"The most acute cases of sickness are lodged in two wards (one male and one female), which are called the 'sick wards,' and contain about seventy patients. These wards, though far too crowded, are most creditably managed; they are generally filled with cases so severe in character that they might well occupy the entire attention of one medical man... But the enormous number of cases requiring frequent medical attention in the house make it impossible that the surgeon should do full justice to his duties."
—"The Lancet," report on the Lambeth workhouse, published on 4th November, 1865.

Newspaper Information Newspaper Image Newspaper: The Poor Man's Guardian Subject: Lambeth Workhouse Date: 13 Nov 1847 City: London Hundred: Maidstone County: Kent View image SOURCE INFORMATION: British Library Board; Shelfmark: P.P.1103.

   The Lambeth Union Workhouse, where Robert would spend the bulk of his remaining years, was the center of an 1866 under-cover exposé of its casual ward by journalist James Greenwood in the Pall Mall Gazette. Greenwood's report ('A Night in a Workhouse') contained graphic descriptions of the primitive accommodation: "No language with which I am acquainted is capable of conveying an adequate conception of the spectacle I then encountered. Imagine a space of about 30ft. by 30ft. enclosed on three sides by a dingy whitewashed wall, and roofed with naked tiles which were furred with the damp and filth that reeked within... At one glance my appalled vision took in 30 of them—thirty men and boys stretched upon shallow pallets with but only six inches of comfortable hay between them and the stony floor." It also described a "mutton broth bath" in which inmates were expected to bathe.
   That same year, Lambeth was also featured in The Lancet and the report noted that the almost five-sixths of the inmates required medical care. Around seventy inmates were in the workhouse 'insane wards'. The only paid nursing staff were the the male superintendent of the infirmary (who also acted as dispenser), a female superintendent sick-nurse who also acted as midwife, and male and female superintendents of the "lunatics." They were assisted by seventy-two 'pauper nurses,' who received additional food for their work. No paid staff were on duty at night.
   Documents at the London Metropolitan Archives show that Robert kept entering and leaving the workhouse on his "OR" ("Own Request"), so he may just have used the workhouse as a stopover between jobs. But as he grew older, the stays grew longer and more frequent:

WORKHOUSE ADMISSION AND DISCHARGE RECORDS

Date In Name Age Church Workhouse Occupation Date Out 02 May 1871 Robert Marchant 70 CofE Southwark Lath Render 04 May 1871 24 Sep 1872 Robert Marchant 70 CofE Lambeth N/A 04 Dec 1872 07 Jan 1873 Robert Marchant 70 CofE Lambeth Lath Render 05 May 1873 17 Nov 1873 Robert Marchant 61 CofE Lambeth Labourer 2 Apr 1874 09 Jul 1875 Robert Marchant 72 CofE Southwark Lath Renderer 22 Nov 1875 28 Feb 1876 Robert Marchant 60 CofE Lambeth Lath Render 13 Jun 1877 N/A Robert Marchant 74 CofE Southwark Lath Render 26 Aug 1878 SOURCE: London, England, Workhouse Admission and Discharge Records: Board of Guardians records held by the London Metropolitan Archives, London, England.

Lambeth Renfrew Road Workhouse, circa 1873.

   In 1873, a new Lambeth Workhouse in Renfrew Road replaced the old workhouse in Prince's Street, and was designed for 820 inmates. A contemporary report in The Builder stated: "A system of rigid classification has been carried out....the several classes in each sex are for aged, able-bodied of good character, and two subdivisions of able-bodied of bad character." Robert needed to avoid the latter group, who were fed only weak broth and bread. He was probably in poor health, as age had caught up to him. At Lambeth, he was always signed in by the same person, "Ames," with whom he may have had an arrangement to knock some years off his registered age, in order to avoid being sent to the Infirmary with the people too old and/or feeble.
   Robert Sr.'s brother William may have joined him in the workhouse about this time. According to their descendants, they had been very close, and lived near each other in Deptford (SE London). A "William Marchant, CofE," whose age was given as 71, entered the workhouse on 21 Jul 1873, and was a lath render from 34 Irston Street. (He had either lived hard, or his age was inflated, as he would actually have only been about 60.) A Sarah Marchant (William's wife) died in Greenwich (included Deptford) in 1872, so he may have come to Lambeth to be near his brother. William left the workhouse on 4 Nov 1873, but records show that a William Marchant died in Southwark, Surrey, London, soon after in 1874.
   Robert was back in Southwark workhouse in August of 1878, and then he entered Lambeth sometime around 1880/81. The Lambeth workhouse records from that time are missing, so we don't know exactly when Robert re-entered the workhouse, but he was there for the 1881 census, in the dreaded Infirmary wing.

Personal Information Census Image Name: Robert Marchant Age: 77 Est. Birth Year: 1805 Relationship: Patient Born: Maidstone,  Kent,  England Civil Parish: Lambeth, London, England Address: Workhouse Infirmary Occupation: Lath Render View image View blank 1881 census form Personal Information Census Image Name: William Marchant Age: 62 Est. Birth Year: 1829 Relation: Brother Where Born: Maidstone, Kent, England Civil Parish: Liverpool Ecclesiastical Parish: St Matthias County: Lancashire, England Occupation: Port Watchman View image View blank 1891 census form SOURCE INFORMATION: Census Returns of England and Wales: 1881. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1881. Class: RG11; Piece: 599; Folio: 117; Page: 8; GSU roll: 1341137. 1891: Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1891. Class: RG12; Piece: 2904; Folio: 43; Page: 8; GSU Roll: 6098014

Death Record Image Name: Robert Marchant Birth Year: @ 1805 Registration Year: 1884 Registration Quarter: Jan-Feb-Mar Age at Death: 73 Registration District: Lambeth County: London Volume/Page: 1D, 283 View Death Record SOURCE INFORMATION: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office.

   Robert Marchant Sr., died alone at the Lambeth workhouse in 1884, and there is no record of any family funeral or memorial. So even if he had wanted to see his son William again, he died before he could witness his son's return to England. William wasn't in great health, himself. Bronchitis had robbed him of his ability to play his instrument, so he had to find a new occupation to compliment a small army pension.
   Although fifty years had passed since brothers William and Robert Marchant Jr., had escaped the workhouse—and despite living across the world from each other for most of that time—their bond was still strong. After the death of a wife, son, and daughter, William Marchant Sr., sailed back to England and moved in with his brother on Regent Street in Liverpool. William stayed in the Liverpool workhouse from January to March in 1890, listed as a musician, and he seems to be recovering from a skin condition/infection. (Psoriasis does run in the Marchant line.) In the 1891 census of England, William is living with Robert's family and working for his brother as a port watchman. William must have delighted his nieces and nephews with his tales of military adventure on a far-off continent, and of North American cousins whom they had never met.⁴ But Robert Jr.'s wife Elizabeth Lambert-Marchant passed away in 1891, and at some point after that Robert and daughter Elizabeth (1882-1896) went to live with his other daughter, Mary Marchant-Sarsfield (1869-1954), and her family in Eldon Place, leaving William on his own. It doesn't seem as though either brother ever had a desire to revisit Maidstone, with both parents deceased and no siblings remaining.

Death Certificate Image Name: William Marchant Place: County of Liverpool Date: 16 Dec 1896 Profession: Army Pension View Death Certificate (.PDF) SOURCE INFORMATION: Collection of Paul Harrington.

   William Marchant Sr., died on 16 Dec 1896 in Liverpool, from acute bronchitis. His death certificate (at right) lists him as a widower and an army pensioner, living on Carlton Street, just next to where he'd been living with Robert. It's the address listed on his death certificate, and it looks as if the landlady (who could only make her mark) was present at his death. The one bright spot in this is that although there was no family with him at the time of death, he didn't die a workhouse like his father—although after the Diseases Prevention Act of 1883, workhouse infirmaries did offer treatment to non-paupers as well as inmates. William is buried at the Anfield Cemetery in the Metropolitan Borough of Liverpool, Merseyside, England. He's in Church of England section 13, grave number 587 (as it's a public grave, there is no headstone).

Anfield Cemetery, or the City of Liverpool Cemetery, located in Anfield, a district of Liverpool, Merseyside, England.

