Land Titles

[kermie62]

I have an ancestor John Valentine Rolfe born 1780 to who married an Elizabeth Smith who died fairly young (but obviously after having children). His marriage certificate and license state that he was "servant to Mr Diball", a phrase we have never been able to resolve. (ALso interestingly enough, it was Elkizabeth Smith who actually applied for the marriage license, not John himself) His son was a baker however at some stage in his life he gained ownership of some houses and wealth. My suspicion or hope is that this was obtained through his marriage with Elizabeth Smith who I have had no luck in identifing on the records or tracing. He is resident at these houses for a number of the census years and then his widow (he remarried a young girl quite younger than himself) for the later census years.

These properties were located in Link Lane Isleworth (early census data) which then became Linkfield Lane Isleworth in the later census data and which is now Linkfield Road. I only know the census number not the actual street number however I do have an idea how close thery are to the alms houses in the same street.

There must be some records somewhere indicating transfer of the property to his name, the previous owner and the date of the transfer and the eventual sale of the property would also give me some idication of when his widow lefft the property. I am hoping the previous owner was Elizabeth Smiths father or perhaps the mysterious Mr Diball.

Can you tell me where these records are and what form they take and how I might access them?

Thankyou

[Kerrywood]

To pursue this you probably need the Middlesex Deeds Registry, held at the London Metropolitan Archives (LMA). As far as I remember, their research service doesn't cover searches for deeds, so you may need to have someone visit for you. Because of the way the records are organised (chronologically, and then alphabetically by surname within each year) it could be a long and costly search, with no guarantee of a useful result. There's an LMA information leaflet online somewhere as a pdf file - try googling Middlesex Deeds Registry?

Presumably you've already pursued all other avenues -- witnesses to the marriage, wills, death duty registers, etc?

Kerrywood

[kermie62]

Thanks for the response.

We have the parish entry for the original marriage of who we think is our Rolfe in which it states that he John Valentine Rolfe is the servant of Mr Diball and we have the IGI reference for the wedding. We have his will that states that he leaves the property at Linkfield lane to his children but thier stepmother to reside in there till she dies (and she was about the same age as her stepchildren) and the same for a second property his sister lived in. We have a newspaper article indicating that at some stage, the descendents from Wabash Indiana sent over a lawyer who sold the properties, cashed up and sent the money to the Rolfe Heirs. Unfortunately my half of the family was in Australia and didnt get anything. All this unfortunately at the end of the properties residence inthe family. I am, hoping to get an idea of where the properties orginally came from pre 1851 and who they came from. Looks like I may have to look at a visit to the UK.

Again thanks

Steven

[Geoffers]

We have the parish entry for the original marriage of who we think is our Rolfe

If there is any doubt, you might want to confirm the connection before proceeding.


in which it states that he John Valentine Rolfe is the servant of Mr Diball and we have the IGI reference for the wedding.

The main thing is to have details from the actual parish register entry, the IGI reference adds nothing.


We have his will that states that he leaves the property

Does the will describe the form of ownership - freehold, leasehold, copyhold? What year was this?

[Marie C..]

Have you contacted the West Middlesex Family History Society? They may well be able to help.
I used to walk down Linkfield Rd in the 1940's /50's on my way to school and back. It was a road of terraced houses then they probably replaced 18th century cottages.
All round there was once fruit and vegetable growing land that provided fro the London markets and I was at school with a Rolfe.M
"Servant of Mr Diball" means what it says. I have one or two of these in my tree.

[Marie C..]

ps Hounslow library might be able to help you. Google for the e mail address. They have a lot of stuff on Isleworth. Some Smiths were baptised at All Saints isleworth. M

[kermie62]

Thanks Guys

a) The JV Rolfe Died in 1854. I have his death duties registrar that shows that teh cottages in Linkfield Lane were freehold and he also has a lease hold eastate at Holloway (Gunnersbury place where his siuster Mary Ann Strutt lived) and stcok standing in the Books of the bank of England. Actual Probate went through in 1880 when his wife finally died.

b) Marie I would love to correspond to you privately and hear some more stories of Linkfield Road and Iselworth. With some luck perhaps Victoria cottages was still there, I have people living in them to 1871. WIth the Servant part, we have tried to find a Mr Diball without any luck and I wonder why they would stress a aprtoicualr person to who they were servants to, I wondered if it was a postion like "secretary to the prime ministerr" or similar. If they were just general servants why wouldnt they put servant. We are fairly sure from a couple of referecnes this is the same guy who ends up with the Linkfield lan freehold, the leasehold and the shares.

[Marie C..]

Kermie62,
Look at Ralfe and Ralph as well as Rolfe as name changed from time to time.
Hounslow library (who have a local studies section)may even have a mention of this Diball/Dyball in connection with other estates in Isleworth. He may have owned the land and your JV Rolfe was a land steward or managed Mr. Diball's affairs in the area. Maybe Dyball lived elsewhere(Yarmouth, Norfolk for instance..)
There is also a Hounslow and District History Society. It might be worth while contacting them. The people at Hounslow library will put you in touch with them.
!850 the land behind Linkfield Rd was sold for the railway line to go through.
Mr Andrew Pears owned some of that land. he built his soap factory there. It expanded and later incorporated other big names before moving North.
Other owners of land there were the Rothschilds, the Duke of Norfolk , Lord Jersey etc etc.
Happy to tell you anything I know or can remember! M

[Marie C..]

Error in last message I meant Duke of Northumberland (not Duke of Norfolk). M