Titheradge Titheridge Tidridge Tytheridge Genealogy: Joseph Titheradge's family

Tuesday, 8 September 2015

Joseph Titheradge's family - a journey from Portsmouth to Texas

Titheradge / Pundt /Smith and Reylea Graves

Twelve year old Joseph W Titheradge’s grave was found in Old Magnolia Cemetery in Charleston, South Carolina as mentioned in the last blog. The plan of the grave is shown below along with some pictures of the grave.

This is the story of Joseph’s family, tracing the family from Portsmouth, England to America and through the states of Maryland, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, North Carolina and Texas.

1809 Portsmouth England

James Fabian Titheradge was born in Portsmouth in 1809 and was christened in St Mary's Portsea on 8 October 1809. He was one of five children born to James Fabian Titheradge and Mary Heatrell and was the great-grandson of Daniel Titheradge and Rebecca Baker who started the Titheradge line. His middle name Fabian comes from his grandmother Mary Fabian and was a name given to many of the family members. English records, such as censuses, show that his two brothers Henry (born 1808) and Joseph Fabian (born 1824) moved from Portsmouth to London. However, we have found no English records for James Fabian Titheradge after his christening. For many years we wondered what had happened to this individual. Portsmouth is a port and naval base and many individuals in the town have occupations related to the sea and navy, but that line of enquiry also failed to produce any records of James.

1838 Baltimore Maryland

We now know that by 1838 James was a sailor and he had emigrated to America. On 23 April 1838 his marriage was recorded to Julia Ann Campbell in Baltimore, Maryland. The church is in the Fells Point area of Baltimore a few blocks from the docks, where James would have docked. Originally it was unclear that this marriage was James Fabian Titheradge as for some reason in the IGI the name is transcribed as Howard Titheradge. I offer no explanation for this weird transcription error, but the name has been confirmed as James Fabian Titheradge by a relative who has seen the original records.

James’ bride Julia Ann Campbell was born in Baltimore around 1812. She had already been married to Peter Shoman, whom she had married in Baltimore, Maryland on 17 April 1829. We assume that Peter had died some time before 1838. James and Julia had two children, Amelia Jane Titheradge born in 21 August 1843 in Baltimore, Maryland and Joseph W Titheradge born in October 1845. A third child Sarah R Titheradge born in Maryland 1835, is more likely to be the child of Julia and her first husband, since she was born 3 years before the marriage to James and hence is a probably a Shoman not a Titheradge. On the 1840 census James and Julia are living in Baltimore, Maryland listed as James F Titheradge living with two females 20-29 and two children, one aged 5-9 and one under 5. James is marked as “a person employed in the navigation of the ocean”.

1847 Philadelphia Pennsylvania

In 1847 Captain James Fabian Titheradge fell ill while in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He went to the home of his friend of a year Daniel Howell. He died there, at 104 Front Street, on 14 September 1847. Mr Howell sent a letter to Mrs Titheradge (Julia) who at the time was living in Charleston, South Carolina with her cousin Charles Edmonston. Mr Howell told her that, because of their respect for Captain Titheridge, the other ships’ captains flew the ships flags at half-staff. Research has shown that James was a Captain on a schooner called the Alcyona, although he is not always listed as the captain on this vessel. The vessel sailed from Wilmington North Carolina to Philadelphia amongst other routes. (Interestingly Julia’s cousin’s surname, Edmonston, is a name associated with wealth in Charleston in early 1800s but I don’t know if this Charles is part of the same family.)

1850 Charleston South Carolina

Julia was left with three children to care for alone, Sarah aged 12, Amelia aged 3 and Joseph aged 2. By the 1850 census Julia is now Julia Smith living with her third husband William Smith, a mariner, and her three children referred to on the census as Sarah Smith aged 15, Mary Jane aged 7 (presumably poor spelling of Amelia), Jose Wills Smith aged 4 and baby Thomas Smith aged 1. We are yet to find the records of this marriage of Julia to William Smith. In 1851 Julia’s eldest daughter Sarah married John Malcolm Pundt. On 16 December 1852 their first child John William Pundt was born in Charleston. Sadly Sarah died of convulsions just after childbirth, aged just 17 years 11 months old. Her husband John purchased a plot in Magnolia Cemetery, Charleston, South Carolina where she was buried (See Headstone 1 in the diagram below and pictures of the headstone). The inscription on the headstone reads “Sacred in the memory of my wife Sarah R Pundt who departed this life the 18th of December 1852 aged 17”.