Holland

   Back in North America, the next ancestor in our line, WILLIAM HENRY MARCHANT (b. 26 Dec 1850), became a musician like his father—and probably a soldier, as a Private William Marchant was listed in the 26th Regiment, Middlesex Light Infantry in 1880. He married MARTHA HOLLAND (14 May 1852 - 16 Jan 1911), in Bothwell, Ontario, on 26 Oct 1870. They were also members of the Church of England, like William's parents. In the 1871 Ontario census, they are living in Niagara with William's uncle, Samuel Read and his family (Niagara, Niagara, Ontario; Roll: C-9921; Page: 9; Family No: 35). Interestingly, he may have been there for military duty, as Niagara-on-the-Lake was an area under siege when Irish Americans attacked Canada in protest over British rule of their motherland. Being Irish, Martha may have been a little torn. Her parents were CHARLES HOLLAND, according to Ingersoll directories of the time, and MARJERY (or MARJORY) BROWN, who came with her sisters from Ireland (County Caven). Marjory lived to be 94 years old, according to the Marchant Bible, so hopefully, with this long-lived Irish blood now pumping in the Marchant veins, the next generation would do better.
   Then they settled in the township of London, Middlesex to raise a family. The present site of London was occupied for 10,000 years by several Odawa and Ojibwe villages, which were driven out by the Iroquois by 1654 in the Beaver Wars. London was founded by European settlers in 1826. The main activities in the town appeared to have been floods and fires. In 1845, a fire destroyed much of London, with one of the first casualties being the town's only fire engine. The town's only connection with other communities was by road using mainly stages that ran daily, until the arrival of the railway in 1853. By 1870, London had a population of about 18,000 served by three newspapers, churches of all major denominations and offices of all the major banks. Industry included several tanneries, oil refineries and foundries, four flour mills, the Labatt Brewing Company and the Carling brewery. In 1875, London's first iron bridge, the Blackfriars Street Bridge, was constructed, replacing a succession of flood-failed wooden structures that had provided the city's only northern road crossing of the river. The William Marchant Jr. family arrived in London sometime before the 1881 census, with relatives in nearby Woodstock, Bothwell and Ingersoll.
   Unfortunately, their first child, Fredie Thomas Marchant, lived less than a year. But their next child, a daughter named Lillie, was healthy and strong. This is how the family was listed in the 1881 Ontario census:

Name Marital Status Gender Ethnic Origin Age Birthplace Occupation Religion WM. MARCHANT M Male English 30 Ontario Musician Church of England MARTHA MARCHANT M Female English 28 Ontario -- Church of England LILLIE MARCHANT -- Female English 3 Ontario -- Church of England 1881 ONTARIO CENSUS: Ward 3, London, Middlesex, Ontario; Family History Library Film 1375906; NA Film Number C-13270; District 170; Sub-district C; Division 2; Page Number 1; Household #5

Personal Information Image Name: William H. Marchant Locality: London West Province: Ontario Country: Canada Year: 1883 View image SOURCE INFORMATION: Ontario, Canada Voter Lists, 1867-1900: Various Voter Registration Lists from Ontario, 1867-1900, collected by Canadiana.org.

   William appeared on the voters lists in 1877, 1878, 1880, 1881 and 1883 in Londown Township, but around 1884, the Marchant family crossed from Southern Ontario into Port Huron, Michigan, down to Kalamazoo, 290 miles away in the the southwest region of the state. Michigan was a favorite 19th-century destination of Canadians leaving Ontario (about one out of every four Michigan families finds a direct connection to Ontario). But why they ended up in Kalamazoo of all places is lost to time—although there were Marchants already living there. A man named John Marchant was an inventor and had secured several U. S. patents. One being for the "Trim-O-Saw"—a machine used in paper mills and printing offices. He was part owner of the American Tool & Die Co. at Kalamazoo, and married Frances Helen Wilson Marchant. They had the following children: Margaret Marchant (b. 29 Dec 1858) and Frances Helen. Were these Marchants related? Was John a sibling of William Sr.? Heck if I know.

The border of Canada and Michigan in 1850, with St. Clair County, MI, at left (click to enlarge).

CHILDREN OF WILLIAM MARCHANT AND MARTHA HOLLAND

FREDIE THOMAS MARCHANT was born on 10 May 1872, according to the Marchant family bible. He died on 10 Feb 1873, at the age of 10 months.

LILLIAN "LILLIE" MAUD MARCHANT was born on 11 Jan 1878 in Ontario, Canada. She became a music and art teacher in Minnesota and married HENRY NATHANIEL BENSON (1 Aug 1872 - 10 May 1960), who served as a state senator and Attorney General in Minnesota. They had three children: Alice Merle (1908-1986), Margaret Lucille (1909-1993), and Henry (1917-1993), and lived in St. Peter, Nicollet, Minnesota. Lillian died in 1942 and is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Saint Peter, Le Sueur County, Minnesota.

MARJORIE EVELYN MARCHANT was born on 5 Apr 1892 in Kalamazoo, Michigan. She grew up in Macomb County, Michigan, near a boy named CARLISLE HAUSE. When her mother died, she moved to Minnesota with her sister. Carlisle then traveled to Minnesota, proposed, and brought her back to Michigan. Her death from breast cancer in 1939 was so unendurable for Carlisle that he set fire to all of his photographs of her, trying to burn her from his memory. The only images that we have of her today are from in-laws. Burial: Woodmere Cemetery, 9400 W Fort Street, Detroit, Wayne County, Michigan; Telephone: (313) 841-0188

Book Information Book Image Name: Marchant Family Bible Author: Martha Holland Marchant Year: 1880-- Pages: 13 View Bible (.PDF) SOURCE INFORMATION: Benson family.

   William Henry Marchant flourished in Kalamazoo, giving music lessons for both voice and instrument, as well as leading the Comstock, Richland and the Oshtemo bands. He was also the leader of the First M. E. Church choir, and the Kalamazoo Daily Telegraph noted on 24 Jan 1888 that "his deep bass voice held the attention of all present." William even led the YMCA Orchestra, and helped put together a successful six-piece dance orchestra with musician, photographer and merchant Wallace S. White. William and White then created a brass band with members of the YMCA Orchestra and perhaps players from a local Odd Fellows (African American) orchestra.

Professor William Henry Marchant, holding bugle, with band. (Image from the Marchant family Bible, courtesy of Gloria Benson)

Publishing Information Sheet Music Title: I Heard the Voice of Jesus Words by: Rev. H. Bonar Music by: W.H. Marchant Publisher: W.S. White Location: Kalamazoo Instrumentation: Piano and Voice .PDF image (5 MB) SOURCE INFORMATION: The Lester S. Levy Sheet Music Collection: Johns Hopkins Sheridan Libraries an University Museums, Box 141, item 046.

   William also helped organize the Kalamazoo Harmonic Band (Harmonic Brass Band) on 13 Apr 1894. Most of its seventeen members had been associated with other local bands and were well known musicians. They were managed by Frank E. Wilson, a local letter carrier and versitile musician, and directed by William. The outfit (occasionally called the "Harmonica Band," although they were definitely not playing harmonicas) made its debut on 1 Aug 1894, during the annual Emancipation Day parade and celebration in Kalamazoo; later taking center stage for an evening concert at Turn Verein Hall. By November, the band was able to secure new uniforms and showed them off proudly during a year-end concert at the G.A.R. Hall. That same year, William was enlisted as Kalamazoo's Philharmonic Orchestra musical director and librarian, and was listed as playing the corno (horn) in January 1895. He also composed music hymns and marches. ("The new march which White's Band played in the parade Wednesday was composed by Prof. W.H. Marchant"—Kalamazoo Gazette, 23 Aug 1895.) He may have also worked in Detroit, as he placed advertisements for his services in the Detroit Free Press, and his music was played there by bands and church choirs for years after his death.

Ad in the Detroit Free Press on on 16 Oct 1891.

The First M.E. (Methodist) Church. It burned down in 1926.

