On This Day – 10th March 1863 | What Was Lost Is Found

James Mitchell, 1840-1927

On this day in 1863, James Mitchell (pictured above) was married to his first wife Letitia Woolhouse. Born in Laughterton, Lincolnshire, England on 26 Apr 1840 to William Mitchell and Sarah Brumby. He was my 2nd cousin 4 times removed with his Great Grandfather John Brumby (1750-1816) being my 5x Great Grandfather on my mother’s side. He was a Farmer as were so many of the Brumby family and worked 28 acres of land on Park Farm Estate and in later life was also a Joiner. He had eight children with his wife Letitia (which again was completely ordinary for the Brumby’s resulting in that line also being one of my most heavily researched family branches) and when she died in 1898 he remarried to a woman named Hannah Eliza Poznett who became a bride for the first time aged 46. James died in 1927 at the age of 87 and was followed in death by Hannah in 1936 aged 80. All three of them were buried in the family plot in Newport Cemetery in Lincoln.I have a copy of the last will and testament of James’s mother Sarah Brumby which makes for interesting reading. She had 3 children survive to adulthood of which James was the youngest and yet he receives the bulk of his mother’s estate and wealth with his sister receiving all the linen, clothing and a bed along with a portion of money and the eldest child, another brother William is granted a share of whatever is left in terms of personal effects. There is another story to get to the bottom of there I am sure given that the wife of the older brother and his 3 younger children seem to disappear after the 1871 census. I am looking into the possibility of mental health issues with William and possible abandonment by his wife but that is perhaps a story for another day. Many thanks to Philip Brumby my 5th cousin once removed who has been much help on the Brumby lines and acquired and shared this photo of James.