William Julian and Eliza Penny

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Parents      William Julian and Elizabeth Liddicoat                 James  and Jane Penny          Parents of Mary, Elizabeth or Sophia not researched

William Julian (b 1815 Roche Cornwall, m Eliza Penny 1842 Liskeard Cornwall, d 1897 St Columb)
   Wife 2                       m Sophia Pascoe 1853 St Columb Cornwall (b 1804 St Columb, d 1874 St Columb),
   Wife 3                       m Elizabeth Pearce 1874 St Columb (b 1816 Roche, d 1887 St Columb), 
   Wife 4                       m Mary Jane Caddy 1888 St Austell Cornwall (b 1834 St Austell  d 1910 St Columb)
Eliza Penny (b 1818 Liskeard, d 1851 St Columb)     All children Eliza's
    Mary Ann Julian (b 1843 St Columb, d 1853 St Columb)
    Richard Julian (b 1844 St Columb, m Emma Skinner, d 1928 Hendon London)
    Eliza Julian (b 1846 St Columb, m William Henry Tippet 1865 Cornwall, d 1924 Coburg Vic)
        Annie Tippett (b 1879 Fraddon, St Enoder Cornwall, m Herbert Oscar Smalley 1908 North Fitzroy, d 1955 Kew Vic)
    Ellen Julian (b 1849 St Columb, m Thomas Hellyar 1868, d 1925 in USA)
    Frederick Julian (b 1850 St Columb, m Jane Tamblyn 1973 St Columb, d aft 1880)
    William Henry Julian (b 1851 St Columb, d 1928 St Stephen in Branell)

    In 2008 Merrill and I did a trip to Europe, part of which involved visiting places that were now old friends from our family history research. Part of the internet environment at the time was the Online Parish Clerk. These were enthusiasts who would take responsibility for making the records of a particular parish available. They put data on the internet and happily answered queries. They would usually research records on your behalf. Susan Old was Online Parish Clerk for St Columb, a key parish in our research for the Tippetts and others. After some correspondence Susan suggested we visited her at her home in Roche, which we did. It was a very pleasant visit, and she aided us in sorting out the complicated trail of a man who had four wives.

    Online Parish Clerks have probably been overwhelmed by corporate genealogy such as Ancestry these days. And these days Ancestry have probably hoovered up all their data.

    William Julian, aged 27, married Eliza Penny in 1842 and they had six children. Eliza died in 1851, the same year as her last child was born, so her death was probably childbirth related. Their third child Eliza was Merrill's great grandmother

    William then married Sophia Pascoe in 1853, no doubt partly to help care for the children, They were together for twenty years till Sophia died in 1874, aged 70.
    He married Elizabeth Pascoe the same year. She died in 1887 aged 71.
    The next year he married Mary Jane Caddy who was 54. The had nine years together till William died in 1897 aged 82. Mary Jane died in 1910 aged 76.

    I am not sure what the lesson from this is other than the perils of bearing children in those days. Perhaps also if you marry often enough a wife will outlive you?

Details of our correspondence and research now follow

Timeline for William Julian and Eliza Penny (or The Four Wives of William Julian)

Note Eliza was the mother of all Williams children

1804 Sophia Pascoe born St Columb Cornwall                                                                               <<< wife 2
1815 William born Roche Cornwall
1816 Elizabeth Pearce born Roche                                                                                                  <<< wife 3
1818 Eliza Penny born Liskeard Cornwall                                                                                     <<< wife 1
1834 Mary Jane Caddy born 1814 St Austell Cornwall                                                                 <<< wife 4
1841 William boarding in St Columb with probably widowed Catherine Pearce, her father and four children
1841 Eliza Penny staying with two older ladies (45 and 50) in Liskeard
1842 William marries Eliza Penny in Liskeard                                                                               <<< wife 1
 1846 daughter Eliza Julian born    <<< our ancestor
1851 William and Eliza are living in Middle Gossmoor Road, St Columb with 5 children including our Eliza
         William is a carpentert
1851 Eliza Penny dies in St Columb (Apr-Jun)                                                                                 <<< wife 1
1851 son William Henry Julian is born (Apr-Jun)
There is nothing clearcut in Ancestry, but it looks very likely that Eliza Penny's death was associated with childbirth
1853 William marries Sophia Pascoe in St Columb                                                                          <<< wife 2
1861 First child (Mary Ann) has left home but the four other children are still there
        There is another son 10 year old William Henry. William Henry Julian was a very common name at the time
1868 daughter Ellen marries Thomas Hellyar and goes to the USA with him. They had a family there, she died in 1925
1871 The family are still in Middle Gossmoor Road and the youngest son William is still at home
        William is a carpenter likehis father
        Eliza is living next door, married to William Tippett, with three young children
1871 son Richard is married to Emma in Indian Queens, Master carpenter with one man employed
        His brother Frederick is living with them, described as Carpenter at work, so he could be the one man employed
        Daughter Eliza is living next door (now a Tippett) with husband William and their three children
1874 Sophia Pascoe dies in St Columb                                                                                                 <<< wife 2
1874 William marries Elizabeth Pearce in St Columb                                                                          <<< wife 3
1881 William is still in Middle Gossmoor Road with new wife Elizabeth
1887 Elizabeth Pearce dies in St Columb                                                                                             <<< wife 3
1888 William marries Mary Caddy in St Austell Cornwall                                                                  <<< wife 4
1891 William is still in Middle Gossmoor Road with new wife Mary. William is now Carpenter, local preacher
1897 William dies in St Columb
1901 Mary is living in St Enoder, about 5 miles south of St Columb. She is on her own - “living on own means”
1910 Mary dies in St Columb                                                                                                                 <<< wife 4

The above sequence was painstakingly reconstructed with a lot of help from Susan Old (St Columb OPC) and Arthur Wilkins (Roche OPC)
For details of investigations see the following link. It is a bit stream of conciousnes but shows a bit of the proces and various Census records 
Investigations and evidence   

William Henry Julian lead us a merry dance. There is a birth that is just right registered for William Penny Julian (Apr-Jun 1851).
Plausible - Penny is his just deceased mothers name. She died Apr-Jun 1851
In the 1861 census he is recorded as William Henry - William Henry is common combination and Penny is unusual and sounds a lot like Henry ... ?
In 1871 he is recorded as simply William
In 1873 William P Julian marries Anna Alvia Thomas.
In 1881 they have called their first child Sophia after Sophia Pascoe, who was effectively his mother after Eliza died when he was newborn
In 1911 they have a Samuel Pascoe as a boarder
In 1828 when he dies he is given as William Penny Julian, after having been given as William P since 1973

Acknowledgemets

Thanks to Susan Old (St Columb OPC) and Arthur Wilkins (Roche OPC)
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