   In January of 1896, William developed pneumonia. He seemed to recover after about three weeks, but the Kalamazoo Daily Telegraph reported on Monday, 17 Feb 1896 that "W.H. Marchant was taken worse yesterday afternoon and it is thought that he can survive but a short time." The paper also noted that the temperature outside was several degrees below zero, which did not bode well for someone in William's condition. Despite the weather, the newspaper then announced there would be a "Marchant Benefit Concert" on Wednesday, 19 Feb 1896 at the First M.E. (Methodist) church with tickets costing twenty-five cents, calling the event "One of the finest programs ever rendered in Kalamazoo." The benefit featured the Ideal Mandolin Orchestra and Morse Glee Club. It was also one of the Philharmonic Orchestra's final performances. In addition to its established membership, the ensemble featured several additional local musicians who were close friends of William. Rehearsals for the benefit performance were heard in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Buffalo, Cincinnati, Cleveland, and elsewhere, thanks to a newly installed long distance telephone connection. For its portion of the program, the Philharmonic Orchestra performed an overture by François-Adrien Boieldieu, a suite of Strauss waltzes, and closed with a Sousa march (symphony director Chester Z. Bronson had just finished a tour with Sousa's band). On 21 Feb, the Daily Telegraph announced the benefit had garnered $100, and that, "Friends will be pleased to learn that W.H. Marchant is gaining in strength." But the recovery, like William, was short-lived.

White's Military Band of Kalamazoo, early 1890s; Chester Bronson is holding a clarinet, William H Marchant is in the right corner, holding the books (Wallace White collection, Kalamazoo Public Library, KPL catalogue number P-478).

"W. H. Marchant passed away this morning at 9:45 of nervous prostration. He was taken sick about eight weeks ago with pneumonia, from which he suffered about three weeks. He was born in Niagara, Canada, and was about 44 years of age. Mr. Marchant lived for some years in London, Canada, and removed to Kalamazoo in 1885. He was one of the best known musicians in the city, giving lessons both in voice culture and on wind instruments."
—Kalamazoo Daily Telegraph, 9 Mar 1896.

Newspaper Information Article Image Newspaper: Kalamazoo Daily Telegraph Obituary: William Henry Marchant Date: 9 Mar 1896 Page: 2, par. 3 Funeral notice: 11 Mar 1896 Ingersoll Burial Notice: 14 Mar 1896 View Obituary SOURCE INFORMATION: Thanks to Alexander P. Merrill, Library Assistant, Kalamazoo Public Library. Phone: 269-553-7873 (www.kpl.gov).

   After weeks of battling, William Henry Marchant passed away at 9:45 am on 9 Mar 1896, from extreme mental and physical fatigue. A funeral was held at the First M. E. Church in Kalamazoo on the 11th, then William's remains were transported to Ingersoll, Ontario, on the 14th by Martha, accompanied by William's's sister, Sophia Badden, and an in-law of Martha's sister Rebecca named Burt Glover. He is buried at Ingersoll Rural Cemetery in Ingersoll, Oxford County Municipality, Ontario, Canada, along with his mother, brother Robert, and his sister May Marchant Morrey.
   Martha, suddenly alone, was left to care for the family herself, while Marjorie, almost four, had lost a father she hardly knew. If William Sr. was informed in Liverpool of his son's death in America, we have no record of it—but he ended up outliving his last surviving son by six months.

"In 1899 Miss Marchant was called to Saint Peter to take the position of supervisor of music and drawing in the public schools of that city and she was thus engaged, performing a most admirable service in behalf of the youth of St. Peter, until her marriage to Mr. Benson, since which time she has been a most competent and valuable helpmate to him. Both Senator and Mrs. Benson take an active and warm interest in various social and cultural activities of St. Peter and are held in the highest esteem throughout the whole community."
—"History of Nicollet and LeSueur Counties, Minnesota; Their People, Industries and Institutions, Volume II" by Hon. William G. Gresham, Editor-in-Chief.

   Martha and Marjorie moved to Richmond Township, in St. Clair County, Michigan, where Martha found work as a housekeeper. Lillie went into her father's business and taught music and art in Minnesota, at the St. Peter public school in 1899. Lillian was very smart, musical and artistic, like her father, and it took several years for her to meet her creative match and settle down. On 27 Sep 1904, Lillian married a lawyer from Minnesota named Henry Nathaniel Benson (b.1 Aug 1872). They honeymooned in San Francisco (two years before the earthquake), then started a family in Minnesota.
   A Republican, Henry eventually was elected a member of Minnesota state senate, serving from 1910-23; he was then a probate judge in Minnesota, 1928; and after that was appointed the Minnesota state attorney general, from 1929-33. According to daughter-in-law Gloria Benson, Lillian was an activist in women's clubs—literary and music—and national peace organizations, and her Irish wit and sense of humor are still talked about all these years later.
   Meanwhile, Martha Holland-Marchant remained in Michigan. In the 1900 census of Richmond Township in Macomb County, she's listed as a widow and a servant to a day laborer named Manly C. Gilbert, a widower himself, with a ten-year-old daughter, Mabel, and a two-year-old son named Russell. But in another twist, on 06 Nov 1902, Martha married Gilbert, in Memphis, (in the wedding document, named Charles S. Gilbert, born 1842 in Memphis, Macomb county, Michigan. Film number: 2342522; Digital GS number: 4032371; Image number: 387; Reference number: v 3 p 177 rn 3737). It's unknown how Marjorie and her stepfather got along, but the Port Huron Times Herald of 31 Aug 1907 reported that Marjories was leaving for Minnesota to live with her sister for a year. Curiously, Martha and Marjorie are together again in the 1910 census, but living alone:

Personal Information Census Image Name: Martha Marchant Home in 1900: Richmond, Macomb, Michigan Age: 48 Birthplace: Canada Relationship to head-of-house: Servant Marital Status: Widow View image View blank 1900 census form  (PDF 13K) Personal Information Census Image Name: Martha Gilbert Home in 1910: Richmond, Macomb, Michigan Age: 58 Birthplace: Canada Relationship to head-of-house: Head Marital Status: Wife View image View blank 1910 census form  (PDF 13K) SOURCE INFORMATION: Data imaged from National Archives and Records Administration.

Martha Holland Marchant posing with grandchildren Alice and Margaret Benson (photo courtesy of Gloria Benson).

   It was about this time that Marjorie was in high school, and was being courted by an athletic, dry-humored, blonde young man named CARLISLE HAUSE. But in Marjorie's junior year, she moved with her mother to Detroit. This might have ended the romance, but Martha Holland-Marchant passed away there on 16 Jan 1911. The Port Huron Times Herald newspaper, reported in its Memphis section on January 21, 1911: reported: "Word reached here Tuesday that Mrs. Chas. Gilbert who formerly resided here, but has made her home in Detroit since last summer was dead from an injury received in getting off from a street car." Interestingly, her death certificate lists her as a widow, even though Gilbert would live until 1917 (he's buried in the Memphis Cemetery, while Martha is interred at Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit, under the name "Martha Marchant Gilbert").
   Marjorie was forced to move in with her sister's family in Minnesota. But back in Michigan, Carlisle Hause couldn't stand to live without her anymore. He traveled to Minnesota and swept Marjorie off her feet. She returned with him to Macomb County. Here's her bio in the Memphis High yearbook for that year:

Marjorie Marchant in the 1911 Memphis School Yearbook. (Thanks to Ruth Koppinger Suwalkowski of Memphis for the scan.)

Newspaper Article File Image Title: Carlisle and Marjorie Marchant Hause Subject: Wedding Original Publication Date: 1911 View File

   Marjorie married Carlisle that summer, on 16 Aug 1911 at the home of her sister and brother-in-law in Minnesota. At first they boarded in his parents' rooming house in Ypsilanti while he finished school (see them on page 539 of the Polk's 1914 County Directory).
   After Carlisle's graduation, they moved to Detroit, where he taught, while she graduated from the Michigan State Normal College. (It's now known as Michigan State University, it was then a school created to train high school graduates to be teachers. Its purpose was to establish teaching standards or norms, hence its name.)
   Marjorie and Carlisle would prosper, even through the Great Depression, when his tenured salary allowed them to buy a lakehouse upstate in Glennie, Michigan, on Vaughn Lake. They had two children:

CHILDREN OF CARLISLE HAUSE AND MARJORIE MARCHANT

GRETCHEN HAUSE (15 Aug 1912 - 16 Feb. 1985) married Alan Dane "John" Brundage (18 Aug 1912 - 22 May 2008 ) in Detroit in Aug 1939. They had three children: Susan (b. 1940) m. 1) Donald Clifton Emmerling (b. 1942) and 2) Clay Garland Holt (b. 1939); Nancy (b. 23 Sep 1941), m. Jack Karczewski; and James (25 May 1946 - 20 Apr 1999). The family purchased a cabin next to her father's on Vaughn Lake, and Gretchen and the children spent summers there while John worked. She and her family then moved out west, but spent every summer on the lake. She died on 16 Feb 1985 in San Marcos, San Diego Co., California, and her ashes were spread over the Pacific Ocean. Gretchen as a young girl, Posing with her father in 1928; Posing with her mother in 1928; Southeastern High School yearbook photo from 1929, 1932 Michigan State Normal College "Aurora" yearbook; The Brundages with sister-in-law Jeanne Brunner-Hause at Torrey Pines in the 1970s.

