Often in one’s family tree, amongst all the births, marriages and deaths, the lies, scandal, hunger and war, stories are born. These stories, when contemplated deeply enough in today’s world, have a message for us all, and sometimes make us feel humble, if not lucky. A story that when told, leaves a mark upon us that we look back upon and dwell for a few quiet moments or so.
In the life of Caroline Pallin Westcott, a story therein manifests. Caroline was born in the spring of 1817, in St Michael’s District of the city of Bristol, England. She was the youngest and fifth daughter of cabinet maker James Westcott, and his wife Louisa Pallin, who had married a decade before. She was born into a world only recently bereft of the terror of Napoleon and the war that raged across Europe as a result of his quest for lustful dominance and flamboyant authority. It is interesting to note here that in actual fact, the man Caroline would grow up to marry, would have links to this conflict, that nobody would have really imagined at the time. Why would they?
Caroline grew up and her childhood years are a blur. We know her father’s occupation, and that Caroline also went into work at a young age, but as a Laundress. Her father was also able to vote, notably in the 1822 elections where in Bristol he voted for the Chartist Henry Hunt, who had previously been deemed an instigator in the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. So much so was James respected by the parliamentarian, he mentioned him by name in his memoirs. How proud a moment, to find this whilst frantically searching through Google books! Discovering it was odd. Finally a link, even though so indirect, with political change in this country. Small it was, but it is great for me to know that my ancestor believed in the same sort of society that I do.
The 1820’s and 1830’s resulted in numerous changes to the Westcott family, as one by one James and Louisa married their daughters off to farm labourers, mariners and bargemen. And amongst all of the happiness and stability that came with marriage, the face of the family changed even more dramatically when Caroline lost her mother in 1829, just aged 52. A document in later years would detail Louisa’s cause of death as “the change of life”, which can only really be assumed to be linked with menopause.
With The premature death of her mother, Caroline became increasingly close to her father James and by the time 1836 had arrived, father and daughter had a bond that was arguably closer than that his other four daughters, who were now all married.
It was at this time, that Caroline fell in love, and she fell deep. In all honesty one might say, with an unlikely fellow. A man who as much today as then was classed as a foreigner, an immigrant, perhaps even a refugee. His name was Moses Wertheim (pronounced VER-TIME), who was a Jewish migrant born in the Duchy of Poznan, Poland. He was eleven years older than Caroline, and the two had met after James and she had moved to the Temple area of Bristol, from St Michael’s. He had not long been in the country, and had fled Europe due to the anti-Semitic vibes generated during the Napoleonic Wars.
Caroline married Moses Wertheim on January 3 1837, in Temple, Bristol. This date marks the beginning of one of the most colourful and tragic families I have known to research...
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