Stumbled across 2 new HURRELL ancestors today through very different avenues. Some ancestors slip through the cracks, are born between census's, died young, or disappear for no reason. And some come to light through non-traditional research methods!
I found 2 different John Hurrell's today.
The first John, I came via a new record set on Findmypast for Misc Devon records. When I put in the name Hurrell, there was a Coroners Inquest with "Manslaughter" listed. There were additional Hurrell's being interviewed or providing statements at the same date. In looking at names, and then looking at the British Newspaper Archive for 1830, I found an article that shed some light on what happened.
In August 1830 there was a duel between 2 young fisherman, Hurrell and Demellwick, and their Fathers were Seconds. It appears Hurrell died, as there is a Coroner's record for John Hurrell on Sept 6 1830, with the notation Manslaughter.
There are accounts by John Hurrell of West Alvington, Richard Hurrell of Loddiswell, and William Hurrell, Mariner (no residence listed).
I also found this reference 1/703/59 from National Archives site:
Date: 1830
Letter to W F Wise esq, Mayor of Plymouth from William Hurrell, Joseph Demellweek and Joana alias Joseph Demellweek the elder who are charged with the manslaughter of John Hurrell asking if they can be detained in the prison at Plymouth until they receive a decision to their application for bail
With rules of court for admitting prisoners to bail
Also a letter from Richard Jago Squire, Coroner re the warrant for the commitment of the abovementioned who are charged with manslaughter
It would seem William is the Father, and John and Richard would be William's brothers. All of this squares up with my Family Tree and helped place this John as the son of William. I had a John, son of William b 1812, and had no further record of him......his death in 1830 makes sense, and I never would've found him without these records, as it's before Civil Registration and Censuses.
The Second John Hurrell I discovered today was a new son to Richard Hurrell and Elizabeth Sampson, that I did not have. I found him while looking at the National Archives site also. I put in the name John Hurrell as part of my searching for the other John Hurrell who died in the duel. I came across this John as being admitted as a student to the Greenwich Hospital School. On this record it lists his birth date as 10 Feb 1843, and his parents as Richard Hurrell and Elizabeth Sampson with a marriage date of 22 Dec 1831 in East Stonehouse, Devon. This marriage date was new information -- I had the couple, but only had their first child born in 1839, so assumed the marriage was around then. I did not have John as a child of this couple, as Richard was a Mariner or in Royal Navy and seemed to be around the Isle of Wight (based on some of his children's birth). So doing a bit of searching I found a birth for John Hurrell on 26 Feb 1843 at Isle of Wight, on his Naval Service Record. Sadly, his Naval Service Record also show that he was "discharged dead" from the Nary in 1876. The Civil Registration entry is in East Stonehouse, Devon -- so likely he was in port. His ship at the time was the HMS Warrior.
So even though these 2 John's led relatively short lives, they still fill out some details in my Hurrell family. They deserve to be remembered and I'm glad that I discovered them and their interesting stories!
