PULVERTAFT PAPERS A Newsletter on the Pulvertofts & Pulvertafts Publshed by Rear Admral D.M.Pulverta$ Tucketts, Trusham, Newton Abbot, TQ13 ONR. December 2003 EDTORAL Ths edton of Pulvertaft Papers reports the fndngs of census returns from both sdes of the Atlantc. Each represents a "snapshot" on one partcular day of all the men, women and chldren lvng n the area beng recorded and thus provdes a perspectve of the famly not avalable elsewhere. Whle certan conclusons can be drawn about the movement and dstrbuton of a famly such as ours, the results leave lots of questons unanswered. How s t, for nstance, that the US Federal Census for 1870 ncludes sx Pulvertafts and that of 1880 ncludes seven whle that of 1890 has none? ncomplete ndexng of the last s partly to blame; helped by the fact that, when the young women of the famly get marred durng the ten year nterval, ther maden name dsappears fom the Census. More research and more ndexes n the publc doman wll certanly clarfy the stuaton. Wshng all my readers a Happy Chrstmas. D.M.P.
CENSUS RESULTS FROM THE UNTED STATES Computers and the nternet are openng up the fronters of famly hstory nformaton n a way that would not have seemed possble when Pulvertaft Papers were frst prnted n 1981. The Federal Censuses of the Unted States are good examples; publshed by "Ancestry.comV and accessed va the nternet, There are ndexed censuses at ten-year ntervals from 1790 to 1890 and, even though these must have errors and omssons, they provde an overall vew of the dstrbuton of famles for the perod. There are no Pulvertafts recorded n the censuses from 1790 to 1860 but n the "1870 Unted States Federal Census" sx Pulvertafts are lsted: John [361[Plumber], Anna [23][Keeps House], Anna [4/12], Mary A 1171, John [ 5][Clerk n Telegraph Offce] and Emma [12]. All were lvng n the same house n the Cty of Planfeld, County of Unon, State of New Jersey. John and Anna are sad to have been born n reland whle the chldren were born n New Jersey The 1880 Census lsts seven Pulvertafts - all stll n New Jersey but now n the Cty of Newark, County of Essex. n ths census they are descrbed as: John [53][Plumber], Anne [Wfe - 301 [Keepng House], Annae [Dau - lo][attendng School], John [Son - 24][Shoemaker], Emma pau - 22][Box Maker] and sabella pau - 61. Mary Pulvertaft [24][Servant] s lsted n the household of Edward and Ann Dxon, another rsh famly of Newark. There are dscrepances between the two censuses; for example, John was stated as beng aged 36 n 1870 and 53 n 1880 and hs wfe s named as Anna n 1870 and Anne n 1880. These are smply errors by the person provdng the nformaton or the enumerator n recordng t but the two famles are, undoubtedly, one and the same and, as John and Anne were each born n reland, t can be assumed that they emgrated from there to the Unted States. When ths nformaton s combned wth that publshed n Dec 1983 under "Some Early Amercan Pulvertafts ", the scrap pedgree on t pages 60 results, each ndvdual havng been allocated a unque number n the "U" for Unted States seres. These were not the frst Pulvertafts to have lved n New Jersey as we know that one Robert Pulvertaft marred a Mary Gray n Westfeld n 1774 (PPs Vol 1, p 39), even though they do not appear n subsequent census returns. The fact that, n the 1880 Census, Mary (U24P) s shown as a servant n the Newark house of Edward and Ann Dxon provdes a clue to where John (U210) may have come from. The records of the Cork parsh of St Anne's Shandon show that one John Dxon was the supervsor at the baptsm of John Pulvertaft on 11 June 1826. A John Dxon [aged 781 was lvng wth hs son, Edward, at the tme of the 1880 Census and t would seem probable that he was John Pulvertaft's supervsor and the two famles emgrated together at some date between 1860 and 1867 - John's frst wfe, Brdget, havng ded n 1867 after reachng New Jersey. John Pulvertaft s shown as (C140) n the Early Cork pedgree (PPs Vol 1, p 37) and, as hs brother Thomas (C 130) s also at the head of the "Modern" famly (M01 O), the lnk s farly frmly made between the rsh famly and that of New Jersey. And so to the more modern Census returns. The 1920 Census has no Pulvertaft entres, but that for 1930 has seven: Anna [59] s the 1 only one stll lvng n Newark and s clearly Anna (U27P) of the New Jersey famly. The others are lvng n one household n Brooklyn, E New York: John [36][born n New York], Martha [Wfe - 351, \ Madelne [Dau - 151, Rta [Dau - 121, John [Son - 91 and A John [Brother-n-law- 211 [Born n reland]. Ths group s shown on page 61 and wll be seen to be the frst two generatons of "The Pulvertafts of the Unted States" publshed n 1996 (PPs Vol 3, p 76). Are these two scraps lnked? s John Pulvertaft (U25P) the father of John Pulvertaft (UOQ)? Qute possbly, but ths needs confrmaton before we can formally state the relatonshp between the small famly lvng today n the Unted States and those of the larger "Modern" Pulvertaft famly.
