My Poysers In Blore/Ellastone, Staffordshire

When I first discovered an ancestor in Blore, I had no idea where it was or what the place was like. When I began looking into it, I found a sparsely inhabited village that appears to be as sparsely inhabited today (maybe even moreso) than in was in their time. When Ellastone also showed up in records, I learned of the proximity of the 2, so my records, pertaining to certain people, became much clearer.

So far, I am only back to the early 18th century, where my 6th great grandfather, Daniel Poyser, 1710-1752, was born, lived and died in Ellastone. His wife Elizabeth (nee Sweetnam, 1718-1774) was born in Blore, but they were married in the church at Ellastone, and (although she remarried after the death of Daniel) she died in that village also.

St Peter's, Ellastone

They had 7 children, but lost 2 little ones that I have found so far, both named Elizabeth. The first lived 3 years, and their next daughter, born 2 years later, was named after her deceased sister but only lived 3 months.

At first, this was very confusing but as I got more information, and through talking with others, it seems that it was common in those days to do this, if one child died.

Their youngest son, William, born 1751, is my 5th great grandfather and although born in Ellastone, he was baptized in Blore and 8 of his 9 children were born there. The eldest being born in Doveridge. He was married to Ellen Murphin (1753-1822).

William was buried in the churchyard of St Batholomew's, Blore Ray, in 1816.

St Batholomew's, Blore Ray

The next generation gets a bit murky and was definitely confusing at first until the stories began to unravel and reveal unknown facts.

My 4th great grandfather, Henry (1788-1862), married Ann Poyser. Despite searching diligently, I couldn't come up with any kind of birth record. It was a chance connection on Ancestry that provided me with what I needed. Her name (at birth) was Ann Hodgkinson (1794-1868). She had been married to Henry's younger brother, Thomas (born 1791).

Thomas, and another brother, William (born 1775) were caught for horse stealing, and sentenced to death in 1823.

This sentence was however commuted in 1824, and they were sentenced to life and sent to a penal colony in Australia.

I haven't yet found a record of Thomas's death, but Henry married Ann in 1827, on May 14th, having moved to London.

They were married in the same church that my mother was married in, over a century later, St Leonard's, in Shoreditch. This is also one of the churches made famous in the song 'Oranges and Lemons' - "When I grow rich, say the bells of Shoreditch".

St Leonard's, Shoreditch

I used to sing that song as a little girl.

As a child, I walked past this church regularly, and did not know that one of my ancestors had been married there, I just knew that my mum had.

More recently, this was also used as the church in the tv series, Rev (2010-2014)

St Leonard's showing the spire

Henry and Ann had 7 children, and their firstborn son, named Henry after his father, was born in 1817 and became my 3rd great grandfather.

He is the one who began my line of the Poyser family's time, in the Plaistow/West Ham/Canning Town area, that would continue for over 100 years ... with others outside my line being there into the 21st century.