STRASMA | LOWTHER | DRINAN | RUDDELL

Norman Family in England

Phillip Norman and his wife Mary lived on Church Lane in Needingworth in 1841, according to the 1841 English census. Both are listed as 45. Philip was born in a different county, but the rest were born in the same county. Philip is an agricultural laborer.

Their children are sons William, 20; John, 20; Joseph, 15; and Charles, 5, and daughters Ann, 12, and Mary, 15. It appears that there are two sets of twins.

In 1849 or 1850 Ann gave birth to a son, John. No father is listed in church records, and he is recorded as "illegitimate."

His birthdate is uncertain. A handwritten note passed down through the family gives the date of baptism, but not the birthdate:

"I certify that John son of Ann Norman resident at Needingworth was baptized at the Parish Church at Holywell on June 19th,1850 by John Roberts, Curate. The above is a true extract from the Parish Register.” Signed Charles Hoskins, Rector of Holywell, April 19th, 1886.

Later secondary records suggest that John was born in 1847 (Ashkum Cemetery gravestone and 1900 federal census), 1849 (1851 English census), 1850 (1880 federal census), or 1851 (obituary). His gravestone and obituary list his birthdate as 3 Jan. Given the baptismal record, 3 Jan 1850 seems the most likely.

In July 1850, shortly after John's baptism, Ann married William Tabbitt, a 35-year-old widower. He and his first wife, also named Ann, had at least one son, James, who was 5 in the 1841 census. He apparently did not live with William and Ann after their marriage, since he is not in the 1851 census listing.

William Tabbitt and his family had been living on Church Lane in Holywell. Holywell is adjacent to Needingworth.

The website of St. John the Baptist Church describes the two villages today:

The two villages of Holywell and Needingworth, lying a mile apart, form one civil and ecclesiastical parish and one village community. Holywell is the smaller settlement, located at the side of the River Ouse. An ancient Anglo-Saxon ring village of about 80 houses, it is a conservation area. Needingworth is the larger part of the parish, with over 900 households: the historic centre of the village grew up along the former St Ives–Ely road, now the High Street, and Church Street, leading to Holywell.

The 1851 census shows William Tabbitt, 37, wife Ann, 20, and son John, 2, on Church Lane. Their listing is immediately adjacent to Ann's parents, Philip and Mary, and four sons and a 35-year-old step son. The next family listing is for another son, William Norman, 32, his wife Ann, 23, and their two daughters, Harriet, 2, and Rebecca, 8 months.

Ann's father, Philip, died in October 1855.

The 1861 census shows the Tabbitt family living at The Barracks at Holywell cum Needingworth. William, 45, is an agricultural laborer, and his wife Ann is 33. John, 12, is listed as John Tabbitt employed as a farmer’s boy. Sons Charles, 6, and David, 4, are scholars, and Matthew is 2. This census shows all born in Needingworth.

John emigrated to the US in 1867, arriving at New York 21 OCT on the "City of London."   It is not known where he traveled to in the US but the 1870 federal census shows him living in Momence, Illinois, where he is listed as a laborer. (The 1900 census reports he arrived in 1866 and later was naturalized in 1876 as a U.S. citizen. His obituary reports that he traveled to the US at the age of 17 which is consistent with the “City of London” passenger list.)

A handwritten family list of marriages says that John Norman and Lucinda Abagail Douglass were married January 7, 1874. The register of Kankakee County marriages shows that John and Lucinda were issued a marriage license January 7, 1874, and married the same day by Kankakee County Judge C. R. Starr, almost certainly in Kankakee.

Lucinda had been born 18 AUG 1849 at Fenner, in Madison County, New York, she moved with her family to Wilton (Center) in Will County, Illinois in 1859 and then to Peotone in 1870. She was married to John Norman four years later.

A handwritten listed of places where Lucinda lived shows the Normans moved to Momence, Illinois, in 1875 and then back to Peotone in 1879.

John was a tile burner at the tile yard in Peotone. He and his wife had three children, Emma, born 24 JUL 1877, in Momence and twin sons, Oscar and Orville, born 21 APR 1881 in Peotone.

In 1893 the family moved to Ashkum. During most of that time he was employed at the brick and tile works of C. H. Comstock in the capacity of kiln burner, at which he was considered an expert.

John died 17 FEB 1906 in Ashkum. Lucinda continued to live in Ashkum until 1913 when she moved to Kankakee to live with her daughter, Emma Clifton, and her family. She died in 1934.

The Clifton Advocate reported on 23 FEB 1906:

John Norman died last Saturday morning at his home in Ashkum. His fatal illness, pneumonia, was of short duration. He was 56 years of age. He used to live in Clifton; but moved to Ashkum about thirteen years ago. He was, employed in the tile factory as a kiln-burner. Besides the widow he leaves a daughter and two sons. John Norman had many friends here who mourn his loss.

By the 1871 census, the Tabbitts were living back on Church Street. William Tabbitt died in 1877. The 1881 census shows Ann, 50, a widow, being "kept by her sons."   Living with her on Church Street are Matthew, 21, Samuel, 18, George, 15, Elizabeth, 10, and Alfred, 7.

Matthew and David Tabbitt emigrated to the US and settled in the Peotone area. The Tabbitt families continued close contact with the Normans and, later, with Frank and Emma Clifton and their family.

An 1894 letter from Emma Tabbitt and her mother Ann to the Tabbitts in the US, there is mention of John Norman’s cousin, Harriet:

   They were greatly surprised to hear of Harriet Norman. Hope she is well by this. She said she should come to see us again when she had been their a year, but we shant expect to see her if she thinks of getting married. I think young women must be rather scarse their, for it there is any go from this part, they soon get married.

Indeed, Harriet married George Allstedt in Kankakee County on 6 November 1894. She was among those attending John Norman’s funeral in 1906. By 1910 the census showed her as a widow and hotel keeper in Kankakee. She later moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where she died in 1963 at the age of 92.

Ann Norman Tabbitt outlived her son, John. The 1911 English census shows her living in the “workhouse” at Hemingford Grey, not far from Needingworth. Workhouses at that time often provided housing for the elderly poor. She was 82 at the time of the census. Her date of death is uncertain but may have been in 1913. (The workhouse, originally built in 1837 to house 400 “inmates,” was ultimately closed and refurbished as private residences.)