These bios are for the Jewell ancestors in my line. I only have 3 Jewell ancestors so I combined them all in one post. I was able to research these last weekend while ancestry.com made the UK records available for free for a few days.

My lineage is as follows:

my dad

Earl Ethan Durham – Grace Rose

Charles Henry Derham – Mary Ann Burbridge

Henry Derham – Martha Jewell

Joseph Jewell – Anne Hitchcock

Edward Jewell – Betty Newberry

Martha Jewell

Heather’s 3rd great grandmother

When Martha Jewell was baptised in 1814 in Bickenhall, Somerset County, England, her father, Joseph, was 33, and her mother, Anne, was 33. She married Henry Derham on May 21, 1835, in her hometown. She died on October 11, 1868, in Corunna, Michigan, at the age of 53 or 54, and was buried in Shiawassee, Michigan.

Here is a copy of a baptismal record from Church of England. Her name is at the bottom of the image. She was baptized 2 Oct 1814. Profession is listed as “weaver”…I assume that is her father Joseph’s profession.

The next record I have is also from Church of England, showing that she married Henry Derham 21 May 1835, after marriage banns had been posted for the previous 3 weeks. You can’t see from this image, but the source citation also indicates that this occurred in Bickenhall, Somerset County, England. Assuming she was baptised as a baby, she is about 21 at her marriage. Her husband Henry is at least age 19 based on his baptism age.

Six years later we can see this couple along with their children in the 1841 census. They live in the Parish of Street, which is in Somerset County, England. In the first column “Place”, it’s marked “do” (“ditto”). On the previous page of the census, the place has been marked “Godswell Lane”. (I couldn’t find evidence that Godswell Lane still exists today, though Parish of Street is a large city.) Son William is 2 years old, and son Alfred is 6 months old. They are also living with Ann Leigh and her daughter(?) Louisa, but I don’t know who they are.

It may appear curious that Martha is listed as age 25. This would put her birth year in 1816, which conflicts with the baptism record. However, in 1841, for whatever reason the policy of the census taker was to round ages downward, the the lower multiple of 5. This applied to anyone age 15 and older.

Another thing to note is that the oldest child in the house is reportedly only 2 years old, though Henry and Martha have been married for 6 years at this point. This is unusual, so we might look for a child that had been born earlier but did not survive. A biographical sketch was later written about the family, but it indicated that Martha only had 5 children. It is true that she had 5 children who survived to adulthood, but I believe there was a 6^th child Daniel who was born and died in 1850. Therefore, since the biography left out Daniel, it is possible other children who died young could have been left out as well.

Another interesting this is that Martha Derham appears twice in the 1841 census. In the 2^nd, she is in her father’s household. It looks like I failed to get an image of the 2^nd page, but in the citation we see Alfred is 8 months old, so it would seem like it is 2 months after the previous census was taken. However, supposedly the 1841 census was designed so that it all took place on one day. So of course Alfred could not be both 6 months old and 8 months old on that day. Someone was confused.

Little William is not in the household, and neither is Henry. The census place is Parish of Bickenhall. See Joseph Jewell and wife Ann on the top 2 lines, with Martha Derham on the last line. (Baby Alfred was on the next page.) A simple explanation is that Martha and the baby were just visiting her parents. In 1841, census takers were required to list everyone who was in the house that day, even if they were just visiting as guests.

Based on the biographical sketch, which was published in 1891, we can follow the family. It indicates that Henry Derham immigrated in 1847, but whether Martha came with him at that time, I’m not sure. She had their fifth child, daughter Emma, in 1847, and records indicate that Emma was born in England.

If I knew exactly when Martha came to America, that would help settle whether or not she (and Henry) had criminal records. Somerset County jail records show that in 1848, a Martha Derham, aged 33, served 1 month in prison for larceny. I know there was another Martha Derham in Somerset County at the same time as our Martha Jewell Derham. So which one went to jail in 1848? The story gets more interesting when I tell you there are A LOT of criminal records for a Henry Derham that was Martha’s husband’s age, back when he was in his 20s. Stealing a goose, larceny, that kind of thing. Sometimes he was acquitted and sometimes he served time (like, 1-3 months at a time). And yes I did check if that’s where he was in 1841 during the 2^nd census, but no, that’s not it, at least not that I could find. I also know that Martha's brother, Daniel Jewell, served time in jail for various criminal thefts such as stealing rabbits and cloth.

The biography goes on to say that after Henry stayed in New York for 2 years, he went to Shiawassee County, Michigan in 1849, and identified property he wanted to purchase. It appears the purchase was made in 1850, at which time he built a house. The biography states that the family lived there until 1866, until Mr. Derham moved to Corunna (also in Shiawassee County). Presumably Martha went with him. The biography states that she died in 1868. It also states that she was a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church.

I have not found the family in the 1850 U.S. census. They may be hiding due to all the moving that was going on during that year.

Here they are in the township of Venice, Shiawassee County, in 1860. Venice is near Corunna. Again, Martha reports herself to be the same age as Henry (age 42), but in this case we can not blame weird rules that the census taker had to follow. I wonder if she lies about her age to appear younger.

It’s hard to read, but her headstone inscription says she died 11 Oct 1868 at age 53. She is buried in Wilkinson Cemetery, in Shiawassee County, Michigan.

Here is the biographical sketch of her son, Alfred Derham. I posted the parts that pertained to Martha Jewell Derham.

Joseph Jewell

Heather’s 4^th great grandfather

Joseph Jewell was born in 1781 in Curry Rivel, Somerset, England, the son of Betty and Edward. He married Anne Hitchcock on April 17, 1805, in Bickenhall, Somerset, England. He died in March 1857 in Bickenhall, Somerset, England, having lived a long life of 76 years, and was buried there.

Here is a copy of a baptismal record from Church of England, St. Andrews parish, Curry Rivel, Somerset County, England. His name is at the bottom of the image. He was baptized 23 June 1782. Parents names are Edward and Betty Jewel.

Based on census and burial records later, it’s pretty safe to assume that Joseph was baptised when he was a baby, and so was born in 1782.

The next record we have is the marriage record from 1805, showing his marriage to Ann Hitchcock on 17 April 1805. They were married in Bickenhall, Somerset County, England, in St. Paul’s Church.

We previously saw them in the 1841 census when daughter Martha Jewell Derham was living with them. And here they are in in 1851, no kids at home. Just Joseph and Ann, still in Bickenhall, living on Abby Hill street. (Again, I looked for such a location today, but came up empty-handed.)

A burial index for St. Paul’s Church (same church where he was married) shows that he was buried on 3 March 1857. If he died in 1857, he would have been 75 years old.

Edward Jewell

Heather’s 5th great grandfather

Edward Jewell might have been born in 1757 in Somerset County, England. He married Betty Newberry on September 20, 1779, in his Curry Rivel, Somerset, England. Here is an image of his marriage record. It is from Church of England in Curry Rivel, though I’m not sure which parish.

If he was born in 1757, then he was 22 when he married Betty.

His death date and burial location are unknown, but I do have a record of an Edward Jewell that was born in 1757, buried in Somerset County on 14 February 1837. Edward Jewell, was not an uncommon name, but the approximate age and the location are promising.

I did search the 1841 census for Edward Jewell and came up negative, so it does seem he died before 1841.

After Edward, we have a brick wall for now.