This page last updated 2 February 2010
7. Robert READ (lived late 18th century) of Westleton. More.
6a. Edward (abt 1793-1874) and Mary Ann (abt 1793-1843) READ of Worlingham. Mary Ann had been a TAYLOR. More.
6b. Edward (abt 1793-1874) and Hannah (b. abt 1810) READ of Worlingham. Hannah had been a BRIGGS. More.
5. James Martin (1819-74) and Mary Ann (1822-1901) READ of Worlingham. Mary Ann had been a BRIGGS. More.
4. George Henry (1842-1923) and Myna Ann (1847-1934) READ of North Cove, Mutford and Carlton Colville. Ann had been a HAMMOND of Frostenden. More.
3a. Arthur Albert (1880-1956) and Florence (1881-1921) READ of Carlton Colville. Florence had been a PRIME and known as THORPE. More.
3b. Arthur Albert (1880-1956) and Sybil Janettie (1881-1921) READ of Carlton Colville. Sybil had been a CHASE. More.
Robert READ was a blacksmith - thanks to a cousin, Phil Read, for this information and some of the following.
He presumably lived in Westleton, near the Suffolk coast, as that is where his son Edward was born, in 1793. I don't know anything more about him - the only record of him is on the certificate of Edward's second marriage. A Robert READ appears as a witness on this (1849) certificate and another of 1841 - if the witness on either certificate is this Robert, he lived to an old age and was illiterate.
Edward married Mary Ann TAYLOR on 12 November 1818 in Westleton, Suffolk. She was about his own age (25) and was probably pregnant - the following August they baptised their son James Martin in Worlingham, some miles away on the northern edge of the county. They lived there for the rest of their lives. Edward was a labourer, at least he was in 1841 when James Martin got married. Mary Ann died in 1843, aged about 50.
Edward remarried aged 56, on 6 November 1849, to Hannah BRIGGS, aged about 39. Hannah may have been the sister of Mary Ann BRIGGS, wife of Edward's son James Martin - see below; both were also from Worlingham and both name their father as John, a labourer, on their marriage certificates. Also, a Hannah BRIGGS witnessed Mary Ann's marriage.
Edward died in 1874, aged about 81.
James married Mary Ann BRIGGS on 3 November 1841 in Worlingham. She was about 19 though she claimed to be 21 on the certificate. They also lived out their lives in Worlingham. James worked as an (agricultural) labourer.
They had several children in Worlingham, some of whom went to other parts of Suffolk and elsewhere, and who between them provided them with many descendants:
Twins George Henry and James Edward 6 October 1842; for George see below; James (known ironically as Tiny) married Jane MEADHAM and had six children in Benacre.
Robert 1843; married Elizabeth ROBINSON and had one child, then Eliza PORTER and had nine more, all in Worlingham.
Charlotte 1846; married Henry LEWIS and had nine children in North Cove, Barnby and Ellough
William 1848; married Rachel CUTTING and had eleven children in North Cove and in Stockton, Norfolk
Harriet 1851; married Samuel FORMAN and had nine children, mainly in Worlingham
Ruth 1853; married Robert EDWARDS and had ten children in South Cove
Mary Ann 1856; married Walter GREENGRASS, then Charles MOORE and had ten children in North Cove
Henry Martin 1857; married Ann CROSS and had eleven children in Beccles
John 1861; had one child in Worlingham and then married Ellen WYATT
Edward Martin 1862; married Mary Ann and had five children in Beccles
James Martin died in 1874 aged about 55. Mary Ann his widow lived later in Beccles, I think with one of her grown-up children, but she was back in Worlingham when she died in 1901 aged about 79.
George married Myna Ann HAMMOND on 7 March 1865 in Worlingham. Ann (as she appeared on her marriage certificate and in most of the records of her adult life) was just 17 and quite heavily pregnant; she was to have a child nearly every year until she was 40. She was the daughter of a labourer from Frostenden, not far from South Cove where some of George's relatives lived.
Ann had her first two children in Frostenden where her parents lived; it was not unusual for young mothers to go to their parental home for childbirth, I believe. After that, I guess that the birthplaces of their children indicate where George and Ann lived: North Cove until 1872 (when they christened all 5 of their eldest sons at once), Mutford in 1873, and Carlton Colville from about 1875 onwards. George was a farm labourer and the family's migration may indicate that he was following work. The moves were a short distance each time and took them east from Worlingham towards the Suffolk coast. It seems they settled at Carlton Colville and George continued to work as a farm labourer. George and Ann raised 15 children to adulthood, and I understand had three others who died young. Details of all the survivors and one of the others:
George Edward; had two children, including William who enlisted to fight in the Great War in 1914 and survived all the way through until he died of wounds on 7 November 1918, just days before the Armistice.
Robert James; married twice; had four (or five) children by his first wife and seven (or eight) by Elizabeth PIKE - reportedly he had 12 in total
William; married Florence WRIGHT and had four children
Henry; married Bessie BUNN and had six children
James; had several children
Frederick; had seven children from two mariages
Charlotte; had four children
Harriett; married name something like SOLOMAN; had six sons
Edith Ann; had four children
Mary; had two sons
Arthur Albert; see below
Florence Ruth; married William PRIME (brother of Hannah and Florence PRIME see below) and had two children
Samuel John; married Hannah PRIME and had six children; then married Ivy HALL and had two more
Herbert Martin; had seven children
Bertha; died young
Alfred; had eight or nine children
George died in 1923 at the age of 81. Ann lived to the age of 87, dying in 1934. Upon her death she was reckoned to have 134 living direct descendants and was mentioned in the parish magazine and in the rector's diary (published as the Carlton Colville Chronicles - this book is also the source for the story of Private William Read; the rector felt the deaths of the young men of the parish keenly, as in the early years of the war he encouraged them to join up).
Arthur married Florence THORPE (born Florence PRIME as explained on her family page; sister to William and Hannah mentioned above) on 11 January 1905 in Carlton Colville. At 23 she was a year younger than him, the daughter of a local farm worker. Arthur (like several of his brothers) went to look for work in the nearby fishing port of Lowestoft, went to sea as a fisherman and was later a captain, of a trawler and in the Royal Naval Reserve. The READS in their boats out of Lowestoft would travel long distances to find a catch, and their families would go to places on the west coast such as Padstow and Milford Haven to see them when they landed their catches from the Irish Sea. In other seasons they would land at Lowestoft and return to the family home with fish for the table. The work was dangerous: one of Arthur and Florence's sons and one of their grandsons lost their lives at sea, while working on fishing boats.
Arthur and Florence had four sons and four daughters between 1906 and 1920; I won't name them or give other details as some people from this generation are still living, but all grew up and married. Florence died in 1921. The youngest child, less than a year old, was brought up by uncle Sam (Arthur's brother and also a fishing captain) and aunt Hannah (Florence's sister) alongside their own children. Arthur and Florence's other children remained at home and were cared for by a woman called Sybil Janettie CHASE.
One thing appears to have led to another and Arthur married Sybil CHASE by 1924, when their first child was born; they would have two more as well, in about the next ten years. Sybil was about 16 years younger than Arthur, so in her late 20s when their first child was born, with Arthur in his mid-40s.
Arthur eventually retired from fishing and died in 1956 aged 76. Sybil lived until 1984, dying in her late 80s.
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