Dear Liz,
From Paricia Lay's book "Cornish Immigrants: Assisted Arrivals in NSW 1837-1877", I found a Rhoda Pidwell listed. It states that she was aged 24, 25 on application, per ship "Lady Kennaway" 1841, native of Truro, parents John & Annie Pidwell, Rhoda was an un-married female dressmaker with her religion given as Independent.

There is also a Charles Pidwell, aged 22, listed for the ship "Ninevah" in 1877, from Cornwall, parents Peter & Catherine Pidwell, both living in Cornwall. Charles was a labourer & his religion was Wesleyan.

Yours,
Elizabeth

And so to researcher Bob in Cornwall.

Dear Elizabeth
Thank you for your enquiry to Cornwall Family Finders. I am sorry that it has taken such a time to respond, but I have been experiencing some technical difficulties which are now, happily, resolved.

I would be pleased to take on the search for your Cornish ancestry and look for Rhoda and her family. Do you happen to know what part of Cornwall they came from or what occupations they followed? Any clues, even what they did once they arrived in Australia could help narrow down the search.

I know that there were families of Pidwell in the Illogan area around the time of your family, I have seen the name when looking through the records there. This was a very important tin and copper mining area and many thousands of miners emigrated to South Australia in the mid-19th century when Cornish mines were becoming uneconomical and closing and new mineral wealth was being found in Australia and America.

I also know that there were Pidwell's in Falmouth, which is a port, much associated in those days with transport of cargo and people all over the World.

Any clues would be useful, even if they are only family stories and not really proven.

As indicated on my website, my research fee is £10 per hour and this equates to around $27Aus per hour. I also work on a "no result, no fee" basis, so if I find nothing, there is nothing to pay. I like to have a budget guide before I begin and what I normally suggest is about 6-8 hours as an initial input, see what that turns up and go from there. I will then advise what has been found and what else might be found with further input and leave it to you to decide how much further you wish to go with the research. All I need is your e-mail confirmation of acceptance and a budget guide to set my wheels in motion. Given my present workload and the Christmas and New Year Holiday period, I would estimate that I should have some form of result for you in about four to six weeks from your acceptance.

I look forward to hearing from you again soon. Once again, sorry for the delayed reply.
Kind Regards
Bob
Cornwall Family Finders

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Dear Bob
Sorry about the delay in getting back to you regarding searching for Rhoda Pidwell - Christmas overwhelmed me and I was trying to get some further information about her - primarily, how she got to Australia and when. I have not been able to find any information regarding that at all - she is not on the passenger lists for South Australia but the lists are not very accurate so I guess that doesn't mean that she didn't disembark at Port Adelaide.

Thank you - I'd like for you to search her out, if you can, and eight hours was about what I'd budgeted for.

I don't have a lot of information but what there is can be found here:

http://members.iinet.net.au/~ploke/Temporary/rhodapidwell.html

I've included the names of her grandchildren because, as you will see, the same names keep cropping up and I've found that it can sometimes be helpful in identifying particular branches of my family as the same names seem to be used over and over. If you would prefer the information as email attachments I can do that but I thought that this way would be more convenient for you.

I've included two letters from people who were also investigating Pidwells. I don't know if they will be of any help to you but may give you a lead.

I'm not sure how you arrange payment for your services but perhaps you will let me know what I need to do in that regard.
Regards -
Liz

Dear Liz
Thank you for your acceptance. I shall be pleased to see what can be added to your knowledge and I will also try to get some copies or photocopies from the original Illogan registers for you, or wherever the family turn out to be from.

What you have already is interesting and will probably save me some duplicated research.

I would estimate having a result for you in about 4 weeks time, given my present workload, and I will be in touch again as soon as I have found something to let you know how it is going.

Unfortunatley emigration records and passenger lists of folk leaving Cornwall are also very incomplete, but we may strike lucky.
Kind regards
Bob
Cornwall Family Finders

Dear Bob
Maybe Truro would be the place to start looking for Rhoda. The ship appears to have been the Lady Kennaway - see below.

Hi Liz
Apologies for not getting back to you sooner.

In my records I have a Rhoda Pidwell born 28 August 1816, Truro and baptised 25 April 1822, Bethesda Independent Chapel, Truro.

Although she is not related to my family if this is your 2 x great grandmother then I should be able to put you in touch with someone who is researching the same family of Pidwells.

Can you tell me where you are emailing from?

Many thanks and best wishes.
Jackie

Dear Liz
I will start with the Truro connection and see what comes of it. With the names we have running through the family and the employment connection it should not be difficult to link you with the correct family. It is more than likely that she was carrying on a family trade in her profession as a Milliner so that might be the best clue we have.