CARLETON MARCHANT HAUSE was born in 24 July 1917. He started out working in a Michigan factory for his father-in-law, but ended up teaching in Southern California with his wife, JEANNE BRUNNER. "Bud" loved the water, whether in his youth at the cabin on Vaughn Lake, or raising his kids, Carl Jr. and Marjorie, on the shores of Lake Erie in Gibraltar, MI, or at his retirement home on a tributary to the Colorado River at 85344 Parker, LA Paz, Arizona... or finally the Pacific Ocean, where his ashes were spread in 1983 by his loving wife and children.

   Marjorie was very active in the community, like her father. She sang in the church choir at the massive First Presbyterian Church on 2930 Woodward Avenue (many people seem to have commented on her lovely voice, no doubt inherited from her father). She was also a member of the Women's City Club, located at 2110 Park Avenue in Downtown Detroit. Middle-class wives like Marjorie who were college educated were discouraged or prohibited by but social norms of the time from working after they married and had children. But after Gretchen and Carleton grew older and started families of their own, Marjorie suddenly had time to devote to activities outside the home. The Women's City Club performed charitable activities, promoted the arts, and provided assistance to the poor and immigrants who came to Detroit. The first three floors of the massive building provided meeting spaces for both social events and for planning the activities of members, while the top three floors of the six floor building were residential, for single working women. After generations trapped in workouses on government assistance, the Marchants were a family giving back to their communities.

Newspaper Article File Image Title: Mrs. Carlisle Hause Dies At Her Home In Detroit Subject: Obituary of Marjorie Marchant-Hause Original Publication: October, 1939 View file SOURCE INFORMATION: Port Huron Times-Herald

   Then Marjorie battled a long illness, which was eventually diagnosed as breast cancer. Carlisle later told his grandson, Carleton Jr., that it all started at an accident by the well at the Vaughn Lake cabin, when the crank spun out of her grasp and struck her chest. Whatever caused her poor health, Marjorie finally passed away on 21 Oct 1939, just a few weeks before the birth of her first grandson. Marjorie is buried with her mother in Lot B 255 at the Woodmere Cemetery in Detroit.
   Carlisle was so crazed by her passing that he destroyed almost every photo he had of her. Fortunately, over time, photographs belonging to Carlisle's other family members have been handed down to us, so that we have a few images of her. But still, I never knew my great-grandmother, because she died a month before my father was even born. We heard stories about her from my grandfather, whose middle name was Marchant (as was my father's, and my aunt is named Marjorie, so you get an idea of the reverence that was felt for her in this family). We knew nothing of her parents or siblings, or where they were from. So until recently, we always felt there was a crucial part of our family and our heritage that we knew next to nothing about... until...

The Hause and Benson lines of the Marchant family meet up during the thirties. From left to right: Henry Benson Jr., Unknown (probably Mary Cattermole [28 Feb 1867 - 1 Jul 1941], a cousin through the Brown family, who lived with the Hauses around 1940), Gretchen Hause (in rear), Carlisle Hause, Margaret Benson Weigelt, Marilyl Weigelt, Carleton Hause (in rear), Alice Benson, and the Marchant sisters, Lillian Marchant Benson and Marjorie Marchant Hause.

Lillian (left), Marjorie, and children Henry Benson Jr., Carleton Hause, and Alice Benson.

   ...Our line was saved from obscurity by GLORIA MARTELL BENSON (31 Aug 1929 - 25 May 2016), whose late husband, Judge HENRY N. BENSON JR. was the son of Lillian Marchant Benson, the sister of my great-grandmother. Gloria provided crucial information to explain how the families of the two sisters had lost touch through the generations: Lillian had died in St. Peter, Minnesota, just a few years after Marjorie Marchant Hause on 12 Aug 1942. She had suffered from diabetes and a heart condition. Her husband Henry Benson Sr. became very ill upon Lillian's death, and her funeral was held in their home so that he could listen to the service from upstairs.
   On 25 Oct 1952, their 36-year-old son, Henry Benson Jr., married 23-year-old Gloria Martell (her maiden name was created when her father, born in Minnesota to Swedish immigrants, changed his name from Pierson to Martell while he was in the seminary). They had four children: Julie Elizabeth, Melanie Marchant, Todd Henry Winfield, and Craig Peter—their family owns the Marchant Family Bible and photo albums that hold most of the information and images of the Marchant family in North America that appear on this page.

CHILDREN OF LILLIAN MARCHANT AND HENRY N. BENSON, JR.

ALICE MERLE BENSON was born on 31 Jan 1907 in St Peter, Nicollet, Minnesota. In the 1940 U.S. Federal Census she is a single proofreader working at the Department of Motor Vehicles. She died on 9 Nov 1986 in Spicer, Kandiyohi, Minnesota. She is buried at Woodlawn Cemetery in Saint Peter, Le Sueur County, Minnesota.

MARGARET LUCILE BENSON was born on 4 Nov 1908 in St. Peter City, Nicollet, Minnesota, and baptized on 17 Jan 1909 in St Peter, Nicollet, Minnesota. She married Walter William Weigelt (27 Dec 1906 - 13 Nov 1966) and they had the following children: Mary Lillian (de los Santos) (b. 1935), John Walter (b. 1946) and William Henry Weigelt (1948-2016). Margaret died on 8 Dec 1993 in Thief River Falls, Pennington, Minnesota and is buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Thief River Falls, Pennington County, Minnesota.

HENRY NATHANIEL BENSON, JR. was born on 4 Jun 1916 in St. Peter City, Nicollet, Minnesota. On 25 Oct 1952 he married Gloria Elizabeth Martell (31 Aug 1929 - 25 May 2016) and they had the following children: Julie Elizabeth (Italiano) (b. 1953), Melanie Marchant (b. 1955), Todd Henry Winfield (b. 1957) and Craig Peter Benson (b. 1960). Henry Jr. died on 30 Nov 1993 in Spicer, Kandiyohi, Minnesota, and is buried at the Resurrection Cemetery in Saint Peter, Nicollet County, Minnesota, Section D, Row 2, Lot 133, Grave 9.

   While tracing their roots with genealogist Mark Folkestad, Gloria somewhat miraculously located an earlier, practically empty version of this web page online (just basically a name and a photo or two—all that had been handed down to us), and out of the kindness of her heart contacted our family. So now, the mysterious Marjorie Marchant has a past, and so does my family—and we owe it all to Gloria and our new (to us) cousins.
   But... amazingly... the story was not over...

L-R: Gloria Benson; Gloria Benson, Craig Benson, and Julie Italiano; Becca Benson, Todd Benson, Rush Benson, Melanie Benson, Brittany Benson, and Gloria Benson.

The Benson clan at the funeral of the late, great Gloria Martell Benson in 2016. TOP ROW, L-R: Brittany Benson, Craig Benson, Julie Italiano, Todd Benson, Becca Benson, Peter Yager, Maria Benson; BOTTOM ROW, L-R: Mark Nelson, Melanie Marchant Benson, Rush Benson, Nikko Benson, Ian Cook, Anna Marie Italiano, Dominick Italiano. RIP, Gloria, and THANK YOU forever!

"I'm looking for a William Marchant (b. 1828), a great great uncle missing from England from 1841 until the 1891 census when he is living with his brother. He's a widower and his death certificate (December 16 1896) quotes his occupation as an army pensioner... As children we loved to see and hold a silver bugle/cornet in a display cabinet but it disappeared after [my grandmother's] death in 1959."
—Message from my newly-found cousin, Paul Harrington.

The (then) shadowy figure of William Marchant.

