Now what of young Charlotte?

How did she come to the attention of Yeoman Farmer Charles Cheesman? Maybe she had the good looks of a Bosham resident as extolled in Augustus Hare's 1894 book about Sussex - "The people of Bosham, however, are remarkably handsome. It has a well-to-do fishing population of evident foreign extraction who stand aloof from their neighbours, seldom marry out of the place and keep their good looks to themselves" or, maybe, she came to his attention whilst working as a domestic servant, her role shown in the later 1841 Census records. However it was, the eighteen year old Charlotte bore her first child, Mark Cheesman Kervele (1813-1835) fathered by the 40+ Charles Cheesman. Did Charlotte know what she was getting into? Well two years before in June 1811 the illegitimate child, George Masters (or Cheesman) was baptised at Chidham, the hamlet across the creek from Bosham. His parents were Anne Masters (possibly born at East Lavant in 1793) and Charles Cheesman.

 

Two years after the birth of Charlotte's first child another boy, Roger Cheesman Kervele (1815-1886) is born to Charlotte and Charles. This is the son that eventually inherits the bulk of Charles Cheesman's estate.

 

A third son, Alfred Cheesman Kervele (1823-1886) is born to them eight years on by which time Charles is fifty- two and Charlotte twenty-eight. He will inherit a minor part of Charles Cheesman's estate.

What do we know of Charles Cheesman?

He was born in 1771 at Wonston, a village a few miles from Winchester in Hampshire (then called the County of Southampton) and living and farming in the Bosham/Chidham area by the early 1800s. There are references to him in the Estate Archives of both the Goodwood Estates (1817) and Eartham Estates (1827) that refer to Charles as a Yeoman Farmer from Bosham. There have been no marriage records found for him. By the 1841 Census Charles is living and farming in Chidham near to Bosham where he attains the status of the Lord of the Manor of Chidham. His Will, made in 1846 and proved in 1849, gives clear evidence of the many farming properties, houses and lands that he had accumulated through purchases at Portsea, Charlton and Bodhampton in the County of Southampton (Hampshire) and at Chidham and Bosham in Sussex. He was clearly a wealthy man and a successful Farmer.

 

Whilst Census Returns began to be compiled every 10 years in the 19th Century it was 1841 before they contained meaningful information of use in genealogical research. Prior to that date the Returns were more or less just a head-count of the population. So we only have the 1841 Census to evidence the relationship between Charles and Charlotte. Charles is living and farming at Chidham and Charlotte is shown at the same address but is referred to as his "Housekeeper". Their youngest son, Alfred, is also shown living at the same address.

Her younger sister Kitty (1797-1822) married at Bosham in 1816 but sadly did not survive giving birth to her second child.

 

Her two youngest sisters were Matilda (1803-?), who is known to have married in 1827 to a Devon mariner residing in Portsmouth and they lost their first two children in infancy, and Mary (1809-1850) who married in 1831 to a Bosham mariner and had three children.

The Will of Charles Cheesman

proved in London on 22 March 1849 only some five and a half weeks after his death, granted Probate to Executors and brothers, Roger Cheesman Kearvell and Alfred Cheesman Kearvell. The other Executors appointed in the Will, William Charles Newland Esquire of the city of Chichester and William Henry Bennett Yeoman of Chidham, had respectively declined to act and died. Mark, the eldest son of Charlotte and Charles had died in 1835 and Roger Cheesman Kearvell became the main beneficiary under the Will inheriting many farms, houses, lands and monies. His younger brother, Alfred, inherited a much lesser amount. Nevertheless both of Charlotte's sons were now wealthy. Not surprisingly the brothers quickly dropped their surname of Kearvell and became Cheesmans!