A Genealogical Double Whammy

Apart from Charles John Robinson himself, the only line that can be satisfactorily followed through from the original Charles Robinson of Farmer Street, Shadwell and his wife, Mary Powell, is that of Charles’ younger sister, Eleanor Robinson, who married George Powell (born 1795, and most likely her cousin), in Limehouse in 1818. Returning to the 1841 census for Upper Old Mile End Town, it looks like George Powell and Eleanor Robinson may have had four children, all of whom would have been first cousins x2 removed of Hetty Jane Owen. These were, or rather may have been:

i.  George William Powell (1821-1908) (unlikely - see below)
ii. Ellen Sarah Powell (1822-1911)
iii. Mary Ann Powell (1825-????)
iv. Georgiana Powell (1826-????)

According to one researcher on the Ancestry.com website, George William Powell married twice, first to Esther Sarah Janes (1823-1868), and second to Emily Christiana Anderson (1841-1908), and had two children via his first marriage and one by his second. Of these children, George William Powell junior emigrated to New York, married and had six children, all, putatively, third cousins of Hetty Jane Owen. However, another researcher on the same site, records George marrying just the once and living on to 1908 in Paddington, London.

The problem with all of this in that whilst this George was certainly the son of a George Powell, and Eleanor Robinson, he was baptized in Lambeth, whereas the three girls were all baptized in the traditional family locality of St. George in the East, in the Shadwell area.  Nor does this George appear along with the girls in the 1841 census, and to throw matters off further, his first marriage took place in Hertfordshire. 

St George in the East, 2017.

Thus, the link to Charles seems to be based entirely on the fact that the names of his parents were exactly the same, rather than on any hard data, and which as far as it exists, signally fails to reconnect with the main family line. Such are the pitfalls of family history, leading in this case, one suspects to a genealogical ‘double whammy’.   

Of the daughters, Mary Ann and Georgina never married, and pop up in various nineteenth century censuses, where they are found to be living with their sister, Ellen Sarah Powell. It is through Ellen that the Powell line continues, although, it should be cautioned that even this line is not entirely free of supposition.