   With the help of Gloria and Mark, this webpage had some Marchant names and photos from the family Bible, and a simple story about a British transplant to Canada named William Marchant, who was called a bandmaster in the Canadian census.
   Meanwhile, on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, yet another long-lost cousin named PAUL HARRINGTON and his first-cousins JULIE CALLANAN and MICHAEL HEALY were researching their Marchant ancestors in Liverpool, Merseyside, England. (This is the point where you start playing the 1965 hit, Ferry Cross The Mersey by Gerry & the Pacemakers). They had started by using Mike's genealogical work with cousins JOE BRIERLEY (sadly now deceased) and JIM McNALLY (also sadly deceased), who had made important family discoveries in the dark days before the internet and online searching. Paul had started a blog site on AOL for first cousins to share memories of the Sarsfield family, while Julie had been researching the Marchants. Paul, Julie and Mike then teamed up to research their common ancestor, ROBERT MARCHANT, JR.
   In researching Robert Marchant Jr.'s family, Paul, Julie and Michael were tracing his brother, not coincidentally named William Marchant, who joined the military and traveled to Canada during the 1840's. This William eventually came back to England as a widower (not coincidentally the same time that I lost track of my ancestor in Canada), and he was probably the source of a family mystery: he had been a musician in the army, and the cousins all remembered a bugle that had been handed down through the generations in the family. After doing much research, Paul and his cousins found my website and concluded that their ancestor Robert Jr.'s brother was my 3xGreat-Grandfather, WILLIAM MARCHANT SR.⁹ Paul then contacted me and was able to fill in the Dickensian history of the brothers and several generations of ancestors beyond them.
   So, here is the family of my newly-discovered 4th Great-Uncle, Robert Marchant II:

CHILDREN OF ROBERT MARCHANT II AND ELIZABETH LAMBERT

ROBERT JOSEPH "BARNEY" MARCHANT was born in 1867 and was baptized on 15 Sep 1867 at St. Patrick in Liverpool, England. On 12 Feb 1893 he married Margaret Josephine Sarsfield (1868-1937) at St. Augustine in Lancashire, England. Robert and Margaret had the following children: Mary Ann (1894-1917), Robert Thomas (1895-1968), George Patrick (1897-1898), Margaret Josephine (1898-1973), Georgina Ellen (1900-1975), Joseph (1903-1976), Sidney Gabriel (1905-1974), Veronica Magdalene (1907-1910), Kathleen Teresa (1910-1939), and Lawrence A Marchant (1911-1911). At the 1891 census Robert is a dock laborer. By 1901 he is a general laborer living at 84 Healey Street with with his wife and children. In 1911 he is a laborer for a grain merchant living at the same address. Robert Joseph died in 1940 and was buried at Ford Cemetery in Lancashire on 22 Jun 1940.

MARY MARCHANT was born on 22 Dec 1868 in Liverpool and baptized on 27 Dec 1868 at St Patrick in Liverpool, England. On 23 Aug 1891 she married Michael Henry Sarsfield (1867-1938), the brother of Robert Joseph's wife Margaret, at St Augustine in Lancashire, England. The Sarsfields had moved over from Dublin sometime before 1881, and both families lived on the same street in Liverpool at the time of their weddings. Mary and Michael had the following children: Mary (b. 1892), Josephine (1897-1945), Michael Leo (1899-1975), Winifred (1901-1994), Gertrude (1903-1993), Eileen (1905-1993), Patrick (b. 1909) and Nora Sarsfield (1913-2007). Mary died on 30 Jan 1958 and was buried on 3 Feb 1958 at Ford Cemetery, Liverpool, Lancashire, England.

GEORGE PATRICK MARCHANT was born on 1 Dec 1870 in Liverpool, Lancashire, England and baptized at St. Augustine's in Liverpool, listed as the son of Robert and Elizabeth (Lambert) Marchant of Clay Street. In the 1891 census, George was a marine fireman (stoker). He emigrated to New Zealand and appears on the Electoral Roll there as a marine fireman first in 1911. He lived in Auckland and married Genevieve Veronica McCabe (1884-1952) there in 1926. He also worked as a river pilot. They had no children but twice wanted to take members of the family from Liverpool to New Zealand. First, Nora Sarsfield when she was a young teenager and then Joe Brierley (son of Gertrude Sarsfield and Joseph Brierley) after Joe's father died. George died in 1948 at the age of 76 in Auckland, New Zealand.

HENRY STEPHEN MARCHANT was born on 26 Dec 1872 in Liverpool, and baptized on 5 Jan 1873. He died in 1888 and was buried on 27 Apr 1888 at St Augustine in Liverpool, Lancashire, England.

ELISABETH MARCHANT was born on 26 Apr 1874 in Liverpool,and baptized on 10 May 1874 at St Augustine, in Liverpool. She died just three years later, in October of 1877, and was buried on 28 Oct 1877 in Ford Cemetery, Liverpool.

THOMAS MARCHANT was born on 4 Apr 1876 in Liverpool. In the 1891 census, Thomas was an unmarried broker's office apprentice. In 1911, Thomas was listed in the census as an unmarried dock labourer working on the Manchester Ship Canal and living in Salford. Family story had it that Thomas lived in Manchester and "had a sweet shop." In the same house as Thomas in 1911 is someone working as a wrapper in a confectionery factory. If he had access to sweets to bring to Liverpool to his nieces and nephews this could have been why he was thought to have a sweet shop. Thomas died in 1957 and was buried on 17 Sep 1957 at Ford Cemetery, Liverpool, Lancashire, England.

ELIZABETH MARCHANT was born on 13 Jun 1881 and baptized on 26 Jun 1881 in St Augustine in Liverpool. She died at the age of 14 and was buried on 5 Jan 1896 at Ford Cemetery, Liverpool, Lancashire, England.

Personal Information Census Image Name: Robert Marchant Age: 75 Where born: Maidstone, Kent, England Civil Parish: Liverpool Relation to Head: Father-In-Law View image View blank UK census form SOURCE INFORMATION: 1901 England Census. "England and Wales Census, 1901," St Martin subdistrict, PRO RG 13, The National Archives, Kew, Surrey.

   The Marchant family then became very close with a family living on the same street in Liverpool, called the Sarsfields. The Sarsfield family had immigrated from Dublin sometime before 1881. Robert's daughter, MARY MARCHANT (1st cousin to my g-g-grandfather, William Henry Marchant), married a MICHAEL SARSFIELD in 1891. The family researchers who contacted me, Paul, Julie, and Michael, are the children of three of their daughters: NORA (1913-2007), EILEEN (1905-1993) and WINIFRED SARSFIELD (1901-1994). Winifred married PHILIP HARRINGTON in 1930, and they had Margaret (1931-2000), Philip (b. 1938-) and the man who originally contacted me, Paul Harrington (b. 1943). He would be my 3rd cousin, 2x removed.
   But we still aren't done with the Marchant family, thanks to yet another charitable cousin, MARIE-CLARE AHERN MONK. She is the great-granddaughter of Mary Marchant Sarsfield's brother, ROBERT JOSEPH MARCHANT! He was also known as "Barney" (probably to differentiate him from his father, grandfather and deceased half-brother; there were a lot of Roberts in that household), and he became a dock laborer, like his father. In 1893, Barney married MARGARET SARSFIELD (b. 1868; sister of brother-in-law Michael Sarsfield, husband of Mary Marchant. (Totally confused, yet?) Marie is the granddaughter of one of Robert's children, SIDNEY GABRIEL MARCHANT (17 Feb 1905 - 24 Feb 1974). He married ELLEN REID (11 Jun 1904 - 05 Apr 1982) and they lived their entire lives in Liverpool. Here is their wedding photo:

WEDDING OF SIDNEY MARCHANT AND ELLEN REID. Left to right, back row: Charlie Garrity (cousin of Ellen Reid); Robert Thomas Marchant; Joseph Marchant; Sidney Marchant; Ellen Reid; Robert Joseph Marchant. Front row sitting: James Patrick Reid (Ellen's dad); Kathleen Marchant; Alice Garrity (Ellen's cousin, who lived with them); Georgina Marchant; and Vincent White. Marie-Clare Monk: "Uncle Vin moved to Canada, his family are over there. I met him once when he came over for a holiday, I think I was about 6 at the time. Mum was close to him, and kept in touch. He had a crush on my Grandma when he was young apparently. When she died, she was the last of them all, he said to Mum that there will be one hell of a party going on up there tonight, which I thought was lovely."

   With the times and neighborhoods (and even continents) changing with each generation, the lines of the two siblings lost touch—so although Paul and Marie live near each other, they didn't know each other in real life, and it took considerable genealogical digging to re-establish the link. What amazing times we live in, in which the descendants of Marchant lines ripped apart by poverty and intolerance almost 200 years ago can reconnect from different parts of the world and reunite the family.¹²
   Thank you cousin Gloria, thank you cousin Paul, and thank you cousin Marie-Clare!

