BIRTH: 27th February 1812, at Culkerton, Gloucestershire (baptised as John Poole on 3rd July 1814 at Rodmarton, Gloucestershire). Whilst all of the records that I have for John from 1851 name him as “John Pitt”, DNA research backed up by a strong paper trail, indicates that his birth name was almost certainly, John Poole.
FATHER: John Poole, a Stone mason from Gloucestershire. Bap 31st March 1771 at Rodmarton. Died at Culkerton, 1849.
MOTHER: Betty Pitt. Born c. 1784 in Gloucestershire or Wiltshire. Died 1847 at Culkerton, Gloucestershire.
SIBLINGS: All named Poole – Richard (1803-1865), William (1805 or 1814?), Jacob (1808-1882), Thomas (1818), Edwin (1820). All born in Gloucestershire.
Occupation(s): Labourer (1851), Mason (1852). Master Stone Mason (1861).
WIFE: Sarah Davies.
MARRIAGE: 25th June 1853 at St. Woolos Cathedral, Newport, Monmouthshire.
CHILDREN:
- Sarah Ellen Pitt (1854 to 1948).
- Henry James Pitt (1856 to 1929).
- William John Pitt (1859 to 1945).
- Alice Ann Pitt (1862 to 1933).
- Thomas Jesse Pitt (1864 to 1928).
DEATH: 9th August 1865 at Rose Cottage, Glascoed. John died of varisla (Small pox). Prokash – please hyperlink to “Rose Cottage” page (HOUSES).
BIOGRAPHY
John Pitt was my Great-Great Grandfather. He was always a bit of an enigma to me – the man whose origins seemed impossible to pin down. I started trying to locate his origins as a teenager in 1980 and hit brick walls in tracing his origins until very recently.
He is first recorded as “John Pitt” in Monmouthshire records on census night, Sunday March 30th 1851, living at Court Farm, Llanfihangel Pontymoile – just a couple of miles from Glascoed. He was a lodger, with his occupation given as a “labourer”, age as 32 and birthplace as Chelworth, Wiltshire. I at just kept this entry filed as “interesting” – although the discovery of a newspaper article 35 years after years of struggling to locate John on the 1851 census, confirmed that this John Pitt at Court Farm, was indeed our man. The article confirmed that the John Pitt, living at Court Farm was not a labourer, but a stone mason! It’s confirmed in this article, where he appeared as a witness in a court case. He opened his testimony (thank you John!) with these words: “John Pitt, being sworn, said: I am a mason, staying at the Court Farm, near the Horse and Jockey”.
The article is worth a read since it gives a flavour of the man. He saw two navvies stealing “eight pounds of beef” and some other items, and took it upon himself to follow them, with the landlord and noted where they lived, before informing the Police Constable, who apprehended the two men.
Why did John come to Glascoed? The presence of navvies in the Monmouthshire Merlin article, perhaps gives a clue as to why John may have moved to the area. My guess is that he came to Glascoed in connection with the Railways. In 1851, there was work available on the new “Monmouthshire Railway and Canal Company” line linking Pontnewynydd with Newport. Work on this line lasted several years. It was first opened in 1852.
Alternatively, he may have been an itinerant mason, following the work to the burgeoning industrial areas around Pontypool, like many others, or could have come having been invited by his extended family.
Court Farm was right beside the railway line under construction, and was just across the fields from Coed-y-Cadno, the farm that the 22 year old Sarah Davies would have been working at. I wonder whether they met while both working – John on the railway and Sarah in the adjoining fields. Alternatively, they may have met at the local pub, the Horse and Jockey or the church next door? Do you try to imagine this sort of thing about some of your ancestors too?
Marriage and the move to Glascoed.
John and Sarah married on 25th June 1853 at St. Woolos’ church, Newport. The witnesses were not family members, so perhaps this was a quiet marriage? The Pontnewynydd railway line was extended to Newport in 1853 which could explain how he and Sarah came to be married at St. Woolos’ church and had “St. Woolos” as their place of residence on their marriage certificate.
Their first child, Sarah Ellen (known as Ellen) was born at Glascoed on 1st February 1854, so I believe that by this time, Sarah and John had moved back to the area where they met.
The Coleford, Monmouth, Usk & Pontypool Railway, which was authorised under an Act of August 20, 1853, started from a junction with the Newport, Abergavenny & Hereford Railway, at Little Mill, near Glascoed, to Coleford. There would have been plenty of work for stone masons on the railway at this time, so a move to Glascoed would have made perfect sense for a stone mason working on the railway. He was perhaps a mile away from that railway line, across the fields.
If he had not been so difficult to trace, I don’t think I’d have started doing what has been a fascinating study into Glascoed and would have put all my efforts into finding out more about the Pitt family. So on reflection, I’m grateful that he was so difficult to trace – without that I would not in all likelihood have made the decision to start digging deeper into Glascoed, by reading newspapers and exploring other sources. I hoped that by doing this, I would at the very least find out some interesting things about a village where a number of my family were living in the 19th century and perhaps stumble across the answer to the enigma who was John Pitt. And I have found both. Anyway, that’s enough rambling – I’ll continue to tell you more about John.
