Henry Rolfe's parents and siblings

Now that I am certain I have gone as far as I can for the moment with Henry and Sarah’s children it is time to go back one further generation and look in to the lives of Henry and his siblings.

Henry’s parents were Silvanus Rolfe and his first wife Caroline Strange. Silvanus and Caroline were married on Christmas Day 1852 in Shalbourne Parish Church. Although both of them made their mark on the marriage entry both their witnesses signed. This I find somewhat strange as the witnesses appear to be Silvanus’s sister, Mary and Caroline’s sister, Ann. I suppose I had always assumed that if one child in the family could write then the likelihood was they all could. This does not appear to be the case.

On December the 23^rd 1851 a child, Silvanus, was baptized in Shalbourne Parish Church. The parish register does not show a father’s name but the child’s mother was Caroline Strange. In 1861 Silvanus Strange and his brother Henry Rolfe are staying with their uncle Isaac Strange. By 1871 Silvanus has the surname Rolfe and this is the name he seems to use for the rest of his life.

Silvanus was registered with the surname Strange and his birth registration can be found on freebmd:

Caroline Strange and Henry’s marriage ends with Caroline’s death late in 1865. They had seven children including ‘young’ Silvanus who I can only assume was a Rolfe (perhaps DNA testing will prove or disprove this eventually?).

The baptismal register for Shalbourne has entries for the following children:

1851 Silvanus Strange

1855 Henry Rolfe

1857 Sabina Rolfe

1859 Alfred Rolfe

1862 Ann Rolfe

1865 Joshua Rolfe died 1866

(not baptized but showing on GRO register 1853  Male Rolfe born 1853 and died 1853)

Joshua was baptized privately on October 22^nd 1865 and died early the following year. The five surviving children all lived to adulthood and were joined by half brothers and sisters after Henry married again on October 4^th 1867. He had a further eight children with his second wife Hannah Filewood.

Henry and Sarah's children - final tally

The last accessible census, filled out by Sarah, shows that she and Henry had eleven children 'born alive'; of those eleven, eight were still living early in 1911.

By searching the GRO online for Rolfe births in the Newbury registration district with mother's maiden name Bailey we arrive at ten births between 1877 and 1898. The convention of going home to mother for the first confinement appears to have been followed by Sarah and consequetly the first child, Alfred Thomas born in 1876, had his birth registered in Hungerford. The full list of children: 

1. 1876 Alfred Thomas
2. 1877 Agnes May
3. 1878 Thomas
4. 1880 Edith Flossie
5. 1881 Henry Stephen
6. 1883 Annie Julia
7. 1885 William James
8. 1888 Julia
9. 1891 Philip Lewis
10. 1896 Winifred Annie
11. 1898 Alice Mabel (showing as Mabel Alice on her marriage certificate) 

Thomas and Winifred both died under a year old and although the death registration for Annie Julia has not yet been found I think it is very probable that she also died as a baby. Of the other eight children all survived to adulthood, all married, with only Agnes May's marriage details still to be discovered.