Vital Statistics
William Pinsent: 1825 – xxxx GRO1043 (Confectioner, New York, U.S.A.)
1. Clara E. T. Unknown: xxxx – xxxx
Married: xxxx: xxxx
Children by Clara E. T. Unknown:
John W. Pinsent: 1854 – xxxx
Millicent/Mary Pinsent: 1856 – xxxx
Jane (Jenny) Pinsent: 1859 – xxxx
2. Louisa Unknown: 1846 – xxxx
Married: xxxx: xxxx:
Children by Louisa Unknown:
Louisa Pinsent: 1869 – xxxx
William Pinsent: 1873 – xxxx
Charles Pinsent: 1874 – xxxx
Frank Pinsent: 1875 – xxxx
Family Branch: Devonport
PinsentID: GRO1043
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William Pinsent was the eldest surviving son of John Pinsent and Mary Ann (née Todd). He was born in Clerkenwell in London, where his parents ran a “tallow store”, or “chandlery” in the Goswell Road. In 1832, when William was seven, his parents sold up and moved to the United States taking him with them. However, for some reason, they left his younger brother John Pinsent and his elder sister Elizabeth Pinsent behind. William’s parents took out American citizenship immediately on arrival. The family settled in New York and William’s younger brother John Pinsent “junior” joined them in 1845. For some reason, Elizabeth stayed on in England.
Instead of boiling soap and making candles, John and Mary Ann built up a successful “confectionery” business in the Bowery in New York in the 1840s. In due course, their sons joined them in the business and by the 1850s they seem to have opened a second outlet, at #217, 6th Avenue, New York. An advertisement placed in the New York Times on 23rd May 1854 refers to “J. and W. Pinsent,” as agents for the sale of “cigars and (lottery) tickets” at the above address
William had married a girl called Clara by then and a Census taken in New York the following year (1855) shows that they were living with an eleven-month old son, John W. Pinsent, in a brick house in the 16th Ward, in New York valued at $10,500. The household included two servants, an “apprentice confectioner” and William’s brother John Pinsent who was still single. They were both described as being “confectioners”, so they presumably worked with their father. Whether the “J” in the advertisement referred to John Pinsent “senior” or “junior” is unclear.
The United States Federal Census for New York in 1860, tells us that William was a “confectioner” living with his wife Clara and their three children, John aged six, Milly aged four, and Jane who was just five months old, in the 16th Ward. I have yet to locate New York’s birth, marriage and death records; however, it looks as if Clara had Millicent Pinsent in 1857 and Jenny Pinsent in 1861 – before she (sadly) died in the mid 1860s. It would be nice to see the birth records as one of the census records refers to “Millie” Pinsent and another “Minnie” Pinsent. Both names are possible.
William was living at the same address when the next Federal Census was taken, in 1870. He was then described as being a “male citizen of the United States” who had a “personal estate” valued at $3,000 and “kept a confectionary store.” William had remarried and had a young Prussian woman, Louisa, as his wife. She was almost half his age. Louisa looked after William’s three children by Clara, and had a daughter of her own. Louisa Pinsent had been born the previous December. William’s household included three female Irish domestic servants and his parents, John Pinsent and Mary Ann (née Todd). John had retired by then, so William was deemed to be the head of the household. John died shortly afterwards.
William died by 1880. The Federal Census that year shows that Louisa was now a widow who had three more children to look after: William Pinsent born in 1873, Charles Pinsent in 1874 and Frank Pinsent in 1875. When and where William died is unclear; however, by 1880, Louisa had moved to Jersey City, in New Jersey with her four young children and with Jenny Pinsent from her husband’s first marriage.
William and Clara’s son John W. Pinsent suffered from epilepsy and he was thirty two years old when admitted to New York City’s Blackwells Island Almshouse in January 1884. He must have been severely handicapped as he was deemed to be able to capable of doing “confectionary” only “now and then”. He had previously spent time in the Workhouse and his prognosis was “doubtful” (Records of Inmates of Almshouses and Poorhouses: 1830 – 1920: Ancestry.com). He does not seem to have married. What became of his sisters Millie/Mary and Jenny Pinsent I am not sure. They remain “loose ends” for now – partly because of missing data and partly because several unrelated families moved to New York from Newfoundland in the late 1800s and it is hard to differentiate between the families.
William and Louisa’s son William is a case in point. The United States Federal Census of Boston City, in 1900, refers to a William Pinsent, born in January 1873. He was a “teamster” (“dockworker”) who married a girl called Mary in 1867. They had an adopted daughter. However, they are said to be from “English Canada,” so they may well be Newfoundlanders. Similarly, there was a Charles E. Pinsent, born in New York in 1874, lodging in Los Angeles, California, at the time of the 1910 United States Census. No word on Frank Pinsent.
Family Tree
Grandparents
Grandfather: Thomas Pinsent: 1754 – 1841
Grandmother: Elizabeth Pridham: 1763 – 1821
Parents
Father: John Pinsent: 1799 – 1870
Mother: Mary Ann Todd: 1799 – 1874
Father’s Siblings (Aunts, Uncles)
Anna Thomasin Crout Pinsent: 1777 – 1799
Thomas Pinsent: 1779 – 1779
Thomas Pinsent: 1782 – 1872
Elizabeth Pinsent: 1789 – xxxx
Maria Pinsent: 1797 – 1864
John Pinsent: 1799 – 1870
William Pinsent: 1808 – xxxx
Charles Pinsent: 1812 – 1863
George Pinsent: 1814 – 1894
Male Siblings (Brothers)
Thomas Pinsent: 1823 – 1825
William Pinsent: 1825 – xxxx
John Pinsent: 1826 – 1914
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