Will be in touch again as soon as I have any further news.

Kind Regards
Bob
Cornwall Family Finders

Dear Liz
Just a quick update on progress.

I have located the family of Rhoda Pidwell in Truro and I would be happy to confirm that your Rhoda is the one who came over on the Lady Kennaway in 1841. She was born on 2nd April 1822 and baptised at Truro Bethesda Congregational Independent Church on 25th April 1822. Her parents were John and Anne Pidwell and he was a Shoemaker.

There is no other Rhoda Pidwell around at this time of anywhere near this age so this must be the right one. She had four brothers and a sister as far as I can tell at present and I am hoping to find out a bit more before too long.

What I particularly want to find is the family on the 1841 Cornwall census, which should confirm her as not being there, as she was in Australia, but should show her parents, perhaps some of her siblings and give conformation of address and occupation.

Will be in touch again as soon as I have any further news.
Kind regards
Bob
Cornwall Family Finders

Dear Bob
There seems to be a discrepancy with the dates (there always was, or course. I assumed that she had lied about her age when she married) - I suppose that we HAVE got the right Rhoda. It is not a common name and not a lot of Pidwell's came to Australia as far as I can ascertain.

Certainly the one who sailed to Australia seems to be the only one who married or died here and I know that no Rhoda Pidwells sailed to South Australia which is where she married so it MUST be the same woman who went to New South Wales.

Good hunting and I'll look forward to hearing from you again.

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Dear Liz
You often find discrepancies with dates and ages with folk of this era. They had no real education as such and often they were being processed by imigration authorities like so many sheep or cattle and no one really took too much notice. I have had a look for others of the same name and there are none anywhere near her age, so I would be confident we have found the right one.

Kind regards
Bob
Cornwall Family Finders

Dear Bob
Rhoda's ship sailed for Australia seven days after the census in 1841. The Lady Kennaway sailed from Portsmouth on 13th June 1841. A Rhoda Pidwell is on the census but that is all the information I can get, being unable to purchase online the credit tokens needed to follow it up.

I also found a John Sexton in Cornwall at the time of the census. Rhoda married a man called John Sexton. If you have access to the census records could you check him out. Rhoda's John Sexton was supposedly 29 years old in 1848 when they married. I'd be interested to know if he was the reason she came to Australia.

Dear Liz
I have found Rhoda on the 1841 census, indeed the same page shows TWO Rhoda Pidwell's, which is totally confusing me as I can find no record of any other Rhoda anywhere else not birth or baptism anywhere in Cornish records.

The entry shows a Rhoda Pidwell, aged 20 in the household of Ann Burns and three other Burns daughters, one of 30 and two aged 20 ... ages on the 1841 census are notoriously dubious sometimes, with the enumerators sometimes showing children as very odd ages when compared to other records. The family are living in St. Dominic Street, Truro, a street which still exists to this day and right next door is the "right(??)" Rhoda's family, John, her father aged 55 and shown as a shoemaker, then Rhoda, aged 24 (?? questionable) Robert, 12 (questionable??) and John, 9 with a lodger called Eliza Rodgers.

No wife for John, but again I can find no burial record for her between the birth of the youngest child and the census, and also the ages on the census for Rhoda and her brother Robert do not tie up with their baptism records I have found. It would seem that the one in the previous household is shown as the right age but what is she doing there? I am confused !!!

As I say, I can not find another even remotely similar Pidwell family and the chances of their being another one in Truro or anywhere else with a father John and children Rhoda and Robert are very remote indeed, but I will try and get to the bottom of it and make sure we have the right Rhoda for you. As for John Sexton, can you let me know where in Cornwall he was at the time of the census? It will help me find him a lot quicker as there is no index of names for that census, just a slog through until you find the right people.

Another query you may have the answer to already from the information you have on the records of the ship Lady Kennaway, does it show anyone by the name of Burns on the passenger list, particularly a Sally, Nanny or Mary as these were the other three girls in the first Rhoda's household and they might just have all gone to Australia at the same time as a group of friends.

By the way, it seems St. Dominic Street was the place to go for shoes in those days as there are three shoemakers in adjacent houses.

Will be in touch again as soon as I have any more clues.

Kind Regards
Bob
Cornwall Family Finders

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Dear Bob
Here is the reply I have just received, from the lady who has the book listing the Cornish immigrants, regarding the Burns girls.

Dear Liz,
I am happy to have another look in the Cornish Immigrants book for you. one of the indexes in the book is a listing of all Cornish people on each particular ship. Under the Lady Kennaway 1841 (the ship DID come again in 1854, according to this book), your Rhoda is the only name. Under the list of surnames there are NO Sally, Nanny or Mary BURNS listed.

