Searching for John Thomas Clarke on Ancestry on 6.4.2018:
- Known: that he built ‘Somersday’ in 1888 and that he was a grazier;
- And he must have been, say, in his 50s in 1888 to afford that;
- So he was born about the mid-1830s;
- Searched accordingly and found a whole list of findings showing most or all of the censuses up to 1911;
- 1911 Census: John Thomas Clarke, head of house, age 76, single, old age pensioner; born: Rutland, England; and
- Mary Ann Leavis, sister of John Thomas Clarke, at the same address, widow, age 89, likewise born Rutland, England; and
- Almost exactly identical information in 1901 census, apart from the ages being 10 years younger; and
- I was unable to see the address where JTC and his sister MAL were residing for 1911 and 1901; I have some separate reasons for thinking that he might not have been living then at Somersday;
- In 1891, when the house was only 2 to 3 years old, and called ‘Tower House’, the information is the same, but John Thomas Clarke is entered as a Grazier; and
- In 1881, before Somersday was built, JTC, aged 47, is living with his mother, Lucy Clarke, aged 87, and with his sister Mary Leavis, aged 59, and the address is a certain number (indecipherable) ‘Village Street’ (ie Main Street) in the village; and
- In 1871 JTC is living with his parents, John and Lucy Clarke, aged 78 and 76, John being a ‘White Smith’ and John Thomas being a gardener, aged 35;
- I couldn’t find the 1861 census, but in 1851 JTC is aged 16 and his parents 59 and 56 accordingly, his father being listed again as a ‘White Smith’; and
- In 1841 the family is similarly coherent, the parents both being aged 45, John being a ‘White Smith’ and daughter Mary Ann being 15 and of no stated occupation, and John Thomas being shown as ‘John’ and not shown as a ‘scholar’; and that’s that. No indication of the house number or name is given. (pba.6.4.18)