Journals of a Time Traveller

This one, on my mother's side.

15th September 1803.  Postwick, Norfolk.




I believe that poor guy, William Key, who's body was found in the river, was my 5th great grandfather, William Key.  It says "drowned himself".  He had married Sarah Wymer in 1778 (a very Norfolk surname, that appears a few times in my tree), and they had four children, one born in 1799.  I wonder what happened?  Non compos mentis.  Insane.  At least that was how they saw it in 1803.

Their descendants never moved far from the River Yare or that tributary, the Wensum.  That river flows through the family history.  Their grown son, William Key (II), had moved down the Yare a few miles, and lived in the village of Freethorpe.  He had married Susanna Flint in 1801.  However, Susanna (née Flint) died shortly after, and a few years later, William, a widower at age 24, stood in nearby Strumpshaw church, where he married would you believe, another Susanna, Susannah Briggs.  These sort of events can so confuse genealogists.  In a short time, he had married two Susannahs.  Easily missed.

By Susannah (née Briggs), he had five children.  Their mother's family must have held some sort of importance to them, as three of them had Briggs as a second forename. Both William, and Susannah's fathers - as most men were in Norfolk, worked as agricultural labourers, farm hands if you like.  As was also indeed, their first son, my 3rd great grandfather, William Key (III).  William the Third, married my 3rd great grandmother, Mary Waters at Freethorpe Church here in Norfolk, in 1823.



They had several children in Freethorpe, including in 1848, my 2nd great grandfather, George Key - and this is where my story is heading.

George married Sarah Ann Goffen at Freethorpe Church in 1870.  Sarah's family were involved in the Wherry trade along the River Yare.  Wherries were a particular Norfolk style of sailing boat, used for tranporting goods and people, along the waterways known as the Norfolk Broads:



Her father and his brothers were either wherrymen / watermen, boat carpenters, riverside innkeepers, or ran lime yards next to the river a couple of miles away at Reedham.  Her father was pretty much all of them, especially an inn keeper, and a carpenter.  Perhaps he introduced his daughter Sarah to George in the boatyard - as young George was a journeyman carpenter.

Here's a photo that includes Sarah - the little old lady right in the centre of my grandparent's wedding in 1932, behind bride and groom:




George and Sarah went on to have five children born at Freethorpe, including my great grandmother Florence Key.  In family lore, I knew nothing about her husband, my 2nd great grandfather George Key.  Then the British Newspaper Archives opened up an insight.  But perhaps it wasn't the best insight into George's character.

It appears that he had a drink problem.  So bad, that he kept being arrested by the local policeman:



Oh dear.  He's only been married to Sarah for eight years.  They have two daughters and a third on the way.  Charged with drunkeness on the highway, and fined 5 shillings with 11 shillings costs.  That must have hurt the family.  Was it a one off?

The following January:



Oh no!  I feel so sorry for my 2nd great grandmother.  Not only was her husband a drunk, but also a wife abuser.  But I'm proud that she had him charged for the "threatening language" that he used against her.  The little woman had guts.  She had three young kids to care for.  George was bound over for six months.  He had to stay good.

Maybe he did stay good for a while.  But not for ever.

1897:



Now he's nicked table cloths from a pub!  He gets a massive three quid fine, and a month's hard labour in prison.  He was on remand.  He hasn't been a good boy.  Poor Sarah.

Finally, 1899:



Twelve previous convictions for being out on the lash!  He never reformed.  He had a drink problem throughout his adult life.  He's now up to recieving punishments of a fine and 14 days of hard labour in the nick.

George passed away in 1912.  In this case, no family lore reached me.  Nothing indicated on the usual birth, death, marriages, certificates, etc.

I've long wondered about some of the ancestors of my great grandmother Flo Curtis, on my mother's side.  She was born at Freethorpe, Norfolk in 1884, as Florence Key.  She is standing in the below photo, on crutches, behind my grandfather who is holding his daughter:

Florence's father, George Key, was a local carpenter of Freethorpe, and her mother was born as Sarah Goffen at the nearby riverside village of Reedham in 1853.  Here is Sarah, standing behind my grandparents wedding in 1932:

Sarah most likely met young George Key through trade links from her late father, Richard Goffen, who is recorded on census as a master carpenter of Reedham.  He was also recorded as an inn keeper or publican at a pub that was called the Brick Kiln at Reedham, close to the river.  Reedham was an important river side parish along the River Yare.  The river connected the medieval City of Norwich to the North Sea via Great Yarmouth. Rich pastures lay to the east of the village on the marshes of the Halvergate Triangle, which with Breydon water, once formed a great sea estuary.  A ferry crossed the strong tidal waters of Reedham.

 © OpenStreetMap contributors.  

Now, I have indeed found the evidence that the Goffens of Reedham were involved with the Wherry trade.  Until the late 18th Century, most cargo and passengers along the Broadland waterways of East Norfolk were carried by the old square mast long boats known as the Norfolk Keel:

Then from the early 18th Century, a newer series of vessel designs started to take over on the lowland waterways of the Norfolk Broads, that featured a high-peaked sail with the mast stepped well forward.  They corresponded with a great age of Norfolk windmills and wind pumps.  The classic Norfolk wherry.

The men that sailed them were often regarded as a particular breed.  They lived on the waterways, in small cabins fitted with a stove.  Moving cargoes and in some cases, passengers, between Norwich and the port of Great Yarmouth.  In 1833, a new canal named the Haddiscoe Cut, was opened up near to Reedham, that also allowed vessels to trade to Lowestoft in Suffolk.  The watermen carried cargoes of coal, timber, lime, chalk, cement, ale, grain, and other goods up and down the waterways of East Norfolk.

My ancestor, Richard Goffen was a riverside carpenter and inn keeper at Reedham, and almost certainly was involved with this trade.  I've suspected that for a while, but now I can see just how deeply his family were involved.  A census records that two of his brothers, Edward Goffen born at Reedham in 1793, and John Goffen born there ten years later were both indeed, watermen, with John specifically recorded as a Wherryman.  Brother Edward Goffen was also an inn keeper at another riverside Reedham pub, the Lord Nelson.  The whole family appear to have been involved with river trade, with a fourth brother, James Goffen born at Reedham in 1806 being recorded as a lime burner and coal merchant.  Without a doubt his coal, chalk, and lime were being transported along the river, possibly by his brothers.  As a family, they appear to have been particularly successful in this trade.  Wherries were being built at Reedham, and I suspect that our ancestor may have been involved as a carpenter in the boat building trade.

All four Goffen brothers were born at Reedham, to Richard and Judith Goffen (nee Shepherd). Richard the senior was most likely born at nearby Strumpshaw in 1731.  I have no record of his occupation, but I wonder if he was also involved in the river trade, that inspired his four sons.

Marriage of Richard Goffen (senior) to Judith Shepherd at Reedham in 1793.  This was his second marriage, after his previous wife Ann (nee Mingay) passed away.

Their son, Richard Goffen (junior) also married twice. I believe that his first wife was one Elizabeth Scarll, who he married at nearby Cantley in 1821.  In 1843, he married our ancestor Elizabeth Nicholls, who then at the age of 21, was no less than 27 years his junior.  This didn't stop them having seven children between then and 1860.  Clearly his trade supported him well at the Brick Kiln inn.

Richard (junior) died in 1861.  Elizabeth went on to marry again, this time to a Matthew Bush of Freethorpe.

That's my family link to the classic icon of the Norfolk Broads.  The Norfolk Wherry.