NOTES ON THIS PAGE

¹—Marriage of Robert Marchant to Sophia Jones on 27 Nov 1825 at All Saints, Maidstone, Kent, England. LDS Indexing Project (Batch) Number: I00535-5 , System Origin: England-EASy, GS Film number: 1835448, Reference ID: p 159, 475. Citation: "England Marriages, 1538-1973," index, FamilySearch, Robert Marchant and Sophia Jones, 27 Nov 1825; citing All Saints, Maidstone, Kent, England, reference p 159, 475; FHL microfilm 1835448.

²—"England, Sussex, Parish Registers, 1538-1910," index, FamilySearch, William Marchant, Christening, Northiam, Northiam, Sussex, England, 29 Jun 1828; citing 00420, West Sussex County Record Office, Chichester; FHL microfilm 1,894,275. Father's Name: Robert Marchant. Mother's Name: Sophia Marchant. GS Film Number: 001894275, Digital Folder Number: 004426949, Image Number: 00420.

³—The Sussex Advertiser of Monday 26 March 1832 reported: "Robert Marchant, 28, for stealing at Brighton, two pounds of pork, the property James Isye." The newspaper noted the decision as, "six months to hard labor in Lewes House of Correction." Punishments were harsh for crimes in the 19th Century. "Thievery" was actually punishable by death! In 1800 there were actually 220 offenses on the statute book punishable by death, then called the Bloody Code. Most of the laws introduced during that period were concerned with the defense of property (which some commentators have interpreted as a form of class suppression of the poor by the rich). Grand larceny was one of the crimes that drew the death penalty; it was defined as the theft of goods worth more than 12 pence, about one-twentieth of the weekly wage for a skilled worker at the time. Crimes such as cutting down trees, stealing livestock—or anything worth more than five shillings (£30 today) could get you the death penalty (in Robert's 1832 case, just stealing pork for your starving family got him six months in prison). As the 18th century proceeded, jurors often deliberately under-assessed the value of stolen goods, in order to avoid a mandatory death sentence. In 1823 the Judgement of Death Act made the death penalty discretionary for all crimes except treason and murder. Gradually during the middle of the nineteenth century, the number of capital offenses was reduced, and by 1861 was down to five. The last execution in the UK took place in 1964, and the death penalty was legally abolished in the following years. But in the time of Robert's birth, there were multiple executions every year on Penenden Heath or Shooter's Hill. The following table from the 1881 book, The History of Maidstone by J. M. Russell, shows the number of prisoners who were sentenced to death at the Kent assizes, and how many of the sentences were actually carried out:

   Robert Marchant was "a bit of a lad," as later English descendants would say. There are records in Kent of a Robert Marchant in court for theft at least twice before he would have been twenty years old (there were any number of Robert Marchants living in and around Kent at the time, however). This Robert was even imprisoned once for 12 months. George Marchant, possibly Robert's brother, appears above this Robert in the court record for the latter sentencing, so this could be the two brothers out thieving. George got 18 months to Robert's 12—maybe because he's older, or a re-offender:

Personal Information Criminal Register Name: Robert Marchant Date of Trial: Lent Trial Year: 1822 Location: Kent, England Crime: Burglary Sentence: Acquittal Date of Execution or Release: No Bill View image Personal Information Criminal Register Name: Robert Marchant Date of Trial: Summer Trial Year: 1822 Location: Kent, England Crime: Larceny Sentence: 1 Year Date of Execution or Release: Imprisonment View image SOURCE INFORMATION: Criminal Registers, Middlesex and Home Office: England and Wales; Records created or inherited by the Home Office, Ministry of Home Security, and related bodies, Series HO 26 and HO 27; The National Archives of the UK (TNA), Kew, Surrey, England.

Newspaper Article File Image Newspaper: Brighton Guardian Subject: Police Report Original Publication: 4 March 1832 Subject: Sophia Marchant arrest View file SOURCE INFORMATION: Brighton Guardian

   While Robert was in jail, Sophia was not behaving herself, either, as shown in this police report from the Brighton Guardian on the 4th of March in 1832. The broken window that she broke while drunk was at the house of Mr Caudle, a surgeon of Devonshire Place. It appears that she was carrying Mary Ann when she went to court. It states that her husband has been committed on a charge of felony (this was the time that Robert was jailed as a pork thief in Lewes prison). Although Sophia promised the magistrate that she'd go back to Maidstone, we know she went to Lewes (probably to be near Robert), and from there she was sent back to Maidstone with the children.

   Robert Sr.'s brother William seemed to court trouble the most of all the brothers (or, at least, he was caught the most). The Maidstone Gazette and Kentish Courier of Tuesday 06 July 1841 reported that 28-year-old William Marchant, lath render, was acquitted of breaking into a building and stealing a dial, two candlesticks, six spoons, and a drinking glass (John Wood alias Thomas Buckwell received 4 months' hard labor; he was the guy that William and Robert helped escape from police in 1837). William wasn't so lucky, however, when the Maidstone Journal and Kentish Advertiser of Tuesday 09 July 1850 reported: "William Marchant, lath-render, 37, (imp..) stealing one silver watch, value four pounds, the property of James Hammond, from his person, at Maidstone. Thomas Belton, receiving the same knowing it to have been stolen.—Mr. Hills was for the prosecution.—Belton pleaded guilty, Marchant was found guilty. There were two other indictments against Belton, which were not proceeded with. Belton, 10 years transportation; Marchant, 12 months hard labour." One has to wonder why the newspapers kept calling William a "lath render"—between prison sentences and workhouse stays, he didn't seem to spend very much time "rending."

⁴—Sophia Marchant Burial Date: 18 Dec 1839. Burial Place: Maidstone, Kent, England. Indexing Project (Batch) Number: I04484-0 , System Origin: England-EASy , GS Film number: 1835449 , Reference ID: 1 252 2013. Citation: "England Deaths and Burials, 1538-1991," index, FamilySearch, Sophia Marchant, 18 Dec 1839; citing, reference 1 252 2013; FHL microfilm 1835449.

⁵—Ingersoll Chronicle & Canadian Dairyman. Thursday, December 23, 1886. Pg: , Col: 6. Date of Event: Friday, December 17, 1886. Text of Notice: "MARCHANT—In Ingersoll, on the 17th inst., Martha L., wife of William Marchant, aged 54 years." (Died on 7 Apr 1872). Death notice (Jan 1859-1872) appeared in the Woodstock Sentinel, 12 Apr 1872, page 2, column 4.

⁶—Ingersoll Chronicle & Canadian Dairyman. Thursday, August 05, 1886. Pg: , Col: 8. Date of Event: Tuesday, August 03, 1886. Text of Notice: "MARCHANT—In Ingersoll, on the 3rd inst., Robert J. Marchant, aged 29 years and 10 months." Appeared in the Sentinel Review, 6 Aug 1886, p. 8, column 3.

⁷—Ingersoll Chronicle & Canadian Dairyman. Thursday, July 10, 1884. Pg: 3, Col: 8. Date of Event: Wednesday, July 09, 1884. Morrey, E. B. weds Marchant, Mary. Ingersoll Chronicle & Canadian Dairyman. Thursday, May 12, 1887. Pg: , Col: 7. Date of Event: Tuesday, May 10, 1887. Text of Notice: "MORREY—In Ingersoll, on the 10th inst., May M. Marchant, wife of E. B. Morrey, and daughter of William Marchant, aged 20 years." According to a compilation of Ontario marriages: "Edward Barker Morrey, 21, book keeper, Ingersoll, Ingersoll, son of James F. and Caroline, married Mary Maria Marchant, 17, Woodstock, Ingersoll, daughter of William W. and Martha L., witnessed by F.T. Morrey and Sarah A. Marchant, both of Ingersoll, 9 July, 1884 at Ingersoll." Also appeared in the Sentinel Review, 18 Jul 1884, p. 4, column 6.