Did you know that the 1841 Census is on-line through GENUKI at www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/Cornwall/index.html They have lots & lots of interesting info there on Cornwall.

I hope it all goes well & you get to the bottom of it all! It seems a long shot, but maybe your Rhoda was just visiting her neighbour while the Census collector was next-door & her father gave the info then & she did a second time, not realising?

Yours,
Elizabeth

As far as John Sexton goes - if you could just check whether or not he was in the Truro area - if Rhoda knew him in Cornwall then maybe he was the reason she went to Australia. Assisted migration to South Australia was suspended in 1840 which is probably why she went to Sydney and then on to South Australia at a later date. Most of the Australian Pidwells were in South Australia so she probably had relatives there.

Regards -
Liz

Your request was to find the family of Rhoda Pidwell, who you knew to have been born in Cornwall about 1819 and who later emigrated to Australia. You also wished to know when she emigrated. Unfortunately, records of passenger lists of Cornish migrants are very scarce. Most have been lost or destroyed in the intervening years. Many were lost in a huge fire in London during the Second World War. However, information from other sources has since confirmed that Rhoda appears to have travelled on a ship called the Lady Kennaway in 1841. This information would certainly seem to relate to the same Rhoda that I have researched here. Her parents were John and Anne, she was from Truro and her religion was Independent rather than the much more common Church of England.

Rhoda was baptised in 25th April 1822.
The baptism entry reads:
Rhoda, daughter of John Pidwell and Ann, Born 2nd April 1821, baptised, 25th April 1822, by William Moore.

The Church is the Truro Bethesda Congregational Independent Church.
Research into this Church has confirmed that it was founded in 1776 at a time when many Independent and non-Conformist Churches were springing up as alternatives to the Church of England.
This was the era of the Wesley brothers, who gave their name to the Weslyan Church, as well as the era of the great expansion of Methodism and other non-Conformist religions.
The site of the original Church buildings is not known but in 1836, a new building was consecrated, followed by a larger building in 1857. This building stood as a Church until it was sold in 1932 and served then for many years as the offices of the Council for the Rural District of Truro. Unfortunately, the main façade of the building was destroyed during modernisation and conversion into a retail store some twenty years ago and nothing recognisable still stands today.

As for siblings of Rhoda, I have located the following, reproduced as they are written in the original baptism register.

Lambert, son of John, Shoemaker and Anne Pidwell, born 28th May 1811 and baptised 1st October 1815
John, son of John, Shoemaker and Anne Pidwell, born 18th December 1814 and baptised 1st October 1815.

Charles, son of John Pidwell and Anne, born 18th December 1819 and baptised 25th April 1822
Caroline, daughter of John Pidwell and Anne, born 8th January 1821 and baptised 25th April 1822
(Those two were baptised on the same day as Rhoda)

Robert, son of John Pidwell and Anne, born 9th March 1825 and baptised 27th February 1827.

Unfortunately, these entries could not be copied from the original documents.

Moving forward now to the year 1841, this was the year of the first full census of England and Wales. Before this time the Church of England did a “head-count” of the population of its parishes every ten years and submitted numbers to a central government establishment. This though was the first time that a full census, including names, ages addresses and occupations had been taken. It has to be said that it was a fairly sketchy record, as not all the census enumerators were as conscientious and thorough as others and detail is often bad, particularly in relation to ages.
Looking at the page for the Pidwell family is proof of this, if ever it were needed.
The page has been reproduced from the original and is enclosed: It shows John Pidwell, Shoemaker with Rhoda, shown as 24, Robert, shown as 12 and another child, Peter, shown as 9. In the household above there is also a Rhoda Pidwell, aged 20. Extensive research has failed to come up with another Rhoda anywhere and the conclusion is that this is an enumerator’s error.
The address is St Dominic Street an address which is still a row of old cottages to this day.

Other Pidwells in Truro on the 1841 census include:
Catherine Pidwell, dressmaker of Infirmary Hill. (Possibly a family trade connection here as Rhoda is listed in shipping records as a dressmaker).
Reuben Pidwell, sailor, living at Rosewin Terrace in the household of Mary Hocking and her lodger, Charles Thom. Both of these addresses can still be found today in Truro.

The following census in 1851 still shows Pidwells in Truro, There is a family:
Lambert, 39, wife Elizabeth, 36 and children Louisa, 15, Joseph, 11, Charles, 8, John, 4 and Jane Ann, 1, without doubt Rhoda’s elder brother and his family.

