Tuesday 9 January 2007

Henry Cruwys and Louisa Hartell of Exeter

As part of the ongoing hunt for Henrys I have been looking at the family of Henry Cruwys and Louisa Hartell. Interestingly, in a reversal of the usual migration pattern, Henry was born in Westminster, London, in 1788, but moved back to Devon and settled in Exeter. Louisa was born about 1788 in Stroudwater, Gloucestershire. Henry and Louisa married in 1822 at St David's, Exeter. They were both "of this parish". Henry signed his name in the register and spelt his surname as Cruwys. Unusually we have only been able to find one child born to this couple – Louisa Elizabeth Cruwys, baptised on 18th May 1823 at St Paul's, Exeter. Henry and Louisa provide a good example of the difficulties we face trying to find the surname Cruwys in the censuses. In 1841 their surname was recorded on the census page as Cruwys but indexed as Crawys. In 1851 the name was recorded as Crewys but indexed as Brewys. In 1861 the name was again recorded as Crewys and was also indexed with the same spelling. Henry and Louisa lived in Exeter for most of their lives but moved to Taunton some time in the 1860s. Their daughter Louisa vanishes after the 1841 census and I have no record of her death or marriage.

1 comment:

Polly Rubery said...

Have you tried looking for the missing daughter under her mother's maiden name. You don't guve the date of the parents' marriage, only the year, so it strikes me that if she was more than a very young infant at birth she could have been before it!