 1868; citing 2b/379/153, registered Portsea 1868/Jun [Q2]; GRO.

[24] Transcribed GRO Index for England and Wales (1837–1983), database, FreeBMD (http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/seach.pl : accessed 10 May 2015), birth entry for Rosina Webber; citing Portsea, 1871, Jun [Q2], vol.2b:387.

[25] England, marriage certificate for Simeon Webber and Elizabeth Samson, married 18 Aug 1869; citing 2b/767/366, registered Alverstoke 1869/Sep [Q3]; GRO.

[26] "1880 United states Federal Census", database with images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 10 May 2015), entry for Simeon Webber (age 56), p.197A,  Lake, Cook County, Illinois; citing Roll 200, Family History Film 1254200, ED: 195, Image 0035.

[27] "U.S. Naturalization Record Indexes, 1791-1992 (Indexed in World Archives Project)", digital images, Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 11 May 2015), entry for Semion [Simeon] Webber, 14 Mar 1887; citing County Court, Cook Co., certificate no. 786.

[28] "Cook County, Illinois, Deaths Index, 1878-1922", database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 10 May 2015), entry for Simion [Simeon] Webber, 31 May 1890; citing FHL Film Number: 1030952; "Illinois, Cook County Deaths 1878–1922”, index, FamilySearch; Illinois Department of Public Health. “Birth and Death Records, 1916–present", Division of Vital Records, Springfield, Illinois.

[29] "Cook County, Illinois, Marriages Index, 1871-1920", database, Ancestry (www.ancestry.co.uk : accessed 10 May 2015), entry for Maynard E. Brooks and Rosina Webber, 18 Jan 1893; citing FHL Film Number: 1030223; “Illinois, Cook County Marriages, 1871–1920”, index, FamilySearch; Illinois Department of Public Health records, "Marriage Records, 1871–present", Division of Vital Records, Springfield, Illinois.

[30] “Death Notices”, Suburbanite Economist (Illinois, Chicago: 27 Jun 1913): p.2, col.5.

[31] “Literary Miscellanea: Sketch of a Railway ‘Navvy’ ”, book extract, Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette (23 Jun 1859): p.6; Image © THE BRITISH LIBRARY BOARD. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED; Image reproduced here by permission of Findmypast (www.findmypast.co.uk/); originally published in: Samuel Smiles, The Story of the Life of George Stephenson, Railway Engineer (London: John Murray, 1859); abridged by the author from the original and larger work: The Life of George Stephenson (1857).