PART TWENTY-ONE

The Cornwall Line – 1840 to 1900

This is the second of three sections of this family line

Updated May 2022

An earlier update included the details of the family of Edward Charles Collett (Ref. 21Q38) 1865-1942, whose family sailed to Canada in 1912, where his widow and his six children established the present-day Collette family. Additional information and photographs received from Neil Collette (Ref. 21S43) in 2013 have now been inserted in this family line.

Also, as a result of the update in 2013 a new branch of the family, which settled at Lake Charles in Louisiana, has now been added from Joseph Harris Collett (Ref. 21Q28) to the present day thanks to information received from sisters Allyson Dean Nixon nee Collette (Ref. 21T18), Alice Anne Collette (Ref. 21T17), and their sister-in-law Shawn Collette nee Shelton (Ref. 21T20).

The file also includes the family line of Lynne Sharp of Cornwall, the daughter of June Collett (Ref. 21S59), and the cousin of Christine St Johanser nee Collett (Ref. 21S60),

together with Andrée Salisbury (Ref. 21R76) of Cornwall, and

Richard Wm Collett of Melbourne, great grandson of Wm Hosking Collett (Ref. 21Q57)

In addition to kindly providing the information on his family line,

David has also brought to our attention an excellent website covering births,

deaths and marriages which has been invaluable in updating this file

www.cornwall-opc-database.org

Appendix A has been added to include many of the early Collett families of Veryan,

while Appendix B includes the known details of Daniel Collett of Penryn St Gluvias,

both of which have no apparent connection to this family line at the moment

Appendix C has been added courtesy of Keith Rookledge and this traces the

Rookledge family line back from Mrs Elsie Alice Goodwin-Rookledge (Ref. 21Q2)

21P43

William Henry Collett was born at Treworthal on 17^th May 1837 and was baptised at Philleigh on 30^th July 1837, the son of Robert and Grace Collett. It was also at Treworthal that he was four years old at the time of the census in 1841. Ten years later, when he was 13, he was already working as an agricultural labourer, while he was still living with his family at Treworthal. Around the end of the 1850s William was living at Illogan where he was working as a labourer, and it was there that he met his future wife. William married Grace Jewell at Philleigh on 31^st December 1859 when they were both recorded as being 22 years old. It was at Illogan that the couple initially settled and where their first child was born.

Shortly after William and Grace moved to Philleigh where their first child was baptised. By 1865 they were living in the village of Kea, just south of Truro, where their second child was born. The next two children were born when the family was living in Truro, after which they returned to Philleigh where their last two children were born. The next census in 1871 confirmed that the family was living at Truro and comprised police constable William Collett and his wife Grace, both aged 33 and from Philleigh, with only their two sons Robert D Collett, who was 10 and from Illogan, and Edward C Collett, who was five and from Kea, living with them on that occasion, since their daughter Elizabeth Grace Collett had already passed away on 31^st August 1869.

William was not living with his family at Treworthal at the time of the next census in 1881 and the reason for that is now known, since it was during October 1880 that he had been admitted into the Bodmin Lunatic Asylum. The census return in 1881 included his wife Grace who was 43 and described as being married and an agricultural labourer’s wife. Living with her at Treworthal village were her sons Edward who was 15, James who was nine, and John who was two, and her daughter Mary who was five. Her eldest son Robert was already working away from home at that time. The couple’s youngest son John was baptised at Philleigh in the middle of May that same year and one month later the family was attending the funeral of the boy’s father in St Philleigh Church.

William Henry Collett died on 22^nd June 1881 at the age of 44 and was buried in the churchyard at St Philleigh. His death certificate reveals the horrible truth of his death, which was suicide by hanging, and it was the coroner’s records which state he had been admitted to the asylum in October the previous year. Curiously eight years after his death his son Edward married for a second time and on the marriage certificate Edward gave his late father’s occupation as being that of a policeman. A single headstone marks the grave of William H Collett, and the same grave and headstone was used for his parents Robert Davey Collett and Grace Collett in 1884 and 1888 respectively. (see Headstone Epitaphs)

Widow Grace Collett was 53 in 1891 and was living within the Truro, St Just registration district with her youngest son John who was twelve years old. Also living there with her was her two years old grandson William H Collett, the son of Edward Charles Collett, whose wife had died during the previous year. Ten years later in 1901, Grace Collett of Philleigh was still living there at 63, but was on her own by then. Sometime during the following decade Grace move away from Philleigh and settled in St Just where she was recorded as living at the time of the census in 1911. She was 73 years of age by that time.

21Q37

Robert Davey Collett

Born in 1861 at Illogan

21Q38

Edward Charles Collett

Born in 1865 at Kea

21Q39

Elizabeth Grace Collett

Born in 1868 at Truro

21Q40

James Henry Collett

Born in 1872 at Truro

21Q41

Albert Collett

Born in 1874 at Truro

21Q42

Mary Lavinia Collett

Born in 1876 at Truro

21Q43

John Collett

Born in 1878 at Philleigh

21P44

Anne Collett was born at Treworthal on 3^rd January 1840 but was baptised at Philleigh on 23^rd February 1840. She was one year old in 1841 and in the 1861 Census she was twenty-one years of age. Anne never married but stayed at the family home looking after her aging parents when all the other members of the family had left. According to the census in 1881 Anne was 40 years old and was a spinster living with her elderly parents at Treworthal. At that time, she was a boot binder presumably working alongside her boot and shoemaker father Robert Davey Collett.

Anne never married and spent the latter part of her living looking after her elderly parents, both of whom died during that decade in 1884 and early 1888. Eight months after her mother passed away the death of Anne Collett, aged 48, was recorded on 5^th October 1888 Anne Collett died, after which she was buried in the churchyard of St Philleigh Church where a gravestone marks the plot. The inscription on the headstone gives a clue to how she must have been viewed by the family. It reads “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints”. The Will of Anne Collett was proved at Bodmin.

21P45

James Collett was born at Treworthal on 1^st June 1842 and was baptised at Philleigh on 24^th July 1842, the son of shoemaker Robert Davey Collett and Grace Dingle. In the 1851 Census for Treworthal he was eight years old and was living with his family, and was still there ten years later at the age of 18. According to the Philleigh census conducted in 1871 James Collett aged 28 and from Philleigh was a boot and shoe maker working with his cobbler father Robert and his brother Francis (below), who was also a boot and shoe maker, when still living at the family home. It was over five years after that census day when James Collett married Mary Ann Dingle at Philleigh on 30^th December 1875, Mary Ann having been born at Philleigh during 1840.

Mary Ann was very likely related in some way to James’ mother, so it is therefore possible that James Collett and Mary Ann Dingle were cousins. By the time of the next census Mary Ann had presented James with three children. His occupation in 1881 was again confirmed as being that of a shoemaker, when James aged 38 and Mary aged 40 were living at ‘village lane’ in St Just-in-Roseland with their three children who were all born there. Richard Collett was four, Mary A Collett was three and Benjamin Collett was one year old.

Ten years later, according to the census for St Just in 1891, James Collett was 48, and his wife Mary Ann Collett was 50. Still living there with them were their three children, Richard aged 14, Mary Ann aged 13 and Benjamin who was 11. It was eighteen months later that Mary Ann Collett nee Dingle died from deep vein thrombosis in her leg while still living at St Just-in-Roseland, where she was buried on 4^th September 1892, aged 52.

By the time of the next census in March 1901, widower James Collett, aged 58 and confirmed as having been born at Philleigh, was still working as a shoemaker at St Just. None of his three children had left home by then, and none of them was married, and they were recorded as Richard Collett aged 24, Mary Collett aged 23 and Benjamin Collett who was 21. By April 1911 the census for St Just-in-Roseland confirmed that James Collett, at 68, was still living there with two of his three children. They were Richard who was 34 and Mary Ann who was 33.

The death of James Collett aged 95, was recorded at Truro register office (Ref. 5c 133), following his passing at St Just in Roseland, Cornwall, on 13^th June 1937. It is understood that, at some time during his life, in addition to being a shoemaker, he also had a second occupation as a grocer. Probate for his estate of just £65 was granted in London on 27^th October 1937 to Mary Ann Collett, spinster, and Benjamin Dingle Collett, a farm labourer. The absence of a mention of his eldest child is very likely an indicator that Richard Collett had already passed away by then. Since this was written it has been discovered that son Richard did in fact die in London during 1932.

It is very interesting that the picture of James Collett above, extracted from a much large family group photograph of what looks like a family picnic or day out, also features a very young Martha Collins who many years later married James’ eldest son Richard. Judging by the age of James in the picture, he would appear to be in his fifties perhaps, meaning that the photograph was very likely taken during the last decade of the old century, with his son Richard not marrying Martha Collins until 1911.

21Q44

Richard Collett

Born in 1876 St Just-in-Roseland

21Q45

Mary Ann Collett

Born in 1877 St Just-in-Roseland

21Q46

Benjamin Dingle Collett

Born in 1879 St Just-in-Roseland

21P46

Francis Collett was born at Treworthal on 22^nd September 1844 and was baptised at Philleigh on 27^th October 1844, the son of Robert Davey Collett and Grace Dingle. He was recorded as being 16 years of age in the 1861 Census for Treworthal, when he was living there with his family. Francis followed his father and older brother James (above) by becoming a boot and shoemaker, as confirmed in the census of 1871 when Francis was 25 and still living with his family in Philleigh. On that census day, it seems very likely that Francis was preparing for wedding day, since the married of Francis Collett and Elizabeth Richards took place six months later on 14^th October 1871 at Philleigh, where Elizabeth had been born on 16^th June 1843. By 1881 the couple, aged 36 and 37 respectively, were living in Treworthal where Francis was still employed as a shoemaker, while Elizabeth managed a grocer’s shop in the village and was described as a grocer and tea dealer. Both of their children were listed in the census as having been born at Philleigh, and they were Elizabeth aged eight years and William who was six.

Ten years later in 1891, only the same four members of the family were still living at Treworthal within the Truro & St Just registration area. Francis Collett was 46 and a merchant, his wife Elizabeth was 47, their daughter Elizabeth Collett was 18, and their son William who was 16. It was therefore sometime between 1881 and 1891 that Francis ceased his work as a boot maker and devoted his time to working in the village grocer’s shop with his wife. That was situation was also confirmed in the census of 1901 when Francis Collett, aged 56, and Elizabeth Collett, aged 57, were both described as having the same occupation, that of a grocer. Unlike the earlier census records, on that occasion Elizabeth gave her place of birth as St Just-in-Roseland, while her husband’s birth place was still Philleigh.

In the census of 1911 Francis and Elizabeth were still residing in the village of Treworthal. Francis Collett, who was confirmed as having been born there, was 66, while his wife Elizabeth, who was confirmed as having been born at St Just, was 67. Living with the couple, and perhaps looking after them in their old age, was their married daughter Elizabeth Grace Woodward, with her husband William Woodward, and their son Cyril Woodward.

Twelve years after that, Francis Collett died at Treworthal on 11^th March 1923 at the age of 78 and was buried in the churchyard of St Philleigh Church in the village of Philleigh. His death was recorded at Truro register office (Ref. 5c 164). At the time of his death, it was his married daughter Elizabeth Grace Woodward who dealt with the probate service in Bodmin, which was completed on 6^th April that year. Within the documentation, Francis Collett of Treworthal, Philleigh, was described as a retired storekeeper, and his personal effects amounted to £166 12 Shillings and 3 Pence. Four years later his wife Elizabeth died on 20^th February 1927 when she was 83, following which she was buried with her husband. A single headstone marks the joint grave on which is engraved the words “Until the day break and the shadows flee away”.

It was also Francis Collett who started the Family Bible which is now held by his great great grandson Mick Underhill.

21Q47

Elizabeth Grace Collett

Born in 1872 at Philleigh

21Q48

William Collett

Born in 1874 at Philleigh

21P47

Frances Collett was born at ‘Treworthal, Filley’ in either 1845 or 1846, and was the daughter of Robert and Grace Collett. It would seem likely that she did not survive, since she was no longer living with her family at Treworthal in 1851.

21P48

Richard Davey Collett was born at Treworthal on 18^th February 1847, but baptised at nearby Philleigh on 7^th March 1847. The census in 1851 recorded him as Richard D Collett living with his family at Treworthal at the age of four years. Ten years later in the next census in 1861 he was simply Richard Collett aged 14, when he was still living at Treworthal with his family. It seems highly likely that Richard Davey Collett died on 5^th March 1867, at the age of 21, the cause of death being scarlet fever, which had already taken the life of his younger sister Elizabeth Grace Collett (below). It was with his sister, and older brother Robert Davey Collett (above), that he was buried within the churchyard of St Philleigh Church, where a single headstone marks the grave of all three children of Robert Davey Collett and his wife Grace. (see Headstone Epitaphs)

21P49

Elizabeth Grace Collett was born at Treworthal on 12^th December 1851 and was baptised at Philleigh on 11^th January 1852, the last known child of Robert Davey Collett and his wife Grace Dingle. By the time of the April census in 1861 she was recorded in the census return as being aged nine years. Sadly, on 7^th February 1864 when she was twelve years old, Elizabeth Grace Collett died from scarlet fever and was buried with her brothers Robert Davey Collett and Richard Davey Collett in the churchyard of St Philleigh Church. A single gravestone inscribed with all three of their names marks the grave. (see Headstone Epitaphs)

21P50

Grace Collett was born at Philleigh in 1841 and by the age of 19 she was living with her widowed father John, and her brother John, at their home in Philleigh. Ten years later at the time of the 1871 Census, Grace was unmarried and was still living with her father in Philleigh at the age of 29. It would appear that she never married and, following the death of her father, she left Cornwall and moved to Bristol. By early April 1881 and at the age of 39, Grace Collett was assistant housekeeper at the lodging house at 23 All Saints Road in Clifton.

The lodging house was the home and property of the widow Hermina Collett, aged 41, who had been born at Sidmouth in Devon. The census stated their relationship was that of cousins, the family connection being through Hermina’s later husband James Henry Collett (below) who was Grace’s cousin. Grace’s father John Collett was the brother of James Henry’s father William Collett.

Grace Collett was still living with her cousin in 1891. She was 49 and was living with Hermina and her son Willie at Barton Regis in the Clifton area of Bristol. It was around seven years later that Grace Collett died, her death being recorded during the second quarter of 1898. By that time in her life her address was given as The Vicarage House at Crantock in Cornwall, where she was presumably working right up to her passing.

21P52

Mary Chipman Collett was born at St Just on 12^th September 1840, just over a year after her parents Fanny Chipman, nee Collett, and William Chipman were married at Philleigh. Although she was most likely born as Mary Chipman, it was as Mary Chipman Collett that she married Alfred Richards at Truro on 10^th August 1863, when her date of birth was confirmed as stated above.

21P53

Mary Ann Collett was born at Philleigh in July 1841, the eldest of five children of William Collett and Asenath Dowrick. The child’s baptism was recorded in the St Mawes Wesleyan Circuit Records on 7^th September 1841, with a note that she was eight weeks old. In 1851, when she was nine years old, Mary Ann was living with her family at White Lane in Philleigh, and ten years later she was still living with them at the age of 19. Sometime during the next few years Mary Ann and her three brothers (below) all left the family, so by 1871 it was only her younger sister Sarah who was living with her parents at White Lane. By that time, it is assumed that Mary Ann was married.

21P54

John Kitto Collett was born at Philleigh in October 1842, the eldest of three sons of William Collett and Asenath Dowrick. His baptism four weeks after he was born was recorded in the St Mawes Wesleyan Circuit Records on 17^th November 1842. He was eight years in 1851 when living with his family at White Lane in Philleigh, and was still living there in 1861 when he was 18.

Sometime before 1871 he married Jane who was born at Phillick in 1843. This is understood to be Phillack near St Ives, and during the next ten years their marriage produced five children for John and Jane. In 1871 the census return recorded the young family as John K Collett aged 28, his wife Jane who was 27, and their baby Mary Ann Collett who was under one year old. Whether the census enumerator made a mistake in 1881, or whether it was an error in translation, but John K Collett was stated as being a blacksmith who had been born at Phillick, as was every other member of the household.

At that time in April 1881 John K Collett aged 38, and his family were living in Bodriggy Street in Phillack. John’s wife was recorded as Jane Collett who was 37, and their five children were Mary Ann who was 10, James H Collett who was nine, John Collett who was six, Elizabeth E Collett who was three, plus one month old Bessie R Collett. The family was still living at Phillack ten years later, but by then John R Collett was a widower with the passing of his wife Jane sometime during the previous ten years. Only his three youngest children were still living with him on that occasion and they were John 16, Ellen 13, and Bessie who was 10.

Since John was not listed with his two unmarried daughters in the census returns for 1901 it might be safe to assume that he had died in the 1890s. In order to survive John’s two daughters were working as general domestic servants while still living in Phillack. Elizabeth E Collett was 23 and Bessie J Collett was 20, but unlike the earlier census returns, on that occasion their place of birth was given at Hayle in Cornwall. The two Collett sisters were the only people of the Collett name still living in Phillack at that time.

21Q49

Mary Ann Collett

Born in 1870 at Phillack

21Q50

James H Collett

Born in 1872 at Phillack

21Q51

John R Collett

Born in 1874 at Phillack

21Q52

Elizabeth Ellen Collett

Born in 1877 at Phillack

21Q53

Bessie Jane Collett

Born in 1880 at Phillack

21P55

Robert Davey Collett was born at Philleigh in 1842, his birth recorded at Truro (Ref. ix 254) during the last three months of that year. He was the third child and second son of William Collett and Asenath Downick, and it was a year later, at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in St Mawes, that he was baptised under his full name on 26^th December 1843. By the time of the census in March 1851, he was seven years old when he was still living with his parents at White Lane in Philleigh. Upon leaving school Robert also left Philleigh when he went to work for farmer Joseph Dash at Gerrans, about two miles south of Philleigh. According to the census in 1861, Robert Collett was a carter aged 17 from Philleigh and was employed as the one boy on Treleggan Farm in Gerrans. Joseph Dash was the brother of Elizabeth Collett nee Dash, the wife of Amos Collett (Ref. 21O11). Living at the adjacent farm cottage in Gerrans, was William Collett and his family, and he was Robert’s father’s cousin from Philleigh, and not Robert’s father, as might have been expected. No record of Robert Collett of Philleigh has been found in any census after 1861.

21P56

James Henry Collett was born at Philleigh on 1^st December 1845, the youngest of the three sons of William Collett and Asenath Dowrick. The St Mawes Wesleyan Circuit Records state that he was baptised on 2^nd January 1846. He was five years old in 1851 when he was living with his family at White Lane in Philleigh, and was still living there with them in 1861 at the age of 16. Some years later, towards the end of the 1860s, James married Hermina and it then appears that the couple settled in Bristol where their son was born. The census in 1871 recorded the family in Bristol as James Henry Collett aged 25 and from Cornwall, his wife Hermina who was 31, and their son William Henry who was ten months old.

Tragically, it would seem, James passed away shortly after that, when he died at Bristol just after his twenty-fifth birthday. Ten years later in April 1881 at the age of 41, his widow Hermina Collett from Sidmouth in Devon was the proprietor of a lodging house at 23 All Saints Road in Clifton, Bristol. Living with her at that time, and assisting her run the lodging house, was spinster Grace Collett 39, the first cousin of her late husband James Henry Collett. Grace was described as assistant housekeeper. The absence of Hermina’s son at that time was due to him being educated at 2 Frederick Street in the St Philip district of Bristol when he was ten years old and recorded simply as William Collett of Bristol.

Ten years later Hermina Collett was 51 and was living with her son Willie Collett at Barton Regis in the Clifton area of Bristol. Still living with Hermina was her late husband’s cousin Grace Collett. At the start of the next decade Hermina’s son became a married man and started a family of his own, while he was still living in Bristol. According to the Bristol census in March 1901, Hermina Collett aged 61 and from Sidmouth in Devon, was living with her son William and his wife, and she was still living with them ten years later when she was 71 but at 50 Claremont Road within the Bishopston area of Bristol.

21Q54

William Henry Collett

Born in June 1870 at Bristol St Philips

21P57

Sarah J Collett was born at Philleigh in 1847, the youngest of the five children of William Collett and Asenath Dowrick. It seems odd that Sarah was missing from the 1851 Census listing for the family which was living in White Lane at Philleigh at that time. However, she was back living with them in 1861, when she was 13 years of age. In the next census of 1871, Sarah was simply recorded as S J Collett of Philleigh, the daughter of William Collett and his wife Asenath who were still living at White Lane in Philleigh although, rather curiously her age was noted as 16, rather than 23, which may have just been a transcription error. With no record for Sarah Collett having been found in 1881, it must be assumed that she was married by then.

21P58

Susanna Collett was born at Philleigh where she was baptised on 18^th March 1821. In the first census in 1841 she was still living at Philleigh with her family when she was 20. Six years later Susanna, as the daughter of Peter Collett and Margery Broad, married James Ferrell at Philleigh on 13^th May 1847. Upon the death of Susanna’ father in 1865 two of Susanna’s children were mentioned in his Will. They were grandchildren Samuel Ferrell and Mary Ferrell. In 1866 William Collett (below) married Emma Jane Ferrell who was very likely the younger sister of James Ferrell.