It would appear that Julia and her son-in-law kept a close relationship, perhaps she moved in to look after the new baby. By 1854 Julia is living at 23 Concord Street Charleston. Julia’s life went on to suffer further tragedy when on 5 August 1854 Thomas, her son by her third husband, died aged six from accidental drowning. He too is buried in the same plot as his half-sister Sarah at Magnolia cemetery, the plot belonging to John Pundt. Although called Thomas on the census the headstone says William T Smith. The family are next recorded at 4 Haro Alley in Charleston. Julia’s tragedies continued when her other son Joseph W Titheradge contracted typhoid aged 12years 6 months and died on 7 April 1858. He too is buried Magnolia Cemetery sharing a grave and headstone with his half-brother William. (See headstone 2 on the the plan below. The stone is pictured below and the two names on this stone are visible but it is very difficult to read the inscription).

1860 Charleston South Carolina

About 1859 or 1860 Julia’s son-in-law John Malcolm Pundt married her other daughter, 17 year old Amelia Jane Titheradge. Their first child Daniel Pundt was born about this time. The 1860 census shows John and Amelia living in Charleston with John W Pundt aged 8 and Daniel Pundt aged 1. On the same census Julia was also living in Charleston with her husband William Smith and son James E Smith aged 10. More tragedy was in store for the family as Daniel died aged two and was buried on 3 May 1862. He too is buried in the same plot in Magnolia cemetery Charleston. (See headstone 3 in the plan and picture of the grave below). This headstone is inscribed “Our Little Daniel aged 2 years and 8 months” and the foot stone has the initials DP.

1870 Wilmington North Carolina

Between April 1861 and April 1865 the American civil war was fought, a war that started at Fort Sumter in Charleston, South Carolina. Land and sea battles were fought within a few miles of Charleston’s famous waterfront and the homes of Julia and Amelia. The Confederates managed to hold the city until February 1865. There are references to a John Pundt who served in the confederate navy as an engineer on board CSS Sumter and Alabama but it is not known if this is the same John Pundt.

By the 1870 census the family have moved to Wilmington, North Carolina. The census finds Julia living with her daughter Amelia and husband John Pundt. On the census the household are recorded as John M Pundt 37 a locom. engineer, Amelia Pundt 24, John Pundt 17 a sailor, Sarah Pundt 8, Alice Pundt 8months, William Smith 49 a ship rigger, Julia Smith 60 and James Smith 19 an iron moulder.

1880 Travis County Texas

By 1875 Amelia’s husband John Pundt had died and Amelia remarried to Frederick Small in Brenham, Texas on 4 November 1875. The 1880 census shows Julia living with her daughter Amelia and her new husband. The family is now living in Travis County, Texas. The census shows F R Small head of household, aged 38 a farmer from Prussia, Amelia Small 36 his wife, children Alice aged 9 born in South Carolina, Lulu aged 7 born in Texas, Willie aged 4 born in Texas, Fannie aged 2 born in Texas, Julia Smith 68 widowed mother born in Maryland and James Smith aged 28 brother born in South Carolina.

1890 - 1953 The last of the Titheradge name

Julia and daughter Amelia both died in the state of Texas. It is thought Julia died in 1895 but this is not confirmed as I have not found this record. Amelia died 18 December 1890 and is buried in Abilene Cemetery in Abilene Texas. Amelia’s daughter Lula was the last family member to carry the Titheradge name - Lula Titheradge Pundt. Lula never married and is buried in Hollywood Cemetery, Houston, Texas; born 24 November 1872 and died on 8 September 1953. One of Amelia’s other children Sarah Pundt (married name Countryman) died in Houston Texas in 1934. Pictures of all three graves can be seen if you search on “Find a grave” website on the Internet
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi

The grave in Magnolia Cemetery

So in a grave in Magnolia Cemetery Charleston we still have two unknown figures, buried in the grave with the missing headstone (head stone 4in the plan below). They are now known to be John Malcolm Pundt’s sister Ann Jane Relyea who was buried on 18 November 1900 aged 50, born in Charleston died at Sullivan’s island, near Charleston. Sharing the grave is her husband Captain Charles J Relyea who died on 10 October 1920 he was born in Kingston New York and died at 334 King Street, Charleston aged 73 years from acute dilation of the heart. In the civil war there was a ship’s captain in Charleston called Charles J Relyea who captained the confederate ship Planter. The ship was seized by enslaved pilot Roberts Smalls who took the vessel from Charleston and surrendered it to the Union fleet. Captain Relyea was court-marshalled, for going ashore and leaving the vessel in the hands of slaves, however his sentence was commuted, and he served no time in confinement. It is unknown if this is the same Charles J Relyea.

Conclusion

Our research has shown how tough life was for early American settlers with James Fabian dying aged 38 while Julia lost 3 husbands, 3 children at ages 17, 12 and 6 plus a grandchild aged 2.

If there are any of your relatives mentioned in the story please get in touch by email or leave a comment. If you can fill in some more details or supply missing details on any aspect of this story we would love to hear from you.