The 17th century family of George Rownes and Ruth Ricketts
The 17th century family of George Rownes and Ruth Ricketts
The full references for this line is available in My Lineage from the Roots up, vol. 1 (2019, Aliconia Publishing).
George Rownes (or Ronnes, Roanes, Roans, Rounds, Rownds) was born in or around 1855 in Bilston, Staffordshire, England. His parents were apparently John Rownes (b. 1825, Kilkenny, Ireland) and Elizabeth “Eliza” (Collis) Carding Rownes (b. 1823, London, Middlesex, England). I outline what I was able to find about them at the end of this lineage.
George married Ruth Ricketts after the census was taken in 1881, as she still lived with her mother at that time. I posted previously on her parents and siblings.
A Ruth Ricketts is included in the England & Wales Civil Registration Marriage Index for 1884 in Wolverhampton. This could be the actual registration date of her marriage to George. He listed his occupation as a “hemp dresser rope”, which means he operated the machinery to make hemp rope.
The 1891 England Census does not list their oldest son, who was born in 1883. This may indicate that he was adopted after that point or that he was living with relatives (this may be especially true if he was born before they were married).
George and Ruth had at least seven children:
1. William R. born October 1883 in Wolverhampton. There are two possibilities for his life. He may have been a casualty of WWI, as part of the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers, at France and Flanders, July 1, 1916. Another option is a William Rounds who claimed to be born in 1886, married Sarah Martha Preece in 1909, and died in Rowley Regis, Staffordshire, in 1961.
2. Thomas Henry Rownes was born February 12, 1886, in Wolverhampton. Thomas claimed to have entered the country in 1907 and was naturalized some time after 1920. He married (1st) Ruth Irene Hackett March 2, 1914, in Onawa, Iowa. They had five daughters. Thomas married (2nd) Anna M (Hayes) White (1889-1967) June 26, 1928, in Spokane, Washington. They had one daughter. He died October 11, 1956, and is buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Walla Walla, Washington.
3. Frederick born in 1889. He died in 1892 in Wolverhampton.
4. Dorothy Eliza born March 10, 1891 (baptized May 25, 1893, at St. Mark’s, Wolverhampton). She married Frank Peers (~1887-1968) in January 1911 and died in September 1972 in Wolverhampton.
5. Elsie May born April 1896 (baptized June 4, 1896, at St. Mark’s, Wolverhampton). She died after 1911 (an Elsie M Round died in Birmingham, Warwickshire, in September 1962, but whether it is her is unclear).
6. Annie Florence (appears to have gone by Florence Annie later in life) born July 1898 in Wolverhampton. She died July 1990 in Wolverhampton and appears to have never married.
7. John Henry born April 21, 1902, in Wolverhampton. He married Ada Robinson (1903-1986) in 1928 in Walsall, Staffordshire. He died June 1967 in Wolverhampton.
A potential 8th child was Annie Rounds, baptized August 30, 1894, at St. Mark’s in Wolverhampton. George and Ruth are listed as her parents but she does not appear on any of the censuses, and her age is too different from Annie Florence’s for it to be the same child. There is no separate christening record for Annie Florence, but her change in name order later in life (when living with her brother) suggests they were two different daughters, possibly with the one born in 1894 dying before the other was born.
Ancestry’s England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index lists a George Rounds who died in October 1907 in Wolverhampton. Ruth Rownes is listed as a widow on the 1911 census, fitting with this being him. It is assumed that he was buried in Bilston Cemetery in Wolverhampton.
John Rounds married Elizabeth Carding at Most Holy Trinity (Catholic) in Bilston, Staffordshire, England, October 17, 1850.
They had at least six children:
1. Thomas born about 1851 in Bilston. He married Ann Legg (1854-1925) in April 1873. He died December 1927 in Wolverhampton. His children appear to have spelled the surname Rhones.
2. John born about 1852 in Bilston (baptized March 21, 1852, at Most Holy Trinity, Bilston). He married Martha Valentine (1853-1891) in 1876. He died September 1942 in Wolverhampton.
3. George (above).
4. Alfred born 1859 in Bilston (baptized January 8, 1860, at Most Holy Trinity, Bilston). He married Maria Wedge (1858-1886) in 1883. He died November 6, 1884, and is buried in Bilston Cemetery, Wolverhampton.
5. Eliza born about 1862 in Bilston. She married Earnest Anthony Jones (1859-1923) in October 1882 and appears to have died in October 1906.
6. Edward born about 1866 in Bilston. He married Mary Annie May (1866-1940) in 1886. He died June 1937 in Wednesbury, Staffordshire.
Based on his daughter’s marriage certificate, John Rownes died prior to Eliza’s wedding in 1882. He is not found in the 1881 England Census, indicating he likely died before then. The England & Wales Civil Registration Death Index lists an Eliza Roanes who died in January 1885 in Wolverhampton, Staffordshire, where at least some of the family lived at that time. This is likely his widow.