21P59

Samuel Collett was born at Philleigh, where she was baptised on 2^nd November 1823, another child of Peter Collett and Margery Broad. At the time of his premature death, he was living in Church Town, Philleigh, and was buried at the Philleigh parish church on 4^th April 1840.

21P60

Jane Broad Collett was born at Philleigh and baptised there on 30^th October 1825. She was confirmed as being aged 15 in the 1841 Census when she was living at Philleigh with her family. It was also at Philleigh where Jane Broad Collett, daughter of Peter Collett, married Joseph Ward on 8^th August 1850. Joseph was baptised at St Gerrans on 15^th December 1822, the son of Richard Ward. Following their wedding Jane and Joseph moved to Truro where their first three children were born. However, before their first child was born, and only seven months after they were married, Jane Ward nee Collett was visiting her parents at Church Town in Philleigh, when in the census of 1851, she was described as a policeman’s wife, aged 25 and from Philleigh.

It was Joseph’s work as a Parish Constable at Truro and Camborne that was the reason for the family moving from Truro to Camborne where the couple’s fourth child was born. By 1858 the family were living at St Just in Penwith, and that same year the Cornwall County Police Constabulary was established. Joseph was promoted to Inspector while at St Just in Penwith and it was there that the couple’s next five children were born. Sometime shortly after the death of her father in July 1865, the family made a final moved to Chyandour near Penzance where the couple’s last child was born. It was as Jane Ward that she was referred to in her father’s Will.

Over the months following the birth of their last child, Jane developed consumption and sadly died on at Chyandour on Christmas Eve in 1867, leaving her husband to bring up ten children. However, it was at nearby Gulval that Jane was buried on 28^th December 1867, the cause of death recorded as chronic disease of knee joints and tubercular disease of the lungs. It was also around that time that Joseph was also suffering with failing health, as a result of which, he was the first officer to be invalided out of the Cornwall Constabulary. His departure from the force, secured with it a pension of one hundred guineas, set the pension standard for all future retirements.

Following his retirement, he spent his final years at Gulval where he died on 27^th November 1870 at the age of just 48, the cause of death being a haemorrhage of the lungs. Their children were: Eliza Jane Ward (born 22.10.1851); Ellen Ward (born 21.01.1853); Richard John Ward (born 20.04.1854); Joseph Ward (born 21.01.1856); Alfred Ward (born 25.08.1858); James Ward (born 15.06.1859); William Henry Ward (born 07.02.1861); Peter Collett Ward (born 05.04.1863); Albert Ward (born 29.03.1865); and Arthur Ward (born 21.12.1866).

Jane and Joseph are the great great grandparents of Bill O’Reilly who, with Myra Cordrey, manages and maintains the wonderful Cornwall OPC database which has been extensively used in compiling The Cornwall Line of the Collett family. Additional thanks must also go to Bill for his help and assistance with updating this file, following publication of an earlier version displayed on the Collett website at the end of May 2008.

21P61

Catherine Collett was born at Philleigh where she was baptised on 29^th August 1827. Tragically, one month later she died and was buried at Philleigh on 23^rd September 1827.

21P62

Catherine Collett was born at Philleigh in 1829 and was named after her recently deceased sibling. It was at Philleigh that she was baptised on 3^rd January 1830, another daughter of Peter and Margery Collett, who was eleven years old in the census of 1841. Ten years later she was 21, by which time she was working as a housekeeper at premises in Treworlas, the next village to Philleigh. Almost exactly nine years later, Catherine Collett, aged 30, married her cousin Francis Collett (below), aged 25, at Philleigh on 3^rd March 1860, the event recorded at Truro (Ref. 5c 271). Francis was the son of James Collett and had been living with Catherine’s family since before the census in 1851, where he was working as an apprentice blacksmith with Catherine’s father.

At the time of the census in 1861, Francis 27 and Catherine 31 were confirmed as husband and wife when they were still living with Catherine’s parents at Philleigh. Also, on that same day in 1861, Catherine was with-child and, exactly one month later to the day, she presented Francis with their first child. Following the death of her mother three months later in August 1861, Catherine and Francis continued to live with Catherine’s father at Philleigh, until his death in 1865. In his Will proved in August 1865 Catherine’s husband Francis Collett was referred to as son-in-law.

The continuation of the story of the life of Catherine Collett can be found under Ref. 21P68

21P63

Peter Collett was born at Philleigh in 1835 and was baptised at the Wesleyan Church in St Mawes on 16^th August 1835, the last child born to Peter Collett and Margery Broad. He was five years old in the Philleigh census of June 1841 and 15 in the Church Town, Philleigh census of 1851. Also living with the family at Church Town in 1851 was Peter’s cousin, seventeen-year-old Francis Collett (below) who was a blacksmith’s apprentice. During the next decade Peter left Philleigh and, by 1861 at the age of 25, he was living and working in the Penryn & Falmouth district of Cornwall and was still a bachelor. Just four months after the census day, Peter’s mother died, followed by his father four years after that.

It was during the following year that Peter Collett, aged 30, married the much younger Emily Hosking, aged 19, at Phillack on 28^th March 1866. Their wedding was recorded at Redruth (Ref. 5c 370) during the first quarter of the year. Emily was born in 1848 and was the youngest daughter of George and Eliza Hosking of Phillack. In 1861, Emily was 13 years of age and was living with her family in Phillack. During the year prior to his wedding, Peter’s father (Peter Collett) died in July 1865 and, in his Will, Peter was referred to as ‘my son Peter Collett of Phillack’.

Just over one year after their wedding day, Emily presented her husband with their first child, and over the following four years two more children were born into the family, while they were still living at Phillack. So, by the time of the 1871 Census for the Redruth & Phillack area the family comprised Peter Collett 35, Emily Collett 23, Edith E Collett who was four, Maud M Collett who was two, and Willie H Collett who was five months old. Emily was presumably with-child on the day of the census, since later that same year the couple’s fourth child was born at nearby Hayle.

A total of three children were added to the family while they were living at Hayle near Phillack, following which the whole family had moved to London by the time of the birth of Peter’s and Emily’s seventh child. It would appear that it was from London that the family sailed to Australia before the end of the 1870s, since it was there in Victoria that the couple’s final two children were born. The family initially settled in Victoria but, not long after, made their home in Melbourne. Sadly, when the youngest child was around three years old, Peter Collett simply walked out on his family and his whereabouts after that time have never been discovered. Nor has any record of his death ever been unearthed.

21Q55

Edith Emily Collett

Born in 1867 at Phillack

21Q56

Maud Mary Collett

Born in 1868 at Phillack

21Q57

William Hosking Collett

Born in 1870 at Phillack

21Q58

Nellie Collett

Born in 1871 at Hayle, nr Phillack

21Q59

Frank Collett

Born in 1873 at Hayle, nr Phillack

21Q60

Peter Collett

Born in 1875 at Hayle, nr Phillack

21Q61

Alfred Collett

Born in 1876 at London

21Q62

Edward Percival Collett

Born in 1881 at Sandridge, Victoria

21Q63

Horace Collett

Born in 1884 at Port Melbourne, Vic.

21P64

Ann Billing Collett was born at St Gorran in 1825. By 1851 both of Ann’s parents had died and in the 1851 Census she was recorded as Ann Collick aged 25 and at that time she was living at the home of Peter Whetter. He was probably her cousin or her uncle, since Ann’s mother was Philippa Whetter the daughter of Jacob Whetter, prior to marrying her father, James Collett. Later that same year Ann married widower Thomas Ball at Philleigh on 4^th December 1851. Thomas’ previous wife had been Nancy Collett (Ref. 21O13) whom he had married on 19^th December 1840 at Gerrans, Nancy having been his second wife and Ann’s aunt two-times removed. In the 1860s as Ann Billing Ball, she was one of the witnesses to the writing of the Will of her uncle Peter Collett (Ref. 21O48) who died on 3^rd July 1865.

21P65

Susanna Collett was born at St Gorran in 1827 although her age was given as being 12 in the 1841 Census for St Austell & Truro.

21P66

Susan Collett was born at St Gorran in 1829 and she later married Michael Mitchell at Philleigh on 29^th December 1849.

21P67

Mary Collett was born at St Gorran in 1831 and was ten years of age in the Bodmin, St Austell & Truro census of 1841 when living with her mother and two younger brothers Francis and Joseph (below).

21P68

Francis Collett was born in 1833 at St Gorran near Mevagissey, where his mother Philippa Whetter had been born before she married James Collett. In June 1841 he was seven years old when he was living with his mother, sister Mary (above) and brother Joseph (below) within the Bodmin, St Austell & Truro area. What is interesting is that in the 1851 Census, Francis Collett was 17 years old and living at the Church Town, Philleigh home of his uncle and master blacksmith Peter Collett and his wife Margery Broad, where he was described as nephew and his occupation was that of a blacksmith’s apprentice. Therefore, it is very likely that Francis went to live with his uncle on leaving school, in order to learn how to become a blacksmith

As a result of Francis living and working with his uncle Peter, from around 1848 until 1860, he must have fallen in love with his cousin Catherine Collett, Peter’s youngest daughter. What is known is that he married (1) Catherine Collett (above) at Philleigh on 3^rd March 1860. Their marriage record confirmed that Francis was the son of James Collett, and that Catherine was the daughter of Peter Collett. The census the following year confirmed that Francis was 27, his wife Catherine was 31, and that they were living in the Church Town area of Philleigh with Catherine’s parents. In addition to that, Catherine was heavily pregnant with the couple’s first child, who was born exactly one month to the day after the 1861 Census. In the end, the marriage produced a total of seven children for Francis and Catherine, and all of them born while the couple were living at Philleigh. The Church Town, Philleigh census for 1871 confirmed that Francis’ and Catherine’s family had increased to five children, although by then six children had been born into the family.

It was also at that time that Francis Collett was 37 and was working as a blacksmith, and it seems highly likely that he had taken over the family business previously managed by Catherine’s father. His wife Catherine was 41 and their five surviving children were Samuel, who was nine, Margery, who was eight, Francis, who was seven, Catherine, who was five, and Albert who was three years old. Tragically, the latest addition to the family, Edward, had only survived a short while after the birth, and that was the reason he was missing from the census record in April 1871.

Their loss was partially compensated five months later when Catherine presented Francis with their seventh and last child. However, eighteen months later at 43 years of age, Catherine Collett died on 14^th April 1873 and was buried in the churchyard of St Philleigh Church in the village of Philleigh on 17^th April 1873. During the following years Francis Collett married (2) widow Rebecca Glanville, formerly Rebecca Collett (Ref. 21P82) who was born at Whitstable in Kent in 1840. Rebecca was the daughter of Francis Cock Collett, the brother of Francis’ father James Collett. Therefore, Francis and Rebecca were first cousins. Perhaps because of Rebecca’s age there were no children resulting from the marriage.

According to the 1881 Census for the village of Philleigh, Francis was eight years older than his new wife, he being 48, while Rebecca was 40. Francis’ occupation was that of a blacksmith for which he employed one man to assist him, and that was John Hawkins aged 20 and of Philleigh. In addition to his blacksmith business, Francis also had a smallholding of 13 acres which appeared to be farmed by his two oldest sons Samuel 19 and Francis 17.

All of his children had been born at Philleigh and those still living at Church Town in Philleigh with him in 1881 were his two eldest sons, plus daughter Kate aged 15 and his two youngest sons Albert 13 and Edmund who was nine. Only his daughter Margery was absent from the family home on that day. A double tragedy hit the family in 1886 and 1890 when, first Francis’ daughter Margery died, and that was followed by the death of his son Francis.

So, by the time of the census of 1891 only the three youngest children were still living at Philleigh with their parents and they were aged 25, 23 and 19 respectively, although the census recorded Edmund’s name in error as Edward. The children’s father was listed as 57, while his wife Rebecca was 50, and by that time Francis Collett’s occupation was that of a farmer.

Ten years later in 1901 all of the children had left the family home in Philleigh except for bachelor Edmund who was twenty-nine and was still recorded as being a farmer’s son as he had in previous census details. The census that year confirmed that Francis Collett had been born at Gorran and that, even though he was 68 years old, he continued to work as a farmer. His wife Rebecca Collett from Kent was 60, and still living with them was their daughter Katie who was 34.

It was just over one year later that Francis Collett died at Philleigh on 19^th May 1902 and was buried with his first wife Catherine, and alongside the grave of his two children Margery and Francis in the churchyard of St Philleigh Church in Philleigh. A single headstone marked his and his wife’s grave on which it stated he was 68 when he died, together with the inscription “Forever with the Lord”.

Upon the death of her husband, Rebecca left Philleigh and moved to Kenwyn in Truro and at the time of the census in 1911 she was living there at the home of her stepson Albert Collett and his family. Rebecca Collett was 70 years old by then and amazingly still had another twenty years of her life in front of her. It was on 26^th February 1932 that Rebecca Collett died at the age of 92 and was buried in the churchyard of St Philleigh Church in the village of Philleigh.

It would appear from the two epitaphs on the headstone that marks her grave, that Francis’ daughter Catherine Collett, who died twenty years later in 1952, was also buried in the same grave in the churchyard at Philleigh. (see Headstone Epitaphs)

21Q64

Samuel James Collett

Born in 1861 at Philleigh

21Q65

Margery Collett

Born in 1862 at Philleigh

21Q66

Francis Collett

Born in 1863 at Philleigh

21Q67

Catherine Collett

Born in 1865 at Philleigh

21Q68

Albert Collett

Born in 1867 at Philleigh

21Q69

Edward Peter Collett

Born in 1869 at Philleigh

21Q70

Edmund Collett

Born in 1871 at Philleigh

21P69

James Collett was born at Gorran in 1836 and he was five years old in the June census of 1841 for the St Austell & Truro registration area. By that time in his young life his father James Collett appears to have died. Tragically James’ mother Philippa died five years later and it has not been determined exactly what happened to James after 1846 when he was made an orphan, but it seems likely that he was taken into care by a family in Philleigh, since it was there that he said he was from when he married in 1871.

The only confirmed record of James Collett prior to that time was in the census of 1861 when he was 25 and listed as being a member of the Royal Navy and ‘at sea in foreign parts or colonies’. What is known is that he was married on two occasions, the first time to (1) Ellen Cornelius Ripper at Philleigh on 7^th November 1863. The marriage produced two daughters for the couple, although it may have been the second of them which resulted in the death of Ellen on 19^th September 1869 at the age of 35, following which she was buried at Philleigh in the grounds of St Philleigh Church. (see Headstone Epitaphs)

It was less than two years later, on 14^th March 1871, that widower James Collett of Philleigh, the son of James Collett and Philippa Whetter, married (2) Cecilia Paul at the Church of St Paul in Truro. Cecilia was the daughter of Andrew Paul. Two weeks after they were married James and Cecilia were living at White Lane in Philleigh. The census that year recorded the family as follows. James Collett from St Gorran was 34 and a travelling draper, while his wife Cecilia Collett from St Day (in Gwennap) was 24. It was also at St Day that James’ eldest daughter from his previous marriage had been born. She was Clara Augusta Collett who was four, while her younger sister Alice Maud Collett was two years old and born at Truro.

James was wealthy enough to employ a servant, in the form of 18 years old Annie Hubber from St Columb, who was living with, and working for, the family at that time. Living just two doors away from James and his family, was William and Asenath Collett with their daughter Sarah J Collett who was James’ uncle, one-step-removed.

Just over ten months after they were married Cecilia presented her husband with the first of their three children, who was born at Philleigh during the last week of January 1872. Tragically he only survived for eleven weeks when he died on 19^th April 1872. Over the next few years two more children were added to the family while they were still living at White Lane. However, further tragedy hit the family when James Collett, then aged only 38, died at Truro on 7^th January 1875, following which he was buried with his first wife Ellen in the churchyard at Philleigh.

A single gravestone in the churchyard of St Philleigh Church bears the following inscription “In affectionate remembrance of Ellen Cornelius the beloved wife of James Collett of this parish who died at Truro Sept 19^th 1869 aged 35 years – Her end was peace” under which is “Also the above James Collett who died Truro Jan 7^th 1875 aged 38 years – In sure and certain hope of Resurrection to eternal life”. (see Headstone Epitaphs)

It would seem that the death of her husband resulted in Cecilia taking the children north to Lancashire, although the reason is not known. What is known is that, according to the census of 1881, the widow Cecilia Collett and her two children and two stepchildren were living at 91 Breck Road in Everton on Merseyside. Cecilia was 34 and had been born at Gwennap St Day between Redruth and Penryn, and her occupation was that of a confectioner. Living with her were James’ two daughters by his first wife, Clara A Collett who was 14 and also born at Gwennap St Day and Alice M Collett aged 12 years who was born at Truro, as well as her own two children by him, Florence L Collett and James A P Collett who were aged eight years and six years respectively.

According to the next census in 1891 Cecilia was still residing at 91 Breck Road in Everton but curiously not under the name of Collett. While she was most likely the actual head of the household, as she was ten years early, the head of the household that year was named as John K Luke from Brazil who was 42 and a painter. Incorrectly, Cecilia Collett aged 44 and from St Day in Cornwall was named as Cecilia Luke, whose occupation was again a confectioner. Living with the couple were the two youngest children of James Collett, Florence L Collett who was 18 and James A P Collett who was 16, both of them described as having been born at Truro but with no occupation. The last person included on the census return was Frank J Luke, who was seven years old and born at Radcliffe in Lancashire, the son of John Luke. It therefore seems very likely that John Luke was a widower and claimed Cecilia was his wife to cover the embarrassment of their domestic situation.

Just after the end of the century Cecilia Collett from Gwennap was still living at Breck Road in Everton where she was 53 and was then working as a florist. Living there with her in March 1901 was her married daughter Leonora Heaton who was 28, the previously named Florence L Collett. Cecilia Collett was again living at 91 Breck Road ten years later. Her place of birth was confirmed as Gwennap in Cornwall and at that time she was recorded as being 64 and a florist, who had given birth to three children – only two living. On that occasion there was another Collett listed in the Everton census of 1911, and he was 21-year-old Henry Collett who was living at an ‘institution’, while her married daughter was still living there, may be still with her mother since no record of her husband has been found to date.

21Q71

Clara Augusta Collett

Born in 1867 at Gwennap St Day

21Q72

Alice Maud Collett

Born in 1869 at Truro

The following are the three known children of James Collett by his second wife Cecilia Paul:

21Q73

Archibald Luke Collett

Born in 1872 at Philleigh

21Q74

Florence Leonora Collett

Born in 1873 at Truro

21Q75

James Andrew Paul Collett

Born in 1875 at Truro

21P70

Joseph Collett was born at St Gorran in May 1841 and was just fourteen days old on 6^th June 1841 according to the Bodmin, St Austell & Truro census when he was living with his mother Philippa, his sister Mary and his brother Francis. By the time of the next census in 1851 his age was given as being ten years old. From that date onwards there is no record of Joseph in any subsequent census returns.

21P72

Josepha Chenoweth was born at St Just-in-Roseland on 24^th February 1822 and it was there also that she married John Mitchell Hooker on 10^th May 1840. Between 1851 and 1854 Josepha and John left St Just-in-Roseland with their first six children, who had been born there, and moved to London. A further four children were added to the family in London, all of whom were born at Shoreditch. By the time of the 1881 the family was living at 45 Wenlock Street in Shoreditch and comprised carpenter John aged 60, his wife Josepha aged 59, with children Ann 34, Mary a tie maker aged 30, John 26 a warehouseman, Josepha and Thirza aged 24 and 21 who were also tie makers, and Richard a picture framer maker aged 19. See the continuation for Richard below.

In addition to their own children, Josepha and John also had three of their grandchildren living with them. The first of them was Fred Hooker aged 16 who was working as a junior clerk. He was born at Ruan in Cornwall and was the son of Joseph Hooker (born in 1840), the couple’s oldest son. The other two grandchildren were the children of their oldest daughter Anne (born in 1846) who had married Philip Newton. And they were grandson George Newton aged 15 who was a junior clerk, and his sister Lily aged 13 who was still at school. All of the London born children, including the two grandchildren, were listed as having been born at Hoxton, rather than Shoreditch.

Within ten years of that census day Josepha died at Islington on 3^rd January 1889, while her husband John passed away twelve years later on 16^th March 1901 when living at Hackney.

21Q76

Richard Francis Chenoweth Hooker

Born in 1861 at Shoreditch

21P75

Thomas Chenoweth was born at St Just on 13^th February 1828. Just before the census of 1851 he married Jane who was born at Veryan in 1830. The census that year recorded the couple living at Treworthal where 23 years old Thomas was a blacksmith.

21P76

Richard Philips Chenoweth was born on 28^th February 1830 at St Just-in-Roseland. In 1860 he married Elizabeth Williams Tyzzer of St Austell. The banns were read in St just on three consecutive weeks commencing on 29^th July 1860. He was a farmer of 47 acres and lived all his life in St Just-in-Roseland where he was buried on 6^th November 1890. Nine and a half years before he died, he was living at Churchtown Farm in St Just-in-Roseland with his wife Elizabeth and their three children, William aged 19, Josepha aged 13 and Elizabeth aged 10. Their son Joseph was not listed anywhere in the UK in 1881.

