Surprise

An early surprise was the discovery that I have double Maitland DNA as I am descended from two sons of James Maitland and Letitia Baker, somewhat confusingly making them my 3x and also my 4x great grandparents.  

James Maitland, my 2x great grandfather, was baptised in Blandford Forum, Dorset on 7 September 1799. He became a tailor, married Elizabeth Welch from Bere Regis in 1825, and had eight children, all of whom were born in Blandford: 

Ann (1827), James (1829), Andrew (1830, died in infancy), Elizabeth (1832, died in infancy), John (1834, died in infancy), George Thomas (1836, my great grandfather), John (1839) and Elizabeth (1841). The re-use of a child’s name after their death seems rather macabre today but was common practice at the time.

James continued to live in Blandford after the early death of his wife in 1846 but at some point between 1851 – 1861 he moved to Portsmouth with James, George, John and Elizabeth – Ann had died in 1850, aged 23. He lived and worked as a tailor in the Portsea Island area of the city until his death in 1865, aged 68.

Younger brother, William Baker Maitland, was baptised in Blandford Forum on 22 March 1805 and is my 3x great grandfather. William was a shoemaker who moved to London as a young man – he married Mary Frampton in Christchurch, Marylebone in 1826 and their first three children were also born in Marylebone: Charlotte (1827, my 2x great grandmother), Sarah (1829) and John (1830). 

Charlotte is the only one of my ancestors to be born in London and the Maitland’s time there proved to be short as by 1833 they were back in Blandford Forum where William and Mary Maitland had two further children: Susannah (1833) and William (1835). A series of trade directory entries and the census returns show them living together at New Buildings until 1857 when William died at the age of 52. Mary, who was born in Whitchampton, Dorset around 1796, continued living in Blandford until her death in 1873.

In 1879, George Thomas Maitland married the daughter of Charlotte Maitland in Portsmouth, but their story must await a later post …