John and Sarah had four more children at Glascoed: Henry James Pitt (1856), William John Pitt (1859), Alice Ann Pitt (1862) and Thomas Jesse Pitt (1864).
John had become a Master Stone Mason, by the time of the 1861 census. The quarry named as “Pitt’s Quarry”, near Glascoed in a Turnpike Trust account of 1862, must have been his.
I was informed by Mary Cooke, John’s Great-Granddaughter via Henry James Pitt, that John was said to have taught Glascoed children how to read. I have no reason to doubt this piece of information, since John signed his name on his marriage certificate. This was at least a dozen years before the formation of Glascoed school.
Their homes at Glascoed.
We know for certain that John and Sarah were living at Panta House at the time of the 1861 census. I believe that John and Sarah moved shortly after this to Rose Cottage, Pergoed Lane – most likely later in 1861 or in 1862.
John’s widow Sarah was certainly living at Rose Cottage in 1871 and we know from newspaper reports that she took in some lodgers after John’s death, including James Williams, who she subsequently married in 1868. The lodging house was presumably the existing family home.
The times that we hear of John in the local press, between 1861 and his death, were usually in conjunction with other residents of Pergoed Lane. One good example is his April 1862 attempt to sue the teenage Martha Meredith (of Sunny Bank Cottage) for trespassing. This was also reported in the Pontypool Free Press.
The Free Press account on the same date sheds more light on the cause. It appears that Martha (probably on behalf of the Meredith family – see their involvement in the “Glascoed Riots”) took exception to John erecting a hedge around his land. The land (belonging to the Duke of Beaufort) was disputed. Since Panta House was half a mile from the Meredith’s house (“Sunny Bank Cottage”), while Rose Cottage was merely 200 yards from Sunny Bank Cottage, it seems highly likely that the Pitts had recently moved to Rose Cottage and were enclosing and protecting their newly rented land.
Another 1862 court case sees “PITT v WILLIAMS AND ANOTHER” (17th May reported in the Monmouthshire Merlin). “This action was brought (by John Pitt) for the recovery of £2 12s. 6d. for damage sustained in “Rebeccaism” at the Glascoed.” “It appeared that the dispute had arisen as to who was the proprietor of a piece of land that had been “filched” from the common.” Ultimately the judge agreed with the defendant that he had no jurisdiction over this case, so gave judgement for the defendants. This may well have related to the same piece of land that John had a run in with Martha Meredith over, since the cases are only six weeks apart. If I am right, it seems that John did not make himself very popular with his new neighbours when he first moved in to Rose Cottage!
An untimely death.
John contracted small pox on 2nd August 1865, and died 7 days later, presumably at Rose Cottage. It was an avoidable death.
We know that John was able to read so it’s a shame that he didn’t read or take notice of the Henry Greatwood’s warning in the Usk Observer on 24th April 1858. A timely warning was also placed in the “District Intelligence” of the same newspaper on 11th February 1865, warning that “Small pox, scarlatina, typhus, and measles were more or less fatal in the districts of Monmouthshire and Wales,” during the quarter just ended.” It also reported that in “Pontypool … Deaths, 162; 35 deaths occurred from fever, 12 from small pox, 6 from whooping cough, and 5 from diarrhoea.”
The fact that the informant on the death certificate, Philip Lewis who lived at the next door property, Bush Cottage, was “present at the death,” provides further evidence that John and Sarah were now living at Rose Cottage.
Newspaper Reports
- Monmouthshire Merlin, 2nd May 1851.
This earliest report was entitled “Disgusting case.” A John Pitt accused a lady, who he had spent an hour with one evening on his way home from the market, of stealing his watch. This COULD have been the other John Pitt who was living locally (a 23 year old Carpenter, living at Panteague), but I’ve got a sneaking suspicion it may have been my Great-Great Grandfather, with his strong sense of (in)justice! I might be wrong though! Sorry Grandfather!
- Monmouthshire Merlin, 19th March 1852.
John Pitt was a witness to the stealing of some articles including a joint of beef and some stockings from the Horse & Jockey pub next door to the farm where he was living (Court Farm).
- Free Press 12th April 1862. Also reported in the Usk Observer on the same date.
John tried to take Martha Meredith to court in 1862, for trespass. I am not sure what the outcome was, since no reports were found in later newspapers, but it was interesting to see him mentioned. Martha would have been aged about 15 at this time. When I first read this story, I assumed that Martha was probably scrumping for apples!
- Monmouthshire Merlin. 16th May 1863.
John took a customer to court for non-payment of a bill in 1863. The customer alleged that John “came and went as he pleased” and had not earned the money – I choose to believe my Gt-Gt Grandfather’s story, but you must make up your own mind!
- Monmouthshire Merlin. 15th October 1864.