The full baptism details of Richard’s children are as follows: William Richard Chenoweth (bapt. 23.02.1862); Joseph Phillips Chenoweth (bapt. 28.10.1863); Josepha Jane Chenoweth (bapt. 17.12.1867); and Elizabeth Mary Chenoweth (bapt. 23.06.1870).

21P77

Francis Collett Chenoweth was born at St Just-in-Roseland on 1^st April 1832. He married Gemma Thomas around 1858, Gemma having been born at Gorran in 1834. All three of their children were born at St Just-in-Roseland. According to the 1881 Census Francis aged 49 was a farmer like his older brother Richard (above) and was living at Methrose in Gorran with his wife Emma, rather than Gemma, who was aged 48.

The couple’s first five children were born at St Just, while the next three were born at Gorran. Son Charles was listed as a carpenter, while the two oldest sons and two oldest daughters were simply listed as farmer’s sons and farmer’s daughters. The eight children were: Richard Chenoweth (born 1859); John J Chenoweth (born 1860); Charles Chenoweth, the carpenter (born 1863); Rebecca Collett Chenoweth (born 02.10.1866); Maria Chenoweth (born 1868); Ralph Chenoweth (born 1870); Frederick Chenoweth (born 1876); and Jane Chenoweth (born 1878).

21P79

Simon Chenoweth was born at St Just-in-Roseland on 1^st May 1836. He was a carpenter and he married Elizabeth around 1870 with whom he had four children, the first two being born at St Just and the other two at Gerrans. It was at Portscatho in Gerrans that the family was living in 1881. The children were: Elizabeth R Chenoweth (born 1873); Charles Chenoweth (born 1875); John Chenoweth (born 1877); and Frederick Chenoweth (born 1887).

21P80

Sarah Johns Collett was born at Wexford in Ireland during 1836, the first child born to Francis Cock Collett and Sarah Johns. Shortly after the birth she and her parents moved to Seasalter in Whitstable, Kent, but around 1845 the family moved to the Scilly Isles where Sarah’s father was a coastguard. According to the Tresco census in 1851 Sarah Johns Collett from Wexford was 14 and had left school but had no job of work, so it is assumed that she was helping her mother look after the younger members of the family. By 1861 Sarah J Collett was 24 and she and her sister Grace (below) were residing within the St Mary’s district of the Scilly Isles, while the rest of their family had moved to Falmouth. And it was while at St Mary’s that she met and married William Rogers on 17^th May 1862. William was aged 25 and was a shoemaker of St Mary’s, the son of shoemaker Isaac Rogers. Sarah was also 25 and of St Mary’s and was listed as the daughter of coastguard Francis Collett. Three and a half years later Sarah’s younger sister Susan Collett (below) married William Rogers’ brother Isaac Rogers at St Mary’s.

21P81

Grace Collett was born at Seasalter in Whitstable in Kent in 1838, where it is believed she lived with her family until around 1847, when they moved to the Scilly Isles for her father’s work as a coastguard. In the Tresco census in 1851 Grace Collett from Seasalter in Kent was 12 years old and still attending the local school. It was on the Scilly Isles at St Mary’s that Grace was living with her older sister Sarah (above) in 1861 when she was 22. Ten years later Grace was still a spinster aged 32 and was the only child of Francis and Sarah Collett to still be living with them at St Mary’s in Scilly. There appears to be no record of Grace in the 1881 Census and she may have been married by then.

21P82

Rebecca Collett was born at Seasalter in Whitstable in 1840. When she was five years of age her parents moved to the Scilly Isles with their children, where Rebecca Collett from Seasalter in Kent was 10 years old. It was just over eight years later that she was married by banns to Philip Glanville on 31^st May 1859. Philip Glanville of Tresco was a 29 years old coastguard and was the son of labourer John Glanville. Rebecca was ten years younger than her husband and was recorded as being of Bryher, was aged 19, and was the daughter of coastguard Francis Collett. It would appear that Philip Glanville died during the late 1860s or early 1870s since, as the widow Rebecca Glanville, she later married her cousin Francis Collett prior to 1881, he having lost his wife in 1873. Once married the couple settled in Philleigh.

The continuation of the story of the life of Rebecca Collett can be found under Ref. 21P68

21P83

Susannah Collett, who was referred to as Susan, was born at Seasalter in Whitstable during 1842. By 1846 the family had left Kent and had settled on the Scilly Isles where four of Susan’s youngest siblings were born. According to the census in 1851 Susannah Collett from Seasalter in Kent was eight years of age and was attending school while living with her family in Tresco. Sometime in the mid-to-late 1850s the family, less her three older sisters, moved to Falmouth where they were living in 1861 when Susan was 18. Sometime during the next four and a half years Susan returned to the Scilly Isles where she married Isaac Rogers at St Mary’s on 30^th December 1865. Isaac was the brother of William Rogers who had married Susan’s sister Sarah (above) in 1862 and was the son of shoemaker Isaac Rogers.

Isaac junior was 32 and of St Mary’s at the time of the wedding ceremony and was employed as a shipwright. Susan was described as of full age and of St Mary’s and would have been 23 compared to her husband of 32 years. Her father was confirmed as Francis Collett, a coastguard. Over the next fifteen years or so she presented her Isaac with five children, all of whom were born at St Mary’s. However, by 1881 Susan was a widow aged 38 living at The Parade in St Mary’s with her five children. Her place of birth was confirmed as having been Whitstable and her occupation was that of a lodging house keeper, which might indicate that she was today’s equivalent of a landlady.

In addition to her five children, Susan had living with her, her widowed mother Sarah Collett who was the assistant lodging house keeper. The children of the family were: Isaac Rogers (born 1866); Elizabeth Rogers (born 1867); William Rogers (born 1868); Clara C Rogers (born 1870); and Joseph J Rogers (born 1871).

21P84

William Francis Collett was born at Seasalter in Whitstable in 1844. By the time of the census in 1851 William Francis Collett from Seasalter in Kent was six years of age and attending school in Tresco on the Scilly Isles to where his family had moved around 1845. Before he reached his sixteenth birthday in 1861, he and his family were much travelled. After starting out in Kent, and then living on the Scilly Isles, his family moved to Falmouth where most of them were living on the day of the census in 1861. Before 1870 the family had moved back to the Scilly Isles, and it was there in St Mary’s that William Francis Collett was living when he died at just 26 years of age. He was buried at St Mary’s on 2^nd February 1871.

21P85

Mary Johns Collett was born at Tresco on the Scilly Isles in 1846 and her second name was her mother’s maiden-name. Sadly, she did not survive for very long and was buried on the Scilly Isles on 17^th August 1846.

21P86

Joseph Mills Collett was born at Tresco in 1848, a son of Francis Cock Collett and Sarah Johns. It was as Joseph Mills Collett that he appeared with his family in the Tresco census of 1851 when he was two years old, although his birth was recorded on the Scilly Isles as John Mills Collett (Ref. 9 239) during the third quarter of 1848. By 1861 he and the majority of his family were living at Falmouth, when he was 12 years of age.

21P87

Richard James Collett was born at Tresco on the Scilly Isles in 1852 and was eight years old and living with his family at Falmouth in 1861. Shortly after that Richard and his parents returned to the Scilly Isles where, in 1871 at the aged of 18, he was living at St Mary’s with his father, his mother and his older sister Grace. Richard married Elizabeth Ann Jenkins of Bryher on 28^th October 1875 at St Mary’s. Elizabeth at 26 was three years old than Richard and was the daughter of boatman Samuel Jenkins. Richard of St Mary’s was listed as a boot and shoemaker and his father was recorded as lifeguard Francis Collett deceased.

By the time of the 1881 Census their marriage had produced two children for the couple, both born at St Mary’s where the family was living in Well Lane. His wife Elizabeth A Collett was four years older having been born at St Mary’s in 1848. Richard’s occupation was that of a master boot and shoemaker and he was employing one apprentice at that time. On that occasion Elizabeth was very likely with-child, since the couple’s third child was born later that same year.

Ten years later and their family was almost complete, there having been a further three children born into the family. For the census of 1891 the family was listed as still living on the Isles of Scilly. Richard was aged 38 and living with him was his wife Elizabeth and their five children Lillie G Collett 14, Francis H Collett 13, Clara E Collett, who was nine, Annie M Collett, who was seven, and Ethel J Collett who was four years old. Elizabeth was very likely with-child once more on the census day as the couple’s sixth and last child was born later in the year.

Just after the turn of the century the whole family was still together with the exception of their only son Francis who had joined the Royal Navy by then. The family was still living at St Mary’s where Richard was 48 and was working as a boat man. His place of birth was again confirmed as having been Tresco. The census record also confirmed that his wife Elizabeth, who was 51, had been born at St Mary’s, as had all of their children. Apart from himself, the only other member of the family listed with an occupation was Richard’s daughter Clara who was a dressmaker at the age of nineteen. The other children still living at the family home were listed as Lillie 24, Annie 17, Ethel 14, and Nannie who was nine years old.

By the time of the next census in April 1911 only two of Richard’s children were still living on the Scilly Isles with him and Elizabeth. Richard James Collett was 58, his wife Elizabeth Ann was 62, Annie Maud Collett was 27, and Nannie who was 19. It was nearly twenty years later that the death of Richard James Collett was recorded at the Scilly Isles register office (Ref. 5c 321) during the first three months of 1930 when he was 77.

21Q77

Lillie G Collett

Born in 1876 at St Mary’s on Scilly Isle

21Q78

Francis Henry Collett

Born in 1877 at St Mary’s on Scilly Isle

21Q79

Clara E Collett

Born in 1881 at St Mary’s on Scilly Isle

21Q80

Annie Maud Collett

Born in 1883 at St Mary’s on Scilly Isle

21Q81

Ethel Janis Collett

Born in 1887 at St Mary’s on Scilly Isle

21Q82

Nannie E Collett

Born in 1891 at St Mary’s on Scilly Isle

21P88

Frances Collett was born at Tresco in 1857 but did not survive beyond nine weeks. Following her death, she was buried on the Scilly Isles on 25^th April 1857, the youngest of the nine children of Francis Cock Collett and his wife Sarah Johns.

21P89

Joshua Collett was born at St Michael Penkevil in 1837 and was baptised there on 2^nd February 1838. He was unmarried and aged 23 in 1861. It must have been just after the census day that Joshua emigrated to North America, where his three children were born in the early 1870s. Adjusting to life in the new world may have been difficult for the young Collett family since during the mid-1870s Joshua and the children made the return trip back to Cornwall. According to the 1881 Census Joshua was married but there was no wife living with him. However, because of the discovery of some new information it is possible that his wife and the mother of his three children may have died in Canada and that may have prompted their return.

The new information would indicate that, following his return to England, Joshua married (2) Matilda who was born at Mereworth in Kent in 1839 and with whom he had a fourth child George born at Battersea in London in 1878. According to the 1881 Census, Joshua’s occupation was that of a blacksmith employing one man and a boy to work with him at The Praze in St Gluvias Penryn. The census that year recorded Joshua aged 43 as married and living with two of his three children who were both born in Canada. The missing child was his daughter Ellen who was staying with Joshua’s sister Ellen and her husband at Iron Mill in Minchinhampton in Gloucestershire.

In addition to the two children with him at that time, was his widowed sister-in-law Sarah Collett aged 39 of Tanworth-in Arden, Warwickshire who was staying with him. And with her was her one-year-old daughter Elizabeth who was born at Penryn and described as Joshua’s niece. That would indicate that Sarah had been married to Joshua’s brother who had since passed away. Therefore, the corresponding age fit would place Sarah’s husband as Joshua’s younger brother James (below).

It also seems likely that Joshua’s second wife Matilda never fully accepted the role as stepmother to his three children since, following his death before 1891, the two youngest children were taken under the care of their uncle Hugh Collett (below), while Matilda agreed to have the oldest child. That would appear to have been the only option open to the family as Joshua’s sister Elizabeth had died around the same time as Joshua and his only other male sibling James had died ten years earlier. Joshua’s only other surviving sibling was his sister Ellen (below) who was married and living in Gloucestershire.

Rather curiously Joshua’s presumed second wife Matilda was recorded in the 1881 Census as living at St Michael Penkevil at the home of Joshua’s unmarried brother Hugh Collett and the boys’ mother 74 years old Elizabeth Collett. With Matilda was her son George Collett who was two years old. According to the census of 1901 Matilda Collett of Mereworth was 61 and was living at St Gluvias on the north side of Penryn with her bachelor son George who was 21.

Ten years later in April 1911 Matilda of Mereworth was 72 and was still living at St Gluvias with her son George. Of the three other Colletts living in St Gluvias at that time, only Annie aged 27 has not been accounted for, and she was the only one born there and may have been the base-born daughter of Elizabeth Ann Collett, aged 50, who was living with her mother Ann.

21Q83

Elizabeth Maria Collett

Born in 1871 at Stratford, Canada

21Q84

Ellen Collett

Born in 1872 at Stratford, Canada

21Q85

William Hugh Collett

Born in 1873 at Stratford, Canada

The following child was born to Joshua with his second wife Matilda:

21Q86

George Collett

Born in 1878 at Battersea, London

21P90

Elizabeth Collett was born at St Michael Penkevil in 1839 and was baptised there on 18^th August 1839. It would appear that she never married and lived with her parents at St Michael Penkevil where she also died aged 51. Her death was recorded there on 1^st August 1890.

21P91

Ellen Collett was born at St Michael Penkevil and it was there that she was baptised on 25^th October 1840. She was still living there with her family in 1861 at the age of 20. By the time she was 40 in 1881 Ellen was married to William G Coombe of Wickham Bishop in Essex where he had been born in 1846. William was a gardener and the childless couple were living at Iron Mills in Minchinhampton in Gloucestershire. Staying with them was Ellen’s niece Ellen Collett, the daughter of Ellen’s brother Joshua (above) who had recently returned from Canada where his eight-year-old child had been born.

21P92

James Collett was born at St Michael Penkevil in 1842 and baptised there on 18^th September 1842. He was aged 18 at the time of the 1861 Census when he was still living with his parents at St Michael Penkevil. During the late 1870s James married Sarah who was born at Tanworth-in Arden, Warwickshire in 1842. But tragically by 1881 Sarah was a widow and was staying with her brother-in-law and James’ brother Joshua (above) at his home in The Praze in St Gluvias Penryn. With Sarah was her one-year-old daughter Elizabeth Collett who was born at Penryn and described as Joshua’s niece.

The child’s age and James’ absence from the 1881 Census would indicate that he had possibly died after the birth of his daughter and certainly before 3^rd April 1881. Sarah eventually returned to her late husband’s home village of St Michael Penkevil where she died in 1887 aged 47. Her death was recorded there on 7^th August 1887. Following her death, Sarah’s twelve years old daughter Elizabeth was taken into the care of her uncle Hugh Collett (below).

21Q87

Elizabeth Collett

Born in 1879 at St Michael Penkevil

21P93

Hugh Collett was born at St Michael Penkevil in 1846 and it was there that he was baptised on 21^st June 1846. He was still living there with his parents in 1861 and 1871 aged 14 and 24 respectively. Originally Hugh could not be located in 1881 but it has since been discovered his surname was transcribed as Pollett and not Collett. As Hugh Pollett, aged 34, he was still living at St Michael Penkevil in 1881. His address in the village was simply given as No. 11 and his occupation as head of the household was confirmed as being that of a blacksmith.

Living with him was his mother Elizabeth of Philleigh who was 74, together with his unmarried sister Elizabeth aged 41, who was performing the role of housekeeper for her brother. Both brother and sister were confirmed as having been born at St Michael Penkevil. Completing the household was Hugh’s sister-in-law Matilda Collett (Pollett) aged 42 and of Mereworth in Kent, together with her son George aged two years who was listed as Hugh’s nephew. It may be assumed that she was perhaps the second wife of Hugh’s brother Joshua Collett (above).

Hugh never married and was still living at St Michael Penkevil in 1891 and still working as a blacksmith. By that time four major catastrophes had befallen his family which dramatically changed Hugh’s life. The first tragedy was the death of his brother James who died around 1880. That left his widow Sarah to raise their daughter which she did with the support of Hugh’s and James’ older brother Joshua, until Sarah died in 1887.

Three years later Hugh’s housekeeper and elder sister Elizabeth died around the same time that Joshua also died. That left Joshua’s three Canadian born children and James’ and Sarah’s daughter without any other family member to take care of the four children, so that duty fell to Hugh. Hugh’s only other sister Ellen was married and was living in Gloucestershire, so he really was the only possible solution to the crisis.

According to the 1891 Census bachelor Hugh Collett was 44 when he was still living at St Michael Penkevil, and was continuing to work as a blacksmith. Living with him was his niece Ellen Collett aged 18 who was born in Canada, her brother 17 years old William H Collett also born in Canada, and their cousin and Hugh’s other niece Elizabeth Collett aged 11, all of whom had been made orphans by the recent deaths of their respective parents.

Ten years later only nephew William had left the home of his uncle Hugh and the reason for that was because he was to be married. According to the census of 1901 Hugh was aged 54 and was still working as a blacksmith in St Michael Penkevil. And still living with him were his two unmarried nieces, Ellen who was performing the duties of his housekeeper, and the younger Elizabeth who was simply listed as ‘living with uncle’. It was six years later that the death of Hugh Collett was recorded at the Royal Cornwall Infirmary in Treliske, on the outskirts of Truro, on 14^th June 1907. His personal effects, amounting to £165 10 Shillings, were subject to probate at Bodmin on 9^th July that year, when his niece Ellen Collett, a spinster, was named as the sole executor. For clarity, Ellen was the daughter of his deceased brother Joshua Collett (above). The notice of his death confirmed that the occupation of Hugh Collett of St Michael Penkevil was that of a smith. Less than four years after the death of their guardian, Hugh’s nieces Ellen and Elizabeth Collett were living in London at the time of the census in 1911.

21P94

Henry Collett was born at St Michael Penkevil in 1848 and baptised there on 8^th August 1848.

21P95

Emma Collett was born at St Michael Penkevil in 1849 and was baptised at the end of that year on 23^rd December 1849. As with the baptisms of all her siblings (above), her parents were recorded as being Hugh and Elizabeth Collett.

21P96

John Vivian Collett was born in 1833 at Camborne where he was baptised on 1^st March 1834. The baptism record recorded his surname incorrectly as Collect. His second Christian name was taken from his mother’s maiden-name. Tragically, John’s mother Catherine died shortly after the birth of John’s brother Henry (below) and the two boys were then taken into the care of the Vivian family, who were their grandparents, at their home in Camborne. And it was there that John, who was seven, and Henry, who was five, were recorded as living in the first national census in June 1841, although their surname was spelt with only had one t. William Odgers Collett, the boy’s father, remarried in December that year and sometime after John and Henry returned to live with him and his new wife Jane.

Ten years later in 1851 John, aged 17, and his brother who was15, were still living with their father at Treluckey Mill midway between Cuby-with-Tregony and St Michael Caerhayes. Five or six years later John married Elizabeth Jane Knight and by the time of the 1861 Census they had two children and were living at Trevenna in Creed within the St Austell registration district, where both of their children had been born. They were Catherine Collett who was two years old, and Caleb Collett who was only two weeks old. John Collett was 27 and his place of birth was given as Camborne, while his wife Elizabeth Jane Collett was 24 and from Roche. John’s occupation at that time was stated as being that of a tin miner.

During the next decade a further three children were added to the family so the 1871 Census recorded the family as John aged 37 and born at Camborne, Elizabeth aged 34, and their children Catherine 12, Caleb 10, Edith, who was eight, William, who was five, and Florence who was two years old. At that time, they were living in the village of St Ewe in St Austell, Mevagissey registration district.

The reference to their youngest daughter as Florence may well be a misinterpretation of the name Salome who would have been aged two years in early April 1871. She was possibly born in late 1868 and was baptised at the Bible Christian Chapel in Paramore on 2^nd June 1869. Certainly, it was as Salome that she was listed in the census of 1881 at 12 years of age. Therefore, the original assumption that they may have been twin sisters is probably incorrect and, until further evidence to contrary is unearthed, it will be assumed that Florence and Salome were one and the same daughter of John and Elizabeth Collett.

Shortly after the census day in 1871 the couple was blessed with the arrival of another daughter Lavinia. And on 8^th October that same year Lavinia was baptised at St Ewe where the family still living and where, according to the baptism record, her father John was employed as a husbandman. Rather strangely the baptism listed in the St Ewes’ parish records was a joint ceremony for Lavinia and her slightly older sister Salome who had been baptised with a different church less than two years earlier, perhaps indicating a change of faith. Apparently just two more children were added to the family, one either side of the 1881 Census Day.

By the time of the census John was working as a clay labourer. His place of birth was confirmed as Camborne and his age as 47. His wife Elizabeth was 44 and had been born at Roche five miles north of St Austell where the family was then living at 6 Wheal Prosper in Roche.