Returning now to trace the Pidwell family back in time, an entry has been found in the parish registers of Kenwyn Parish which is reproduced.
Kenwyn was, and still is a Church and parish on the outskirts of Truro, and covers parts of the modern City as well as a large surrounding rural area.
This entry reads:
John Pidwell & and Ann Trevosa both of this Parish were married in this church by Banns this twenty seventh Day of August in the Year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Nine, By me, R Polwhele.
John has made his mark and Ann has signed her name and written “servant” after it, an indication of her employment.
This is a time before universal education and the “making of a mark” rather than signing a name was commonplace.
One of the witnesses is Joseph Pidwell who we shall see below is John’s father.
The “&” symbol as well as the full “and” would seem to be an error on the part of the writer of the entry.

Moving back again and still in the Kenwyn registers, we find an entry in 1787 which reads: John, son of Joseph and Nancy Pidwell. The date is September 9th.

Moving back again, the marriage of Joseph and Nancy Hoskin, Rhoda’s grandparents, has been located. In this case both have signed their names, an indication of some degree of education at a time when most folk were still making their mark. The year is 1785.

Joseph Pidwell was the son of another Joseph and his wife, Thomasin.
He was baptised on 21st July 1755, again in Kenwyn Church.

Joseph (senior) and Thomasin Bawden were married in Kenwyn on 6th October 1754.

Unfortunately these records and those of previous generations noted below could not be copied.

Joseph senior was baptised on 25th September 1727, the son of yet another Joseph and his wife Catherine Philips who were married on 6th September 1719.

One further generation has been identified which gives us Joseph, the son of Petter and Mary Pidwell, baptised on 12th November 1695.

Records before this date show the name of Pidwell, or Pedwell as it is sometimes written in and around the Truro area for at least another hundred years but unfortunately the detail is such that a direct link would contain more than a small degree of speculation as to exactly who belongs to whom in the family line. Some registers are incomplete and some are missing altogether.

CONCLUSION

From the original clues and additional information from other sources, it has been possible to trace your family back to a time almost one hundred and fifty years before Rhoda emigrated to Australia on the ship, Lady Kennaway in 1841.
As with all research of this period, some anomalies of age and dates can occur and this is evident from the census records in particular.
However, there is no doubt that we have found the right family line and that your ancestral home lies within the modern day City of Truro, which has grown now to become the major shopping and administrative capital of the County of Cornwall.
The City still has associations with many trades and professions, as well as close links to the sea, being at the head of the River Fal, which flows into the sea at the port of Falmouth, from where so many thousands of Cornish migrants left their beloved homeland, seeking new jobs and new lives in new lands.
Thank you for choosing CORNWALL FAMILY FINDERS for your research and I hope that you are pleased with the results we have been able to obtain for you.

March 2003

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Rhoda was baptised in 25th April 1822. The baptism entry reads: Rhoda, daughter of John Pidwell and Ann, Born 2nd April 1821, baptised, 25th April 1822, by William Moore. Charles, son of John Pidwell and Anne, born 18th December 1819 and baptised 25th April 1822 Caroline, daughter of John Pidwell and Anne, born 8th January 1821 and baptised 25th April 1822
(Those two were baptised on the same day as Rhoda)

It shows Rhoda as being three months younger than her sister. Not sure if it was a typographical error or not but please would you verify her birth date for me. It is regrettable that the entries could not be copied as I would not trouble you otherwise.

Is it remotely possible that the first birth date I was given ( 28th August 1816) is the correct one? That would make her closer to the age her father gave at the census and the age she claimed to be when she sailed for Australia.

Dear Liz
Thank you for your note. I have looked at my notes and these confirm that what I have in the report is what I copied from the register, perhaps I simply copied it wrongly. I will ckeck. As you say, there is a problem here with dates and I must admit I had not noted it when I wrote the report. I will check the register again and look again for the possible alternative date you have.
Sorry for the confusion
Regards
Bob

Dear Elizabeth
If this is the second time you have had this message, forgive me, my e-mail has been playing up and I am not sure what has gone and what has not.

At the risk of duplication, here goes again.

I have gone back and checked the detail on Rhoda from the orignal baptism register of the 1820's, which still survives in pretty good order, although I could not take a photocopy from it as it is too delicate for that. This clearly shows Rhoda, baptised on 25th April 1822 as we said before, but, born on 28th August 1816, as you said. The document I used before was a transcript of the original, made soon after the 1837 Civil Registration Act made the reporting of all births, marriages and deaths a legal requirement to a central government department.

As a result, all registers from non-Church of England sources, as was Rhoda being Non-Conformist, had to be transcribed and sent off to "HQ" as it were.

The transcriber all those years ago took the birth date of the entry above Rhoda and gave it to her in error. The other child was James, son of William and Avis Williams, nothing at all to do with Rhoda and family. An error nearly 200 years old now come to light.

Hope this calrifies the situation

Kind regards
Bob
Cornwall Family Finders

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