Once again John was a witness at court, called as an expert witness for the defence, this time measuring a disputed area of land. The judge agreed with his estimate of size, but not necessarily his estimate of the value of stock the defendant had lost.
- Usk Observer: 19th November 1864 and 10th June 1865.
The final reports are from the Usk Observer, where the tenant farmer at Pergoed farm (a hundred yards down the lane from Rose Cottage) was accused of illegally selling dung to several local people including “a person named Pitt”. I love the image that the prosecutor, Henry Watkins, watched the alleged offender, George Roberts, spreading manure around my Gt Gt Grandfather, John’s orchard from behind a hedge!
- Two other reports mention a John Pitt … I’m not really sure whether this was our John, or alternatively, the other local John Pitt, a 25 year old railway worker/ Carter from Llantrissent.
Usk Observer June 28th 1862 – in this case a John Pitt provided assistance to the relieving officer of the Pontypool Union who was being assaulted in Usk by a “tramp.”
Usk Observer August 19th 1862. In this case a John Pitt was sued by a William Robbins – a “Claim for goods” valued at 6s. and 6d.
The research that has led to these conclusions.
John’s father was named as John Pitt (Mason) on his marriage certificate. And this is what puzzled me for so many years. There was no trace of a John Pitt, Mason from Gloucestershire or Wiltshire, with a son named John Pitt following the same profession, apart from a father and son from Stroud, who had both died by 1851. The work that I had put into newspaper research finally paid off – when I established that the John Pitt at Court Farm on the 1851 census was indeed my ancestor. The questions still remained – where was he born – and why is there no record of him or his father at Chelworth or even in the surrounding counties?!
A DNA test through Ancestry, also showed no lines to Pitts, although they did lead to a John Poole – a stonemason from Culkerton, Gloucestershire, close to Cirencester and the Wiltshire border. This John Poole had a son named John Poole, born in 1812 (baptised at Rodmarton in 1814) and that son disappeared from the public record after his baptism. Confusingly a second John Poole was born at around the same time in Culkerton to different parents – although there is only one burial at Culkerton. I am almost certain that this was the other John Poole, since he still was living at Culkerton with his mother, Ann in 1851, whilst our John was in Monmouthshire.
I am so grateful to Gillian Everett for painstakingly tracing family lines from the Poole family to DNA samples of today and proving the link to me, that was a hypothesis that I was finding it difficult to find evidence for either way – it was making my head hurt! Further thanks to my second cousin, Sara Hutchings – also descended from John and Sarah – for encouraging me and helping with the brainstorm – culminating in taking her own DNA test!
Birth year on the records: We have different ages on every official document that I have been able to find for “John Pitt.” This may be due to his not really knowing his birth date, although I suspect it is more a case of “covering his tracks.” Remember that he was literate enough to have taught the children in the village to read, so the contradictory information on records is perhaps a little suspicious. What was he trying to hide (or who was he trying to hide from)? Now those are different questions altogether! Here are the records with the ages and other details shown, with an estimated birth year added, if those records were correct. I believe that each record shows evidence of John being a little creative with the truth!
- 1851 Census. Aged 32. Therefore born 1818 or 1819. Born “Chelworth, Wiltshire”.
- 1853 Marriage certificate. “Of full age”. This only tells us that he was older than 21!
- 1861 Census. Aged 38. Therefore born 1822 or 1823. Born “Gloucestershire.”
- 1865 Death Certificate. Aged 48. Therefore born 1816 or 1817.
The DNA and baptism records lead me to conclude that “John Pitt” was born as John Poole on 27th February 1812 at Culkerton. Baptised on 3rd July 1814 at Rodmarton. So John was aged 53 when he died, not 48. He was aged 41 when he married the 24 year old Sarah Davies.
This age gap could be another reason why he was economical with the facts around his age.
Why did he change his name?
I wish I knew! If I am right, he went to some lengths to find a new start by moving away from the West Country and changing his name.
I have wondered whether he fell out with father and took his mother’s surname as a result (She died in 1847; his dad died in 1849).
Was he trying to hide from the law? From debtors? Was he trying to escape an unhappy marriage? Or perhaps none of the above?! Perhaps one day I’ll find the answer, although a part of me thinks that he probably wouldn’t want everyone in the future to know about his private life!
Conclusions
How can we get a true idea of a man who died well over a century ago? He died 100 years before I was even born. I find it interesting that there is still a tiny piece of oral history in the family about him after all this time – that he taught children in the hamlet how to write.
It seems to me that he was someone who worked hard for a living and was prepared to travel where the work was to make a new life for himself. He appears to have been a man with some social conscience – following suspects who he thought had committed a crime, serving as a witness in court cases and prosecutor rather than one who was taken to court and taught others how to read and write. Whether each of his moral principles align with mine – I don’t suppose they do completely, although I admire that he tried to take control of his life and had a sense of right and wrong for sure. I know that I would have loved to meet him!
Records:
Census:
- 1851, at Panta House.
- 1861, at Rose Cottage.
Death certificate: 9th August 1865 at Rose Cottage.
