The Ladd branch of my family tree isn’t very big at the moment and it’s not very sturdy. It seems to be the case that my Ladd connection originates from Dorking, Surrey but then moves to Gloucestershire.
Harriett Ladd (b.1867, death not known) was my great great grandmother who married James Rudman Shill and had many children. She was born in Malmesbury (Charlton), Wiltshire. She can be found in Wiltshire in 1871, aged 3, living at the Green, Tetbury with her parents Joseph (44) and Eliza. All the children are born in Tetbury (and they are there in 1861) apart from Frederick (aged 5) and Harriett so it seems the family moved there for a few years, then moved back to Tetbury.
Joseph Ladd is a blacksmith and his place of birth given as Dorking, Surrey. His wife, Elize, was born in Beverstone, Glos. so it seems reasonable to assume they met in Gloucestershire and indeed their marriage took place on 13 May 1852 at the Parish Church, Beverstone. Joseph was 24, a Blacksmith, living in Beverstone. His father is given as George Ladd, a labourer. The couple are in Tetbury in 1861 – Joseph aged 33 and a blacksmith but place of birth given as Buckland, Surrey – with their children Emma, Hester, Mary Ann, William and Eliza.
Buckland is in fact very close to Dorking, just to the east – as you can see on this Google map. Joseph’s year of birth is around 1827/1828 so before the BMD records started. My cousin Steve has cited me a birth at Buckland, Surrey on 30 Dec 1827 (so he was a Capricorn!) to parents George and Sarah.
I have been thinking until now that the line went back through a George and Eliza Ladd who are to be found in Dorking at this time but I think this is wrong. There are a George and Sarah Ladd in Orpington, Kent who look far more likely. Unfortunately in the 1841 Census Joseph seems to be living away from home at a Grocer’s in Dorking aged 14.
How did he come to be a blacksmith? And to travel to Gloucestershire?
