Where an occupation saved the day

It was only by an Occupation that I was able to resolve a research mystery. I sought a William John Witts and found in various Censuses & BMD registrations he was shown as William John, John & William seemingly at random. But it took quite a while to discover there was also a John Witts, born in the same year, in the same place and -later (much later) -found them to be first cousins. Not surprisingly both cropped up in the same Censuses.

There were two marriages both to a John Witts (no mention of a William). One had married an Alice Sophie and the other a Mary Ann. One union was childless, the other with 2 children. I noticed my own cousin in her Ancestry Tree had opted for Alice while I had taken the Mary route; we could not both be right.

So in collaboration we both agreed that the majority of the male Witts were employed in the family Master Builders business. We knew that our William John's father had been a Builder and his son had followed on as a Carpenter. We went back a generation and found a brother had not joined the family trade; he had become a Porcelain worker. We discovered he had a son John -born the same year as his brother's son William John- perhaps the son had followed in his father's trade? We found at the same time that William (as he was then called) had been an apprentice Carpenter, his cousin John was labourer in a China factory.

Stepping forward both were now being called John Witts. One aged 20 had married an Alice Sophie. The other waited much longer and aged 29 married a Mary Ann. The occupation of the latter was "Carpenter" and the former "China Printer" (whatever that was).

It was the 1911 Census that finally allowed us to confirm that our John (aka William John) the Carpenter had married Mary Ann and there were no children. The other John (still a China Printer) was shown with Alice Sophie and two children. Job done and an Occupation had saved the day.

 

As the collector of Royal Winton "all-over floral" china, I remember reading that young girls were apprenticed to this trade. Apparently Mr Grimwade (correct me if I'm wrong) was a hard taskmaster and the practice pieces were sold on a "seconds" market without the Royal Winton trade mark. I have a piece.