Cruses of Kenton

The marriage certificates from the Exeter Marriage Challenge have proved very helpful in sorting out the Kenton Cruse tree from South Devon, and I've been able to pass on copies to Sue Froud who is descended from this line. Sue has a wonderful website where she provides an interesting account of the Kenton Cruses, some of whom later moved to Exeter. Many of the Kenton Cruses were blacksmiths.

The Kenton tree goes back to Samuel Cruse who was born some time between 1753 and 1761 in Broadwoodkelly, Devon. Samuel lived to a great age and was still alive at the time of the 1851 census. He seems to have had difficulty remembering his age, as he declared that he was 80 in the 1841 census but 98 in the 1851 census! Samuel married Mary Discombe in 1782 in Kenton and they had eight children.

Samuel's eldest son, also called Samuel, was the black sheep of the Kenton Cruse family. On 2nd January 1851 he was charged with stealing some hay, a knife and a pick-axe. For some reason he was discharged but was then re-arrested and sentenced to transportation for 10 years. The sentence must have subsequently been commuted as Samuel, age 70, is found in the 1851 census in the Devon County Prison in Exeter.

Exeter marriages

I have received a bumper selection of marriage certificates from fellow Guild member Des Gander following his hard work on the recent Exeter Marriage Challenge. Des searched through all the parish registers at the Devon Record Office in the Exeter Registration District from 1837 to 1911 and was able to extract the full certificate details for the following marriages:

- 1839 Robert Cruse (son of Samuel Cruse) and Sarah Cockwill

- 1842 James Cruse (father's details blank) and Elizabeth Cruse (daughter of Edward Cruse)

- 1849 Anna Maria Cruse (daughter of Robert Cruse) and Thomas Hicks

- 1850 Robert Cruse (son of Robert Cruse) and Martha Conway

- 1855 John Pester Cruse (son of John Cruse) and Fanny Sheppard

- 1869 Daniel Richard Cruse (son of John Cruse) Mary Jane Scanes

- 1872 Catharine Fanny Cruse (daughter of Samuel Cruse) and George Tayler

- 1875 Albert Cruse (son of William Cruse) and Eva Bartlett

- 1875 Joseph Cruse (son of John Cruse) and Grace Snell Mellow

If you are researching any of these families please get in touch.

The execution of Thomas Cruwys

In my research over the last few years I have come across a number of cases of Cruwyses who have been imprisoned for their crimes, often for very trivial offences, such as drunkenness or indebtedness. In my trawl through the digital newspaper collections I have now found a Cruwys who was executed for his crime. The story was first reported in St James's Chronicle or the British Evening Post on 21st February 1778:

COUNTRY NEWS.
Bristol, Feb. 18. Monday last was committed to Newgate, Thomas Cruwys, for forging, counterfeiting, and publishing a Bill of Exchange for 15l. [£15] purporting it to be drawn by Atwood, Paul and Co. of Exeter, payable to the said Thomas Cruwys, and drawn on Sir George Cornwall and Co. Bankers, in London; and with Intent to defraud Mr. Samuel Worrall, of this City.

A brief account of Thomas's execution was reported in Adam's Weekly Courant on 26th May 1778:

COUNTRY NEWS.
Friday was executed at St. Michael's hill Gallows, pursuant to his Sentence, Thomas Cruwys, for Forgery, with intent to defraud Mr. Worrall: - His Behaviour in Newgate and at the Place of Execution, was by no means becoming his unhappy Situation, as he appeared to be entirely indifferent concerning his approaching Fate, and persisted to the last in his Innocence of the Crime for which he suffered.

The sum of £15 in 1778 was probably more than the average labourer would receive in wages for a whole year, but even so the punishment appears very harsh by today's standards. It probably did not help that Thomas Cruwys's accuser, Mr. Samuel Worrall of Bristol, was an attorney and therefore a man of considerable influence.

