CFHS code : AL110
Parish : St Andrew the Less
Inscription : In Loving Memory of EDWIN SEAWELL d April 26 1905 in his 86th year also of ALFRED SEAWELL d Nov 17 1928 aged 73 In Loving Memory of ADELAIDE SEAWELL d April 27 1888 aged 27 EDWIN HENRY SEAWELL d Feb 1 1883 aged 30
Monument : Stone cross (broken and fallen)
Above information from Cambridge Family History Society Survey
Monument
This plinth stands 2 rows east of the central path in line with the gate to Gwydir Street. The inscription is now illegible but family placed a ledger in front of it in 2003.
Inscription
EDWIN HENRY SEAWELL d Feb 1 1883 aged 30
In Loving Memory of ADELAIDE SEAWELL d April 27 1888 aged 27
In Loving Memory of EDWIN SEAWELL d April 26 1905 in his 86th year
Also of ALFRED SEAWELL d Nov 17 1928 aged 73
new stone
EDWIN SEAWELL died 26th April 1905 aged 85
Also his wife CAROLINE SEAWELL died 7th November1904 aged 75
Restored in their memory by Bettina Lawrie Seawell Bird, their great granddaughter, her children and great grandchildren from Australia 2003.
Caroline Seawall née King (1829 – 1904)
Caroline was the daughter of Henry & Sarah King. Henry was a publican & brewer and in 1851 she was living with her parents and 3 siblings at 154 East Road. Caroline was working as an assistant to “Berlin Warehouse”. We are not sure if this is a miss transcription of a name or a place. She married Edwin Seawell on September 1st 1852 in the parish of St Andrew the Less.
They had at least ten children: Sophia Caroline (1852-1944), Edwin Henry (1854-1883), Alfred John King (1855-1928), Clara (1857-1910), Laura (1859-1875), Adelaide (1861-1888), Frederick (1863-1906), George King (1865-1937), Sarah Kate (1867-1947) and Harriet Louisa (1869-1946).
Edwin Seawell (1820 – 26 April 1905)
Edwin was the son of Ellis and Sophia (née Cooke) Seawell and brother of Maria. He grew up at 18 East Road where his father was a grocer and after Ellis’ death in 1841 he took over running the family business. Edwin ran the grocery business at 17 and 18 East Road for the rest of his life and died there aged 85 years old. Caroline had died six months earlier on 3 November 1904.
A sale was held in June 1905 of household furniture from East Road and included ‘couches, hat and umbrella stand, chippendale bureau bookcase, small safe, 5 sets of scales and weights, 26 tea canisters, butter stands, 2 desks, baker’s covered cart, dog cart, wheelbarrow, chaff cutter, 2 ladders, oil cans, drums and measures etc’.
The business premises were also sold at auction on 1 July 1905 and was sold as ‘old established business premises, Nos. 17 and 18 East Road, together with dwelling house No. 16 East-road, as lately occupied by Mr. Seawell. Business premises adjoining, known as No. 1 Broad-street consisting of dwelling house, bakery, yard and outbuildings’.
Alfred John King Seawell (1855 – 17 November 1928)
Alfred worked as a grocery manager at 17 & 18 Road and lived with his parents until their deaths. When the business premises were sold, Alfred moved to run a grocery store at 2 Burleigh Street (1911 until at least 1925). He died aged 73 years old.
Adelaide Seawell (1861 – 27 April 1888)
Adelaide was the fourth daughter of Edwin and Caroline and died at East Road aged 27 years old after what was described as a ‘painful illness’.
Edwin Henry Seawell (1854 – 1 February 1883)
Edwin worked as a grocer’s assistant in the family business (1881) and died at East Road aged 29 years old.
Sources:
Ancestry
Newspaper archives
by Claire Martinsen
[If you have any further information about this family, please contact us at Friendsofmillroadcemetery@gmail.com]