Tuesday, June 2, 2020

Dear Randy: "Do You Know Anything About the Baker, F. Vaux, of Somerset?"

I get email asking questions, and today's said:

"...Yeovil, Somerset is where I grew up. On a visit there last year, I bought an old Mrs. Beeton’s cookery book dated 1905. In the back was a folded handwritten recipe on paper belonging to F Vaux, Bakers from Ditcheat, Somerset.  The recipe mentions powdered egg, so I am assuming it is from World War II era?  I have seen that you have done research on the Vaux family, and wondered if you had any information about this Baker.  Just curious to know more about them.  I see there are many Vaux family members in South Petherton."

Apparently, my correspondent Googled Vaux and Somerset and found my blog.  Cool - I wish more Vaux cousins would find my blog!  

I surmised that I might find F. Vaux in the 1901 or 1911 England and Wales census records, but didn't know the age of the person.  I checked 1911 first on Findmypast, but there was no F. Vaux that was a baker in that census in Somerset.  In the 1901 England and Wales census, I found the John Vaux family in Shepton Beauchamp, Somerset with a son Fred, age 9, as shown below:

John Vaux, age 51, born in Seavington, is the head of household, and was a grocer and baker.  That is promising.  There is no spouse, only 7 children aged 22 down to 7.  The first four children were born in Seavington, and the last 3 in Shepton Beauchamp.

The next resource I checked was the 1939 Register on Findmypast, and easily found Frederick Vaux residing in Glosterville, Ditcheat, Shepton Mallet R.D.  Here is the entry for his family:

Frederick Vaux was born 18 February 1891 and is a Master Baker and Confectioner in 1939.  His two sons are also Bakers.  Since there are several elderly Feasey people in this household, it is likely that Fred's wife, Harriet E. Vaux, born 13 July 1898, is a Feasey.  I will look for a marriage record, a birth record and a death record:

*  I found no marriage record for a Fred* Vaux marrying a Harriet.
*  I found a baptism record for Frederick Vaux, baptized 29 March 1891 in Shepton Beauchamp, parents John Vaux and Elizabeth Baker.
*  I found a death record for a Frederick Vaux, age 77, died 2nd quarter 1968 in Glocestershire.
*  There are two British Army Service Records for Frederick Vaux of Ilminster, Somerset for a Frederick Vaux.

A John Vaux married an Elizabeth Hutchings in 1873 in Seavington, Somerset, but they may not be the parents of Frederick Vaux,  The census says John Vaux was born in 1850 in Seavington, Somerset.  There are two baptisms for a John Vaux in Seavington - one in 1848 to John and Eliza Vaux, and the other in 1850 to William and Elizabeth Vaux.  More work would be required to determine which couple was the parents.

I looked for more records on Ancestry.com but could not determine any more information.

That's enough for now - the above took 20 minutes to find, and another 40 minutes to write up.  I sent the two images above to my correspondent in case she wants the information.

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Disclosure: I have a complimentary subscription to Findmypast, and have accepted meals and services from Findmypast, as a Findmypast Ambassador. This has not affected my objectivity relative to Findmypast and its products.

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3 comments:

Marshall said...

So what's the deal with the black bar and "This record is officially closed"? I've seen that on other British records.

Randy Seaver said...

The black bar indicates that the person under the black bar may still be alive. When the death record is provided, the black bar will be removed. 1939 was only 81 years ago.

Unknown said...

As child I knew Fred and Ethel Vaux, my father worked for them. I went primary school with son Eric's children. As a family we visited the Fred & Ethel when they retired to Minsterworth, Gloucester. I have a post and picture of the Ditcheat bakery on my FB page

https://www.facebook.com/ditcheat.life/photos/1148427818926033