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• From: <<email address>>
  To: <<email address>>
  Subject: Some new Woolletts
  Date: 30 May 2002 18:03
  
  Dear Les,
                 Just a little line to add some Woolletts if you are
  interested ? My maternal Great Grandmother was a Woollett, and I have gone
  back a couple of generations to around the 1850s.
  
  The information I have is as follows:
  
  My great grandmother was Beatrice Alice Woollett born Medway district
  (Chatham) in 1889. Her parents were married in Medway district (Brompton) in
  1875. Her father was John Thomas Woollett born around 1855 (His father was
  also John Thomas Woollett).
  Her mother was Ellen Woollett (nee Cullum), and Ellen was born in 18
  Medway district (Gillingham).
  
  I know that my great grandmother was one of 4 children. She had one eld
  sister (I don't know the name) one younger sister (May Woollett - who had no
  children) and one younger brother (I don't know the name). I do know that my
  great grandmother's father died fairly young, and that the two younger
  children (May and the brother) were put to Barnardos. My great grandmother
  retrieved May when she married my great grandfather in 1910, but the boy was
  sent to Canada by Barnardos. I know that he lived in Toronto up until t
  1970's, as my grandmother managed to find his telephone number, but
  discovered he had died. He had apparently been over to England a couple of
  time looking for his relations but had been unsuccessful.
  
  I don't know if that is of any interest ?
  
  Kind regards,
                          Danae Powell.
  
  
  <2 June 2002>
  Hello Les,
                 Thank you for getting back to me. I actually do have so
  certificates (I had not seen your website beforehand unfortunately or I would
  have pulled out some other Woollett references for your site).
  
  I have the Birth cert of my great grandmother Beatrice Alice Woollett who was
  born at 24 Mount, Chatham in 1889. Her mother is Ellen Cullum and her father
  is shown as John Woollett - occupation Labourer in the Oil Mill.
  
  I also have the marriage cert of John Thomas Woollett and Ellen Jane Cullum
  who were married at Brompton (Medway) Parish Church in 1875. At the time of
  marriage he was a Mariner, and so was his father (also called John Thom
  Woollett). Unfortunately the only address shown is Brompton.
  
  I then managed to get Ellen Jane Cullum's birth cert dated 1855 with an
  address of 8 Albert Place, Chatham, where her father was a Blacksmith at the
  Ship Yard.
  
  I tried to get a copy of John Thomas Woollett's birth certificate, a
  fairly certain I have the right reference in June 1855, but unfortunately I
  put the father's name as John Thomas on the back of the certificate request
  form as a cross check and it was rejected. I think I will still go ahead and
  order it as I suspect that his father is just shown as John Woollett rather
  than John Thomas Woollett. I am confident that this is the right reference as
  it is the only John Thomas Woollett born in any of the 6 years I checked and
  the registration district was Medway. When I get a copy, I will gladly let
  you know what is on there.
  
  My 90 year old grandma is actually alive ad well and is a limited source of
  information. Unfortunately she does not know a great deal about her family as
  her mother (Beatrice Alice Woollett) divorced and remarried, my grandmother
  was brought up in the north of England and was led to believe she didn't have
  any other family. It was not until later in life she managed to get in touch
  with her aunt May. My Grandma does remember her mother talking about pet
  monkeys etc which were brought back by her mother's father who was a sailor,
  which does tie in with the certificates. There was another sister called
  Alice apparently who was born before my great-grandmother, but she died young
  I believe, and I also know that Ellen Woollett (nee Cullum) was crippled in
  childbirth and the baby died young, but I'm not sure if that was the sa
  baby as Alice ? Certainly my understanding is that John Woollett gave up
  being a sailor to look after his crippled wife. They did go on to have 3 more
  children my great grandmother Beatrice Alice, May, and the younger boy.  That
  is why when John Woollett died young it caused the break up of the family as
  Ellen was crippled and couldn't support her youngest children and that's why
  they ended up in Barnardos.
  
  Again, not sure if this of any use to you, but hopefully something might help
  ?
  
  Kind regards,
                          Danae.
  
  PS Don't know if it would help, but Beatrice Alice Woollett showed her
  address on marriage in 1910 as 24 Middle Street Chatham, maybe there could be
  something on the 1911 census of use ? (Although I believe she was a lady's
  companion before marriage, so it may not be her family address ?) I haven't
  looked at census information yet as it seems a bit complicated !!
  PPS I am going to Canada next week and will be visiting with my gran's half
  sisters (from Beatrice Alice Woollett's second marriage), and it's possible
  that they could know something else. I'll let you know when I get back.
  
  <5 Jan 2003>
  Dear Les,
                Happy new year. I e-mailed you last year about some woollet
  ancestors, and I was due to send you some more information after I returned
  from a Canadian trip. Sorry I have taken so long to get back to you.
  
  To recap,
  
  My Grandma - Vera Elsie Woollett born 4/10/1911 in Chatham (still going
  strong at 91 !!)
  Her parents - Beatrice Alice Woollett born 26/2/1889 in Chatham & Harry
  Watts.
  Beatrices Parents - John (Thomas?) Woollett born 1855 in Chatham and Ellen
  Jane Cullum born 12/4/1855 in Chatham.
  John Woolletts parents were John Woollett and Sarah Legg (born in
  Rotherhithe)
  
  I am sure that these little bits of information fit with your database and
  may help add something to it ?
  
  John Thomas and Ellen Cullum had a number of children, including a crippled
  girl called Alice who died young (Beatrice Alice was named after her). The
  ones I know about are:
  
  Ellen (known as Nell) who was older than Beatrice. She married a (sailo
  whose surname was Easter. They had 2 girls Phyllis & Ivy, but whilst the
  husband was at sea Nell was unfaithful and her husband found out and took the
  2 little girls to Australia and they never saw their family again.
  
  May was younger than Beatrice and she, Beatrice and a younger brother
  William, were shown as being in the ChathamWorkhouse in Magpie Lane in the
  1901 census.
  
  May went to live with Beatrice after Beatrice married Harry Watts, but poor
  William ended up going out to Canade as part of that Barnardos exercise. He
  settled in Toronto where he lived until he died in the 70's.I understand he
  had at least one son, but have no idea of any details. May married but never
  had children.
  
  Other bits of information are that John Woollett and Sarah Legg's marriage is
  shown as taking place in Chatham in 1835 (according to the familysearch
  site).
  
  I am sure that the John Woollett you have shown as being born 1811 and dying
  in 1862 is the one who married Sarah Legg, and these in turn are the parents
  of John Woollett shown as being born in 1855 and being married to Ellen.
  
  I hope this is of some use to you ? For myself I found your site really
  helpful, especially in clearing up the elder John Woollett details (They all
  seem to run together when they share the same name don't they ?!). Would you
  be able to let me know whereabouts you got the details about the birth/death
  dates for him ?
  
  Thanks again for all you help, and apologies once more for taking so long to
  reply to your last e-mail.
  
  Kind regards,
                          Danae.
  PS I spoke to my grandma, and she says she is happy to try and answer a
  questions you might have about her branch of the Woolletts (with the proviso
  that her mother divorced and she was only able to find out information once
  she got a bit older)