Seventh son?

Septimus Powell, was he the seventh son of Mr and Mrs Powell? Here is a gravestone in memory of him in the churchyard on top of the hill in Uphill. He first appears in the 1841, along with a host of others living in Stogursey, but there seems no other Powells, and no separate numbers of houses, which is a mystery to me at the moment.

Meanwhile, far away in those days, in Nether Poppleton in Yorkshire, there is another Septimus Powell; he is aged twenty and living with his brothers, Henry George and John, and his mother Martha. His brothers that are living at home are older than him, so there may have been three others who have already left home, making him the seventh in the family.

In 1851 Somerset Septimus is living in Bristol with his sister and grandmother, both called Constance, and another sister Sarah, in Bristol. Yorkshire Septimus is now living in Tadcaster, famous for brewing, and he is  living and working on his brother George’s farm along with his other brother, Henry.

Another Septimus has been born in Bulith Wells in Wales; he, poor little soul, is described as a pauper and living with a farmer and his wife, John and Elizabeth Williams. No doubt he was a little servant and labourer for them.

In 1861 Somerset Septimus has had a might change to his circumstances as recorded in the census; he is now a wave manufacturer, whatever that is, employing fifty men and twenty boys. That seems a big operation, until I notice his uncle William F, is a state bottle manufacturer employing 117 men and  42 boys.

Little Welsh Septimus, now aged 22 is still with William Jones although I think Elizabeth must have died; William is now a farm bailiff and Septimus is a carter. Yorkshire Septimus is now living at Great Ouseburn in Yorkshire, is married to Harriot, has two children, John and Hannah, and is a market gardener.

On the census there appears yet another Septimus Powell, who is only three years old. His father is named Rosiland Powell… yes, Rosiland; he is a dispensing chemist and lives in Bristol with his family although he and his wife Sophia, both come from Nottingham. They have other children as well as Septimus, Rosilind, Edward and Sophia, Walter, Cuthbert and Clara.

The Septimus from Somerset is now married to Emily and has a son Arthur. In 1871, Septimus and Harriot from Yorkshire are living near Leeds with their daughter, sadly Welsh Septimus died at the age of 24, and there is yet another man of the same name, living in Lancaster. Who would have thought it would be such a popular name?!

In 1881 another Welsh Septimus has arrived… he is looking after his daughters, Mary, Catherine, Margaret and Sarah, and little Septimus his son, because his wife has died; he is a labourer in a stone quarry… a hard life to support and look after five children. Septimus from Somerset has now arrived in Weston-super-Mare with his wife, son, and daughter, Constance, named after his mother and sister and Yorkshire Septimus is living with his wife, still in Great Ouseburn.

I started my little investigation to try to find out if the man born in the churchyard was the seventh child in his family…. it was such an unusual name, so I thought, that it would be a fairly straight forward task; in a way it was but I also found that there were more men and boys with that name than I could have imagined! I think perhaps it was just a name people liked!