⁸—Email from Genealogist Mark Folkestad, dated 23 Apr 2008: "We've been making progress on tracking the family from her sampler, which Lillian said had been made by 'her Aunt Mary'. Mary Ann Parker, born in 1809 in Cavendish, Vermont, made the sampler in 1822. We don't know if she was blood kin or married into the Marchant line, and with the time involved, she was probably a great-aunt. Mary Ann Parker married Hosea B. Huston and became pioneers in Kalamazoo County. Her older sister Eliza married Thaddeus Smith, and they arrived very early in Kalamazoo County. Their brother John Parker also ended up there. Thaddeus and Eliza Smith had offspring with offspring, so some of that family may be in Michigan still. I haven't been able to track offspring of Hosea and Mary Huston yet. Do these names ring any bells with either of you? We noticed that a researcher who has been indexing Smith birth records in Kalamazoo County was Susan Stahl. Is that, by any chance, the daughter of Gretchen Hause Brundage? Gloria thought it likely. We also had a very helpful reply to our post on Ancestry.com's bulletin board, offering to give us five generations prior to John and Nancy Parker, the parents of the creator of the sampler. I'm hoping that that lady has more recent generations of the family. Regards, Mark"

"Soldier of the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment, bet. 1857 and 1862. Reconstitution by Derek FitzJames," from Canadian Military Heritage, Vol. II (1755-1871), Chapter 6.

⁹—E-mail from Paul Harrington: "I'm looking for a William Marchant (b. 1828), a great great uncle missing from England from 1841 until the 1891 census when he is living with his brother. He's a widower and his death certificate (December 16 1896) quotes his occupation as an army pensioner. He is buried in the Church of England section of Anfield Cemetery in Liverpool (238 Priory Road, Anfield, Merseyside England, Postal Code: L4 2SL)." Earlier research on William: "Born 1828/1829 Maidstone (?) to Robert and Sophia (married 1825). With siblings Robert, Mary and maybe Henry and Elizabeth and aunt Rose Balcomb in Coxheath (Maidstone) Workhouse in 1841 census. Re-appears 1891 a widower living with brother Robert and family in Liverpool. Fifty missing years. Robert had been a mariner—did William also go to sea? Join army? prison? or remain a lath render as per family around Kent... I'd better explain our interest in William (the bugler/Music Master). We (three cousins in the UK) are grandchildren through the female lines of Michael Sarsfield and Mary Marchant who married in Liverpool in 1891. Her father was Robert Marchant and we've been able to trace the family back to the mid-18thC. The family is from the Maidstone area of Kent. June 1828 seems to be a good date for Wm's birthday but we have not found a record to substantiate. Another Wm was born in 1828 in Rothfield Sussex but he was born October 5th and baptised November 23rd so it can't be him. Maidstone William's parents were Robert M and Sophia Jones married in November 1825 in Maidstone [our line]. (The Marchants, like many families, keep repeating the same names across the generations so there are Roberts, Williams, Henrys, Marys and Sophias all over the place). I'm in touch with branches of the Ontario genealogical society to see if there's any trace of William after 1886/8. On Martha/Mary's death notice she's designated a married woman not a widow so Wm is still alive. Why no mention of him anywhere in Canada after that time? Robert Marchant (his brother and the eldest child of Rbt and Sophia) had been a sailor and we've traced some of his ships. He had contacts with Canada and somehow, a man called Miles Agar of Newfoundland was in Liverpool in time to be godfather to our grandmother Mary Marchant/Sarsfield. As children we loved to see and hold a silver bugle/cornet she had in a display cabinet but it disappeared after her death in 1959. A family story linked it to the Crimea but I'm very tempted by a bugler coming from Canada. Attached are army discharge records for Wm and the army birth records. Ignore the age and dating of Wm's signing on. It's clear the army fiddled these to show he was the legal age when he started to receive full pay. I have separate records showing he was 3y 3mnths under age when he signed on. I'm trying to chase army pension records to see how Wm was paid (if he did come back to the UK). At 8 pence a day, it wasn't a fortune. (I think that's about 5 cents US money today)." (Paul's e-mail.) Here are army records linking my ancestor, William Henry Marchant (b. 1950), to the soldier William Marchant (b. 1928) that Paul identified in Canada:

Personal Information Canada Returns Name: William H Marchant Area: Canada Birth Year: 1850 Vol: 27 Page: 222 View image Personal Information Niagara Returns Name: William H Marchant Area: Niagara Birth Year: 1850 Regt: 100th Vol: 27 Page: 38 View image SOURCE: Index of Army Returns of Births and Baptisms; National Archives, Bessant Dr, Richmond TW9 4DU, UK; Phone: +44 20 8876 3444.

¹⁰—E-mail from Deborah Collins, of Kent Ancestry Research: "There are no other references to the Marchant family in any of the few surviving records for the Maidstone Union for this period (all of which I have transcribed) but this is not surprising as the Minute Book of the Board of Guardians for the early years of the Union mention very few individuals and mainly contain financial matters. When I visited the Maidstone Archives a few days ago I checked the Minute Book for the year 1842 to see if there was a mention of William being assisted to join the army by the Guardians but again found no reference. It may be that it was William's parish which arranged for his enlistment rather than the Union and in William's case this would the parish of Maidstone."

¹¹—William Henry Marchant was lost to our family history until the Kalamazoo Public Library filled in all of the gaps. This great library was organized in 1860 and opened to the general public in 1872. In 2002, it was awarded the prestigious National Library of the Year award by Library Journal. More recently, KPL received a 2011 State History Award for the Local History section of its website, and was honored in 2012 with a Michigan State Librarian's Citation of Excellence Award. It features an excellent research section and genealogy section. You can search the local papers going back over a century here. Phone: 269-553-7873 (www.kpl.gov) Ask for Alexander P. Merrill, Library Assistant, who uncovered all the W. H. Marchant info that the Hause and Benson families had spent decades and decades searching for... in about a minute and a half. More on the William H. Marchant family, recently added online by this great library:

Military Bands of Kalamazoo, by Keith Howard, Kalamazoo Public Library Staff, 2010. Updated March 2012: "The Harmonic Band (occasionally called the 'Harmonica Band,' although they were definitely not playing harminicas) made its debut on the first of August, 1894, during the annual Emancipation Day celebration in Kalamazoo; first sharing parade duties with White's Military Band in the afternoon, and later taking center stage for an evening concert at Turn Verein Hall. By November, the band was able to secure new uniforms and showed them off proudly during a year-end concert at the G.A.R. Hall. (Many of the same musicians joined Joe, Sylvester and Gilmore Phillips of the popular Phillips Brothers' Orchestra and formed the Philharmonic Orchestra, which began performing symphonic music in January.)" W. H. Marchant Frank E. Wilson 'Harmonic Band', circa 1894 Wallace White Chester Bronson in 1894 White's Military Band of Kalamazoo, early 1890s Harmonic Band Members (July 1894) (* Musicians believed to be African American) Frank E. Wilson*, manager Charles O. Bailiff, secretary and treasurer W. H. Marchant, musical director Augustus T. Hedgbeth* William M. Steward* Sylvester F. Liggins* Edward J. Harris* Gilmore L. Phillips* George H. Hill* Hiram H. "Hi" Wilson* Sylvester C. Phillips* Levi D. Bates* Joshua W. Phillips* Oliver H. "Ollie" Stafford* Arthur Wilson* Charles H. Hill* John T. Pool* Jasper Boyd* Additional members, March 1896 (William H. Marchant Benefit) C. Z. Bronson, director D. Stuart (possibly Enos Delbert Stewart*) S. Scherer Charles Pollard* Harry Parks* T. Stuart (possibly Thomas Stewart*) Wallace S. White: Kalamazoo Photographer and Bandleader, by Keith Howard, Kalamazoo Public Library Staff, 2009. (Updates and corrections, April 2011): "White also tried his hand at music publishing during this time, by producing sheet music for local composers like Will Marchant." You can also access a photo gallery, with at least one shot of William (in the front row of the military band, shown at right). Roots of the Kalamazoo Symphony: A Prehistory of the KSO (1881-1921), by Keith Howard, Kalamazoo Public Library Staff, 2010. (Updated May 2013): "Like the Symphony Orchestra before it, the Philharmonic Orchestra didn't last. One of the Philharmonic's final performances was a benefit concert at First Methodist Church on Wednesday, 19 February 1896, in honor of William Marchant, the orchestra's librarian and musical director who was ill... Sadly, Marchant passed away a few weeks later, and aside from a later benefit performance by the 'Harmonica [sic] Orchestra' directed by C.Z. Bronson, no further references to the Philharmonic Orchestra as such are to be found. The Harmonic Brass Band did continue, however, as did the Phillips Brothers' Orchestra, which remained popular well into the first decade of the twentieth century."

