I decided to follow a new path today looking at one of my 4x great grandfathers. I know quite a bit about his son Christopher Buller or Christy Buller as he was often times referred to in various documents. Christopher was possibly born in London or Greater London but even that detail is hidden to me. I have two burial records for Christopher Buller with one at St Olave Bermondsey and the other at Saint Mary Magdalene Woolwich and both in a reasonable time period to be my 3x great grandfather.
The first Christopher Buller died May 1832 at the Workhouse Infirmary in Bermondsey. This is not particularly unusual as there were hospitals in the Workhouses that people in the community used. I am not sure where he lived his last days but he is identified in the will of his step mother in law as living on Long Lane in Bermondsey in 1817. In this burial record for Christopher it states that he was 69 years of age when he died and the burial was 13 May 1832 giving him a possible birth year of 1763.
The second burial record for Christopher Buller is at Bromley 23 Nov 1839 and his age is listed as 82 in the burial record at St Peter and St Paul Woolwich. I have the death certificate for this Christopher Buller and it states that he was 81 years of age and a decayed gentleman. It is possible that this certificate pertains to the Christopher Buller married to a Jane (unknown) with sons Thomas Christopher and John Christopher. The baptisms for these two children were at Woolwich which is in Kent where the Christopher Buller who died in 1839 was buried. Thomas Christopher Buller was baptized 25 Sep 1814 at Saint Mary Magdalene Woolwich (birth Charles Street, Bermondsey) and John Christopher Buller was born Jun 1819 at Woolwich and buried 21 Jul 1819 at St Mary Magdalene Woolwich. I believe I have separated out these two burials and the second burial at Bromley is not my Christopher Buller since mine is living on Long Lane in Bermondsey in this time period.
In 1832, my Christopher Buller's only living son was a Pork Butcher with a shop in Covent Garden and his home was there as well. Henry Christopher Buller, my 2x great grandfather, inherited a sufficient amount when his step grandmother died to set up shop in Covent Garden it would appear (or his wife's father set him up). Henry married twice and his first wife was Sophia Scrooby daughter of George Scrooby and Mary Bullock who married 24 Jun 1798 at Saint Luke Chelsea. Jane (Blakely) Beard step mother of his mother Mary (Beard) Buller was buried 13 Jan 1819 at St Saviour Southward and she died at Crosby Row King Street Southwark. She had married Henry Beard, widower, 8 Feb 1785 at St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey. My 3x great grandmother Mary was 18 years of age at the time and her youngest sister Sarah was eight years of age. Her mother had been dead for about three and a half years at that time (Elizabeth (Hemsley) Buller). As mentioned earlier, in her will Jane mentions that Christy Buller is living on Long Lane in the Borough. We walked the length of Long Lane when we visited Bermondsey a couple of years ago. This area was heavily bombed and other than St Mary Magdalen Church there doesn't appear to be many buildings left from the 1800s. At the time of her death Henry Christopher Buller would have been 14 years of age. At that time he had three sisters living Martha Sarah who married George Caswell 29 Oct 1831, Elizabeth Jane who married Edward Churchyard 31 Oct 1827 and Emma Hemsley who married Isaac Debnan in 1827 at the Independent Church and 2 Jan 1840 at Saint Dunstan. Their forenames may or may not be helpful in my pursuit of the parents of Christopher Buller. Elizabeth Jane's are the forenames of the two wives of Henry Beard. Obviously the forename Henry comes from Henry Beard and Christopher from Henry's father. A brother who died was named Robert Hemsley/Hucksley and could this be Mary's mother's father? Emma Hemsley carries the surname of Henry Beard's first wife Elizabeth Hemsley but the Emma is a mystery. Martha Sarah I have not yet determined but could they be the forename(s) of Christopher's mother/grandmother etc? Looking for a Buller marrying a Martha or a Sarah has not yet been productive. But I shall try again as one of the points of doing the 52 ancestor Challenge is to look once again at these particular individuals to see if anything new has appeared in the records.
I did find an interesting transcription from Boyd's marriage index that I probably saw in Origins when I subscribed a number of years ago but was not then aware that Christopher had married Mary Beard. It is the marriage in 1794 of Christopher Buller and Sarah Beard (her name was Mary but rather interesting). The marriage at All Hallows Barking. I shall have a look at their records if they are available on line. They are not available on line at Ancestry so have written to London Metropolitan Archives to see if I can get a copy of that record. I know Christopher and Mary were married by September 1795 because they are mentioned in the will of Henry Beard. Their first child Elizabeth Jane was born 13 Feb 1796 while they were living on St Thomas St in Bermondsey by 1 Dec 1797 when she died they were living on Charles Street in Bermondsey. One can note that I mentioned earlier that Thomas Christopher Buller was born on Charles Street Bermondsey. This is somewhat of a confusion but I think I have successfully separated out the two Christopher Bullers. It is perhaps just a coincidence that they lived on the same street but 16 years apart. Since I know the age of both of these Christopher Bullers in as much as one can know the ages my Christopher Buller was born circa 1763 and the other Christopher Buller buried at Bromley was born circa 1758. They are not likely brothers but they could be cousins and more on that later. The next child born was Martha Sarah and she was born 16 Aug 1797 St Thomas St. The third child Elizabeth Jane once again was born 26 Apr 1799 St Thomas St. Emma Hemsley was born 21 Jul 1800 but no address given. Henry Christy Buller was born 16 Oct 1803 Tooley Street but died mid November 1803 no street adress given. Then the birth of my 2x great grandfather Henry Christopher Buller 30 Jan 1805 on Bermondsey Street. The last child of this couple was Robert Hemsley/Huxsley Buller born 6 Nov 1806 and no address given. He died mid October 1807. His mother died shortly after his birth and was buried at St Olave Bermondsey and Robert was buried 18 Oct 1807 also at St Olave. Christopher husband and father was buried 13 May 1832 also at St Olave Bermondsey. These graves would have all been moved to Bunhill because this grave yard was closed and moved during the building of the ramps for the London Bridge.
