Occupation question

[PhotoFamily]

Leeds Mason is a several-great uncle who made the way easier for my several-great g'father.

Not exactly a common name.

Leeds apprenticed in 1746 to become a fishmonger.

He was admitted to the Freedom of the Company 5 Apr 1754. He eventually becomes Prime Warden.

I have never found a marriage for him, but his will (which has its own hiccups) mentions that his daughter is his sole surviving family member.

Ancestry's recent additions of marriage allegations & bonds has them for Leeds Mason! About the right timeframe. If I don't look at the details too closely, then I'm happy. But I did.

The Bond says "Leeds Mason of the Parish of Saint Mary Somerset London Sugar Baker..." Uh, oh - he wasn't a Sugar Baker. I looked that up. The actual workers had a very unpleasant job, and they were Irish or Germans for the most part. I suppose he could have owned the business? But he was a fishmonger???

There are copies of his signature:
1746 - Apprenticeship record
1755 - Witness to his sister's marriage
1757 - Allegation

The latter two are quite similar, the first varies mostly in the formation of the "M" - the first uses sharp points at the top of the M, the latter two are soft hills. Seems like he could have changed the way he wrote "M" over 9 years?

So, do you think a fishmonger would have been labelled a sugar baker?

Would you think this is the same person?

thanks
sarah

[Heather Positive Thinker]

Is it the right area for him to be in?

I would add that I found my GGFx3 in about 1763 I think become a free man through the Glovers Guild. Now he was a lighterman/waterman and it really confused me - I was sure it was him as all the other details including dad added up. I did some research and found that the waterman did not have a guild of their own at that time so men had to become a free man through a bona fide guild - in my case, via the Glovers.

It may be the same for you. Check out the Fishmongers guild records and see when they actually start.

[AlanC]

Ancestry shows a marriage record dated 22/2/1757 for Leeds & Molly. See 'London, England Marriages and Banns 1754-1921. The groom is from the Parish of St Mary Somerset, London and not St Mary, Somerset. They were married by Licence but alas there is no source available to view Marriage Licences.

[PhotoFamily]

It may be the same for you. Check out the Fishmongers guild records and see when they actually start.

I've looked thru the Fishmongers records (that's where I found his freedom & his election to Prime Warden). I assume there's no guild for Sugar Bakers?

[PhotoFamily]

Is it the right area for him to be in?

Ancestry shows a marriage record dated 22/2/1757 for Leeds & Molly. See 'London, England Marriages and Banns 1754-1921. The groom is from the Parish of St Mary Somerset, London and not St Mary, Somerset. They were married by Licence but alas there is no source available to view Marriage Licences.

It was my typing that inserted the comma between St Mary and Somerset. Sorry...

I thought it was ancestry that I retrieved the Allegation & Bond from, but then I also thought I had asked Ancestry for a marriage for him and didn't find anything!

I don't know London geography, so I can't be sure of proximity. I know that Leeds later lived in Ponders End. His father is John Mason, and that's a very difficult name to pin down. I'm beginning to like a John Mason who was born in St Dunstan in the West, and apprenticed from there.

I'm also confused about the differences between "St Dunstan", "St Dunstan in the West", and "St Dunstan in the East". They're all distinct locations & churches? When I'm trying to find records thru Hugh Wallis, he lists them separately. Oh, boy.

Thanks again.

[PhotoFamily]

Oh, and also, there's a tax record when he took an apprentice. He was listed as a haberdasher, living on Cornhill.

But he could own multiple businesses, couldn't he? I believe he was quite a wealthy man at the time of his death.

Also, I think some of his descendants were liquor merchants - could be a development from the sugarbaking?

[Christine in Herts]

Ancestry shows a marriage record dated 22/2/1757 for Leeds & Molly. See 'London, England Marriages and Banns 1754-1921. The groom is from the Parish of St Mary Somerset, London and not St Mary, Somerset. They were married by Licence but alas there is no source available to view Marriage Licences.

Yes there is!

Have a look at Ancestry's London and Surrey, England, Marriage Bonds and Allegations, 1597-1921

I think you'll find what you're looking for!

Christine

[PhotoFamily]

Thanks, Christine

[PhotoFamily]

I don't know if others are aware of a useful, if somewhat obscure, tool for locating jurisdictions, parishes, records, etc based on 1851 boundaries. Might be useful in the reference section.
maps.familysearch.org

It's capable, for instance, of giving distances from one church to another. Listing the poor law unions for a location. Adjacent parishes. and more.

[Elaine ..Spain]

I don't know if others are aware of a useful, if somewhat obscure, tool for locating jurisdictions, parishes, records, etc based on 1851 boundaries. Might be useful in the reference section.
maps.familysearch.org

It's capable, for instance, of giving distances from one church to another. Listing the poor law unions for a location. Adjacent parishes. and more.

Thanks for that - have just added it to our Maps page