¹²—Another line of the family has appeared: The Philpotts, who are descended from Henry Marchant (1837-1876), who married Mary Jane Brealsford Holness (1838-1862) in June 1857 in Dover, Kent. (This is confirmed through DNA matches, and on the wedding certificate, Henry's father is listed as Robert Marchant, a "lath maker.") So the family line is:

Robert Marchant (1803-1884) > Henry Marchant (1837-1876) > Eliza Brealsford Marchant (1857-1927) > Richard Philpott (1888-1969) > (My new cousins and their descendants!)

   One of my new cousins from this line is Jane Butler, MFA: "an artist, designer and lecturer, following a long career in textile and fashion design and lecturing I have returned to drawing, with stitch, a brush, graphite and colour. Colour and a need to find the spirit of the world around me is my driving force. Immersion in research and processes through a Masters in Fine Art have not only honed my skills but also enabled me to dig deeper into areas of philosophy that take my work to new levels of insight. Working with thread as a line, a shadow and a fleeting glimpse of an idea, thought or issue is exciting and rewarding along with sound and light as integral to a viewers experience. I often work with aluminium to reflect and throw back to an observer the colours in light, line and self. My work can be seen in private collections and galleries internationally."

Artists, writers, musicians, dancers... I have to say, I am descended from a very talented family...

IN MEMORIAM

Over the last few years I've been meeting a lost line in my ancestry -- the Marchant family of Kent and Liverpool. Now that we've finally reconnected, we've lost a matriarch, VERONICA "RONI" MARCHANT AHERN (1935-2020), to COVID-19. They couldn't have a funeral for Roni with more than 10 mourners, for obvious reasons, but they were able to divert the hearse to drive up to her sister MARIE's home, so that she could at least have some closure. Then everybody in her neighborhood came outside to say so long, applauding as the hearse passed by. Roni's son PATRICK AHERN wrote: "Our mum, Roni, was a strong woman who brought us up to look after ourselves and to look out for others. She was a nurse and Sister at Alder Hey for decades until her retirement. She enjoyed her retirement with dad Chris, her children and grandchildren. Like us all, she missed dad desperately since he died in 2004. She continued to live independently in the house until February 2020 when after some falls she was admitted to Southport General. In late March she contracted COVID19 and died on 6 April. An untimely death and unfair in so many ways. We asked for family flowers only at the burial and any other contributions to Claire House. Mum knew and worked with Claire's mum, Chris Cain, and cherished the difficult work they do." Give here: JUSTGIVING.

Maidstone

TOP IMAGE: Maidstone Bridge, Kent, circa 1830. Art by William Westall. Maidstone's charter as a town was granted in 1549; although briefly revoked, a new charter in 1551 created the town as a borough. The charter was ratified in 1619 under James I, and the coat of arms was designed, bearing a golden lion and a representation of the river (in heraldic terms: "or, a fess wavy azure between three roundels gules, on a chief gules a leopard passant gardant or"). The River Medway runs through the center of the town, linking it with Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade as the center of the agricultural county of Kent, known as the Garden of England. There is evidence of a settlement in the area dating back to beyond the Stone Age. Saxon charters (c975) show the first recorded instances of the town's name, de maeides stana and maegdan stane, possibly meaning "stone of the maidens" or "stone of the people." The latter meaning may refer to the nearby megalith around which gatherings took place. The name evolved through medestan/meddestane in the Domesday Book with possible variation Mayndenstan, in 1396. The modern name appeared by 1610. It has been suggested that the name derives from stones set into the river to allow clothes to be rinsed in the cleaner water away from the banks. Coxheath, which William's workouse was originally named for, is a village and civil parish within the Borough of Maidstone. (The parish is approximately 2.5 miles south of Maidstone.) The enactment of the new Poor Law in 1834 led to the creation of the "Coxheath Poor Law Union" in 1835, more commonly known simply as the Coxheath Union. This union also involved many of the other local parishes. A reluctant Maidstone was finally coerced into joining in 1836, bringing the number of parishes involved to 15 and leading to the union's name being officially changed to the Maidstone Union (although contemporary references appear to show that the Coxheath Union name remained in general use). The workhouse building later formed Linton Hospital which subsequently closed and the buildings were demolished in the 1990's. The former workhouse chapel remains in use as a parish church for Coxheath. Before it gets too depressing, it should be noted that Coxheath has the distinction of being the original home of the World Custard Pie Throwing Championship, running since 24 June 1967.

COUSINS, COLLABORATORS & CO-CONSPIRATORS...

GLORIA BENSON (31 Aug 1929 - 25 May 2016) was the daughter-in-law of Lillian Marchant Benson, and possessed the Marchant Family Bible from which I derived most of the information about the family of my my great-grandmother, MARJORIE MARCHANT. Gloria married Lillian's son, Judge Henry N. Benson Jr., in Minnesota on October 25, 1952. He was 36 years old and she was 23. Their children are Julie Elizabeth Benson Italiano (Dominick), Melanie Marchant Benson, Todd Henry Winfield Benson, and Craig Peter Benson.

PAUL HARRINGTON is the great-grandson of William Marchant's brother, Robert. "Robert went to sea (boys from the workhouse often joined the army or the merchant navy). He ended up in Liverpool where he married a Sarah Greenwood in 1854. Their children died in infancy and Sarah died in 1866. Then Robert married Elisabeth Lambert (our great grandmother)." Robert's daughter, Mary, married a Michael Sarsfield in 1891. "We family searchers—cousins Julie (Callanan), Michael and myself—are children of three of their daughters: Nora (1913-2007), Eileen (1905-1993) and Winifred (1901-1994). Winifred married Philip Harrington in 1930, and they had Margaret (1931-2000), Philip (b. 1938-) and myself (b. 1943). By my reckoning that makes my grandmother Mary 1st cousin to William H Marchant; my mother Winifred 2nd cousin to Lillie and Marjorie; and I'm 3rd cousin to Gretchen and Carlton Sr." See Paul with wife Jean by clicking on the photo at right.

MARIE-CLARE AHERN MONK: "I am a great, great-granddaughter of Robert Marchant, brother of William. My mother is a Marchant, granddaughter of Robert's son, Robert Joseph Marchant (1867-1940). My grandad, Sidney, was one of six surviving children of Robert Joseph Marchant (number 3)—four more had died. They were very close and very supportive of each other. Robert Joseph was known as 'Barney' apparently; I have a photo of him that I have loved since childhood, he looks like a very happy man, quite a mischievous look in his eye. He married Margaret Sarsfield, sister of Michael Sarsfield who married Mary Marchant. Both families lived on the same street in Liverpool at the time of their wedding. The Sarsfields had moved over from Dublin sometime before 1881, she was born 1868. From what Mum and Auntie Marie say, she was a strong woman too. Those Marchant men must have been good at finding strong women! To be honest, you probably had to be to survive at all, Sophia especially. The Marchants in our line, have stayed in the north of England and spread to the south of England and Canada as far as I know. One of Barney's brother's, George, went to Australia apparently. A grandson of Grandad's sister, Georgina, was a sailor from Canada. He came to visit us and said that he had been in Australia and got talking to a man. He turned out to be a great grandson of George, very small world! I used to live about 10 minutes walk from the cemetery where William is buried. The first house I bought, a little two up two down, was on a side road off Priory Road. I found another co incidence about this house (nothing to do with the Marchants). My father in law is from the south of England, and I was doing some research for him. His dad was from Anfield, and I found a probate notice that said that Jim's great grandad had died in house about 10 up the road from where I lived. There are a lot of houses in Anfield, so he was stunned. Again, a small world."

SOURCES:

The Woodstock Museum National Historic Site, which supplied the potrait of William Marchant Sr., and the photo of the 22nd Battalion, strives to interpret the past, present and future through conservation, education and exhibition of local history inside the nationally designated Old Town Hall. Originally constructed in 1853 as the Town Hall and Market House, the building was completely restored in 1993-1995. Admission is Free! Woodstock Museum NHS, City of Woodstock: 466 Dundas Street, Woodstock, ON, N4S 1C4. Thanks to Collection/Exhibit Coordinator Adam Pollard and staff! Phone #519-537-8411 ex. 2902; Fax #519-537-7235