The Three Brothers
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Printed 30/11/17. THE THREE BROTHERS. Introductory Notes. This is a genealogical account of the Broome Fairheads. It must be born in mind that some entries in the church registers are not necessarily correct, in fact some date entries vary when recording the same event and also during the early period the pen was the tool of the very few, some individuals did not even know their own age. The dates given throughout this account are, as far as can be ascertained, birth where the letter 'b' is used, or baptism where ‘bap’ is used and 'abt' means estimated dates where the real figures are unobtainable. Doubtless a number of readers will fault some of the statements made and may be able to give a truer account of the happenings. This can be only part of the full story and any additions will be most welcome. A.E.Fairhead Norwich June 1972 Albert’s original book “The Three Brothers” is set out below. 1 The Three Brothers Printed 30/11/17. 2 The Three Brothers Printed 30/11/17. 3 The Three Brothers Printed 30/11/17. 4 The Three Brothers Printed 30/11/17. 5 The Three Brothers Printed 30/11/17. 6 The Three Brothers Printed 30/11/17. 7 The Three Brothers Printed 30/11/17. 8 The Three Brothers Printed 30/11/17. 9 The Three Brothers Printed 30/11/17. Since the death of Albert (in 1976) material has been gathered by the late Mr. G. T. Fairhead, myself and fellowship members in general and added to Albert's work to give a fuller and more informative story. The subsequent record is compiled from Albert's original book and the new information collected since that time. It should be noted that the generation numbers do not start at one, but carry on from a previous branch, in this case The Parish Clerk, which in turn carried on from the Suffolk Weavers. Where places are described as a ‘District’, this is the Registration District where the event was registered. Civil Registration was introduced in 1837, the Index’s to these entries can now be viewed online, it should be noted that the names and boundaries of many of these Districts have changed over the years. A list of these districts can be found at http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/genuki/reg/districts/index.html Where individuals have “No record” next to their entry there may be an entry in the “Don’t Know” section, but there is not enough evidence to link to the person concerned. ----------- Between individuals denotes different families, --- between individuals denotes the division between step siblings in one family. (Individual I. D. No’s. are in Blue) Additions R.A.Fairhead Basingstoke April 1996 onwards. Email: mailto:[email protected] Web: www.fairhead.org.uk *************************************** 10 The Three Brothers Printed 30/11/17. The Three Brothers. It was in the dark days of 1760, and particularly so for Widow Thomasin Fairhead, with her three infant boys, Samuel barely 7 months, John 1 year and 9 months and William 4 and a half years of age. She was only in her late twenties and had been married five years when misfortune struck with her husband William's death. It was in the early, Empire building days when the Fairhead’s were breaking out of their Empire at Bedingham where they had been since about the year 1550 when as Yeoman Farmers they invaded this village from Essex and North London. Doubtless there was now insufficient land in this Parish for this growing family, so that one followed another to emigrate to the nearby villages. James went to Hedenham; Richard crossed the border to Denton, John moved to Mundham to bring about that farming family and William to Broome. th William (457) and Thomasin (Johnson) (44) were married at Woodton on the 10 February 1755 and moved to Broome th to take over a farm of some 70 acres, where son William (65) was born on the 28 March 1756, followed by John (66) on the 5th January 1759 and Samuel (1010) in April 1760, the year of the move. How William met his end is not recorded, but at this young age the most likely cause is by accident. Thomasin was now faced with a fearful prospect. How was she to carry on with the running of the farm and the bringing up of this young family without her husband? At this period a young woman left alone, with many an undesirable male casting a covetous eye, was alarming. The site of the farm was rather isolated; there was little habitation for almost half a mile, except for the farmhouse and a few cottages with a Brickyard across the fields. Earlier there had been a Hall, on the site of a much earlier Castle, which was surrounded by a village before the Black Death took its toll, but all that remained was the moat that used to be around the Castle, which is now no more than a pond. The landmark of Saint Michael's Church was for all to see situated about a couple of hundred yards southeast of the farm. Today this monument still stands with its great perpendicular style steeple, seen for miles around suggesting that "men may come and men may go but I remain forever"; a few words adopted from the poem "The Brook". Today there is not a house within half a mile. This is the church where the Fairhead's were baptised buried over the centuries. On the 12th April 1762, Thomasin gave up the lonely struggle and married Stephen Weeds, a widower who had lost his wife a few months earlier. Whether this union was the result of love, convenience or fear we will never know. Weeds could have been employed on the farm, but in any event he had now entered into possession as Thomasin’s husband, and the three little boys had a Stepfather. The Weeds children quickly increased the size of the family and before long there were a further four by the name of Weeds. William, John and Samuel, the Fairhead boys, were now growing up. No education was afforded them, and possibly the young "Farrets" as they were known, had to work on the farm at the very early age of eight or ten years. The inability to write brought many complications; they had temporarily lost the name of Fairhead and had no idea what the pen denotes. This was particularly distressing as the Fairhead family of Bedingham were among the few who had education in those days and the church register tells the story of William and Samuel (see The Parish Clerk) holding the office of Parish Clerk for over 100 years at one stretch and other member of this family holding the post for lesser periods. It would appear that almost every marriage at one period at Bedingham; a Fairhead would be sought to add his signature to the document as a witness. We now have a Broome Fairhead family that was educationally minus with the result that these unfortunate defects were to retard the progress of a number of generations yet to follow. Lack of education together with other shortcomings it brings, tends to lower the social standing of the family and invariably when a union takes place, it is usually on this social level, and the offspring are brought up accordingly. This appears to have happened to some extent as a result of this bad start for the Three Brothers. Farmers became farm labourers and as the story evolves one will note what effects these unfortunate circumstances had on generations to come. The brothers all left the Weed family at an early age, first John, and then William, and shortly after Samuel. 11 The Three Brothers Printed 30/11/17. One can ask the question, where they denied the right to their fathers farm, and were they denied the right to some education which they would have had, had he lived. They might have been successful farmers, instead of labourers, had not misfortune struck. These questions cannot be answered, but there must be some reason why this progressive family should have declined in this way. Rumour has it that the Fairhead’s were "done out" of their farm and thus became poor. It is possible that the facts of this case could have been handed down to give seed to this rumour. Like many families this family of Fairhead’s is made up of varying types. Possibly about one third are unique, in as much as they possess certain Fairhead characteristics that are predominate and have been so through the centuries. It would appear that some members of this family display these physical characteristics even though there has been no relative connection over a great number of years. These distinctive marks reappear in spite of new blood being introduced by marriage and is transmitted to certain individuals in greater Strength than in others, in fact some do not appear to possess any at all, while on the other hand, others seem to have it completely. The true Fairhead breed is not always found to be pleasing to many. They are often determined and ambitious and disliked by those who do not hold their views. Recently, I (Albert) have been told that they were "Pig headed", a rather contradictory term for a Fairhead. Possibly the three sons were not of the real Fairhead genus, although their father may have been and as this story evolves one may conclude that at least some of their descendants were of this progressive type.