Facebook post #011 (May 2020)
So, in 1875 my first cousin died in the notorious rookeries around Seven Dials in London, a site of unspeakable squalor, open sewers and all. A three minute walk and twenty years away, my second cousin’s family moved into new business premises in Covent Garden. The business prospered. When their grandson died in 2012, part of his silver and gold collection was sold for £3m at Sotheby’s, and he left about £10m-worth to the Ashmolean.
Update (Dec 2022) – A Surprising Connexion
My cousin in the rookeries was Emma (who married her first cousin). The rich family was Edward and Alice. The basis of the story was Dad’s Dad Grandad marrying another of Emma’s first cousins (they lived in Shropshire), and Dad’s Mum’s cousin marrying the jeweller (they lived in Kent).
But look! Those neighbouring families – of dramatically different fortune – inter-married, via the son of colour box Jabez, resulting in a indirect linking of the Barnards and Littles a generation before my grandparents joined the families.
Further updated in post #066