My Most Wanted Ancestor
Thirty years ago I hit a brick wall with my 3x Great Grandfather, Thomas Lurway (1793-1858). He married Mary Ann Smith (1798-1874) from Burnett,Somerset in St Mary's Parish Church, Henbury in 1820. He had six children Thomas 1820-39, Henry 1822-95, Frederick 1825-87, Louisa 1830-93, Mary Ann 1832-1910 and Julia Ann Lurway1838-41. Thomas was a coachman, then a Hackney Fly Proprietor and Licensced Victualler of the Adam & Eve Tavern in Hotwells, Bristol.
He went bankrupt in 1848 and does not appear in the 1851 census. Thomas Lurway died in Brighton in 1858.
Research & Records
Death Registers Index St Catherine's House London, Bristol Record Office, Somerset Record Office. Familysearch, The Original Records Company, Ancestry, Find my Past. Rootsweb, Website "Lost pubs of Bristol", Bristol & Somerset mailing lists. Henbury Marriage Parish Register 1820.
Thomas lived in Lime Kiln Lane, Bristol, also Windsor Terrace and later in Power Street. He is shown on the baptism records of Frederick, Louisa, Mary Ann and Julia Ann, also on son Thomas's death certificate in 1839 and Julia Ann's death certificate in 1841 whilst living at the Adam and Eve Tavern (which I have visited and whilst enjoying a delicious dinner, the barman told me there was reputed to be a ghost upstairs!)
Thomas's bankruptcy took place in Bristol and I have newspaper notices of all of the court hearings. His wife had moved by the 1851 to Brighton with their son Frederick. I cannot find Thomas Lurway in the 1851 census - was he in a debtors prison?
Thomas's death certificate shows he died whilst living with his wife at 31 North Gardens, Hove, Brighton January 1858.
Advice
- Where was Thomas born? was is Bristol or was it Somerset?
- What were the names of his parents and siblings?
- Did he go to prison because of the bankruptcy?
- Where was he in 1851?
- His son Henry went to County Carlow in Ireland in 1850 did Thomas go too?.
- Where did the Lurways come from and from which name is it derived?
- When I started researching the Lurways I seemed to be the only person doing so although a second cousin recently sent me a Family Tree she had inherited, I was disappointed to find it was the same one I had drawn and given to a distant relative more than thirty years ago.
Additional Details
I am happy to share all the information I have of the Lurway family. I have documents and photographs of Thomas Lurway's great grandchidren and their families.
