Basics

People

Properties

Can You Help?

Roads Off

Janet's Research

Sources & More

Brentford Families - Christmas

A surname profiling web site (see Web Links), which maps surname density by current postal districts, shows 'Christmas' in the eastern half of England and particularly in postal areas of Stevenage and Guildford. Brentford is in Twickenham postal district and 'Christmas' shows up as a little higher than normal density in this area

I started research on this family in the run up to Christmas 2009. Since then new on-line records have enabled some additions to be made: these are indicated with (2010) and (2011). I plan to revisit the family in December 2012 to see how much I can add in the space of an hour or two.

William Christmas

The ancestry.co.uk website includes a family tree with Elizabeth Christmas, daughter of William & Elizabeth Christmas, New Brentford parish, baptised 29 May 1835. The baptism includes a note 'Maternal: George Best': I take this to mean the maternal grandfather was George BEST.

(2010) ancestry.co.uk includes the burial entry for our William Christmas, on October 27 1837 at St Mary Richmond: he was of Brentford and aged 40. The reference 'G1N' on the entry may refer to his burial plot. The burial site suggests the Christmas family may have been from Richmond.

(2010) Searches of Richmond registers for other Christmas burials showed a William St(uart?) Christmas was buried on January 8 1836, age 4: the same reference 'G1N' is included under his name, unfortunately the address is not clear: Hill Street?, Peter Street? There is a baptism of William, son of William and Ellen Christmas of Brentford, china dealer, at St Mary Richmond on March 1 1832, he was born January 28.

(2010) BUT the mother was not expected to be 'Ellen': the name Elizabeth was given in the census returns. William Christmas (a bachelor of Isleworth) married Ellen Stevens, a spinster of Richmond, at Richmond in 1828. So were there two couples, William and Elizabeth and William and Ellen - or just one?

(2010) Ancestry.co.uk includes several Christmas family trees, including one which has William Christmas and wife Elizabeth nee BEST, with three children: a son who died as a youngster, daughter Elizabeth and daughter Sarah.

(2010) Familysearch.org includes a baptism of Elizabeth BEST daughter of George Best and Elizabeth on 20 Oct 1793 Saint Mary Magdalen, Richmond, Surrey.

(2010) So at this point findings from 2010 have thrown in some complications but on a positive note there is a firmer link with Richmond, with a possible baptism of Elizabeth Christmas (nee Best) and evidence the Christmas family had other branches locally.

(2011) It struck me that Ellen might be a first wife of 'our' William Christmas, and a search of burials using ancestry.co.uk supported this: an Ellen Christmas was buried on April 11 1832, age 30, at St Mary Richmond, and by the entry the same reference as appears in two other Christmas burials is written: 'G1N'. The address is clear: Hill Street. A bonus, from Googling on 'Hill Street Richmond' is the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames website ' A Walk along Hill Street'.

(2011) The above find narrows down the period in which William Christmas remarried to between April 1832 and his own death in 1837; one would expect him to have married before daughter Elizabeth was baptised in May 1835. Elizabeth was baptised at St Lawrence, New Brentford, perhaps her parents married there? In theory any marriage should be on ancestry.co.uk, but as it has not turned up I searched the marriages at St Lawrence, New Brentford and at St Mary Richmond for 1832-1835 using the browse facility- still no success.

(2011) I also checked findmypast and was side-tracked by a Lincolnshire marriage which resulted in the bride becoming 'Easter Christmas' and a Vicar-General Marriage Licence Allegation in 1836 between a groom named White and a bride called Christmas, begging to be hyphenated.

Christmas family in censuses

In 1851 Elizabeth is described as a 'china and glass dealer' and the census reveals her birthplace as Richmond, Surrey: a couple of miles from Brentford on the south of the Thames. It also confirms her daughters were born in Brentford, so the family were settled here by around 1835. There is no servant living with the family, but the girls would have been old enough (at 15 and 14 according to the census) to help their mother.

What did the shop sell and who to? My guess is china and glass for domestic use and sold to Brentford people. The Grand Junction Canal ran through Brentford and could have brought stocks of china and earthenware from the Staffordshire potteries.

