Norman PARSONAGE Gardner - as a child my Grandfather's name always facinated me so it was a natural route for me to explore in my family tree
Parsonage is the maiden name of my Great Great Grandmother, Christina / Christiana who married William Ezra Gardner, a cattle dealer who lived in Aston Subbedge, Gloucestershire, in 1876. In the 1871 and 1861 census Christina is shown as working as a servant in the Bromsgrove area where she was born in 1842. Christina was one of 8 children on HENRY PARSONAGE and Elliza Smith / Adams. (Searches get confusing as there appears to be two Henry Parsonages married to ladies called Eliza)
HENRY PARSONAGE 1809-1889 - in the 1881 census Henry is listed as a baker although in previous census he is recorded as a Master Shoemake.
Burial: 01 Jan 1890, Oldbury cemetary.
Occupation 1: 06 Jun 1841, shoemaker.
Occupation 2: 30 Mar 1851, Master shoemaker.
Wills abstract: 1890, Somerset House Oldbury Worcs by son William, Swansea.
Marriage: 10 Sep 1832, St. Martins, Birmingham.
An extract from another family website records - The story according to Aunt Ciss / Selina / Ina / Mrs. Joe Bird : Her grandfather Henry Parsonage had an inn on the Bromsgrove to Birmingham Road. A pleasant spot where the stage coaches would stop. At one point he backed a note for a friend who defaulted and Henry lost everything he owned. Said to be a big man with a big voice. He was a town councilor in Oldbury and a street there is named after him.
Children of Henry and Eliza
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Louise 1835- 1850
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William 1837-1915
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Ellen 1839-1880
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CHRISTINA 1842-?
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Henry 1845-?
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Selina 1848-1939
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ELIZA 1853-1939
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Frank 1855-1901
For the purpose of my family tree I am going to concentrate on Christina, my Great Great Grandmother and her sister Eliza because their children would eventually marry.
Christina and William Gardner had four children, one bring WILLIAM HENRY GARDNER who married Lydia Stribblehill (see page Lydia Stribblehilll Cooper and William Gardner).
Eliza married EDWIN DEELEY and had four daughters, Eliza, Bessie, Selina and Criss
Extract from another family website - Eliza Parsonage Deeley and her husband Henry Edwin Deeley kept a store at 278 Cooksey Road, Small Heath, Birmingham, England selling ale and tobacco. They lived above the store. In the 1881 England census she is shown as a beer retailer while her husband Edwin H. is listed as an unemployed brewers drayman.
Eliza and Henry sold their store in Birmingham and left England in 1910 +/- for Canada. Two of their daughters, Selina and Bessie, travelled with them to join Eliza who had emigrated to Canada with new husband John Lupton. The Deeley's stayed with John and Eliza on their homestead south of Broadview, Saskatchewan, until their small house was built in the town. The house is still standing in Broadview and is now used as a storage / workshop. Eliza Parsonage Deeley lived there until her death.
Their other daughter Criss stayed behind. I believe that Criss was the first woman to graduate from Birmingham university although I have no evidence of this just family history. She worked as a teacher - in WW11 she lived at South End Farm, Ringsfield Common, Beccles, Suffolk (1942) She was teaching at a college during this time and lived with a family in Beccles.
In 1924 she visited her family in Canada and from what I can see this was the last time that she saw her parents and siblings. She remained single until she was 69 when she married her cousin WILLIAM HENRY GARDNER, my Great Grandfather, in 1953. Family gossip says that she and William were close for many years and married as soon as was appropriate after Lydia's death (William's first wife).
I remember Aunty Criss well, My first memories of her are when she was living in Baldwin's Lane, Hall Green, Birmingham, and this must have been in the early 1960s and she appeared very frail then. She spent her last years living in Wickhamford, near Evesham with her step-son Norman, my Grandfather, and his wife Nancy. She would wear a green visor to protect her eyes and she had very thick, round, frameless glasses. I used to hate it when it came time to leave because this meant that I would have to kiss her and she had very soft, lose skin which I didn't like the feel of. I would try everyway I could to avoid the kiss, but it always came!
HENRY PARSONAGE