Living with the couple in April 1881 was their son William aged 16 and a clay labourer like his father, and the family’s latest child David aged 4. Also living with them were their daughters Salome aged 12 and Lavinia who was nine. The three eldest children had been born at St Ewe while David had been born after the couple had moved to Roche. Within the following year Elizabeth presented John with their ninth child and last known children who was born while the family was still living at Roche, where it appears they spent the rest of their life.

By 1891 only the three youngest children were still living with the couple at Roche. They were Lavinia aged 20, David aged 14, and Richard who was eight years old. John was then 57 and his wife 53. Just after the turn of the century only Richard then aged 18 was still living with his parents at Roche and both father and son were employed as china clay workers. John was confirmed as being 67 and born at Camborne, while his wife Elizabeth was 64 years, and both she and his son were born at Roche.

John Vivian Collett died at West Goonbarrow in Roche on 1^st November 1908 at the age of 75. The administration of his personal effects, amounting to £157 9 Shillings and 3 Pence, was conducted at Bodmin on 8^th February 1909 when his occupation was confirmed as a clay labourer and when his widow was named as Elizabeth Jane Collett. It was just over two years later that Elizabeth Jane Collett nee Knight died at Roche on 12^th January 1911 when she was 73, her death being recorded at the St Austell register office (Ref. 5c 75).

21Q88

Catherine Collett

Born in 1858 at Creed

21Q89

Caleb Knight Collett

Born in 1861 at Creed

21Q90

Edith Jane Collett

Born in 1862 at Grampound

21Q91

William Collett

Born in 1865 at St Ewe

21Q92

Salome Collett

Born in 1868 at St Ewe

21Q93

Lavinia Collett

Born in 1871 at St Ewe

21Q94

David Knight Collett

Born in 1876 at Roche

21Q95

Richard Knight Collett

Born in 1882 at Roche

21P97

Henry Collett was born in 1835 and that possibly took place at Camborne where his brother John (above) was born. However, unlike his brother who was baptised at Camborne, Henry was baptised at St Ewe on 25^th December 1835. A little while after Henry was born his mother Catherine died, possibly as result of his birth or during the birth of another child that also did not survive. So, by June 1841 Henry’s father William Odgers Collett was a widower, and Henry aged five years and his older brother John who was seven, were being looked after by their grandparents at Camborne. Henry’s father was married for a second time in December 1841 and sometime thereafter Henry and his brother John returned to live with their father and his new wife Jane, their stepmother.

Ten years later in 1851 Henry was 15 when he was still living with his father at Treluckey Mill, but by 1861 he had left the family home and was living and working in the Penzance area of Cornwall, where he was recorded as a bachelor at 24. No other record of Henry after that time has so far been found.

21P98

George Collett was baptised at Cuby-with-Tregony on 9^th April 1842. It would appear that he died while still very young as a few years after another George was born into the family.

21P99

Mary J Collett was born at St Michael Caerhays in 1843 and was the fourth child and eldest daughter of miller William Odgers Collett and his second wife Jane Miners. She was around five years old when her father took over Treluckey Mill between St Michael Caerhays and Cuby-Tregony and was included in the census of 1851 in error as Mary Collick aged seven years. However, ten years later she was correctly listed in the census of 1861 as Mary J Collett who was 17 and from St Michael Caerhays when she was living with her family at Treluckey Mill within the Probus & Truro registration district. Sometime thereafter, the family left Treluckey Mill and in 1871, when spinster Mary Collett was 27, she was still living with her elderly parents, but at 3 Stanbury Row in Cuby-with-Tregony, where she was described as working on a farm. The only other siblings living at the family home on that occasion were Eden, Fanny and Edwin.

21P100

William Collett was born at St Michael Caerhays on 9^th August 1845 and he was later baptised at Cuby-with-Tregony on 2^nd November 1845. By the time of the census in 1851 William, aged six years, was living with his parents at Treluckey Mill, when their surname was recorded incorrectly as Collick. Just before his twenty-first birthday William married (1) Emma Jane Ferrell in Truro during June 1866. Emma presented William with two children before she passed away during the March quarter of 1874. Both of the children were born at Ladock where Emma had been born in early 1838. Emma Jane Ferrell seems likely to have been the younger sister of James Ferrell who married Susanna Collett (above) at Philleigh on 13^th May 1847. Susanna’s father was Peter Collett and in his Will of 1865 his grandchildren Samuel Ferrell and Mary Ferrell were named as beneficiaries under the terms of the Will.

During the year following the death of his wife, William married (2) Jane Smith at St Leonards-on-Sea near Hasting on 22^nd April 1775. Jane had been born at St Leonards and was baptised on 22^nd March 1844 in Hastings. However, it would appear that William returned to Ladock with Jane, as it was there that the couple’s first three children were born.

In 1881 the family of seven was living at Bissick Mill in Ladock where 35 years old William was a corn miller. However, soon after the April census day in 1881 the family moved to Hayle near St Ives where the couple’s fourth child was born. The time spent at Hayle may only have been a fairly short few years since, by the time of the birth of their sixth and last child the family was living at Penryn. And it was at Penryn where the family was living from 1886 through to the end of March 1901.

According to the 1891 Census William was 45, and his wife Jane 48. Their two older children were not living with them anymore, so the family just comprised Ellen aged 13, Emily aged 12, Annie aged 10, Kate who was eight, Clara who was six, and Arthur who was four.

The following census in 1901 recorded William as 55 and still working as a miller, and his wife Jane as 57. Living with them were their daughters Ellen aged 24 who was a dressmaker, Emily aged 22 who was a grocer’s assistant, Katie aged 18 who was a draper’s apprentice, and their son Arthur who was 14. The couple’s eldest daughter Elizabeth had already left the family home by then, but there is uncertainty about what had happened to their youngest daughter Clara who would have been 16.

Towards the end of 1902 Jane died, leaving William to marry (3) widow Mary Lucilla Nicholls nee Tremayne two years later around December 1904. Mary was born around 1850 and in April 1911 William Collett from St Michael Caerhays was living at Tavistock in Devon with his wife Mary Luscilla Collett. William was 65 and his wife was 60. William Collett and his third wife Mary both died at Falmouth during the June quarter of 1926.

21Q96

William Collett

Born in 1866 at Ladock

21Q97

Elizabeth Jane Collett

Born in 1868 at Ladock

21Q98

Ellen Maud Collett

Born in 1875 at Ladock

21Q99

Emily Mary Collett

Born in 1878 at Ladock

21Q100

Annie Collett

Born in 1880 at Ladock

21Q101

Kate Collett

Born in 1882 at Hayle

21Q102

Clara Louise Collett

Born in 1884 at Penryn

21Q103

Arthur James Collett

Born in 1886 at Penryn

21P101

George Collett was born at St Michael Caerhays and was baptised at Cuby-with-Tregony on 26^th September 1847, a son of William and Jane. Not long after he was born his father became the miller at Treluckey Mill where George, aged four years, and the family were recorded in error as Collick in the census of 1851. It was the following census in 1861 which described George Collett as being 13 and born at St Michael Caerhays, with no occupation, when he was still living with the family at Treluckey Mill. Six years later, the banns of marriage for George Collett, a bachelor of the parish of Cuby, and Louisa Jenkins, a spinster of the parish of Tregony St James, were read on 10^th, 17^th, and 24^th February, Louisa having been born at Tregony in 1847. The couple was then married at Cuby-with-Tregony on 12^th March 1867, where all of their six children were born.

By 1871 the family living at Tregony comprised George Collett, a mason by trade, and his wife Louisa both aged 24, and their daughters Alma who was three, Mary who was one year old and baby Emma. Sadly, for whatever reason, George did not survive to see his children into adulthood as he died at the age of 29, with his death recorded at Truro (Ref. 5c 103) during the second quarter of 1877. By the time of the census in 1881, widow Louisa Collett was 33 and was living with five of her six children by her late husband at Bridgend near Lostwithiel in the district of St Winnow. It would appear that she had moved there after the death of her husband, and it was there also where she had a relationship with a certain Mr Smith, perhaps John Smith, following which she gave birth to the first of three further children.

According the Bridgend census of 1881, Louisa was working as a charwoman to support her young family, which was made up of Mary Collett who was 12, Emma Collett who was 10, George Collett who was eight, Joshua Collett who was six, and William Collett who was four. Also living with the family was her son by another man, one-year-old John Smith of Devonport who was described as a boarder. Louisa’s missing eldest daughter Alma Collett, who was 14, was working away from home as a general servant at the home of farmer Walter H Wevell at Polmenna Farm in nearby Lostwithiel. During the next year or so, Louisa moved again, on that occasion to Truro, where she settled in the St Clement district of the city, where she gave birth to two more children.

It was also at East Rosewin Row within Truro St Clements that Louisa and her family were residing on the day of the census in 1891. Louisa Collett from Tregony was still earning a living as a charwoman at the age of 44, while still living with her were her three sons by George Collett and the three sons born after he had died. They were described as George Collett aged 17, Joshua Collett aged 15, William Collett aged 14, Johnny Collett (previously Smith) who was ten, Sidney Collett who was seven and Stanley Collett who was three years old. Just after the turn of the century Louisa, at the age of 55, was living at Mitchell Hill in St Clement Urban, a suburb on the fringe of the City of Truro. Living with her were three of her children, sons Joshua Collett who was 23 (sic), Sydney Collett who was 16, and Stanley Collett who was 12, all three of them listed as born in Truro.

Curiously, no obvious record of Louisa Collett has been found in the census of 1911, when she would have been 65 years old. Just prior to the census day that year, her youngest son Stanley had sailed to Canada, who may have been accompanied by his mother. However, the death of Louisa Collett, nee Jenkins, was recorded in Cornwall register office (Ref. 5c 143) during 1929, when she was 84 years old.

21Q104

Alma Collett

Born in 1868 at Cuby-with-Tregony

21Q105

Mary Harriet Collett

Born in 1869 at Cuby-with-Tregony

21Q106

Emma Rachel Collett

Born in 1870 at Cuby-with-Tregony

21Q107

George Collett

Born in 1872 at Cuby-with-Tregony

21Q108

Joshua Collett

Born in 1875 at Cuby-with-Tregony

21Q109

William James Collett

Born in 1877 at Cuby-with-Tregony

The following are the three children born to Louisa Collett after the death of her husband:

21Q110

John Collett

Born in 1880 at Lostwithiel

21Q111

Sidney Collett

Born in 1884 at Truro

21Q112

Stanley Collett

Born in 1888 at Truro

21P102

James Collett was born at Treluckey Mill near Cuby-with-Tregony in 1849. At the age of one year in 1851 and 12 years in 1861 when he was attending school, he was still living at Treluckey Mill with his family. Some years later, when he was a resident of Brighton in Michigan USA, he informed people that he had been born at Brighton in England. However, he did not fully explain that the Brighton he was referring to was a hamlet in Cornwall, just a few miles from where he was actually born, and not the well-known seaside resort in Sussex frequented by successive Kings of England.

By April 1871 when he was 22 James was still in Cornwall, although he is believed to have married (1) Jane by the end of that year or sometime during the following year. Jane was born in 1850 and together they left England for North America before 1873. It is thought that the couple initially sailed to Canada to be reunited with James’ cousin Joshua Collett (Ref. 21P89) who was living at Stratford in Ontario, midway between Detroit and Toronto in the early 1870s. James was a joiner and a carpenter, while Joshua was a blacksmith. Following the birth of his third child in 1874 Joshua returned to Cornwall with his three children.

Joshua’s return to England may have been the reason that prompted James and Jane to leave Canada to cross the border the short distance to Brighton in Michigan, about forty miles north-west of Detroit. The couple’s first child was born while James and Jane were still in Canada and was very likely born at Stratford where Joshua’s son was also born before he left for England. The couple’s remaining five children were born at Brighton.

It was during that first decade in North America that James established himself as a successful builder and by 1881 he had built the Old Town Hall at 200 West St Paul Street in Brighton, Michigan for the sum of $2,300. Also, that same year he completed the building of St Paul’s Episcopal Church in the same street. However, tragedy struck the family during the few months after the birth of their only son when Jane died in 1885. She was buried at the Old Village Cemetery in Brighton. Following her death James left Brighton and moved his family to nearby Detroit in April 1886.

Sometime later James was joined by his nephew Caleb Knight Collett (Ref. 21Q89) who had travelled to Michigan with his grandmother in early 1885. James was the half-brother to Caleb’s father John Vivian Collett, both James and John having the same father William Odgers Collett but with different mothers. Upon arrival in the USA Caleb had initially worked in the Calumet and Hecla copper mines in the Michigan Upper Peninsula before eventually being employed by his uncle James as a carpenter. For the next nine years he continued with his building work, whilst tending to the needs of his six children until, on 18^th August 1895, he married (2) Susan Parshall Abraham.

By the turn of the century James had returned to Brighton and in August 1904 it was reported in the local newspaper that James Collett and a force of carpenters were building a house for a Mister Purdy. It was also around that time when he was working on the construction of an elementary school to the north of Union School on Rickett Road in Brighton. That opened in the summer of 1905 and was a brick and cement construction rather than the more usual wood.

It may be of interest to note that, because of the importance of James Collett to the town of Brighton in Michigan, the town’s Historical Society has been trying for many years to trace his life back to his English roots. But in truth it was his own reference to the fact that he came from Brighton in England that only served to confuse the matter, until now that is.

21Q113

Edith Collett

Born in 1873 at Stratford, Canada

21Q114

Mary Collett

Born in 1874 at Brighton, Michigan

21Q115

Lillie Collett

Born in 1877 at Brighton, Michigan

21Q116

Bertha Collett

Born circa 1880 at Brighton, Michigan

21Q117

Lillian Collett

Born circa 1882 at Brighton, Michigan

21Q118

James Henry Collett

Born on 29.09.1884 at Brighton, Michigan

21P103

Joshua Collett was born at Treluckey Mill near Cuby-with-Tregony in late 1851 or early 1852, where his parents were living at the time of the 1851 Census, while it was at Cuby-with-Tregony that Joshua Collett was baptised on 11^th April 1852. At nine years of age, he was still living with his family at Treluckey Mill and on leaving school Joshua also became a miller like his father. According to the census of 1871 he was living and working with George Body, a miller, in the village of St Clement to the east of Truro. Joshua Collett from Cuby was 19 years old in the St Clement census that year when he was described as a working miller and a boarder with the family of George Body and his wife Mary. Whether as a result of an accident or some illness, the death of Joshua Collett aged 24 was recorded at Truro (Ref. 5c 111) during the second quarter of 1876.

21P104

Elizabeth A Collett was born at Treluckey Mill near Cuby-with-Tregony in 1853 and at seven years of age Elizabeth A Collett was still living with her family at Treluckey Mill in 1861. By the time of the next census in 1871 she had left the family home which, by then was in Cuby-with-Tregony. After a further ten years, when Elizabeth Collett was 26, she was living and working in Kenwyn, just north of Truro. According to the census of 1881 she was employed as a cook and domestic servant at the home of biscuit manufacturer and confectioner John C Furniss at Lemon House in Kenwyn. Although her stated age of 26 years conflicts with her estimated date of birth the census recorded accurately that she was born at Tregony.

21P105

Susan E Collett was born at Treluckey Mill near Cuby-with-Tregony in 1854 and was aged six years in 1861 when Susan E Collett and her family were still living at Treluckey Mill. What happened to her after that day is not known, except that she was not living with her family in 1871.

21P106

Eden Collett was born at Treluckey Mill near Cuby-with-Tregony in 1856 and was four years old in 1861 when she was living with her family at Treluckey Mill, where her father was the miller. Ten years later Eden and her family were living at 3 Stanbury Row in Cuby-with-Tregony when she was 13 and had completed her education and, with no stated occupation, she was very likely helping her mother. It was during the first three months of 1879 that the marriage of Eden Collett and Frederick Brown was recorded at Truro (Ref. 5c 179). The marriage produced at least eleven children for the couple, and by 1881 Frederick Brown from Plymouth was 28 and a miller’s labourer, his wife Eden Brown was 24, and their first child was Alberta Brown who was one year old and born in Truro. On the day of the census that year the family of three was living at Paul Quick Cottage in St Clement, while lodging with them was pork butcher John Hore from Kenwyn who was 27.

Five more children were added to the family during the 1880s, which by 1891 comprised Frederick who was 38, Eden who was 34, Alberta who was 11, Edith Jane who was nine, Stephen who was seven, William John who was four, Caroline who was three and Florence who was under one year old. On that occasion they were recorded at St Clement within the Truro & Kenwyn census registration district. Five more children were born into the family during the last decade of the century and all of them born at St Clement, where the family was still living in March 1901.

By then Frederick was a grocer’s waggoner aged 49, Eden was 44, Alberta was 21 and a dressmaker, Edith J Brown was a draper’s assistant at 19, Stephen was 17 and an auctioneer’s clerk, William J Brown was 14 and a stable boy, Caroline was 13, Florence was 10, Frank was nine, Jessie was seven, Mary Gwendoline was four, John was two and Arnold was one year old. After a further ten years the family had reduced in size with just four of the children still living with Frederick, aged 58, and Eden who was 53. Alberta Brown was 31, Caroline Brown was 23, Florence Brown was 20 and Arnold Brown was 11.

21P107

Fanny Collett was born at Treluckey Mill near Cuby-with-Tregony in 1858 where she was baptised on 26^th December 1858. Fanny Collett was two years old in the census return for Treluckey Mill in 1861, although the family left the mill during the following decade. By the time of the census in 1871 Fanny was 12 years of age and still attending school, when she was one of just four children still living with their parents at 3 Stanbury Row in Cuby-with-Tregony. Nine year later Fanny married Harry Cock on 17^th April 1880 at Kenwyn. Harry was described as being 22 years old and a miller of Kenwyn, the son of farmer William Cock, while Fanny was also 22 and from Tregony, the daughter of labourer William Collett.

21P108

Edwin Collett was born at Cuby-with-Tregony in 1865 and was baptised there of 4^th June 1865, the last child of William Odgers Collett and his second wife Jane Miners. According to the 1871 Census he was six years old and living with his parents and three older siblings at 3 Stanbury Row in Cuby-with-Tregony. By 1881 Edwin was the only member of his family still living with his parents at 29 Flore Street in Tregony. His occupation at the age of 16 was an agricultural labourer like his elderly father.

It was at Truro around 1888 that he married (1) Martha Jane (Janie) Truscott, the daughter of farmer and dairyman John Truscott of Tregony and his wife Nancy Woolcock of Cuby-with Tregony. Once married the couple settled in Tregony where their son Percy was born. That was confirmed by the Truro & Probus census of 1891 when Edwin was 26, Janie was 24, and their son Percy was one year old.

On the day of the census, Janie was expecting the couple’s second child who was born later that same year. However, it would appear that Janie tragically died either during the birth or shortly thereafter, but mercifully for Edwin, the child, his second son and namesake, did survive the ordeal. In an instant Edwin went from a married man with two children, to a widower with a baby and two years old son to look after. As a result of that dire situation, it seems highly likely that Edwin enlisted the help of his late wife’s parents to take in and care for the two boys.

A year or so later Edwin married (2) Florence Hannah Pill of Truro, better known as Fanny, and it was while the couple were still at Truro that the first two of their children were born. Sometime during 1897 and 1898 the family left Cornwall to set up home in Essex, and it was at Walthamstow that the couple’s third child was born.

By that time, it would appear that Percy Collett, Edwin’s eldest son from his first marriage, had rejoined the family to make the move to north London with his father and stepmother and his two half-siblings. It would also appear that Edwin’s younger son from his first marriage, did not make the move to Walthamstow, instead choosing to stay with his maternal grandparents.

According to the census in March 1901, Edwin Collett was 36 and was employed as a joiner when he and his family were living at 16 Clacton Road in Walthamstow. His wife Fanny was 37 and from Truro, and the four children living there with them were Percy aged 11, George who was six, Gladys who was four, and Jack who was one year old. By that time Edwin’s nine-year-old son Edwin L Collett was confirmed as still living with his grandparents in Tregony.

During the following three years two more children were born to Edwin and Fanny who moved house again during that same period. By April 1911 the family was living at 12 Devonshire Road in Walthamstow and comprised Edwin 46, Fanny 47, and five of their six children. They were George, who was 16, Gladys, who was 14, Jack, who was 11, Frank, who was eight, and Fred who was six.

Both of Edwin’s two sons from his first marriage were missing on that occasion and, although no record of Percy Collett has been found anywhere in Great Britain in 1911 since he had joined the Royal Navy, Edwin L Collett was still living in Cornwall at the age of 19. Six years later in 1917, Edwin and Fanny were living at 1 Cornwallis Road in Walthamstow when they received the tragic news that their son Jack had been killed during the Great War. It is now known that Edwin Collett was residing at Oxford Road in Enfield when he died at the age of 83, his death recorded at the South Western Essex register office (Ref. 5a 251) during the third quarter of 1948. Probate for this estate of £336 3 Shillings and 2 Pence was settled in favour of his widow Florence Hannah Collett.