From the scant detail in the newspaper reports it is difficult to ascertain which Thomas Cruwys was sent to the gallows. I suspect however that it was the Thomas Cruwys who married Mary Trump on 20th May 1755 at St Thomas the Apostle, Exeter. Thomas and Mary had eight children, five of whom died in infancy. Further research is required in the Exeter records to find the answers.

Update 4th June 2015
The following two references to Thomas Cruwys have been found on the Exeter Working Papers in Book History website:

1778. The LAST dying speech and confession of T.Crewys, of Exeter. - [Exeter?] : [s.n.] , 1778. - Plymouth Institution p.32. - The same as the following?

1778. The LIFE, birth, parentage, education, and dying-speech, confession, and behaviour of Thomas Crewys, who was executed on St. Michael's Hill for forgery, on Friday the 15th of May, 1778. - Totnes : [s.n.] , [1778?]. - 1 sheet ; 1/2°. - Davidson supp. p.29 (P, Secktor Lib.).

Louisa Cruwys postscript

Polly was unable to resist following up my comment about Louisa Cruwys possibly inheriting William Pattison's money. She found William's death on Free BMD registered in the September quarter of 1875 in Taunton age 62. While at the Family Records Centre in London yesterday she had a peak at the National Probate Index and found the following:

1875 Nov 15 The Will of William PATTISON late of Taunton in the county of Somerset Gentleman who died 27 Sep 1875 at Taunton was proved at Taunton by Louisa Elizabeth CRUWYS of Taunton spinster the sole Executrix.

William and Louisa lived together at the Castle Hotel for at least fifteen years. We will never know the precise nature of their relationship but I do hope that Louisa had a little romance in her life!

Louisa Cruwys the hotelkeeper

Encouraged by Polly's comments I made another attempt to find Louisa Cruwys, junior, the daughter of Henry Cruwys and Louisa Hartell, in the censuses, this time with much success. I found that in 1851 Louisa was a schoolmistress living in Wilton, Somerset. For once her name was actually spelt and indexed correctly. As it is such a rarity to find the name spelt correctly in the censuses I had been searching for all sorts of complicated permutations but had restricted my searches to Devon and had not thought of looking in Somerset. In both 1861 and 1871 Louisa was a housekeeper working for William Pattison, a hotelkeeper, at the Castle Hotel, North Street, Taunton. Finding Louisa in the 1871 census was a particular challenge and I had almost given up when I finally stumbled across a mysterious "Le Crump" in the indexes, which turned out to be Louisa (her name was written on the census page as Le Cruwys)! By 1881 Louisa was a hotelkeeper in her own right running the Luttrell Arms Hotel in Dunster. She died in December 1882. Intriguingly the National Probate Indexes show that she left a substantial estate valued at over £1,000. William Pattison did not marry so it seems a distinct possibility that he died young and left his business to Louisa, his faithful housekeeper.

See also Louisa Cruwys postscript.

Henry Cruwys and Louisa Hartell of Exeter

As part of the ongoing hunt for Henrys I have been looking at the family of Henry Cruwys and Louisa Hartell. Interestingly, in a reversal of the usual migration pattern, Henry was born in Westminster, London, in 1788, but moved back to Devon and settled in Exeter. Louisa was born about 1788 in Stroudwater, Gloucestershire. Henry and Louisa married in 1822 at St David's, Exeter. They were both "of this parish". Henry signed his name in the register and spelt his surname as Cruwys. Unusually we have only been able to find one child born to this couple – Louisa Elizabeth Cruwys, baptised on 18th May 1823 at St Paul's, Exeter. Henry and Louisa provide a good example of the difficulties we face trying to find the surname Cruwys in the censuses. In 1841 their surname was recorded on the census page as Cruwys but indexed as Crawys. In 1851 the name was recorded as Crewys but indexed as Brewys. In 1861 the name was again recorded as Crewys and was also indexed with the same spelling. Henry and Louisa lived in Exeter for most of their lives but moved to Taunton some time in the 1860s. Their daughter Louisa vanishes after the 1841 census and I have no record of her death or marriage.