UNTED STATES FEDERAL CENSUSES Brdget Smth (U220) = John Pulvertaft (U210) = Anna Dunn (U230) b. reland <1830> 1 b. reland <1834> 2 (or Anne) d. Newark NJ 1867 or <1827> b. reland < 1847> d. Newark NJ 1890 or <1850> m. Newark 1868 d. Newark 19 19 0 1 MW John Emma Anna (Annae) sabella Pulvertaft Pulvertaf Pulvertaft Pulvertaft Pulvertaft (U24P) (U25P) (U26P) (U27P) (U28P) b.nj 4853~ b.nj <1855> b.nj <1858> b.nj 1870 b.nj <1874> or <1856> John Pulvertaft = Martha.., A John Pulvertaft =... b. NY <1893> (uo 1 Q) b. < 1894> b. reland <1908> (U29Q) (M79R) Madelne Rta John Pulvertaft Pulvertaft Pulvertaft 1 b. <1914> b. <1917> b. < 1920> (U05R) (U04R) (U02R) Dates of brth derved from quoted ages shown <** **>
THE 1901 CENSUS OF ENGLAND AND WALES There was great exctement n 2001 when t was announced that the 1901 Census for England and Wakes was to be accessble on the nternet for the frst tme, allowng famly hstorans and others to have access to the data form the comfort of ther homes - all 32,000,000 entres. There was even more coverage n the meda when the demand was such that the computer systems crashed and had to be " wthdrawn for many months whle they were re-desgned! When the 1901 Census was searched for the - PULVERTOFT surname, no entres were found. Ths was, of course, expected as the search at the General Regster Offce of the ndex of Deaths made n the early 80s revealed three Pulvertoft deaths n the md-19~~ century and one n 1900 that was probably a Pulvertaft (See PPs Vol 1, page 22). The 1901 Census therefore confrms that the PULVERTOFTS had ded out n England and Wales by that date. The pcture for the PULVERTAFT surname was not qute as bleak as eght entres were found. Robert Pulvertaft Th~mePulvertaft Thomas Puvertaft 4 1 34 reland reland reland What s suggested fom the summary table s that there were only two Pulvertaft famles n England and Wales, one n, the other n Devonport. The detaled sheets confrm ths; the followng beng the explanaton. Thomas J Pulvertaft s lsted as the Head of Famly, lvng at 13 Ramsden Road, ; aged 34, havng been born n reland and descrbed as a "Clergyman of the Church of England". Hs wfe s dentfed as Barbara C Pulvertaft, aged 35, born n reland and hs three chldren are Grace E (aged 5), Robert J V (aged 4) and Thomas CB (aged 1) - all three havng been born n reland. Also lvng at the house at the tme of the census was Amos W Pulvertaft, brother of Thomas J, and descrbed as an "Electrcal Engneer Student". All can easly be dentfed n the "Modern" famly tree, and the census smply tells us where Thomas was lvng whle he was the General Secretary of the Spansh and Portuguese Church Ad Socety and that hs younger brother was lvng wth hm whle studyng to become an Electrcal Engneer. The two entres from Devonport are from 19 Admralty Street and are also easy to dentfl, even though the Head of Famly s not ncluded. He wll have been Robert John blvertaft (M21Q), seen wth hs wfe and daughters n PPs Vo13 page 21 and, no doubt, away from home wth the Royal Navy at the tme of the census. Hs wfe, Lousa, s recorded as aged 30 and born n Exeter whle hs daughter, Eleen, was aged 3 and was born n Devonport. Whle the 1901 Census has, therefore, not roduced any surprses, t has confrmed that at the start of the 20 Century, the famly was stll generally lvng n reland. Thomas, the clergyman, and Robert the Naval man were frst cousns and had ten or eleven other male Pulvertafts of that generaton, some of whom would travel abroad n the years ahead. What the census also shows us s that there were no unexpected Pulvertafts who had broken away and were lvng n some forgotten corner of the Kngdom or had descended from some other branch of the famly. t'
NOTES & QUERES Extracts from a booklet: "HMS MADSTONE - Depot Shp of the Frst Submarne Flotlla" "H.M.S. "Madstone" s a Submarne Depot Shp of the 1935 Programme. She was ordered on 10 Aprl, 1936, lad down on 17 August, 1936, launched on 21St October, 1937 and completed on 5" May, 1938." "The shp was bult by Messrs. John Brown & Co., of Clydebank, Glasgow.... lterally n the shadow of the second monster Atlantc Lner, the R.M.S. "Queen Elzabeth", launched n September, 193 8." "The frst Offcer to be apponted was Engneer Commander H. Moy, who had served n Submarnes for many years and had been the Senor Engneer of H.M.S. "Medway". He joned n May, 1937." "n September they were joned by the Senor Engneer, Leutenant- Commander (E) W.G.Pulvertaf, who had come drect from the Frst Submarne Flotlla, where he had been the Senor Engneer of H.M.S. "Cyclops"." "On Wht Sunday,?jth June, the frst chrstenng was held n the shp's chapel, the nfant beng the son of Leutenant-Commander (E) and Mrs Pulvertaft, who had been born n Glasgow on the fnal day of the shp's trals, March. He was the frst of qute a number of babes to be chrstened n the chapel durng the commsson." [By DMP. Herbert Moy was my godfather and, n 1958, presented me hs sword. wore t wth prde durng my servce career.] Obtuary t s wth deep regret that the death s recorded of Marjore Roberta Hoskn (nde Pulvertaf) on 23 Aprl 2003 at the Luton and Dunstable Hosptal. 64.