Hello everyone
My grandfather is a complete mystery to our Australian family. He married Emily Bridget Carroll in Glen Innes NSW in 1892 & died in an accident near Bellingen NSW in 1909. His death certificate says he was 39 years old making his birth date abt 1870; father's name Charles but this could be an error given the circumstances of his death. We do not believe he was born in Australia. The marriage certifcate has no family details at all. 'Levien' suggests a link to Stropshire & we are aware of a Charles Pullen born at Market Drayton in 1870. It would be marvellous if someone here is able to confirm the identity of our mystery man or at least point us in the right direction.
Many thanks.
Susan
I was recently investigating an Edward LEVIEN in connection with the ancestry of friends. He was aged 45 at 1841 Census, living in Upper Hobart Place, Westminster, of independent means; and was earlier of Lamb's Conduit Street in 1820 at the bap of his son Edward, and then a member of the Stock Exchange.
My conclusion so far that the family was of Jewish origin, and that the surname, as with Levene, was a varant of Levi; but that this Edward converted to Christianity. The occurence of Levien in Lancashire, as reported by Michael, fits with this, given the significant early Jewish settlement in Manchester (where indeed the Rothschilds started off in this country).
Thankyou for your replies Michael & Martyn.
I was misguidedly under the impression that the name Levien originated in Shropshire. I apologise for my mistake. I have explored the background of Charles & Ellen Pullen and their children in an attempt to place one of them in Australia & so forge a connection to my Charles but I have had no success with that. Charles b. Market Drayton appears to disappear after the 1891 Census which would give him time (only just) to reach Australia before his liason & subsequent marriage in 1892. However, he does not appear on any immigration lists. There is a chance he came as crew or jumped ship but many of these lists are incomplete or non existent which is obviously no help.
I had also thought of the connection to the Jewish 'Levi' so Lancashire may be an excellent new direction.
Thankyou.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Hello Susan
I seem to be missing something here - can you please explain why you think the name LEVIEN suggests a link to Shropshire.
Looking at the British Surname Atlas (which uses data from the 1881 census) there were only 37 people with the surname LEVIEN in 1881, most were in the London area with 6 in Lancashire. Looking at the slight spelling variation of LEVIAN there were a total of only 7, five of which were in London and two in Lincolnshire.
Looking at all the Births, Marriages and Deaths on FreeBMD the majority of the entries for LEVIEN seem to be around London with some in Lancashire and a few elsewhere but none at all in Shropshire.
There are two main reasons why someone might have had a second forename (which by the way was very unusual in the 1870's) one was because of a family tradition possibly a favourite grandparent and the other is where the child was illegitimate and took the mother's surname but she gave the child the father's surname as a second forename.
A search on the Family Search web site shows the Charles PULLEN you have found born in Market Drayton in 1870 was the son of Charles and Ellen PULLEN and that by the time of the 1881 census the family had moved to Stretton on Dunsmore, Warwickshire. I think you should continue looking at this person to see if you can find him on any more census records in the UK or marrying or dying in the UK then you would be sure that he did not emigrate to Australia.
The only records of passengers leaving the UK don't start until 1890 so your Charles PULLEN does not show up. Do you have any Arrival records which you can check to see if you can find him?
Mike