A cousin of my mum did a huge amount of research into the Matthews family who have long lived in Littlehampton, in fact the cousin still lives there! She did all this research before the days of the computer or the internet and what she produced was a magnificent and detailed family tree going back to the splendidly name Solomon Matthews, born in about 1786; he and his wife Sarah Moore had at least nine children, one of whom was named William, the first in a line of Williams who stretched down five generations to my Uncle, William Alan Matthews.
Once I took up researching the family tree I was lucky enough to have the internet to help me. I was working full time and living in the north of England, far away from Littlehampton on the Sussex coast. I thought there couldn’t be too many men named Solomon Matthews, and I searched and searched, and researched and researched and came up with very little.
About a year ago, I suddenly had a breakthrough and came across Solomon Matthews with the same date as my great-great-great-great-grandfather Solomon, and I found him on a baptismal record in Billingshurst in Sussex. he was the son of Henry and his wife Ann Older. She was a widow who had been married to Samuel, five years older than her, who had died around 1773 leaving four children under the age of six, Hannah, Samuel, Mary and Ann.
Ann was fortunate to meet Henry Matthews, who married her and took on the children. Henry and Ann had a number of children themselves as well as Solomon, Elizabeth, Abraham and Henry, John Barnet and Fanny and lastly little Charlotte in 1793, who was 26 years younger than her half-brother, Samuel.
As with much family research, especially of old records nothing is certain, and I can’t find any trace of Solomon later, so I am not 100% sure he is the right person… and that his parents, Henry and Ann were therefore my ancestors… but I just feel that they were!!
The Matthews family settled in Littlehampton, and on my recent trip I found the road they had lived on and houses which were similar, if not the exact one they had lived in!
I am searching for information on my Gr. Gr. Gr. Grandparents, Henry Matthews, born 25 Dec. 1799 and Hannah Lincoln, born 11 April 1801. They married 27 January 1824 at St. Mary, Littlehampton, Sussex, England. I have been unable to find out the parents of either one. Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated.
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Hello Carolyn, my ancestor Solomon Matthews had a brother named Henry, but the date I have doesn’t coincide with your Henry. His father was also Henry and I don’t have a firm date for him, but he married Ann Older. She was previously married to Samuel Older and had several children with him. It’s a long time since I looked at my tree, so I’m a bit rusty with details! The family continued to live in Littlehampton until the 1900’s.
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Solomon Matthews is a direct relative of my great great grandmother Alice Matthews. She married Arthur Edward Knight and ran a bakers shop together in Brighton.
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We must be distant cousins! Was Alice’s father Edward F Matthews, son of Solomon born about 1820, and was she born about 1870? I have someone of that name in my family tree!
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Hi there! My father was John Matthews who resided in LittleHampton as did his family all before him. Thank you for writing this. I know there are many but I believe I have traced my lineage back to Solomon Matthews (Son of Henry who is son of Abraham Matthews). I’ve found a few other splits from my tree around a Harry Moore Matthews. Anyhow if all this sounds familiar we could be related 🙂 Hope all is well! Aaron Matthews
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Hell! Greetings, yes I’m sure we’re distant cousins – Solomon is my however many greats-grandfather. His grandson Harry was my ancestor’s brother, another William. There were a whole series of Williams until there was my grandpa, William Reginald.
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My grandpa, Reginald William was born and brought up in Littlehampton.
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Thank you so much for this blog and the reply. I really enjoyed reading it. I still have a cousin who lives in the area that I keep in touch with. I’ll have to forward over this link. Up until a but recently the only real lineage information I’ve had was from my dad, which wasn’t too extensive, so reading this was a real pleasure. Also, do you know where abouts the photo of the Matthews house was taken?
Of course to my eye a lot of the housing is very similar, but it is very much like the one my Grandfather (Ronald)/Grandmother(Grace) lived in. I do believe that they were in Rustington which was right nearby. I’m sure it’s different but would be interesting to see on my next visit.
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Thanks, nice to be in touch with another Matthews! I have only visited Littlehampton a couple of times, and I’ll have to check on the photo. I’ll look through my actual photos – from grandpa and from an aunty to see if I have any others. I think the Matthews family were connected with the company of Travis Perkins (not completely sure!!)
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PS The last remaining family member living in Littlehampton was Derek Matthews but he died some time ago. He had two sons, but I can’t for the moment remember their names
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