John Broom and Grace Paull

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Parents  :     John Broom and Mary Nichols (80%)     William Paull and Mary Paull  

 John Broom (b abt 1804 Bere Ferres Devon, m Grace Paull 1828 Calstock Cornwall, d 1872 Albaston, Calstock) 
 Grace Paull (b 1802 Calstock, d 1870 Albaston, Calstock) 
      John Paul Broome (b abt 1829 Calstock, m Tamzin Rowe 1852 Stoke Dameral Cornwall)
      Elizabeth Paull Broome (b abt 1835 Calstock, d 1910 Talgarno Vic)
      Mary Tamzin Broome (b 1837 Calstock, d 1837)
      William Paull Broome (b abt 1838 Calstock, m Anne Maria Patterson 1877 Albury NSW, d 1909 Talgarno)
            Eircell Paullina Broome (b 1884 Talgarno, m Joseph Smart Rowley 1909 Talgarno, d 1917 Bethanga)
      Mary Broome (b abt 1839 Calstock, m John Goldsworthy, d 1928 Talgarno)
      Ann Broome (b abt 1841)
Christening dates : Elizabeth, Ann and Mary 1841, Mary Tamzin 1837, others unknown

How good is the evidence for this family?

Death certificates for William Paul and Elizabeth seem to fit well with this family (age is correct, born Calstock, and parents William and Grace, maiden name Paull). Similarly when John Broome registered a son in Yackandandah., John is the right age, and from Calstock.
It is interesting to note the Broomes seem to have added an e to their name in Australia (see census data in England)..
The very disconcerting thing  is that William seems to have missed both censuses, even though he would have been three and thirteen respectively. The 1851 census does not have any William Broome that fits his (Australian) death certificate. FamilySearch has no birth or marriage records for this family. Could William have been with anonther family?  Or could he have been a William Paul who came with the family to Australia,  and became a Broome for simplicity? We have various William Paulls who could be candidates, but no evidence. The second son being called William (Broome) does look very plausible in the above family?

1841 census

Albaston, Calstock, Cornwall
Family one, all born in county
Mary Paul          60        Independent
William Paul       41        Miner, Copper
Soloman Paul     20        Engineer,
Family two, two houses away, all bar John born in county
John Broom        37        Miner, Tin
Grace Broom      37
John Broom        11
Elizabeth Broom    5
Mary Broom         2
Family three, next door
Stephen Gray, 50, shoemaker
Ann, 40
plus family
Family Four, next door again
Joseph Paul, 35, Copper Miner
Elizabeth, 35
and family on the next page

1851 Census

Albaston, Calstock, Cornwall
John Broom           Head   Mar       49    Copper Miner     Beerferris Devon (abt 1801)
Grace Broom         Wife     Mar       49                              Calstock, Cornwall (abt 1801)
John Broom            Son      U           20    Copper Miner    Calstock, Cornwall (abt 1830)
Elizabeth Broom      Dau      U          15                              Calstock, Cornwall (abt 1835)
Mary Broom           Dau      U          12     Scholar             Calstock, Cornwall (abt 1838)
Ann Broom             Dau      U           9      Scholar            Calstock, Cornwall (abt 1841)

William Broom is missing again. But family three is still there in Albaston, and has William Broom born in  Calstock as a lodger.
He is a tin miner. The only trouble is he is aged 20

1861 Census

Albaston, Calstock, Cornwall
John Broom           Head   Mar       56    Miner     Beer, Devon (abt 1804)
Grace Broom        Wife     Mar       56                   Calstock, Cornwall (abt 1804), deaf
Ann Broom            Dau      U          19                   Calstock, Cornwall (abt 1841)
Grace's sister Ann (now Baker) is still living next door
Can't find John (Grace has died) in the 1871 census, though he should be there

General

    This family is connected to the Broomes in Yackandandah and Talgarno. James Broome's birth certificate in 1977 pretty clearly identifies his father as the John Broome born 1930 above.
    Marriage John Broome and Grace Paull :Witnesses: Robert Cory, Josiah Johns. Grace was classed as a Sojourner. John and Grace were not literate. John was a tin and copper miner. Bere Ferres is current spelling was Bere/Beer Ferris. Calstock is 8 m N of Plymouth and right on the Devon/Cornwall border, and Bere Ferris 4 m N of Plymouth.
The Broomes came to Australia from Calstock about 1857.

Acknowledgements

Source for this family is Marion Paul (Anyone know her current address?). She supplied this and previous generations. I have only been able to verify some of it, but everything I could check was good. So this looks pretty reliable stuff..
My database notes Tamson, VicGold as a source for this family. That site seems to be defunct.
Thanks to Myra Cordrey, OPC for Calstock, whose excellent database helped in checking out a lot of this stuff. She kindly responded to an email with some extra information, and very helpful suggestions
I've recently received some enhanced images of the Parish Registers and there are these entries, which might not be on my website yet:-......
 burials
3-Mar 1816 Calstock William PAUL 44 or 24-Aug 1828 Calstock William PAUL 53
    Information that was unambiguous has been omitted from the quote, and incorporated in the text above. Marion Paull had William dying 1816, but Myra has added a second possibility. However, it does look like Marion was right again, as 44 years old in 1816 ties in nicely with his date of birth in 1770

Where is William in the 1841 and 1851 Census?

