My Family
Matters
My 3xgreat grandfather, John Lemmon, was baptised on 11 June 1798 at St Thomas’, Portsea. He was the eldest child of Richard and Johanna Lemmon.Link: Richard Lemmon
Like his father, John was described as a master mariner or a merchant seaman.
He married Susannah Hambley on 31 January 1825 at Alverstoke Parish Church (right) after they took the short voyage across Portsmouth Harbour in wintertime.
John signed – and the witnesses were James Hambley and Mary Lemon (sic).
Susannah’s family were from Devonport – her sister, Mary Hambley married James Pafford/Mills.
They were also my 3xgreat grand-
The children of John and Susannah Lemmon
John and Susannah had eight children born between 1822 and 1841. Seven were baptised at St Thomas’, Portsea, the eighth (John), at St Mary’s, Portsea.
Jane Lemmon
bapt 22 Nov 1822
bur’d 13 May 1832
John Kerlich
Lemmon
bapt 19 June 1825
Harriet Lemmon
bapt 19 June 1825
Elizabeth Lemmon
bapt 7 April 1833
Sarah Jane
Lemmon
bapt 24 May 1835
Richard Kerslick
Lemmon
bapt 7 Jan 1838
Joanna Lemmon
bapt 24 Oct 1830
Samuel Kerlich
Lemmon
bapt 6 Dec 1841
John Lemmon
Susannah Hambley
Where John and Susannah lived
When their first daughter, Jane, was baptised in 1822 (more than two years before their marriage), their abode was St Mary’s Street, Portsea. Maybe they (or just Susannah, as John was at sea) were living with Richard Lemmon.
In 1825, the family were living in Charlottes Row, Landport, but by 1828, they were
back at St Mary’s Street – and they were still there in 1833. Howard Hawkes said
that Richard Lemmon had three married daughters and their children living with him
in 1833 – perhaps Hawkes mistakenly included Richard’s daughter-
By 1841, they had moved to Portsmouth Point where they lived for the rest of their
days. In 1841, they were at Seagers Court where they were caring for Susannah’s mother,
Frances Hambley (77); 1851, at East Street; 1861, at 1 Beals Yard, East Street (next
door to James and Mary Pafford/Mills); 1871, at 21 East Street (they were in the
household of their son-
The deaths of John and Susannah
John died on 27 April 1874 at 46 East Street. The cause of death was old age and dropsy (a collection of fluid in all or any of his body’s cavities that is a symptom of heart or renal disease). His death was notified by his daughter, Sarah Batchelor.
Two years later, on 20 May 1876, Susannah died at 44 East Street from apoplexy (from which she had suffered for almost nine years), paralysis and general decay. The informant was their daughter, Harriet Mills, of 46 East Street.
What became of John and Susannah’s children?
John Kerlich Lemmon (25) married Susannah Mary Alm (22) on 12 October 1853 at St Saviour’s, Jersey. Susannah’s father was Benjamin Arm, a seaman. When copied from the register, John’s middle name was written as ‘Hassellwick’.
The couple had eight sons and a daughter -
John like his father, was also a master mariner gaining his certificate in 1845.
He trawled the oyster beds at Jersey (see below) until the industry went into decline.
In 1881, he was master of ‘James’, a collier owned by the Fry family which plied
between Portsmouth and Berwick. James was de-
Susannah died in 1892 from exhaustion and cancer of the liver from which she had
suffered for some months. John died on 18 September 1905 in the imbecile ward of
Portsmouth Infirmary which was attached to the Workhouse (to which he was admitted
on 23 June 1905). The cause of death being servectus astheria -
Sarah Jane Lemmon married Robert Batchelor on 5 April 1857 at St Mary’s, Portsea. The couple had six sons and a daughter.
Robert was a merchant seaman and the family were living at 21 East Street, Point in 1871 and 1881. Sarah died in 1888 and was buried at Kingston Cemetery. Robert remarried Mary Jane Cottrell in early 1891 and was living at 2 Harveys Court No 1. Ten years later, the family were at 80 Broad Street, Point.
Richard Kerslick Lemmon married Elizabeth Ann Smith at St Mary’s, Portsea on 2 August
1870 -
Richard was a waterman/mariner and was in residence on the yacht, ‘Fenella’ in 1881.
Richard and Harriet were living at 13 Broad Street, Point in 1881, but had moved to 5 Munday Court, Portsea ten years later. Richard died in early 1899.
Samuel Kerlich Lemmon probably didn’t marry and was living with James and Harriet Mills (my greatx2 grandparents) in 1871. He worked as a shipwright and as a merchant seaman.
Harriet Lemmon married James Mills. As they were my greatx2 grandparents, they have a separate page to themselves.
Oyster fishing in Jersey
John’s father, Richard Lemmon, sailed to and fro between Portsmouth and Jersey. John
was a master mariner. John’s son, John jnr, was also a master mariner and married
a Jersey-
The shallow waters between Jersey’s Grouville Bay and the French Normandy coast, that bask in the warm Gulf Stream, create ideal conditions for oysters. In 1860, 76,000 tubs were crammed full with around a thousand molluscs to a tub. Between 1810 and 1871, billions of oysters were fished and sent to England where they were regarded as part of the common diet, not as a luxury.
Oysters were dredged from an open boat, a cutter, which was around twenty-
The oyster season is only four months long. In February and April, hundreds of local men, women and children toiled as basket fillers, carriers, lifters and washers and barrel packers. In 1819, 900 Jersey people were employed in the industry. Boat and net repairing also burgeoned on Gorey’s foreshore.
After boats had harvested the oysters, they were taken to Jersey to be graded. The larger ones were exported by fast, larger schooners to English beds were they were fattened.
Portsmouth boats were involved in this trade. The inspector of the Jersey oyster fishery at Gorey reported in 1843 that there were eleven boats from Portsmouth in the local fishing fleet.
However, by 1866, oyster production had slumped to just 6,000 tubs because of either
over-
(Acknowledgements -