All Hallows Barking is easily within walking distance of Bermondsey. None of the Beard girls married in their home parish (were all run-away marriages?). I have a glimpse of these Beard girls in the marriages that they made with men who earned their livings and seemed comfortable for the times throughout their lives. They all left descendants with most remaining in England but a few ventured off to Canada, the United States, South Africa and Australia. Until my grandmother arrived in Canada her line had remained in England.
London was always a mix of people. I consider that my Buller family may have had links with Birmingham because Henry appears there by 1837 as a provision dealer and then a restaurant owner on Bull Street. His first wife had died in 1836 in Lambeth, his daughter had died in the Covent Garden area in 1835 so one thinks perhaps they moved to Lambeth for better air. But she too succumbed. Their son George had died as an infant also in the Covent Garden area. Henry continued to have a pork butcher shop in Covent Garden as he and his second wife lived there for about ten years although back and forth between London and Birmingham where Ann's father was also a restaurant owner. They were part of the slowly growing middle class of store owners in that time period. But still Christopher Buller eludes me.
I can not find in the large Buller families in London a Christopher Buller. But I did find at St Olave Bermondsey another Buller family and for the moment my notes escape me. Unfortunately I do not appear to have blogged that information gleaned whilst researching at the London Metropolitan Archives. The registers for St Olave from 1731 to 1778 are not on ancestry. However, I did not find a Christopher Buller in those records. The thought at that time occurred to me that they could have been related - perhaps an uncle to Christopher. When I find my copied records I shall blog them this time!
The other item that comes to mind for this London area family is the many emigrants to London from the Continent particularly in the time of the Georges as Kings of England. Many people came from the Germanic States and particularly in the confectionary industry. Eventually my Henry Christopher Buller also became involved in the confectionary industry. Is that a link that is significant? Add to that my atDNA results which, for me, show a northern continental European component both at Family Search and at Ancestry. Add to that my two siblings matching on the Pincombe line with a known 4th cousin twice as much as I do so leaving one to surmise that I have inherited more of the Buller line. Is that what is showing up for me - a German component? Is my Christopher Buller the son of a German emigrant at least on his mother's side? Christopher is not a common forename in the Buller family.
There are twelve results on Find My Past for a Christopher Buller born between 1723 and 1803. The first record is the burial of Christopher Buller at Bromley, Kent. The second is the Westminster Rate Books in 1786 for a Christopher Buller living at Cross Street South, St James Piccadilly. The third is the entry in Boyd's marriage index of the marriage of Christopher Buller and Sarah Beard at All Hallows Barking in 1794. The fourth is another listing in the Westminster rate books at Cross Street South, St James Piccadilly in 1806. The fifth is a listing in the Westminster rate books again at Cross St South, St James Piccadilly. Numbers six and seven are a repeat of number 5 except Carnaby Street South, St James Piccadilly. Number eight is the death registration for Christopher Buller at Bromley, Kent. Number nine is the marriage of Christopher Buller in 1856 at Clitheroe, Lancashire. Number ten is the marriage of Henry Christopher Buller in 1838 and Ann Welch (my 2x great grandparents) at Kings Norton, Worcestershire. The eleventh is the marriage of John Christopher Buller in 1865 at Bermondsey. The twelfth is the marriage of John Christopher Buller in 1875 at St Olave Southwark.
Am I further ahead with the father of Christopher Buller? Perhaps, an answer from London Metropolitan Archives might just provide me with something to further my research. Finding this item on Boyd's Marriage Index is certainly a step forward in that search. Finding my notes taken at LMA would also be somewhat useful although there wasn't a baptism for a Christopher Buller at St Olave in the time period. Has it crossed my mind that he could be illegitimate? Absolutely but I did not find any Buller lines at St Olave Bermondsey that would have worked to have a Buller female having a child in that time frame (nor at St Mary Magdalen Bermondsey where he and his family worshiped). I did not find any illegitimate Buller children born in the London area in this time period yet.
Ancestry of (unknown) Buller
1. Elizabeth BLAKE
2. Helen Louise PINCOMBE (b 18 Oct 1916) - Westminster Township, Middlesex County, Ontario, Canada
3. Ellen Rosina BULLER (b 20 May 1886) - Birmingham Warwickshire England
4. Edwin Denner BULLER (b 8 Apr 1850) - Birmingham Warwickshire England
5. Henry Christopher BULLER (b 30 Jan 1805)- London City London England
6. Christopher BULLER (b c 1763)
7. Unknown
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