What happened to my 4x great grandfather?
QI have hit a brick wall trying to find out what happened to my 4x great grandfather Septimus Price, baptised on 5 April 1777 in Glasbury, Radnorshire, Wales. I think he married Mary Snead in 1804 in Worcester and moved to London where they had two children: James Snead Price (b1807) and Mary Ann Price (b1813).
Julie Wilkinson
AAlthough Septimus Price had an uncommon name, it was not unique. However, it is possible to piece together something of the life of Septimus and Mary (née Snead) Price, who married at St Helen’s, Worcester, on 16 November 1804.
The baptism of James Snead, at St Mary’s, Brecon, in 1805, indicates that Septimus was a shoemaker. Moving to London, the couple had another son named James Snead, baptised at St James’s, Piccadilly, in 1811 (born 1807) and Mary Ann, baptised at St Marylebone’s, 1821 (born 1813).
Mary seems to have died by 1820, as that December Septimus Price, widower, married Isabella Groves at St Marylebone’s. This couple had two children baptised there (1821 and 1824); both records show Septimus’ occupation as “Trade”, the same as at the baptisms of Septimus and Mary’s children. Isabella probably died within a few years of marriage, as in 1829 St Marylebone’s register records another Septimus Price, widower, marrying.
The 1851 census of Clapham, Surrey, puts a widowed Septimus Price (age 74, journeyman shoemaker, deaf) at 14 North Street. His place of birth is Glastonbury (no county). This seems to be a misspelling and refers not to Glastonbury, Somerset, but to Glasbury, Radnorshire. Somerset parish registers are indexed on Ancestry ( ancestry.co.uk) and there was no baptism there of Septimus Price, c1777; whereas on 5 April 1777 Septimus, son of William and Mary Price, was baptised at St Peter’s, Glasbury. Septimus’ death was registered at Wandsworth in the January–March quarter of 1859, age 81.