21Q119

Percy Collett

Born in 1889 at Tregony

21Q120

Edwin Llewelyn Collett

Born in 1891 at Tregony

The following are the children of Edwin and his second wife Fanny:

21Q121

George Odgers Collett

Born in 1894 at Truro

21Q122

Gladys Collett

Born in 1896 at Truro

21Q123

Jack Collett

Born in 1899 at Walthamstow

21Q124

Frank Collett

Born in 1902 in London

21Q125

Fred Collett

Born in 1904 in London

21Q1

Lucretia Rundle Collett was born at Church Town in Philleigh and was the base-born child of Susanna Collett, a farmer’s daughter, whose birth as Lucretia Rundell Collett was recorded at Truro (Ref. 9 318) during the second quarter of that year. She was privately baptised (at home) on 1^st July 1848 and was later received into Philleigh parish church on 27^th August 1848, when her mother was confirmed as Susannah Collett, while no name was given for the father. Not long after she was born her mother married James Rundle, who may have been her father, the marriage recorded at Truro (Ref. 9 362) during the third quarter of 1848. After settling in Veryan, Susanna gave birth to four more children before she suffered a premature death, perhaps during the birth of the fifth child born around 1853. Following the death of her mother, James Rundle married the much older Mary Davies, a widow, most likely to help him look after his five children. Prior to that, it was at Veryan that Lucretia Rundle, aged three years, was living with her mother Susanna and James Rundle and two younger siblings in the census of 1851. However, following the death of her mother, and on leaving school, Lucretia entered into domestic service and was not living with James Rundle and his second wife Mary on the day of the census in 1861.

On that day, 13 years-old Lucretia Rundle from Veryan was a child’s maid at the Veryan home of the Spiby family, while ten years later Lucretia C Rundle from Philleigh was 22 and was employed as a cook at the Truro St Marys home of elderly Elizabeth Holland from London. It was six years after that when Lucretia Collett Rundle married widower William John Truscott who was born at Truro in 1843, their marriage recorded at Truro (Ref. 5c 209) during the second quarter of 1877. William was a carpenter and his first wife Elizabeth Ann had died during the third quarter of 1876, leaving William with four young children, Henry, Fanny, Elizabeth and Edith. Over the following years, Lucretia presented William with three sons and another daughter, the first of them born prior to the census in 1881, when the family was residing at Carclew Street in Kenwyn.

In 1881 William John Truscott from Truro was 37, his wife was listed as Lucretia Collett Truscott aged 33 and from Philleigh, the stepmother of his four children. They were all born at Truro and were Henry Truscott, an errand boy of 13, daughters Fanny Emma Truscott 10, Elizabeth Jane Truscott who was eight and Edith Mary Truscott who was six. Lucretia’s first child fathered by William was named as Samuel John Rundell Truscott was aged two months, who tragically died during the first three months of 1882.

Ten years later the family was still living at Carclew Street in Kenwyn when carpenter William was 47, Lucretia was 45, Fanny was 21, Elizabeth was 18, Edith was 16, Frederick was eight and Sybil E L Truscott was seven years old. According to the next census in 1901 the family home was once again in Carclew Street in Kenwyn, by which time the family comprised William, a house carpenter aged 57, his wife Lucretia from Philleigh who was 53, unmarried Edith who was 26, Frederick who was 18 and latest arrival Ernest A Truscott who was nine years of age. The census in 1911 again recorded the couple still at Kenwyn where William J Truscott was 67 and Lucretia Collett Truscott was 63.

Lucretia Collett Truscott of 23 Carclew Street was 66 years old when she died at the end of July in 1914 and was buried in the grounds of St Mary’s Church in Truro on 2^nd August 1914. She was survived by her older husband who eventually passed away at Truro, where his death was recorded (Ref. 5c 160) during the second quarter of 1928 when he was 84. It should be noted that Lucretia’s aunt was Grace Olivey Collett (Ref. 21P10), the sister of Lucretia’s mother Susanna Collett (Ref. 21P9), and that Grace Olivey Collett married Samuel Rundle (Rundell) in 1850.

21Q2

CHARLES HARCOURT COLLETT was born at Edmonton in Middlesex on 13^th May 1884, the only child of Charles Benjamin Collett and his wife Tamar Harriet Harcourt Brown. Following the death of his mother in 1886, Charles H Collett was six years old in 1891 when he was living with his elderly father in the Lambeth area of London. He was only fourteen years old when his father passed away during 1900, and that may have been the reason why one year later his place of birth was incorrectly given as Tottenham in the census of 1901. By that time, he was 16 years old and was a boarder living in Clapham at the home of Archibald Grover Bowie. No record for Charles has been located in the next census of 1911 although it is known that he was married prior to 1924, but was unable to obtain a divorce from his wife when the marriage failed.

It was under those circumstances that he therefore partnered with Mrs Elsie Alice Goodwin-Rookledge in 1924. Elsie was born at 8 Ashburnham Road in Greenwich on 23^rd July 1896 the daughter of William Alfred Goodwin and his wife Catherine Susan Goodwin. Like Charles, Elsie had also been married before, but her marriage to Harold Dalby Rookledge (Ref. 21Q1b) had been declared null and void when she left her husband during the honeymoon upon discovering the truth that he was already married and therefore a bigamist. She did however retain the Rookledge name as stated on her null and void marriage certificate. From her first marriage Elsie had conceived a child while on honeymoon but the child died within two weeks of being born on 29^th March 1922 – see Appendix C, Ref. 21R1b. All of the children from the partnership between Charles and Elsie were born in England where Charles was a well-known actor and appeared in many early cinematic films.

In 1933, prior to the birth of their youngest child, he returned to South Africa to continue his work in Johannesburg where he became a radio broadcaster for the South African Broadcasting Corporation. He was reputed to have one of the best-known voices on South African radio with whom he later became Chief Announcer. He also produced and took part in many plays and productions.

Between 1922 and 1947 Elsie was a draper’s assistant with the Belfast company of Robinson & Cleaver at their Regent Street shop. Before that time, she had worked at Cheeseman’s Store. Separated from her partner in 1933, the burden of bringing up the four children was placed solely on her shoulders and in 1934 she and the children moved to Carshalton. Charles died in Johannesburg in 1953, while Elsie died at Carshalton in Surrey in December 1973.

It was only during the spring of 2009 that details of a further child of the family came to light. She was Charles’ and Elsie’s second daughter Joy, who was born a year after the couple’s first child. This information had not been revealed until now because, for whatever reason, it was decided that Joy should be given up for adoption, which she was during January 1928 when she was four months old.

21R1

Heather Wanda Rookledge Collett

Born in 1926 at Christchurch, Hants

21R2

Joy Rookledge Collett

Born in 1927 at Christchurch, Hants

21R3

Nigel Harcourt Rookledge Collett

Born in 1929 at Wandsworth, London

21R4

Jean Margaret Rookledge Collett

Born in 1932 at Clapham, London

21R5

GORDON CHARLES ROOKLEDGE COLLETT

Born in 1933 at Clapham, London

21Q3

Peter Thomas Collett was born in 1843, the only son and eldest child of Peter Thomas Collett and Dinah Henderson, whose birth was registered at Poplar (Ref. ii 293) during the third quarter of that year. Upon the death of his father in 1858, it was during the following year, when Peter junior was sixteen years of age, that he was named as a recipient of his father’s military pension. Seventeen years later, Peter Thomas Collett, aged 33, and the son of Peter Thomas Collett, married Sarah Gardiner, who was 32 and the daughter of William Gardiner, at Farnham in Surrey on 16^th September 1876, the event recorded at Farnham (Ref. 2a 143). No record of any children has been found, nor where the couple was living in 1881. However, in 1891, the childless couple was residing at Bishops Road in Hackney where Peter Thomas Collett aged 47 was living on his own means, his place of birth simply London. Sarah Collett from Surrey was 46.

Ten years after that day, the pair was living on Clarence Road, Hackney in 1901, when Peter was 57 and a tobacconist and shopkeeper from Bromley in Kent, and his wife Sarah was 56 and born at Farnham in Surrey. Sarah died eight years later, aged 64, her death recorded at Hackney register office (Ref. 1b 394) during the first quarter of 1909. The London Electoral Roll for 1910 identified Peter Thomas Collett at 149 Clarence Road in Hackney. After a further two years, Peter was still the owner of 149 Clarence Road, but was residing at 29 Spurstowe Road, off Amhurst Road in Central Hackney.

21Q5

Elizabeth Collett was born at the hamlet of St Erme in 1850 and was baptised at the parish church in Probus on 22^nd December 1850, the eldest child of John Collett and his wife Catherine Hosking. For the census in 1851 she was listed with her parents at St Erme as under being one year old. In 1861 she was aged 10 and in 1871 she was aged 18 and on both occasions was recorded in the Truro, St Clement registration district.

21Q6

John Hosking Collett was born at St Erme but was baptised at Probus on 20^th June 1852, the eldest son child of John Collett and Catherine Hosking. At just twenty years and five months John married (1) Dinah Ellen Hooper at Ladock on 24^th November 1872. Dinah was a daughter of William Hugo Hooper and Frances Coade and was baptised at St Enoder in Cornwall on 28^th July 1854. It seems that she was already with-child on her wedding day since, within the next three months, Dinah gave birth to a son who was baptised at Ladock on 25^th February 1873, the same day that Dinah was buried there, aged 19. Tragically for John, his son died shortly after the child’s mother, his death recorded at Truro during the second quarter of the same year, following which he was buried at Ladock with his mother, on 11^th April 1873.

Just over four years after those tragic events, John Hosking Collett, a widower and the son of John Collett, married (2) Maria Nance at St Paul’s Church in Truro on 12^th August 1876, Maria being the daughter of Thomas Nance. Once married the couple left Cornwall to seek a new life in London. In 1881 John H Collett was 28 and from Tresillian, and his occupation was that of a joiner. His wife Maria Collett was 25 and from Truro, and by then the marriage had produced a daughter Annie Collett who was one year old, who had been born at Chelsea.

The family of three was living at 72 Ifield Road in the West Bromley area of London, not far from Chelsea. Lodging with the family was joiner William H Lewis from Walmer in Kent who was 29. Ten years later in 1891 it was just John Collett aged 39, who was living in the St George Hanover Square & Belgrave area of London with his daughter Annie Collett aged 10. No trace of the family has been found after that time.

21R6

William John Collett

Born in 1873 at Ladock

The following in the only known child of John Hosking Collett by his second wife Maria Nance:

21R7

Annie Collett

Born in 1879 at Chelsea, London

21Q7

James Thomas Collett was born at St Erme and was baptised at Probus on 23^rd December 1855. He married Ellen Cowl with whom he had had two children by the time of the census of 1881. The wedding took place at St Paul’s Church in Truro on 7^th September 1878 and James’ father was confirmed as John Collett, while Ellen was the daughter of William Cowl. At that time, and like many other members of the Collett family, James was living at Tresillian Road in St Erme where he was aged 23 and was employed as a maltster’s man. His place of birth was confirmed as having been at St Erme. His wife was Ellen of nearby Truro St Clement where their first child had also been born. Their two children in 1881 were John who was two years old and Sidney who was three months.

By 1891 the extended family was living at Gilles in St Erme and comprised James Collett aged 36 who was a maltster, Ellen Collett aged 32, and their children, John Collett who was 12 and at school, as was Sidney Collett who was 10, Nellie Collett who was eight, Edith Collet who was six, plus Charles Collett who was four, Gertrude Collett who was two, and baby Blanche Annie Collett who was not yet one year old.

Nine years later their daughter Ellen Collett (Nellie in 1891) suffered a premature death, so was not with her year for the census in 1901. James Collett was listed in that year’s census for St Erme as being a maltster at the age of 45 who had been born at Tresillian. Ellen his wife was 42 and her place of birth was given as Truro St Clement which lies just to the east of Truro. The children living with the couple on that occasion were Charley 14, Gertrude 12, Annie 10, and Beatrice who was seven. All four of the children were recorded as having been born at Tresillian, the same as their father. According to the census of 1911, James and Ellen Collett were still living in St Erme, but by that time in their life all of their children had left home. Head of the household James Collett of St Erme was 56 and with no occupation, and his wife Ellen Collett of Truro was 53. However, staying with the couple was their recently marriage daughter Anne Mitchell aged 21 of St Erme, and two grandchildren, the two children of the couple’s older married daughter Edith Horwell. They were Charles Hart Collett Horwell aged two, and Charles Kenny Horwell who was only a few months old and born at Truro.

21R8

John Collett

Born in 1878 at Truro St Clement

21R9

Sydney Collett

Born in 1880 at St Erme

21R10

Ellen Collett

Born in 1882 at St Erme

21R11

Edith Collett

Born in 1884 at St Erme

21R12

Charles Collett

Born in 1886 at St Erme

21R13

Gertrude Collett

Born in 1888 at St Erme

21R14

Blanche Annie Collett

Born in 1890 at St Erme

21R15

Beatrice Collett

Born in 1893 at St Erme

21Q8

Peter Thomas Collett was born at St Erme around February 1857 but was not baptised until the end of that year. That took place at Probus on 21^st December 1857 but was tragically followed only three months later with his burial at Merther on 14^th March 1858. He was thirteen months old when he died at St Erme.

21Q9

Catherine Jane Collett was born at St Erme in July 1858 and was baptised at Probus on 26^th December 1858. She only survived for around a year and was buried at Merther on 22^nd July 1859

21Q10

Catherine Jane Collett was born at St Erme, possible in the second half of 1859, and was baptised at Probus on 8^th April 1860, the daughter of Catherine Hosking and her husband John Collett. She was one year old in the St Erme census of 1861 and was 11 in the following census of 1871 when on both occasion she was living there with her family. Ten years later a Kate Collett aged 22 and from Cornwall, was working as a general servant at Florence Villa in the Tottenham area of London, the home of journalist James Fitt and his large family. Then later that same year, there is another record of the death of Catherine Jane Collett aged 21, at Fulham register office (Ref. 1a 166). Although not yet proved, both of these listings may refer to Catherine Jane Collett from St Erme.

21Q11

Emily Collett was born at St Erme during December 1860 and was buried at Merther just nine months later on 8^th August 1861. She was living with her family at St Erme on the day of the census in 1861 when she was three months old.

21Q12

Emily Collett was born at St Erme towards the end of 1862 and baptised at Probus on 22^nd December 1862 using the name of her older sister who had died during the previous year. She was seven years old and 18 years of age in the next two census returns when she was living with her parents at Tresillian Road in St Erme.

21Q13

Louisa Collett was born at St Erme in 1865 and was baptised at Probus on 20^th May 1866, the youngest child of John Collett and his wife Catherine Hosking. Louisa was five years old in 1871, and was 16 in 1881 when she was living at Tresillian Road in St Erme with her family.

21Q14

Bessie Collett was born at Truro in 1865 and was the eldest daughter of James and Mary Collett. Sadly, her father died when she was around eight years old, following which she was brought up by her mother. She was recorded as being six years old in the Truro census of 1871 when her mother was still listed as married, although no trace has been found of her husband. It was during the next few years that her father died, so by 1881, when she was working as a tailoress at the age of 16, she was still living with her widowed mother and the rest of her family at Boscawen Row in St Mary’s Truro.

21Q15

Eliza Jane Collett was born at Truro in 1867, where she was later baptised on 14^th March 1871, the daughter of James and Mary Collett. In the census of 1871, she was living with her mother Mary and her older sister Bessie (above) and younger sister Caroline. Where her father was at that time has not been determined. Her father died during the next ten years and in 1881, when she was 14, she was living with her widowed mother Mary Collett at Boscawen Row in St Mary’s Truro, and her three sisters Bessie, Caroline and Johanna. Ten years after that, in 1891, Eliza Collett aged 23, was living in the Falmouth & Penryn registration district of Cornwall.

21Q18

Sydney Charles Collett was born in 1876 at Newton Ferrers to the east of Plymouth where he was living with his parents Charles and Emma Collett in April 1881 at the age of four years. During the following few years Sydney’s father died and so, by the time of the census in 1891, 14 years old ‘Sidney C Collett’ was stilling living at Newton Ferrers but only with his widowed mother Emma. Sometime during the 1890s, Sydney’s mother returned to Holbeton – east of Plymouth, the village where she was born, and that may have been where he met his future wife. It was almost ten years later, when Sydney Charles Collett was 24, that he married Bessie Rogers, their wedding day recorded at Plymouth register office (Ref. 5b 433) during the first three months of 1901.

By 1901 the couple was living in the St Budeaux district of Plymouth where Sydney was working as a baker, a business he had taken over from his mother who, in that same year, was described as a retired baker. ‘Sidney C Collett’ was 24 and from Newton Ferrers, while his wife Bessie Collett was 23. Bessie was very likely to have been with-child on the day of the census at the end of March in 1901, since the first of the couple’s three children was born later that same year, the birth being recorded at Plympton register office, east of Plymouth.

Seven years after the birth of their first child, Bessie presented Sidney with their second son when they were living ten miles north of Plymouth in the village of Buckland Monachorum, where the family of four was recorded in the Tavistock area of Devon in 1911. The birth of the couple’s second child was recorded at Tavistock register office. The census return listed the family as Sydney Charles Collett from Newton Ferrers who was 34 and a poultry farmer, his wife Bessie Collett from Plymouth who was 33, their son Russell Collett who was nine, whose place of birth was recorded as St Rudmere (?) in Devon, and their youngest son Ivor Collett who was two years old and born at Buckland Monachorum. Staying with the family was Sydney’s mother 57-year-old Emma Collett from Holbeton, near Plymouth. There was then a large gap in years between the birth of the couple’s second and third child, whose birth was also recorded at Devonport register office towards the end of 1919.

Forty years later when he was residing at 18 Corporation Road in Peverell, Plymouth but was taken into the South Devon and East Cornwall Hospital in Plymouth where he died on 12^th March 1951. The death of Sydney Charles Collett was recorded at Plymouth register office (Ref. 7a 2059) during the first quarter of 1951 and administration of his estate of £179 4 Shillings and 6 Pence was granted to his daughter Betty Climo, the wife of Charles Clifford Climo.

21R16

Russell Collett

Born in 1901 at Devonport

21R17

Ivor Victor Roy Collett

Born in 1908 at Buckland Monachorum

21R18

Betty Collett

Born in 1919 at Devonport

21Q19

Clara Collett was born at St Erme during 1898, the eldest of the three known children of John Collett and Sarah Grace Murton. Curiously on the day of the census in April 1901 Clara, aged two years, and her younger sister Ada and their mother Sarah were staying at the St Erme home of her elderly grandparents John and Mary Collett. The reason they were there may have been because Clara’s mother was expected her third child who was born later that same year. The whole family was together again in 1911 and by then they had left St Erme and were residing within the Truro registration district where Clara Collett was 12. It may be odd, but in 1901 her place of birth was given as St Erme, while in 1911 it was said to be Tresillian, the same as her two siblings.

All that is currently known about Clara Collett is that she was still not married by the time her father died in 1932. Probate for John Collett of Tresillian was granted jointly to his daughter Clara Collett, a spinster, and William George White, a farmer. The value of his personal estate was said to be £1,739 2 Shillings.

21Q21

Charles Glencoe Collett was born at Tresillian after March 1901 and was the youngest of the three children of John Collett and Sarah Grace Murton, his birth recorded at Truro register office (Ref. 5c 127) during the second quarter of that year. He was nine years old in the census of 1911 when living at St Erme with his family, his place of birth confirmed as Tresillian. The death of Charles G Collett on Christmas Day was recorded at Truro register office (Ref. 5c 150) during the last month of 1930 when he was 29. Judging by the probate announcement, Charles was a bachelor when he died and it was his father John Collett, a retired farmer, who was named as the administrator of his estate valued at £3,616 17 Shillings and 4 Pence, a substantial amount of money for a young man back in those days. The final address for Charles Glencoe Collett was recorded as Gillies in Tresillian, Probus in Cornwall.

21Q22

James Collett was born at Camborne in 1861 according to the 1881 Census. After he was born his family moved to Lancashire and were living at 49 Greenough Street in Wigan where James was nineteen years old in 1881. He was described as a joiner like his father but ‘out of employment’.

21Q25

Gertrude Collett was born at Stockport in 1875, her birth as simply Gertrude Collett registered at Stockport (Ref. 8a 51) during the second quarter of the year. She was the daughter of joiner Martin Williams Collett and his wife Mary, with whom she was living in 1881, following her parents move from Cornwall to Lancashire. At that time, Gertrude was six years old when she was living with her family at 49 Greenough Street in Wigan. However, around six years later it would appear that her mother Mary died during childbirth, after which her father married Elizabeth, as confirmed by the census in 1891 when Gertrude from Stockport was 16. Ten year later, at the time of the census in 1901 when she was 26, she and her brother Thomas (below) were the only members of her family still living with her widowed father at Wigan. On that occasion she gave her place of birth as Plymouth, which was where her older brother John was known to have been born. Her father was a grocer’s shopkeeper and master builder, while Gertrude was acting as his cook and housekeeper. Ten years later Gertrude Collett was unmarried at the age of 36 when she was still living with her widowed father William Collett at 23 Frederick Street in Ince-in-Makerfield, Wigan, where he passed away six months later.