Do we belive the twenty year old in the 1851 census is him? The only evidence for a 1838 birth is the age on his death certificate? Looking at the family and the known baptisms, He would fit better between John and Elizabeth. Perhaps coming to Australia to look for gold make more sense in your early twenties than mid-teens. Perhaps the age on his death certificate is wrong? Still no sign of him in 1841 though.
Comment from Myra Cordrey, OPC for Calstock
    No, I can't find William in 1841 either, as William, Wm or Paul. Two possibilities spring to mind:-
    1. He was omitted from the Census by accident - enumerators wrote thedetails on to sheets and later transferred the records to the official file.This was often done after they returned from their 'rounds', late at night and without the benefit of electric lighting. Many omissions occurred.
    2. He was the son of a female relative, that John & Grace 'adopted'  in order to take to Australia - nothing formal in those days. Your 1851 sighting makes this plausible
    It might be worthwhile looking through the Williams (and Wms, since Ancestry doesn't include them in the same search results) of the right age in both Devon & Cornwall. If there is one with related parents, or a single mother, then you might have found him.
Interesting tip on William and Wm. I followed up but could still find nothing. We are fairly confident the children John, William, Elizabeth and Mary (but not the youngest, Ann) came to Oz in the mid 1850s, and that the parents stayed in Cornwall. All of which leans towards an early 1830s birthdate?

Research Notes

    Genes Reunited checked for John and Grace
    Should be able to find shipping record. Would help prove the family unit. Checked Victorian online indexex without joy, including William Paul
The Calstock OPC site has some Baptisms.for parents John & Grace BROOM, in Albaston. (Ann,  Elizabeth and Mary on 22 Aug 1841, father a labourer :) and  Mary Tasmin? on 12 Oct 1837  : father a miner :The only other Broom baptism is BROOM, Elizabeth Anne : 31 Jan 1853 : John & Thomasin? : Calstock Town : father a miner:(She is a grandaughter). Except I had her born in Yackandandah, Vic in 1853. Recheck the Australian records
Another very heplful email from Myra Cordrey, OPC for Calstock (early June 2007)
    There has to be a complication somewhere, as William should show up in either the 1841 or 1851 Census.
    So just a few more thoughts . . .
    There is a gap between John & Grace's children for a late 1838 / early 1839 son but, if the rest of their children were with them in 1841, then a 3-year-old William should be recorded close by at least.
    There is a baptism for an Anne BROOME in Calstock in 1793, dau of Samuel & Martha. Could she be a sister to John, William's supposed father? The family doesn't seem to have been regular church-goers (3 of John's children were baptised at once, rather than individually), so John might not have been baptised - or the ceremony took place in the home parish of one of his parents.
    There is a burial which seems to be that of Grace nee PAUL, John's wife. She was aged 67 and was living at Albaston. John's burial seems to be this one buried 1872 aged 70, abode Albaston.
So John's birth date would be c. 1802.  There are no baptisms for him in the IGI in Cornwall (coverage isn't complete, but for Cornwall it's quite a high percentage) or in www.familyhistory.net.  There are several possibilities in Devon. Have you established who his parents were? If he had a sister called Sarah, then she might be the one with a son called William in Cullompton in 1841.
    Sometimes it's necessary to work backwards with ancestors, find some clues and then work forwards again. Have you tried the Devon Family History Society? You can obtain printouts from them of all their records for a specific surname, for a small charge. In this case you'd need to get those for BROOM and BROOME. (See http://www.devonfhs.org.uk/surnames.htm and links.) I think that the answer lies in that county, rather than in Cornwall, so I can't be of much more help.
    The Devon site only has baptisms back to 1813, which helps explain why no-one seems to have an 1802 baptism for John Broom. However they do have marriages back to 1754 for Bere Ferres,. On inspecting the list they supplied, there are only two Broom marriages, but the timing looks OK as possible parents and grandparents for our John  born about 1802.
They are 
John Broom and Mary Nichols       (30 Mar 1796)     
Thomas Broome and Martha Toll    (10 Dec 1773)
Surprisingly in view of the Bere Ferres limitations above, LDS has a series of children being christened for John Broom and Mary Nichols, though none for Thomas and Martha
Thomas        1797
Mary Ann    1798
Jane             1800
Elizabeth      1802
Joseph         1807
Catherine     1809
Ann             1811
Thomazin     1813
Eliza            1815
It is a bit disconcerting to find our John missing from such an otherwise comprehensive list,  but there is  a gap in the list for him at about  the right  time. Thomas in children's names increases our confidece in the link to the grandparents. Similarly the names of John's children are encouraging, especially if  Thomazin and Tamzin are variations of the same names.
So, assessing the probabilities
John Broom and Mary Nichols        (an 80% chance as John's parents)
Thomas Broome and Martha Toll    (an 80% chance as John and Mary's parents)
Looking at the list, it seems reasonable to adjost John Broom's birth to abt 1804
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