Emily Foreman married John Gray on October 21st 1883 at St Philip’s Church Camberwell,when he is 63 and she is 25. George Foreman Senior is Emily’s grandfather.
George Foreman Snr was born in 1802, in Warminster, Wiltshire,and christened on the 9th May, 1802. His father was Emmanuel Foreman, and his mother was Mary Homes. They appear to have been married on 12 Jan 1789 in Warminster.
George Senior was a wheelwright, and married Eliza Laverton on 15 Dec 1825 at Holy Trinity, Frome, Somerset. Eliza Foreman was born in about 1804, in Shepton Mallet,Somerset. Eliza died between in the autumn of 1860. They are my great great great grandparents. (breaking the rule here ‘cos I wanted to work out exactly who they were.)
George and Eliza had nine children.
- George Foreman Jnr. b. 1827
- Walter Foreman b.1829
- Seleana Foreman b. 1833
- John Laverton Foreman b.1834
- Richard Foreman b. 1835
- Josh Foreman b. 1837
- Albert Foreman b. 1840
- Alfred E Foreman b.1844
- Sophia A Foreman b. 1847
All the children were born and christened in Bristol, apart from George Jnr who was born in Warminster, and Walter who was born in Frome. So for about 17 years they were in the parish of St Mary’s Redcliffe, and then briefly in the parish of Bedmington. The first record we have is the 1841 census where the family are living in Nelson Place in Bristol.
By 1851 the family had moved to Nursery Row, Mimms Side, Barnet in Hertfordshire. Where George Foreman Snr was working as a wheelwright, and George Jnr, then aged 24, as a coach wheelwright. 18 year old John was a labourer, and Josh (Joseph) Foreman was a14 year old errand boy. Albert, Alfred, and Sophia were all at school. There is no trace of Seleana, Richard, or Walter, though Walter re-surfaces again in 1871.
By 1861, 22 year old Albert has joined the army and is serving as a gunner in the Royal Artillery, and is in Woolwich Barracks. George Senior is living in Southwark with Joseph, Alfred, and Sophia. Eliza died the previous year. JLF is married, living at 17 White Place, Bermondsey with 2 year old Emily, and his 71 year old widowed mother-in-law. It is not clear where George and Walter are, though both reappear in 1871. There is no evidence at all of Seleana after 1841.
There is no real evidence of George Senior after this, so he is likely to have died prior to the 1871 census. He would have been 69 years old by then. The only possible, but highly improbable, record is of a George Foreman, born in 1805 who died in Lewisham in 1896 aged 91.