21Q26

Charles Collett was born at Wigan in February 1881 and was listed as being one month old if the census that year, living with his family at 49 Greenough Street in Wigan. Following the death of his mother Mary around 1887, his father re-married and in 1891 Charles Collett was 10 years old and living in Wigan with his father and stepmother and two of his siblings. No further record of his has been found after that time.

21Q27

Thomas Pilling Collett was born at Wigan on 10^th March 1888, when his birth was registered at Wigan (Ref. 8c 51) during the second quarter of the year. He was the only child from the second marriage of Martin Williams Collett and Elizabeth Pilling, the second of his father’s three wives. Thomas was three years of age in the Wigan census of 1891 and was six years old when his mother died at Wigan, either at the end of 1894 or after the start of 1895. It was later that same year, that his father married widow Frances Pemberton, and she and her four unmarried daughters moved in with Thomas, his sister Gertrude (above), and their father. That situation was confirmed in the Wigan census of 1901 when they were living at School Lane, where Thomas Collett was 13 and still attending school. Thomas was still living with his father and his sister at 23 Frederick Street in Ince-in-Makerfield, Wigan, ten years later in April 1911 when he was 23, and it was there also that his father died six months later.

Following the death of his father on 26^th October 1911, Thomas sailed to a new life in America and it was during 1918 that he became am American citizen. It was on 13^th December that year that he enlisted with the United States Air Force, while he was residing at 2320 Hunter Street in Los Angeles, California. Thomas Pilling Collette, born on 10^th March 1888, was recorded as Private Collette, attached to 147 Spruce Squadron. The only other known fact regarding Thomas, is that Thomas Pilling Collette died at Los Angeles on 28^th May 1964, at the age of 76.

21Q28

Joseph Harris Collett was born at Feock on 7^th November 1869, the eldest of the two known children of Joseph Harris Collett and Emily Gay. His birth was registered at Truro (Ref. 5c 177) during the last quarter of the year. He was one year old at the time of the Feock census in 1871, and was 11 years of age ten years later, when he and his sister Lena (below) were living at Carnon Downs near Feock, with their mother, while their father was already living and working in America, to where the family eventually emigrated. In December 1883 Joseph was still attending Wes Day School in Truro, his school book being held by his present-day family in America. In 2013 the United States Colorado Naturalisation Certificate dated 12^th December 1882 for his father Joseph Harris Collett is proudly displayed on the office wall of his great granddaughter Allyson Nixon nee Collette, and it was from that date that the family name had the E added to the end of their surname.

While it may have been the Colorado Silver Rush which attracted the family to the New World, it was at Lake Charles in Louisiana that the family settled and where Joseph’s father established Collette’s Grocery Store. On 29^th November 1894 Joseph Harris Collette married Ida King, the sixth child of the Reverend Cyrus A King and Frances Ellen Parkins, who was born on 24^th July 1872 at Schuyler in Nebraska. The marriage produced five children for the couple, including a set of twins, and by the end of the century Joseph owned a saw-mill and lumber business near Lake Charles, where all of the children were born. Joseph Harris Collette was only 43 years of age when he died at Edna in Louisiana on 16^th January 1913, just six months prior to the death of his father at Lake Charles. His widow lived a long life, since it was on 20^th October 1956 that Ida Collette nee King passed away at the age of 84. At that time in her life her address was 704 Iris Street in Lake Charles, the timber property having been specifically built for Ida and Joseph Collette.

21R19

Alpha Harris Collette

Born in 1895 at Lake Charles

21R20

Donald Allan Collette twin

Born in 1896 at Lake Charles

21R21

Mabel Edna Collette twin

Born in 1896 at Lake Charles

21R22

Josephine Collette

Born in 1902 at Lake Charles

21R23

Edith Collette

Born in 1907 at Lake Charles

21Q29

Lena Emily Collett was born at Feock in 1873, the younger of the two children of Joseph Harris Collett and Emily Gay. Her birth was registered at Truro (Ref. 5c 176) during the first quarter of the year, after which she was baptised at Feock on 6^th February 1873. Len was eight years of age when recorded with her mother and brother Joseph (above) while the three on them were awaiting a letter from Lena’s father to join him in America.

21Q31

Charles Edward Collett was born in Cornwall on 25^th August 1876, around nine months after his parents, Hannibal Collett, a mason, and Mary Manuel, were married towards the end of the previous year. When his parents travelled to America in May 1878, Charles was not listed with them, perhaps because he was still a babe-in-arms. However, much later in his life and after he had married (1) Lucy Risch in 1904, he completed a Petition for Naturalization in the USA on 25^th August 1914, with the legal paperwork confirming the following information. Firstly, his name, date and place of birth, were stated, when he and Lucy were residing at Sidney, Richland County in Montana, from where Charles’ occupation was that of an attorney.

Next, the petition recorded that he had sailed from Liverpool to New York in 1878, and was an honourably discharged soldier applying for citizenship. His wife Lucy was from St Paul in Minneapolis, with whom he already had two children, who were also born at St Paul. They were William Rich Collett who was born on 4^th January 1907, and Margaret Lynda Collett who was born on 23^rd August 1908, both of them living with Charles and Lucy at Sidney. The form required Charles to denounce any allegiance to George V, King of Great Britain & Ireland. After completing the petition in took until 1^st May 1917 for citizenship to be approved.

The first recording of Charles Edward Collett in an American census, was in 1900 when he was a bachelor aged 24 from England, who was a student boarding with the Rich family at Keowitt Avenue, St Paul City, Ramsey County in Minnesota. On that occasion, his date of birth was recorded in error as 23^rd August 1876. He may have lived with the family for some years, and later used the family’s surname as a forename for his first child. Five years later, Charles E Collett from England was 29 and an attorney who, together with his recently acquired wife Lucie S Collett, was still living at Keowitt Avenue with printer William Rich and his wife Lydia.

According to the City of St Paul census in Ramsey County in 1910, Charles had been married for six years, but was working away from his wife Lucy that day, and was a lawyer employed by a law firm, who was 33 years old and a lodger with the Holley family. At the age of 42, Charles Edward Collett of Sidney, Montana, and born on 25^th August 1876, his First World War Registration Card confirmed he was an American citizen and a lawyer, whose wife was Lucy Risch Collett. The date of registration was 9^th December 1918.

The next census in 1920 for Richland Montana, included all four members of the family. Head of the household Charles E Collett from England was 43 and a County Attorney, his wife Lucy R Collett – amended to Lucie R Collett from Minnesota was 39, and their two children were William Richard Collett who was 13 and also born at Minnesota, as was Margaret L Collett who was 11. Renting a room in the property was Ruth H Humphrey aged 27 who was a teacher at a public school, described as a roomer. The district of Sidney in which the family was living was recorded as Sidney School District 45

It was a similar situation in 1930, with the family home still being within the Sidney School District, but on the day of the census that year, the couple’s two children were absent, although recorded as living there just the same. Charles was 53 and an attorney at law, Lucy was 49, William R Collett was 23, and Margaret L Collett was 21, both still unmarried, and again with no occupation like their mother. The other member of the household was Ethel M Huck who was 41 and a housekeeper, while the property in which they were living was valued at $5,000.

During the following decade, Charles was widowed and, on 30^th November 1939 at Falls Church, Fairfax County in Virginia, Charles Edward Collett, a widower aged 63, married (2) Louella Orange Webb, the 61-year-old unmarried daughter of William West Webb and Eliza Jane Atcheson. Charles was confirmed as born in Cornwall England, an attorney, and the son of Hannibal Collett and Mary Manuel, who was residing at 2818 Rittenhouse in Washington DC. Louella was from Paoli in Indiana and was residing at 3133 Connecticut Avenue in Washington DC. Charles Edward Collett was 80 years of age when he died at Los Angeles in California during the month of March 1957. The death certificate confirmed that he was an attorney at law, and that he was already widowed for a second time in his life. The informant of his passing while at Braewood Sanitorium was his daughter Margaret Bryant, when his last home address was 2194 Dudley Street, Pasadena, Los Angeles.

21R24

William Richard Collett

Born on 04.01.1907 at St Paul, Minneapolis

21R25

Margaret Lynda Collett

Born on 23.08.1908 at St Paul, Minneapolis

21Q32

William Hannibal Collett was born in Kansas City on 19^th January 1884, the second known child of Hannibal Collett and Mary Manuel, both from Feock in Cornwall. He is known to have married Mary Ashley and was just over forty years of age when he died at Minneapolis, Hennepin County in Minnesota, on 2^nd August 1925. The death certificate confirmed that he was the husband of Mrs Mary Collett, the son of Hannibal Collett and Mary Manuel, who had been born in Kansas City.

Five years earlier William H Collett from Kansas and his wife Mary, were recorded in the Hennepin County census in 1920. Their place of residence was 8^th Precinct in Minneapolis City, where William H Collett, of English parents, was 37 and a plumber having his own shop. Mary L Collett from Wisconsin was 36, and living with the couple was William’s mother-in-law and brother-in-law. They were Harriet S Ashley, a widow at 61, and Theodore Ashley who was 21, a clerk working for the government.

The World War One Registration Card for William Hannibal Collett reveals a few more details about his short life. Dated as 9^th December 1918, it described him as tall, slender, with brown eyes, and dark hair, native born on 19^th January 1884, so aged 34, and living at 310 Humbolt North, Minneapolis, Hennepin County. His occupation was a steam fitter (plumber) having his own business, when his nearest relative was Mary Louise Collett, his wife, address as above.

21Q33

Thomas Davey Collett was born at Philleigh in 1858, his birth registered at Truro (Ref. 5c 175) during the second quarter of the year. He was around six months old when he was baptised at Philleigh on 31^st October 1858, the eldest child of Thomas Collett and Ann Morse. It was around the time of his second birthday, that Thomas died, his death recorded at Truro (Ref. 5c 114) during the second quarter of 1860. He was buried at Philleigh on 14^th May 1860, when the parish burial recorded that he and his family were living at Treworthal.

21Q34

Elizabeth Ann Collett was born at Philleigh in 1860, her birth registered at Truro (Ref. 5c 161) during the third quarter of the year. It was at Philleigh parish church that Elizabeth Ann Collett, daughter of Thomas Collett and Ann Morse, was baptised on 2^nd February 1861. Sometime after she was born the family moved from Philleigh, ten miles west, to set up home at St Stithians and just west of St Gluvias. And it was there in 1871 that she was living with her family aged ten years. Ten years later and at the age of 20, Elizabeth A Collett was still living at the family home at 18 Sunny Corner in St Stithians where she was listed as a mother’s helper.

Elizabeth never married and was the only child still living with her parents at Kennall Vale in St Stithians in 1891 when she was thirty. Over the following years her father died, when she and her mother moved to St Gluvias just east of St Stithians and north of Penryn where, in 1901, Elizabeth was 40 and her mother Ann said she was 67. There was only one other Collett living at St Gluvias in 1901 and that was dairymaid Annie Collett aged 17 who was born there in 1883, the eldest child of Elizabeth’s brother William Henry Collett (below). By April 1911, Elizabeth Ann Collett from Philleigh was 50 years old and was residing in the Ponsanooth area just north-west of St Gluvias with her 75-year-old mother Ann Collett from Veryan.

21Q35

William Henry Collett was born at Philleigh in 1862, with his birth registered at Truro (Ref. 5c 165) during the last three months of the year. He was then baptised at Philleigh parish church on 28^th December 1862, the son of Thomas Collett and Ann Morse. He was eight years old in 1871 when he was living with his family at St Stithians. On leaving school he worked as an agricultural labourer, probably with his father, and was still living with his family at Sunny Corner in St Stithians in 1881. Eighteen months later, the banns of marriage for William Henry Collett and Elizabeth Ann Bath, both of the Parish of St Gluvias, were read on each of the first three Sundays of December in 1882. The actual wedding ceremony was conducted at the Church of St Budock in Falmouth on Saturday 23^rd December 1882, when William Henry Collett, son of Thomas Collett, was 20 as was Elizabeth Ann, the daughter of John Bath. The event was recorded at Falmouth (Ref. 5c 314).

The couple’s first child was born and baptised at St Gluvias, before the three of them moved to Mylor Bridge, just north of Penryn, where the next three children were born, although still baptised at St Gluvias. Another family move took place after the census day in 1891, with the last child born at Stithians to the west of St Gluvias. On the day of the census in 1891, the couple and their first four children were recorded at Goonreath in Mylor. William H Collett was 28 and a farm labourer, his wife Elizabeth A Collett was also 28, when the four children were Annie J Collett who was seven, Mary E Collett who was five, Beatrice S Collett who was four, and William C Collett who was two years of age.

By the time of the census of, 1901 the family of six was living at Gwennap, midway between Redruth and Penryn. The census listed William H Collett as aged 38 and born at Philleigh who was working as a domestic gardener and his wife Elizabeth A Collett as 38 and born at St Gluvias. Their daughters were Mary aged 15, and Beatrice aged 13, both of them working as apprentice tailoresses, when the sons were William who was 12, and Thomas who was five. For whatever reason the family, excluding their eldest daughter, left Gwennap during the next decade, when they moved east to Perranarworthal, while the couple’s eldest daughter remained in Gwennap.

The reason for the move may have been a better job opportunity for William, then in his 40s, on the railway, and most likely at nearby Perranwell Station. Just one year prior to the census in 1911, the death of William Henry Collett, aged 47, was recorded at Falmouth register office (Ref. 5c 96) during the second quarter of 1910. The remainder of his family was recorded at Perranwell Station in Perranarworthal in 1911, where his wife widow Elizabeth Collett from St Gluvias was 48 and head of the household, having no occupation, her daughter Beatrice Collett from Mylor who was 23 and a machinist working in a shirt factory, and her two sons William and Thomas Collett. William Collett from Mylor was 22 and a domestic gardener, while Thomas Collett from St Stithians was 15 and a clerk employed by a miller and a merchant. Just under six years later, the death of Elizabeth Ann Collett was recorded at Falmouth register office (Ref. 5c 234) during the first three months of 1917, when she was 56.

21R26

Annie Jane Collett

Born in 1883 at St Gluvias

21R27

Mary Ellen Collett

Born in 1886 at Mylor Bridge

21R28

Beatrice Sarah Collett

Born in 1887 at Mylor Bridge

21R29

William Charles Collett

Born in 1889 at Mylor Bridge

21R30

Thomas J Collett

Born in 1895 at Stithians

21Q36

Mary Collett was born at Philleigh in 1866, her birth registered at Truro (Ref. 5c 178) during the first three months of that year. It was at Philleigh where she was baptised on 10^th June 1866, the youngest child born to Thomas Collett and Ann Morse. She was aged five years in 1871 and was 15 years old in the 1881 Census. On both occasions she was living at 18 Sunny Corner in St Stithians with her family, when her place of birth was confirmed as Philleigh. It was eight years later at the age of 23 that she married James Henry Burley, aged 25, at Perranworthal on 22^nd April 1889. Their wedding was recorded at Falmouth register office (Ref. 5c 269). James was born at Tregony in 1863, the son of agricultural labourer William Burley and his wife Susan A Burley, both of Tregony.

In 1881 James was 17 and was also working as an agricultural labourer while he was still living with his family at Pellean Cross in Perranworthal. He was the second oldest child in the family of seven brothers and three sisters. Sometime during the year after they were married Mary presented James with their first child Cloelinda Burley who was born at Gwennap in 1890. The following year the census of 1891 revealed that Mary aged 25, and Cloelinda Burley who was not yet one year old, were living with the Redruth & Gwennap registration district with James Burley’s sister Elizabeth and was described as ‘living on her own means’.

Her husband James has not been accounted for in the census and it has since been discovered that he had sailed to America. Mary and her daughter were eventually reunited with him in Montana and it was there that their second child was born. He was William Thomas Burley who was born at Montana in 1893. Not long after the birth of their son the family returned to Cornwall. The exact reason for the move has not been established, since there was nothing significant happening in the USA at that time. It therefore seems likely that Mary may have become homesick and wished to return to her native roots.

Once back in Cornwall the couple were blessed with the birth of their third and fourth offspring, they being Ethel Burley who was born in 1895 and James Henry Burley who was born in 1897, both having been born at Gwennap. By the time of the 1901 Census for Gwennap, Mary Burley of Philleigh was 35 and living with her were her four children Cloelinda who was ten, William who was seven, Ethel who was six, and James who was four, but yet again there was no mention of Mary’s husband James Burley.

During the next decade a further two children were added to the family, so by April 1911 the family living at Frogpool in Perranwell was made up of James Burley from Tregony who was 47 and a farmer, his wife Mary Burley from Philleigh who was 45, William Thomas Burley from America who was 17 and a greengrocer, Ethel Burley who was 16 and working in a tape factory, James Henry Burley who was 14 and working on the farm with his father, Frederick Burley who was eight and at school, and Lillie Burley who was four years old. Apart from their eldest son, all of the other children were recorded as having been born at Gwennap. The later death of Mary Burley was recorded in Cornwall (Ref. 5c 141) in 1926, when she was 61. This is the family line of Lynne Sanders who kindly provided the information relating to the children of Mary Collett and her husband James.

21Q37

Robert Davey Collett was born at Illogan although, not long after he was born, his parents moved back to Philleigh where his father had been born and where Robert was baptised on 14^th April 1861, the son of William Henry Collett and Grace Jewell. Further moves saw the family living at Kea south of Truro in 1865 and at the time of the 1871 Census he was 10 years old when he was living with his parents and brother Edward (below) in the town of Truro itself. Sometime after leaving school, he left home to work as an agricultural labourer on the 300-acre farm of Giles Williams at Barn Farm in Ruan Lanihorne just two and a half miles from Philleigh where he was at the time of the 1881 Census. When he was 27 the marriage of Robert Collett married (1) Elizabeth Ann Hancock was recorded at St Columb (Ref. 5c 127) during the third quarter of 1888. Elizabeth was born in 1857 at Warleggan, six miles east of Bodmin, and before the end of the century she had presented Robert with at least three children.

It looks as though the couple initially made their home at Wadebridge near Padstow, where their first child was born, but shortly after 1891, when the three of them were living within the St Columb area of Padstow, they appear to have moved two more times before returning to Wadebridge in the mid-1890s. It was very likely that Robert’s work as a police constable was the reason for so many moves in such short a time. The two locations where they were living in between 1890 and 1901 were St Wenn, west of Bodmin, and St Blazey near St Austell. While living at each village a further child was added to the family.

According to the 1901 Census for Wadebridge, police constable Robert Davey Collett aged 40, stated that he had been born at Illogan. Living with him was his wife Elizabeth who was 43 and from Warleggan, and their three children Stanley Warne Collett who was 11, John Percy Collett who was eight, and Gwendoline May Collett who was three years of age.

During the next few years Elizabeth died, following which Robert Collett married (2) Jemima Bishop, the event recorded at St Columb (Ref. 5c 135) during the first quarter of 1905, the marriage producing a further two children for Robert. By 1911 the family was living in the St Austell registration district of Cornwall. Robert was 50 and was married to Jemima who was 44. Still living with Robert were the three children from his previous marriage, together with the two latest arrivals. Stanley was 21 and born at Wadebridge, John was 19 and was born at St Wenn, Gwendoline who was 13 was born at St Blazey, as was Thomas who was five, and Doris was three and had been after the family moved to St Austell.

The death of Robert D Collett, aged 78, was recorded at Truro register office Ref. 5c 126) during the second quarter of 1939. By that time, Robert had been widowed for a year, with the death of his wife recorded at Truro during 1938 (Ref. 5c 98) when she was 71.

21R31

Stanley Warne Collett

Born in 1889 at Wadebridge

21R32

John Percy Collett

Born in 1892 at St Wenn

21R33

Gwendoline May Collett

Born in 1897 at St Blazey

The following are the two children of Robert Davey Collett by his second wife Jemima Bishop:

21R34

Thomas C Collett

Born in 1905 at St Austell

21R35

Doris Collett

Born in 1907 at St Austell

21Q38

Edward Charles Collett was born at Kea just south of Truro in 1865 and was five years old in the 1871 Census for the Truro & St Clements registration district when he and his brother Robert (above) were the only siblings living there with their parents. At the age of 15, he was employed as an agricultural labourer in the village of Treworthal where he was living with his parents William Henry Collett and Grace Jewell. This photograph of Edward was taken at Sardis in British Columbia on 12^th September 1938, almost exactly three months before the death of his second wife Annie who also featured in the original picture with his son Henry Lake Collett and his grandson Robert David Collett. Picture supplied by Neil Collette in 2013.

Nearly six years later Edward married, the much older, (1) Ann Williams Johns at Portloe near Veryan on 7^th February 1887. Ann was 35 at that time, having been born at Veryan on 3^rd October 1852, compared to Edward who was 21. Ann’s father was Cornish fisherman Peter Blamey Johns, and her mother was Mary Ann Williams Caddy. It is understood by one source, although so far not verified, that Ann Williams Johns was a direct descendent of John T Collett (Ref. 52G1) of Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire and his London born wife Susanna Ferrar – see the Appendix at the end of this section of Part 21.