By 1861 the eldest daughter, Elizabeth, was not living with her family at their High Street address. A search of the census index shows she was visiting William Gray, a lodging house keeper at 3 Old Palace Terrace, The Green, Richmond. Was he an uncle or more distant relative? Or perhaps the relationship was through Harriet Gray his wife, who, at 59 was a contemporary of Elizabeth's parents. William Gray was 50 and born in St Peter's Kent, his wife in Guildford, Surrey.

In 1871 the Christmas family is recorded in New Brentford, mother 'dealer in china and glass', two daughters unmarried at 35 and 34. Neither had an occupation recorded against their name. Later in the year their mother Elizabeth died, aged 77.

(2011) Ancestry.co.uk includes Elizabeth's Administration details. This gives her death date as 14 Sep 1871, that she died at her High Street home, her effects were valued under £200 and administration was granted to Sarah Christmas, her daughter and one of the next of kin.

After their mother died the business continued in the hands of the two daughters. An 1874 trade directory includes the elder daughter, Miss E Christmas, china dealer, High Street New Brentford. However by 1881 it is Sarah Christmas who is running the shop and the census shows for the first time the address as '219 High Street'. Sarah had two older lodgers sharing the house: George Boxall, a retired baker, and his wife Jane, both aged 76. The index to deaths shows that Sarah's elder sister Elizabeth had died in 1877 at the age of just 41.

(2011) I checked ancestry.co.uk and Elizabeth (junior) did not leave a will.

The last Christmas?

Sarah continued to run the business, living on her own at 219 High Street; the 1891 census shows she was an 'employer' so presumably, at the age of 54, she had some day help in the shop. The description of her occupation is 'china dealer' and later the word 'earth' has been added with a 'x': perhaps referring to earthenware either being, or not being, sold.

In 1901 no. 219 High Street has a new occupant: Albert C Moore, grocer & provision merchant. Sarah Christmas, aged 64, was visiting Emma Stanbury, an unmarried lady aged 51, in Richmond (8 St John's Grove). Emma Stanbury was born in Richmond and may have been a relative of Sarah's mother. Perhaps Sarah had retired? No occupation is shown in the census.

There is a death of a Sarah Christmas in Guildford, Surrey aged 70 in 1906, but there are other possible matches: however none, (as at 2009) in Brentford, so it seems likely that Sarah moved away in her retirement.

(2011) The Sarah Christmas who died in 1906 left a will showing she was a widow, eliminating her. A check of the 1911 census revealed Sarah, age 74, born New Brentford, was visiting a hotel run by William Lossock, 6-9 Bridgewater Square, St Giles Cripplegate. A search of later death registrations showed a possible match in 1927 at Kingston registration District, Surrey, age 90.

Other local Christmas

(2011): I found a second baptism on ancestry:Kezia Amelia, daughter of Edward and Jane Christmas, marine store dealer of Old Brentford, June 28 1840 at St George's church. There is a death registration of a Kezia Christmas registered in the Jul/September quarter which seems likely to be the infant.

(2011) Edward Christmas married Jane Manford at Heston in 1835. In 1841 an Edward Christmas, a labourer age 30 with Mary, age 3 was living at a High Street address, Old Brentford. Had his wife died in the meantime? I was not able to trace the family in later censuses, but a burial of Edward Christmas at St Mary, Ealing in 1858, age 50 may be relevant. It would be helpful to locate him in 1851 to establish his birthplace - in case he is related to William.

(2011) A William Green Christmas married Jane Penny at St Mary Richmond on 15 November 1840. The marriage entry describes him as a carpenter of Richmond and his father's name (unclear) appears to be Major Christmas, a farmer. Is he related to 'our' William Christmas? The 1841 and 1851 censuses show him living in Isleworth with his wife and mother-in-law and in 1851 his birthplace as March, Cambridgeshire.

Christmas Tree

• William Ste(wart?) Christmas (1832-1836); baptised and buried at St Mary Richmond; a child of William senior's first marriage
• Elizabeth Christmas (bn around 1836, died 1877):born in Brentford; no issue; child of second marriage
• Sarah Christmas (bn around 1837, probable death 1927): born in Brentford; no issue; child of second marriage

We do not know...

No Sarah Christmas baptism has been found, around 1836/7.

Published December 2009; updated December 2011