A MYSTERY PROABLY SOLVED AND A NEW PUZZLE: IS THIS THE SOURCE OF THE NELSONS?

 

In family history, as in life, some things niggle.  I recently posted about Mary Ann Nelson TRENDALL and I said that the source of her maritime middle name was unknown and that there was no evidence of any earlier use of the name in the family.

I was partly right about the evidence bit but the explanation as to the name is, probably quite simple.

My great great great grandfather, Joseph TRENDALL (c1770-1838) married Ann BARTLETT (c1789-1829) at St Clements Danes Church London on 03 May 1807.  The interface between the BARTLETTS and the TRENDALLS is quite complex as I have mentioned before.  One of this couple’s children was William TRENDALL (1820-).  He was the Father of Mary Ann Nelson TRENDALL (1846-1914) (as described in my last post).  Living with William’s family was Elizabeth BARTLETT (?-1849).  At one point she is described by another member of the family as their grandmother suggesting that Elizabeth was the mother of Ann BARTLETT.

However a few searchs on line suggest that Ann BARTLETT’s Mother was in fact Ann NELSON.  This would make sense for the purposes of the naming pattern.  The problem is I cannot find any actual regards of a marriage involving Ann NELSON and William BARTLETT, who we know was the father of Ann BARTLETT from Ann’s baptism record from 1787. Nor can I find a baptism record for Ann NELSON.  All we have is the repeated claim in secondary sources that this is Ann NELSON.  I say ‘we know’, and this is always a dangerous phrase.  There are, for example, several other baptisms of ‘Ann BARTLETTs’ in the period and at least one other with parents called William and Ann.

Unpicking these things is never straightforward and we must proceed with caution.

The strongest indication that Mary Ann Nelson TRENDALL was named after her grandmother is that she was not the only member of the family to be given the Nelson name.  Ann’s brother, Thomas BARTLETT (c1796-1841) had a middle name that he didn’t seem to use much.  His full name was actually; Thomas Nelson BARTLETT.  For a while Thomas and his family were living at Cromer Street, the address of William TRENDALL.  In the 1841 census when he was living in Henry Street Pentonville there were some young children in the household with the surname NELSON.   Moreover Joseph TRENDALL names Thomas BARTLETT as his executor in his Will.  The fact this is the same person is confirmed by the address cited at the time of writing the Will.  It would have been helpful if he had mentioned his middle name and the fact that he was his brother in law.  A reminder that documents are not written with future historians in mind. Finally we note that Thomas called his youngest daughter Mary Nelson BARTLETT (c1833-? ).

Therefore on the balance of probabilities, I would conclude that Ann NELSON married William BARTLETT and their children included my great great great grandmother Ann BARTLETT (later TRENDALL).

Having solved this puzzle almost to the level set by the international Genealogical Proof Standard another problem arises.

How does Elizabeth BARTLETT fit into the family picture? We known that she ran the pawnbrokers  business in Cromer Street for many years before it passed to William TRENDALL.  Her death certificate suggests that she was 90 years old in 1849.  She is described as the widow of ‘a barrister’s clerk’ – a name would have been helpful!  I have a theory.

A bit more work to do, hopefully followed by another post updating this update!

Philip Trendall

(1961-  )

July 2026

A simplified family tree showing descent from William BARTLETT and Ann NELSON to my Father, Frederick Alfred TRENDALL, and some of the uses of Nelson as a middle name.  BARTLETT is a common name in London at the begining of the 19th Century. 

#Trendall #Bartlett #Nelson #Cromerstreet #