By 1881 Ann’s mother had died, so at that time in her life, when she was 27, she was living at Portloe where she was acting as housekeeper to her widowed father Peter who was 64. Her wedding at Veryan, six years later to Edward Collett, was followed by the birth of three sons. The first of them was born while Edward and Ann were still living in Veryan, but shortly after the birth the family of three settled in Ladock, seven miles north of Veryan, where the couple’s next two children were born. Tragically, Ann died during the birth of her twin boys who both survived the ordeal, and following which she was buried just after they were born, during the first week of June 1890.

Following the death of their mother, the three boys were taken into the care of their widowed grandmother Grace Collett nee Jewell. However, by the time of the census in April 1891, it was only the oldest son William, who was 12, who was still living with Grace Collett. By that time the twin brothers had been separated and had been placed in the care of two of the brothers of their late mother in Portloe near Veryan, the details for which can be found under their individual entries.

At that same time in 1891, widower Edward Collett aged 25 and from Kea, was working as a general servant and gardener at Oatlands, near Stoke Damerel in Devon. His employer and the owner of that property, was John E Scott, the father of Robert Falcon Scott who, ten years later, was more well-known as Scott of the Antarctic. It was also around that time in 1891 that Edward met and married (2) Ann (Annie) Bowden Gribble. The story within the family is that Edward did not admit to already having three children, which came as a shock to Annie when he brought the eldest boy into the family home. Perhaps he never admitted to having the twins at all, because they remained living with the two separate Johns families of his first wife.

According to the census in 1881, Annie Gribble from Stonehouse in Plymouth was 11 years old and was living in the village of Loddiswell near Kingsbridge in Devon with her family. Her father was Henry Gribble, a labourer from Loddiswell, and her mother was Ann Gribble also of Loddiswell. There was no mention of the name Bowden, although the Cornish records include previous marriages between the Bowden and Gribble families. The marriage of Edward Charles Collett and Annie Bowden produced a further ten children, all of them born within the Plymouth area, although the first three were born at 61 Palmerston Street in Millbridge, their births recorded at Stoke Damerel register office, the remainder at Plymouth register office. In each case of the baptism of the children, Edward’s occupation was always recorded as a coachman. After the birth of those first three children, and following the infant death of the third child, the family left 61 Palmerston Street in the Millbridge area of Plymouth, when their new home was at Mount View Cottage in the Hartley area of north Plymouth, from where the next four children were baptised. The family’s last address in Plymouth was 21 Corporation Road in the Pennycross area of Plymouth, where the last three children were born, with the last two suffering infant deaths.

The Plymouth census conducted at the end of March in 1901, recorded the family at Mount View Cottage in Hartley as Edward Collett aged 35 and a domestic coachman, Annie B Collett who was 31, Edward’s sole surviving son from his first marriage, William Collett who was 12, plus the children born by his second wife, Henry L Collett who was eight, Beatrice Collett who was seven, George Collett who was four, and Annie B Collett who was three years old. However, by that time the couple had lost two children, Alfred George Collett and Elsie May Collett, who had suffered infant deaths.

Just over three years after the death of the couple’s nineth child and one year after the birth of their last child, Edward Charles Collett sailed out of Liverpool on 30^th April 1908 on board the SS Kensington bound for Canada, to seek a new life for his family. And it was while he was there that he received the sad news from England that his youngest child had died during the first few months of 1909. Just after the census day on 2^nd April in 1911, Edward’s eldest son from his second marriage, Henry Lake Collett, also made the journey across the Atlantic Ocean to join his father in Canada.

Following the departure of her husband, Annie continued to live at 21 Corporation Road in Pennycross, Plymouth, with just five of her ten children, together with Edward’s son William from his first marriage. And it was at 21 Corporation Road that they were still living in April 1911 when they were recorded in that year’s census. Annie Collett was 41, her son Henry was listed as Harry Collett aged 18, George was 14, Annie was 13, Winnie was eight, and Alfred was six years old. Her stepson William Henry Collett was 22 and was also living in the Devonport area at that time. The only surviving child not mentioned on the census return was Annie’s eldest daughter Beatrice who would have been 17, and it is now known that she had gone to live with relatives in America, rather than Canada.

It was three years later, on 2^nd May 1914, that Annie Collett and the rest of her young family sailed from Liverpool on board the White Star Dominion Line ship SS Canada to be reunited with her husband, whom she had not seen for six years, and her eldest son Henry who had made the same journey three years earlier. According to the passenger list, those travelling with Ann Bowden Collett aged 44 in steerage third class were her daughters Ann Bowden Collett aged 16 and Winifred Collett who was 11, and her son Alfred Collett who was nine, the ship arriving at Quebec City on 12^th May, with the reason for their journey being “taking them to their father”. Missing from the list was Annie’s son George who had sailed from Bristol to Nov Scotia on 8^th January 1913. The only member of the family to remain in England was William Henry Collett, the only surviving son from the first marriage of Edward Charles Collett.

The Canadian Census of 1916 recorded that the family was once again back together and living in a house in West Calgary, as shown on the right. Head of the household was Edward C Collett aged 50, and with him was his wife Annie who was 46, Harry 23, George 21, Winnie 13, and Alfred who was ten years old. The only absentees were Edward’s and Annie’s two daughters, Beatrice Collett, who was living in America, and Ann Bowden Collett, whose whereabouts at that time have not been determined.

Edward Charles Collett died at Sardis near Chilliwack in British Columbia to the east of Vancouver on 29^th December 1943. And it was also at Sardis that the couple was living five years earlier in 1938 when his wife passed away at the age of 68. The death of Ann Bowden Collett was recorded at Chilliwack as having taken place on 6^th December 1938.

21R36

William Henry Collett

Born in 1889 at Veryan

21R37

Edward Charles Collett twin

Born in 1890 at Ladock

21R38

James Arthur Collett twin

Born in 1890 at Ladock

The following are the children resulting from Edward’s second marriage to Annie Gribble:

21R39

Henry Lake Collett

Born in 1893 at Stoke Damerel

21R40

Beatrice Annie Collett

Born in 1894 at Stoke Damerel

21R41

Alfred George Collett

Born in 1895 at Stoke Damerel

21R42

George Edward Collett

Born in 1896 at Plymouth

21R43

Ann Bowden Collett

Born in 1897 at Plymouth

21R44

Elsie May Collett

Born in 1899 at Plymouth

21R45

Winifred Louisa Collett

Born in 1902 at Plymouth

21R46

Alfred John Collett

Born in 1904 at Plymouth

21R47

Christopher Thomas Collett

Born in 1905 at Plymouth

21R48

Florence Eveline Collett

Born in 1907 at Plymouth

21Q39

Elizabeth Grace Collett was born at Truro in 1868, and was baptised there on 22^nd January 1869, the daughter of William Henry Collett and his wife Grace Jewell. Tragically it was just over seven months later that Elizabeth Grace Collett died on 31^st August 1869.

21Q40

James Henry Collett was born at Truro where he was baptised on 7^th March 1872, the son of William Henry and Grace Collett. He was nine years old in the 1881 Census when he was living with his family in the village of Treworthal in the parish of Philleigh [Filley]. His father William Henry was absent for the census, although his mother Grace was still recorded as being married. However, just two months later his father died and was buried in the churchyard at St Philleigh Church in the village. In 1891 James H Collett was nineteen and had left the family home, but was still living within the Truro & St Just registration district where he was working.

It was on 4^th April 1900, that the marriage of James Henry Collett aged 28 and the son of William Henry Collett, and Elizabeth Jane Buse took place at St Minver, near Padstow, where she was born. By that time in his life James was a constable with the Cornwall police, as confirmed by the census in 1901 when he and Elizabeth were living in Lanteglos to the east of Fowey. James H Collett was 29 and Elizabeth J Collett was 30 and was very likely with-child on the day of the census that year, as the couple’s first child was born shortly thereafter.

Also, not long after they were married couple left Lanteglos when they moved nearer to Elizabeth’s family in Padstow when they settled in Camelford twelve miles to the north-east of Padstow. Over the next ten years Elizabeth presented her husband with five children, the first two of which were born at Camelford. After the birth of their second child, the family of four moved nearer to the coast at Tintagel where the next three children were born and where the larger family was living in April 1911. The census that year confirmed that James Henry Collett from Truro and his wife Elizabeth Jane Collett of St Minver were both 40. The couple’s five children at that time were James Roy Collett who was nine and born at Camelford, Kathleen Collett who was seven and also born at Camelford, Richard Collett who was five, Angelina Collett who was two, and Francis Collett who was one year old, all of them born at Tintagel.

The death of James Henry Collett took place on 29^th February 1952 in St Minver, after which he was buried in the graveyard at the Church of St Menefreda at St Minver Highlands. He was buried in the same grave as his wife, the death of Elizabeth Jane Collett nee Buse having taken place seven years earlier on 8^th February 1945. Also buried there, and named on the single headstone, was their daughter Angelina Collett who was 24 when she died in 1932.

21R49

James Roy Collett

Born in 1902 at Camelford

21R50

Kathleen Collett

Born in 1904 at Camelford

21R51

Richard Collett

Born in 1906 at Tintagel nr Camelford

21R52

Angelina Collett

Born in 1908 at Tintagel nr Camelford

21R53

Francis Thomas Collett

Born in 1910 at Tintagel nr Camelford

21Q41

Albert Collett was born at Truro in 1874 but there is a mystery surrounding his entry in the 1881 Census. In that he was six years old and confirmed as having been born at Truro, but was a visitor at the home of farm labourer William Grose at Lower Rosewin Row in the parish of St Clement in Truro. It would appear that he was still living in that same parish ten years later in 1891, as he was at the time of the census in 1901. By the time of the latter, he was 26 and was employed as a stone sawyer in the suburb of St Clement on the eastern fringe of the city of Truro. During the following years he left Cornwall and made his way to Berkshire and was living in the town of Faringdon when he was 36 and his place of birth was confirmed as Truro. It is not known at this time whether or not he was ever married.

21Q42

Mary Lavinia Collett was born at Truro in 1876 and was four years old in 1881 when living at Treworthal with her family. Thanks to Neil Collette in North America, we now know that Mary Lavinia Collett married Arthur Edwin Hobbs who was born in 1878. In the census return for 1901, Mary and Arthur were living in the City of Gloucester, but had no children on that occasion. Mary L Hobbs was 24 and from Truro, while her husband Arthur E Hobbs was 23 and from Tewkesbury.

Over the next decade Mary presented her husband with five children, the first two being born in Gloucestershire at Brockworth and then Tewkesbury, before the family settled in Hucclecote near Brockworth, where the other three children were born. In 1911 Mary and her family were living at Foxhall in Hucclecote where Arthur Edwin Hobbs aged 33 and from Tewkesbury, was a Prudential Insurance Agent. His wife Mary Lavinia was 34 and from Truro, while their children were as listed below.

Violet Lavinia Hobbs was nine, Gladys Mary Hobbs was seven, Reginald John Hobbs was five, William Arthur Hobbs was two, and Grace Ellen Hobbs was just one month old. It is known that Arthur’s eldest son Reginald John Hobbs left the family as soon as he was old enough, at which time he emigrated to Canada, apparently because of his father’s excessive drinking habit. Many years later, towards the end of the 1940s, Mary Lavinia Hobbs nee Collett sailed to Canada to visit her son Reginald Hobbs of Banff, and his wife Grace Doreen Louise Hobbs nee Collett. It is also known within the family that on more than one occasion Mary Lavinia considered emigrating to Canada herself.

21Q43

John Collett was born at Philleigh in 1878 and was baptised there on 15^th May 1881, the youngest of the seven children of William Henry Collett and his wife Grace Jewell. Prior to that, on 3^rd April 1881, he was listed as being two years old when he was living in the village of Treworthal with his family. Just one month after he was baptised his father died and was buried at St Philleigh Church, in a grave he shared with his own parents, John’s grandparents. By 1891 John was twelve years old and was the only child still living with his mother Grace Collett in the Truro & St Just area.

It was just over seven years later in July 1898 that John enlisted with the Royal Navy, and we are grateful to Sue Collett in Australia who has kindly provided details extracted from his naval records. Curiously within his application form his date of birth was given as 29^th August 1881, over three months after he was baptised. His first few months were spent on the training vessel HMS Northampton which, up until 1894 had been an armoured cruiser, but which was later taken out of service in 1905. Later during 1898 he spent some time on the light cruiser HMS Curacao.

By February 1899 he was on board the training vessel HMS Vivid I and in May that same year he served for a few months on board HMS Cleopatra. After that initial year undergoing his naval training John Collett signed on for twelve years on the 29^th August 1899 and was assigned to HMS Cleopatra as an Ordinary Seaman. Sadly, he contracted Erysipelas, known as St Anthony's fire, and was hospitalised at McKelvie Infectious Hospital in Oban Scotland, where he died on 15^th September 1899.

21Q44

Richard Collett was born at St Just-in-Roseland in 1876, the eldest of three children of James Collett and Mary Ann Dingle. And it was there at four years of age in 1881 that he was living in the village lane with his shoemaker father and the rest of his family. Curiously no record of Richard or his parents or his two siblings (below) has been discovered in 1891. However, with the exception of his mother who died at St Just-in-Roseland in 1892, all of the other members of the family were still living together in 1901. At that time Richard was still a bachelor at 24 and was working as an insurance agent. Ten years later he was still living with his father James and sister Mary Ann (below) at St Just when Richard Collett was 34.

It was just over one month later that Richard Collett married Martha Collins (right) at the Wesleyan Chapel in St Mawes on 5^th May 1911, the marriage being recorded at Truro register office. The chapel register recorded that Richard was 34 and a life assurance agent of St Just Lane in St Just-in-Roseland, and that he was the son of grocer James Collett. Martha was listed as being 31 years old and of Commercial Road in St Mawes, the daughter of grocer George Collins. The witnesses at the ceremony were Martha’s parents George and Lillian Collins. Thanks to Rosemary Ann Evans, nee Collett, the granddaughter of Richard and Martha Collett, we now know that their marriage produced two sons, as listed below, and that Richard was working as a market gardener at some stage in his life, in addition to being an assurance agent.

His father, James Collett of St Just-in-Roseland, died in 1937 five years after Richard had died in a London Hospital from a brain tumour at the age of 56, hence why it was only his younger sister and brother (below) who were named during the probate process for the Will of James Collett. It was Sue Collett in Australia who provided the actual date of the death of Richard Collett who died on 26^th August 1932 at St Pancras in London. Prior to his death, his granddaughter Rose confirms that, Richard had suffered with extremely painful headaches which had been diagnosed as having been caused by overwork, stress and nervous tension. His widow Martha was his beneficiary and his will was proved at Bodmin on 30^th September 1932.

After the death of her husband, Martha Collett became a Methodist Local Preacher and was active in the Roseland Circuit until well into her 80s. Martha Collett nee Collins died on 12^th August 1968.

21R54

Richard Grenville Collett

Born in 1912 at St Just-in-Roseland

21R55

Douglas Percival Collett

Born circa 1914 at St Just-in-Roseland

21Q45

Mary Ann Collett was named after her mother and was born in 1877 at St Just-in-Roseland. By 1901 she was still living there at 23, and was performing the duty of housekeeper for her father James and her two brothers Richard (above) and Benjamin (below), following the death of her mother in 1892. Mary Ann Collett was still a spinster in 1911 when she was 33 and still keeping home for her father James Collett and her brother Richard Collett. Mary was still not married when her father died in 1937 as confirmed by the probate service which named Mary Ann Collett, a spinster, and her brother Benjamin Dingle Collett (below), as the joint executors of his estate.

It was on 24^th January 1961 that Mary Ann Collett, a spinster, died at Falmouth in Cornwall, presumably while she was in hospital there. During the next month her personal effects valued at £354 10 Shillings were the subject of the probate when her sister-in-law Martha Collett (the wife of Richard Collett above), a widow, was named as the sole executor at Bodmin on 17^th February 1961. The notice of probate also confirmed that Mary Ann’s place of residence prior to her death was at St Just Lane in Truro.

21Q46

Benjamin Dingle Collett was born in 1879 at St Just-in-Roseland and was one year old at the time of the census in 1881. His second forename came from his mother’s maiden-name. Following the death of Mary Ann Collett nee Dingle in 1892, Benjamin was still living at St Just with his widowed father James Collett in 1901 at the age of 21. His occupation at that time was that of a contractor’s labourer.

During the next decade Benjamin married Ann Richards, and by April 1911 the couple were living in Philleigh. Benjamin Dingle Collett of St Just was 31, while his wife Ann was 30. The only other known facts about Benjamin at this time are that he was a farm labourer in 1937 when he was named as joint executor of his father’s estate with his sister Mary (above), and that he died in March 1955 and was buried in the churchyard of St Philleigh Church in the Roseland village of Philleigh. It is also known that, eleven years after his death, his wife Annie died in May 1966.

The single headstone that marks their grave has the following inscription “In loving memory of Benjamin Dingle Collett beloved husband of Annie Collett who died March 6^th 1955 aged 75 years. Also of the above Annie Collett who died May 16^th 1966 aged 85 years - Reunited”. At the foot of the headstone are the words “Erected by her brother R J Richards of Mawgan, Helston”. (see Headstone Epitaphs)

21Q47

Elizabeth Grace Collett was born at Treworthal in the parish of Philleigh on 14^th December 1872, the only known daughter of Francis Collett and his wife Elizabeth Richards. It was at Treworthal in the grocer’s shop, managed by her mother, that she was living with her family in 1881 and 1891, when she was eight years old and 18 years of age respectively. Five years later, during the second quarter of 1896, Elizabeth married William Woodward with whom she had three children from which only one survived. At the time of the next census in March 1901 the childless couple was incorrectly recorded under the surname Woodware. Elizabeth and William Woodward were living at 19 Torrs in Countisbury near Lynton & Lynmouth in North Devon, where William was a coastguard.

By April 1911, Elizabeth Grace Woodward was 38, her husband William Woodward was 43, while their son Cyril Woodward was just three years old. The family of three on that occasion was living at the Treworthal home of Elizabeth’s elderly parents, Francis and Elizabeth Collett. It was many years later at Bodmin on 6^th April 1923 that Elizabeth Grace Woodward, wife of William Woodward, was named at the proving of the Will of her father Francis Collett who had died at Treworthal during the previous month on 11^th March.

It should be noted that in 1905 Elizabeth presented William with a second son Francis Woodward, who died shortly after he was born, while six years earlier in 1899 Elizabeth gave birth to a daughter Mildred Irene Woodward who also died that same year. As a tribute to his sister Cyril Woodward later named his two eldest daughters Mildred and Irene Woodward.

21Q48

William Collett was born at Treworthal in the parish of Philleigh on 2^nd December 1874, the only known son of Francis and Elizabeth Collett. He was six years old in the Treworthal census of 1881 and was 16 in the same census in 1891 and, on both occasions, he was living at the grocer’s shop of his parents in Treworthal. It was during the final three months of 1893 at Truro (Ref. 5c 265) that the marriage of William Collett and Elizabeth Ann Hooper was recorded, and within the first quarter of the following year their daughter was born at Treworthal. Although not confirmed as Elizabeth Mary Collett, the birth of Lizzie Collett was recorded at Truro register office (Ref. 5c 135) during the first three months of 1894. Sometime between then and the end of the century William joined the Cornwall constabulary and left Treworthal for St Columb Major, near Newquay.

By the end of March in 1901 he was employed as a second-class police constable, when he was living and working at St Columb Major, with his wife and child. William Collett was 26 and from Philleigh, while his wife Elizabeth was 27 and had been born at Gerrans. It seems likely that his work with the Cornwall police force later resulted in a move for the family, since by April 1911 William and his wife and daughter were living in the Liskeard area of Cornwall. William Collett of Philleigh was 36, his wife Elizabeth Ann Collett was 37, and their daughter Elizabeth Mary Collett was 17.

Two years later P C William Collett was shot in the leg during the China Clay Strike of 1913. At that time there were several small companies running about seventy pits in the mid-Cornwall area, as a result of which there were big differences in workers' pay and conditions. As workers from the various pits compared notes on their weekly pay packet, many grew angry at the variety of wages being paid, leading up to strike. It started after one firm, Carne Stents based in Trewoon in mid-Cornwall, went back on a promise to pay wages fortnightly.

For about three months 5,000 china clay workers stood firm on their calls for a pay increase of five shillings more a week, and for their wages to be paid fortnightly, not once a month. Most of the companies initially refused the calls, leading to a strike which overwhelmed the local police force. The situation came to a head when one of the strike's leaders, Howard Vincent, shot P C William Collett from Lostwithiel in the leg. That incident shocked the strikers, who were already thinking about ending the strike. Although they went back to work without a deal, within weeks the clay firms started to agree to the workers’ demands.

Despite the injury to his leg William Collett lived a long life, his death at the age of 88 years recorded at Liskeard register office (Ref.7a 61) during the final three months of 1963.

21R56

Elizabeth Mary Collett

Born in 1893 at Treworthal

21Q50

James H Collett was born at Phillack in 1872. He was nine years old in 1881 and was living with his family at Bodriggy Street in Phillack, near St Ives. Thereafter it has not been possible to locate James in any later census, and previously he had been confused with James Henry Collett of Philleigh who became a policeman.

