Writing a blog about my Bond ancestors has
become a little more complicated than I expected. For one, Bond is a common surname. For another, it appears every other child of
the 18th and 19th century appears to have been baptized
John, Henry, William, or Robert. Sadly
these are the most common names in the Bond family. I set out to write the blog of our lightermen
ancestors, but ran into a few brick walls.
I really don’t like writing blogs when I am unsure about my facts.
A number of very capable family genealogists have
uncovered our common Bond family tree (and a DNA test confirms our relationship with one another). Seeing the number of
Bonds in the records, though, and the number of dissenting opinions and
inconsistent trees, I really needed to be sure.
So I start with what I know.
My grandfather was Leslie William Bond
(1901 – 1998). His father was William
Henry Bond (1874-1949). I am absolutely
certain of these facts. I also know that
William Henry’s father was Henry. This
is based on census records, and confirmed by comparing dates, birth places,
marriage records and other facts. Here
is where it starts getting tricky.
 |
| My father Roy with (above starting at left) Henry Bond, his wife Lillian and my grand-father Leslie William Bond |
There is a collection of papers called
Freedom of the City (for the City of London).
In the case of our ancestor, I could connect his paper because of the
other names listed, namely his father, William Robert Bond, and his brother,
Charles Acton Bond. The middle name
helped me sort through another relationship.
This meant there was an Acton in their family tree (more on this later).
The 1861 census says that William Robert
was born around 1801 in Hants, Portsea.
It also says that he is a Watermen/Lightermen. In 1817,
there was a William Robert Bond invested into the Lightermen union and living
in Bermondsey, London. These facts led
me to a birth record in 1801 in Portsea, Hampshire. His parents were (sigh) William and Sarah.
Having followed the cardinal rule of
genealogy, “start with what you know”, I got as far back as William Robert,
born 1801 in Portsea, with parents William and Sarah. I can guess that William and Sarah were born
around 1780, and they certainly lived in Portsea, and it’s quite likely that
William made a living on the water. The
1841 census offered some further assistance.
There I found William Bond’s family, meaning William Robert (confirmed
by the birth date and names of children).
On the other side of the page was another William Bond, this one 75
years old, living with his daughter Elizabeth (35 years old) and son-in-law
William Skewes.
Okay.
So now I know that William was probably born around 1766, he had at
least two children (Elizabeth and William Robert), and the census also
mentioned he was not born in that parish (Bermondsey). But was that all I knew? Actually not.
I also saw the middle name Acton appearing in a number of Bond
progeny. So was William’s wife Sarah’s
surname Acton? Possibly. I did a search
for William Bond, with a wife Sarah Acton, a son William Robert (born 1801 in
Portsea), and a daughter Elizabeth.
I found the marriage record for William
Bond and Sarah Acton. They were married
in 1786 in Deptford, Kent. The marriage record says they were “both of this
parish.” So I am looking for the parents
of a William Bond, born 1766 and possibly in Kent. I now have a huge spreadsheet with dates,
locations, names and anything else so I can start making connections that are
reasonable or likely or proved. With the
number of Bonds in England and no clarity on exactly where William was born, I
was getting frustrated.
I
turned to Sarah Acton. I found her birth
record in Deptford, Kent relatively (in research terms) quickly. She was born to John and Sarah Acton, and
John was a waterman! Eureka! Now I have a name, date, location and profession
reference. Back I went to what I know. We have family evidence back to 1786!
Naming conventions would typically suggest
that the first born son be named after the paternal grand-father. The first born son of Sarah Acton and William
Bond was named John. Could William’s
father be John Bond. I did get lots of
records for a William Bond born to John Bond.
What if their first child was named after Sarah’s father. That would make him John Acton Bond (which,
in fact, is his name). The second son
was William Robert Bond. What if the
grand-father’s name was William or Robert, or William Robert rather than John.
Maybe the lightermen/watermen records would
help. I found William Bond (possibly the
correct one) bound to Andrew Higgins in 1789.
Given his marriage three years previously to the daughter of a
lighterman, it is entirely possible (even likely) this is our William. But where is the evidence of his birth, and
his father and mother? Now some
guesswork.
There was no recorded (or accessible record) of William Bond born in 1766 (as
stated in the 1841 census) in England who later married a Sarah Acton. The William Bond I could find was born in
1763 at St. Olave Hart Street, a stone's throw from where William Bond and Sarah Acton were later married. It was relatively common that census records noting birth years could be
off by a few years here and there. I
know our William married Sarah. William
was a shipwright. Sarah’s father shared
a profession on the water. They were
married in 1786 in Deptford and later lived in Bermondsey.
I found a christening record for William
Bond, born in Middlesex in 1763 to John and Sarah. Sarah's father's name is John Cowley. This may be our William, which means his
parents were John Bond and Sarah Cowley.
I was then able to find William’s birth
record, born 23 August 1763 in Middlesex, England, to John Bond and Sarah
Cowley. This record was in the
Non-Conformist and Non-Parochial Registers (listed as Presbyterian, Independent
or Baptist). This could be helpful in
our search because it is possible that our ancestors on the Bond side (possibly
also the Cowley side) would be listed in these Registers. Not all faiths kept records that survived,
and from the year 1754 marriages were only legally valid through the Church of
England (so they were often registered both in the Church of England parish as well as in their own denominational records). I decided to try my
hand at searching the non-conformist registers for anything relating to John
Bond (who married Sarah in 1761 and later had a son William). But first, I would try searching the records
of a profession in which later Bonds participated: lightermen.
I found a John Bond who was made a free
lighterman in 1748 in St Saviours, and very likely marrying Sarah in 1761. This John was bound in 1738 to another John
Bond, likely his father. Then going back
further there was a John Bond made free in 1706 to his master John Bond, also
likely his father, also at St. Saviours.
I kept up the search. In 1715 a
Henry Bond was bound to his master John Bond.
John possibly had two sons: John and Henry. These names reappear in our family tree many
times. I believe I can be relatively confident that William’s father’s name is
John who married Sarah Cowley. I am
reasonably sure that John’s father’s name was also John based on the lighterman
records. At this point, though, given the lack of reliability in non-conformist
registers, as well as the popularity of the name John Bond, I believe my trail
has run cold. I am absolutely certain as far back as William, and if I got his birth record right, I can take the Bonds back to John Bond, born around 1721. Further, assuming that is correct, I am reasonably certain his father's name is John, and he would have been born in the late 1600s. That's a lot of assumptions.
About one thing I am absolutely certain though: our direct ancestors worked on the water
likely as far back as the turn of the 18th century and possibly further. Back then, they were members of a Presbyterian
denomination apart from the Church of England. In another blog I will tell you a little about
the lightermen of the Thames.
Sources:
This blog required a review of almost 300 records pertaining to the Bond direct family ancestors and their spouses. Everything from vital statistics to census to occupational records were used.
Image:
http://www.redherringsandwhitelies.co.uk/lightermen.html
