Lionel Walne: Pauper/Apprentice

In the last blog I introduced Joseph Fulcher, the mole catcher, whose passage to Canada in 1831 was paid for by the Parish of Kettleburgh in Suffolk, England. A second family who were also part of that pauper emigration was that of Lionel Walne. Lionel was 11 years old when his mother died on December 19, 1811 and shortly thereafter. because his father could no longer care for him, Lionel was placed in the workhouse. Above is the entry notation for the day in January 1812 when 11 year old Lionel was committed to the House of Industry. Six months later, on the 19th of July 1812, Lionel left the workhouse to be apprenticed for five years to Mr. Charles Jackson a local farmer who likely was not much better off than his apprentices. Lionel spent several years working for Mr. Jackson, but when he was 17, Lionel was put in jail briefly for beating his master's horse. It is unclear whether this event was the trigger, or whether Lionel's apprenticeship was already complete, but shortly after the incident with the horse, Lionel left the employment of Mr. Jackson. Lionel married Elisabeth Webb in the parish church at Kettleburgh in 1821. It is not surprising, given their background, that neither of them could read or write and had to sign the church register with an X. It was their second child Eliza Ann who married Joseph Fulcher, who raised a large family in Downie Township, and who is Lois' great Grandmother. (Lois' paternal grandmother, Elizabeth Fulcher was the second daughter of Joseph and Eliza.) In 1831 the parish of Kettleburgh, in an act that was both charitable and self-serving, paid for 44 poor people to leave the parish and emigrate to Upper Canada. The Walnes and the Fulchers were part of that group. They settled near one another in Etobicoke Township. Thirteen years later, in 1844, Joseph Fulcher, along with his brother William bought Canada Company land in Downie Township. Joseph Fulcher and Eliza Ann Waun, who had known each other from childhood in Kettleburgh, and who had very likely crossed the Atlantic in the same chartered boat were married in London, Ontario. The picture of Joseph and Eliza, on the right, is unlikely to have been a wedding picture. It was taken by James Wilson, a photographer in St. Marys who does not appear to have been in business in the 1840's when Joseph and Eliza were first married and living in Downie Township. Whatever the occasion, however, the picture-taking was an important event, and this copy has survived for over 150 years as a testament to the tenacity of two pauper families who were part of a massive movement of immigrants to Upper Canada in the 1830's.

Joseph Fulcher : Mole Catcher

Lois' paternal grandmother was Elizabeth Fulcher, the daughter of Joseph Fulcher and Eliza Ann Waun. Joseph Fulcher had arrived in Canada as a teenager from Kettleburgh, a small impoverished parish in Suffolk on the east coast of southern England. The Fulchers would likely have left little trace on the records of that parish if it had not been for the English Poor Laws. The Poor Laws, which dated back to the reign of Elizabeth I established the principle that each parish was responsible for looking after its own poor. Because the money for this came from the landowners and from the parish church, it is easy to understand why residency examination committees were established to rule on which of the poor were legitimate members of the parish and thus deserving support. Joseph Fulcher, the mole catcher, a poor man with a wife and four children appeared before this committee in 1824. Evidently, Joseph had lived outside the parish for several years and needed to establish his rights as a legitimate resident. As can be seen in the document Joseph based his argument on the fact that both he and his parents had been members of Kettleburgh parish. We can presume that Joseph did get some poor relief and remained in the parish because eight years later, the parish paid the costs for Joseph and his family, along with Lionel Waun and family to emigrate to Canada. A total of 44 people came and, as a group settled in Etobicoke outside of Toronto. Years later, in 1845 Joseph married Eliza Ann Waun and together they moved to Downie Township.