21Q51

John R Collett was born at Phillack in 1874, although in the census of 1881 when he and his family were living in Bodriggy Street in Phillack his place of birth, like that of every member of the household was recorded as Phillick. By 1891 his Jane mother had died and he was living with his father and two younger sisters Elizabeth and Bessie (below), when he was 16. During the next ten years it has been assumed that his father John Kitto Collett died since his two sisters were living along together in Phillack in March 1901. John R Collett was also absent from the family home, so there is a possibility that father and son where elsewhere, rather than passed away.

21Q52

Elizabeth Ellen Collett was born in 1877 at Phillack where she was living with her family in 1881 aged three years. At that time her father and blacksmith John Collett and her family was living in Bodriggy Street in Phillack. Ten years later in the 1891 Census she was listed as Ellen Collett aged 13 living with her widowed father and two siblings John (above) and Bessie (below). Following the death of her father during the 1890s, Elizabeth E Collett was still living at Phillack in March 1901 where she was employed as a general domestic servant at the age of 23. It seems highly likely that she was living with, and working with, her sister Bessie who had the same occupation. Rather curiously both girls gave their place of birth as Hayle instead of Phillack. Ten years later Elizabeth Ellen Collett from Hayle was 33 in 1911 when she still unmarried, but by which time she was living in Penzance.

21Q53

Bessie Jane Collett was born in March 1880 at Phillack and was just one month old at the time of the census on 3^rd April 1881 when living with her family at Phillack. In the following census for Phillack in 1891 she was aged ten years and was being looked after by her father and two older siblings John and Ellen (above). Like her sister Elizabeth (above), Bessie was still living at Phillack in 1901 and her occupation was that of a general domestic servant at the age of 20. For the census that year she gave her place of birth as Hayle, as did her sister. Sometime towards the end of the next decade Bessie Jane Collett of Hayle married William Berriman with whom she had a son William John Berriman who was born in 1910, and by April 1911 the family of three was living within the Redruth registration district.

21Q54

William Henry Collett was born at Bristol St Philips in June 1870 and was ten months old at the time of the census of 1871 when he was living with his father James Henry Collett and his mother Hermina. It was just a few months later that his father died, leaving William to be raised by his mother. He attended boarding school in the St Philip parish of Bristol and was ten years old in the census of 1881 when he was at 2 Frederick Street. His mother at that time was running a lodging house at 23 All Saints Road in Clifton, ably assisted by her later husband cousin Grace Collett. On completing his schooling William returned to live with his mother and her cousin Grace, in the Barton Regis district of Bristol. At that time, he was listed as Willie Collett, aged 20.

It was on 2^nd June 1900 that William Henry Collett married Gertrude Katherine (Kate) Bremner at the church of St Andrew-Montpelier in Bristol, when William was described as being 30 and the son of James Henry Collett. By March 1901 the couple was still living in Bristol and according to the census return William H Collett was 30 and a builder’s cashier, while his wife Gertrude K Collett was 28. Living with the couple was William’s mother Hermina Collett who was 61. Just two weeks after the census day in 1901 the couple’s first child was born and she was named after her grandmother Hermina. The birth of Hermina Mary Collett was recorded at Bristol (Ref. 6a 227) during the second quarter of 1901. The couple’s second child was added to the family three years later when Gertrude presented William with another daughter who, it would appear, was named after his mother’s late cousin Grace Collett who had been living with his family for over twenty years.

For whatever reason William’s eldest daughter was not living with the family in 1911. According to the April census that year William Henry Collett from Bristol was 40 and a builder’s cashier when he was living at 50 Claremont Road in Bishopston, Bristol. His wife of ten years Gertrude Kate Collett was 38 and also born at Bristol St Philips, while their daughter Grace was six years old and had been born in the Horfield district of Bristol. Still living with the family was William’s 71-year-old mother Hermina Collett, but on that same day their daughter Hermina was staying with Gertrude’s widowed mother in Bristol. The census return also confirmed that Gertrude had given birth to two children, both of whom were still living in April 1911. Supporting the family in their seven-roomed property was domestic servant Minnie Annie Atkins who was 14 and from Winford in Somerset.

The family eventually settled in Weston-Super-Mare where their daughter Grace was married in 1937, and it was there also that Gertrude and William were living when they both died during the month of March in 1942. Neither of them was reported to be a casualty of the Second World War, so it seems likely their passing was due to natural causes. Their address at that time was of Core Hill on Downside in West Town, Weston-Super-Mare. Gertrude Kate Collett nee Brenner died on 4^th March 1942 and her estate of £420 14 Shillings and 3 Pence was administered by Lloyds Bank. When William Henry Collett died nine days later on 13^th March 1942 probate of his estate amounting to £25,307 1 Shilling and 10 Pence was also granted to Lloyds Bank.

21R57

Hermina Mary Collett

Born in 1901 at Bristol

21R58

Grace Collett

Born in 1904 at Horfield, Bristol

21Q55

Edith Emily Collett was born at Phillack on 16^th July 1867, and it was there also where she was baptised on 6^th September 1867. At the time of the Phillack census of 1871, Edith E Collett was four years old and was living with her parents and two younger siblings, Maud and Willie (below). Not long after the census day that year, the family left Phillack when they moved to nearby Hayle for just a short while, after which the family moved to London, before starting a new life in Australia.

21Q56

Maud Mary Collett was born at Phillack on 10^th October 1868, with her birth registered at Redruth (Ref. 5c 279) during the last three months of that year, after which she was baptised at Phillack on 5^th November 1868, the second child of Peter Collett and Emily Hosking. It was as Maud M Collett aged two years that she was listed with her family at Phillack in the census of 1871. In the following years the family made a temporary move to Hayle, before heading for London, prior to leaving England for Australia.

21Q57

William Hosking Collett was born at Phillack on 29^th September 1870 and it was there that he was baptised on 10^th November 1870, the son of Peter Collett and Emily Hosking. At the time of the Redruth & Phillack census in 1871, Willie H Collett was recorded as being five months old while living at Phillack with his parents and his older sisters Edith and Maud (above). Not long after he was born his family travelled the short distance to Hayle, where his sister Nellie (below) and brother Frank were born. After a few years living at Hayle, William’s parents first took the family to London, before finally emigrating to Australia towards the end of the 1870s, where the family was completed by the birth a William’s last two siblings.

When William was living with his family in Melbourne around 1887 his father mysteriously walked out on the family and was never seen again. Sometime later, perhaps during the following decade, William returned to England and to Cornwall, where he married Hannah White on 11^th May 1897 at Phillack Church. Once married William returned to Australia with his bride, and it was there that they raised their family. Not long after they were married Hannah presented William with a son who was born during 1898, and he was followed two years later by a daughter.

William Hosking Collett died while attending the Mercy Private Hospital in East Melbourne on 27^th April 1945 at the age of 74, and was buried the following day at the Fawkner Memorial Park, in Coburg Cemetery in East Coburg in Victoria. The same grave site, Plot No. 1142, was also used by his wife in 1936, by his married daughter Myrtle in 1934, and by his son Leslie in 1956. Hannah Collett aged 66, was buried at Fawkner Memorial Park in Coburg Cemetery on 15^th February 1936. William Hosking Collett was the great grandfather of Richard William Collett who was born in 1962 and who was living in Melbourne, Australia in 2009/2010.

21R59

Leslie Harold Collett

Born in 1898, Victoria, Australia

21R60

Myrtle Ivy Collett

Born in 1900, Victoria, Australia

21Q58

Nellie Collett was born at Hayle near Phillack on 28^th August 1871 and was baptised there on 18^th October 1871, when her name was recorded as Nelly Collett and her parents were Peter and Emily Collett.

21Q59

Frank Collett was born at Hayle on 22^nd March 1873 and was baptised at nearby Phillack on 15^th December 1873. The baptism record for Frank, like those of his four siblings above, gave their parents’ names as Peter and Emily Collett.

21Q64

Samuel James Collett was born at Philleigh on 7^th May 1861, his birth recorded at Truro (Ref. 5c 183). Two weeks after, he was baptised on 23^rd May 1861 at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in St Mawes, the son of Francis and Catherine Collett. At the time of the Philleigh census in 1871 Samuel was nine years old and was attending the village school. Ten years later, when he was 19, he was still living at Philleigh with his family and was described as a farmer’s son. He later left Cornwall for London where he married Ada who was born at Kennington in 1866. The marriage of Samuel James Collett, aged 39, and Ada Elizabeth Harriet Warmington, who was 28, took place on 14^th January 1901 at the Church of St John the Evangelist in East Dulwich. The marriage register confirmed that the father of the groom was Francis Collett, while Ada’s father was named as Frederick Warmington. It would appear that they did not have any children and by 1901 they were living at Fulham where Samuel J Collett of Philleigh was working as a manager of a clothes shop. His wife was listed as Ada E Collett aged 34.

21Q65

Margery Collett was born at Philleigh around 11^th September 1862, and it was there that she was baptised on 2^nd October 1862. The parish baptism record stated that she was 21 days old. By the time of the Philleigh census in 1871, Margery was eight years old, although she was recorded in error as Margaret. By the time of the next census in 1881, Margery’s mother Catherine Collett nee Collett had died, and her father Francis Collett was married to Rebecca Glanville his cousin, the former Rebecca Collett. However, Margery was absent from the family home on that occasion and her exact whereabouts has not yet been determined. It was five years later that Margery Collett, the daughter of first cousins Francis Collett and Catherine Collett, died on 15^th June 1886 at the age of 23. Three days later on 18^th June 1886 Margery was buried in the churchyard of St Philleigh Church in the village of Philleigh. Four year later Margery was joined by her brother Francis (below) in a shared grave. (see Headstone Epitaphs)

21Q66

Francis Collett was born at Philleigh in 1863 and was seven years old at the time of the Philleigh census of 1871. Ten years later he was working on his father’s thirteen acres smallholding at the age of 17, when he was described as a farmer’s son. During the middle of the following decade Francis’ sister Margery (above) died and four years after her passing, Francis also died.

Francis Collett died on 7^th March 1890 at the age of 26, following which he was buried with his sister Margery (above) in the grounds of St Philleigh Church. A single headstone marks their joint grave, on which they are referred to as beloved daughter of Francis and Catherine Collett, and her beloved brother (see Headstone Epitaphs). The grave and its headstone stands alongside the joint grave and headstone for Margery’s and Francis’ parents, their mother having been buried there in 1873, while their father was not buried there until 1902.

21Q67

Catherine Collett, who was referred to in the national census records as Kate, was born at Philleigh on 30^th November 1865. She was baptised on 29^th January 1866, the event being recorded in the St Mawes Wesleyan Methodist Circuit. She appeared as Catherine in 1871 at Philleigh aged five years, and two years later when she was seven, her mother Catherine died. In the census returns for 1881 and 1891 for Philleigh she was simply referred to as Kate Collett aged 15 and 25 respectively, a farmer’s daughter.

By 1901 she was still not married and was continuing to live with her elderly father Francis Collett and her stepmother Rebecca. She was listed as Katie Collett aged 34, who had been born at Philleigh, where she was still living at that time. Her father died during 1902 at which point in her life it would appear that Catherine went to live with her married brother Edmund (below) at his home in Philleigh. Her stepmother Rebecca went to live with Catherine’s brother Albert (below) at that time in Kenwyn near Truro. In the Philleigh census of 1911 Catherine Collett of Philleigh was 44.

Spinster Catherine Collett died on 8^th August 1952 at the grand old age of 87, and was buried with her stepmother close to other family members in the grounds of St Philleigh Church in the village of Philleigh where she appears to have lived all her life. (see Headstone Epitaphs). It would appear from the headstone that marks the grave, that Catherine had happily accepted her father’s second wife Rebecca, since the single headstone carries an inscription for each of the two ladies.

21Q68

Albert Collett was born at Philleigh on 31^st August 1867 but was baptism on 16^th October 1867 at the Wesleyan Methodist Church in St Mawes. In the Philleigh census of 1871 Albert was three years old, but just two years later his mother died. By 1881 his father had re-married, and in the census that year he was living with his father and his stepmother, who was also his aunt, at the age of 13. Albert was still living at the family home in Philleigh in 1891 at the age of 23, when his occupation was that of an outfitter’s assistant.

Just before the end of the century, Albert was on the Isles of Scilly, where he married Elizabeth Rogers, a Scilly Islander, their wedding recorded there (Ref. 5c 449) during the third quarter of 1899. Eighteen months after that day, the couple was living at Kenwyn, a suburb on the north side of Truro, where Albert was employed as an outfitter and shop keeper. Both he and his wife, who was born on the Isles of Scilly, were 33 years of age. Albert and Elizabeth’s one and only child was born towards the end of 1901. Ten years later, in April 1911, Albert Collett of Philleigh was 43 and a tailor and outfitter, his wife Elizabeth Collett from the Isles of Scilly, and living with them at Kenwyn was their son Albert Edward Collett who was nine years old and Albert’s stepmother, the widow Rebecca Collett who was 70 and from Somerset. Supporting the family was domestic cook Fanny Maria Cocks from Feock who was 39. Albert Collett was 70 when he died in 1938, his death recorded in Cornwall (Ref. 5c 108).

21R61

Albert Edward Collett

Born in 1901 at Truro

21Q69

Edward Peter Collett was born at Philleigh on 4^th December 1868, where he was baptised on 21^st February 1869. Sadly, he would have been around six months old when he died, his death recorded at Truro (Ref. 5c 114) during the second quarter of 1869.

21Q70

Edmund Collett was born at Philleigh on 5^th September 1871, although baptism record has been located for him. What is known is that around the time he was 18 months old, his mother Catherine passed away. During the following years his father Francis Collett remarried, so by 1881 Edmund was nine years old and was living at Philleigh with his father and stepmother, who was also his aunt Rebecca. The school records for Edmund show that he started at Gerrans School on 26^th May 1884, having previously attended Philleigh Parochial School. He only spent just two years at Gerrans School before he left on 11^th June 1886 at the age of 15. It was from the Gerrans School records that his date of birth has been determined. By 1891 Edmund had returned to the family home in Philleigh, where he was recorded as being 19 and a farmer’s son.

In March 1901 Edmund was still a bachelor at 29 and was still living at the family home in Philleigh with his father, farmer Francis Collett, where Edmund was once again described as a farmer’s son. During the following year his father died, and a little while later Edmund married Margaret Jane. It seems unlikely that Edmund and Margaret ever had any children since, by April 1911, they were a childless couple living in Philleigh when both of them were 39 years old. Living with them at that time was Edmund’s older unmarried sister Catherine who was 44. In the churchyard of St Philleigh Church in Philleigh is a gravestone with the inscription “In Loving Memory of Edmund Collett died February 13^th 1941”. Close by is a separate headstone with the inscription “In Loving Memory of Margaret Jane Collett died March 4^th 1942”. (see Headstone Epitaphs)

21Q71

Clara Augusta Collett was born at Gwennap St Day in 1867, the first child of James Collett by his first wife Ellen Cornelius Ripper who died when Clara was around three years old. By the time of the census in 1871 Clara’s father had re-married, when he and his family was residing at White Lane in Philleigh where Clara Augusta Collett was four years of age. Sadly, for Clara, her father died when she was eight years old, after which her stepmother took the family north to Lancashire. The next census in 1881 recorded the family at 91 Breck Road in Everton. Clara A Collett from Gwennap St Day in Cornwall was 14 and had completed her schooling but was not credited with an occupation, so presumably she was helping her confectioner stepmother look after her younger sibling Alice and two half-siblings Florence and James.

During the next decade Clara and her sister Alice made the long journey back to Cornwall and on the day of the census in 1891 the pair of them was recorded as staying with their widowed aunt Caroline R Lloyd at 14 Ford Street in St Austell. Caroline was 48 and a dressmaker who had been born in St Austell who had living with her a sister-in-law, Emma Bickle, who 57 and from Newton Ferrers who was married and living on her own means. Clara A Collett was 24 and from St Day, whose occupation was that of a milliner, while her sister Alice M Collett was 22 and from Truro who had no stated occupation. Both of them were described as the nieces of Caroline Lloyd. Completing the household was another dressmaker and her assistant, plus two domestic servants.

It was just over four years after that when Clara Augusta Collett married William Alexander Coon, the marriage recorded at Plymouth (Ref. 5b 526) during the last three months of 1895. William was a gentleman’s outfitter who had been born in St Austell, and was considerably older than Clara. Although married in Plymouth, the couple settled in St Austell where Clara gave birth to their daughter, and it was in St Austell that the family of three was living in March 1901. The census that year listed them as William A Coon, who 42 and a merchant tailor, his wife Clara A Coon who was 34, and their daughter Madeline M Coon who was two years old.

It was the same situation ten years later when, according to the St Austell census of 1911, William Alexander Coon was 50, Clara Augusta Coon was 39, and Madeline Maud Coon was 12. The stated ages of Madeline’s parents are very curious, since Clara would certainly have been 44, while William would have been 53. William Alexander Coon was born around 1857, the eldest son of mercer and tailor Alexander Coon from St Mewan who ran his business from Church Street in St Austell.

Madeline Maud Coon later married Henry Philip Lawton Higman and as such, she was the sole beneficiary of the Will of her widowed mother following her death in 1938. The death of Clara Augusta Coon nee Collett was recorded at St Austell register office (Ref. 5c 89) during the second quarter of that year when she was 71, with probate of her personal effects valued at £1,117 9 Shillings and 4 Pence granted to Madeline Maud Higman.

21Q73

Archibald Luke Collett was born at Philleigh in January 1872, the first of three children of James Collett and his second wife Cecilia Paul. Tragically he only survived for eleven weeks when he died on 19^th April 1872 and was buried in the ground of St Philleigh Church where a single headstone marks the grave. (see Headstone Epitaphs)

21Q74

Florence Leonora Collett was born at Truro in 1873 where her birth was recorded (Ref. 5c 171) during the first two months of that year. It was also in Truro that she was baptised on 10^th March 1873, the second of the three children of James Collett by his second wife Cecilia Paul. While still very young her father suffered a premature death, following which her mother took Florence, her brother James (below) and two half-siblings north to Lancashire. In 1881 the family of widow Cecilia Collett was living at 91 Breck Road in Everton where Florence L Collett from Truro was eight years of age. She was still living at the same address ten years later when she was 18, although she was not credited with an occupation, so she may have been assisting her mother who was a confectioner. It was during the first quarter of 1900 that the marriage of Florence Leonora Collett and William Heaton was recorded at West Derby register office (Ref. 8b 1049) in Everton during the second quarter of the year.

Whether William Heaton was a member of the army or the royal navy has not been determined but no record of him has been discovered, either in the census of 1901 or 1911. Instead, the childless Leonora Heaton, aged 28 and from Truro, was staying with her mother at Breck Road in Everton in March 1901, and it was the same situation ten years after in 1911 except that her name was incorrectly recorded in the census return as Headon. F Leonora Heaton from Cornwall was 38 and five years earlier she had given birth to a daughter Leonora C Paula Heaton.

21Q75

James Andrew Paul Collett was born at Truro in 1875, his birth recorded there (Ref. 5c 169) during the first quarter of that year, but as James Andrew P Collett. His baptism, as James Austin Paul Collett, was conducted at Truro on 16^th May 1875 when he was confirmed as the son of James Collett and his wife Cecilia. No long after he was born his family died, as a result of which his mother took the family north, where they settled in Everton. It was at 91 Breck Road that the family was residing in 1881 when James A P Collett from was six years of age. He was still living at that address in 1891 at the age of 16, where he had a younger half-brother, the son of his mother and John Luke. Tragically it was at the Liverpool register office (Ref. 8b 78) during the third quarter of 1898 that his death was recorded there at the age of 23 under the name of James Andrew P Collett.

21Q76

Richard Francis Chenoweth Hooker was born at Shoreditch in London on 12^th June 1861. By 1881 he was working as a picture frame maker and was living in the family home at 45 Wenlock Street in Shoreditch. Just over four years later on 11^th July 1885 he married Sarah Eliza Zeall at Shoreditch. During the first ten years of their marriage, they had six children; Richard (1886-1918); Eleanor (see below); Annie (1888-1918); Elsie (1892-1933); Stanley (1893-1893); and Edwin (1894-?). Richard 39 and Sarah 40 were living in Hackney with their children in 1901, where Richard was still employed as a picture frame maker. Sarah, who was born at Shoreditch on 7^th March 1861, died at Hackney on 20^th January 1933. Richard survived as a widower for a further eight years before he passed away on 8^th December 1940 while he was living at Hendon.

21R62

Eleanor Mary Hooker

Born in 1887 at Hackney

21Q77

Lillie G Collett was born at St Mary’s on the Isle of Scilly in 1876, the eldest daughter of Richard James Collett and Elizabeth Ann Jenkins. Lillie was four years old at the time of the census in 1881, when she and her family were living at Well Lane in St Mary’s.

Ten years later she was fourteen and in 1901 she was 24 and unmarried while still living with her parents at St Mary’s. Sometime after that she married Mr Kaye with whom she had two children before the next census in 1911. That census revealed her husband was absent from the family home on the island of Guernsey. Lillie Kaye from the Isle of Scilly was 34 and her two children were Lillie May Kaye who was eight years old, and Irene Kaye who was three years old. Neither of the girls had been born on Guernsey.