The Steadman family
My maternal family of Steadman ancestors reaches back into the late 18th century, when my 6x Great Grandparents John Steadman and his wife Sarah Crow take their son - my 5x Great Grandfather - to be baptised at Soham in the county of Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom.
That son, James Steadman so far appears to be their only son, but he finds his way to nearby Ely where he married Elizabeth Murfitt in 1829. The couple then settled down to raise a family of at least four children.
Vine, Crow and Steadman
The Steadman family are the source of one of the most unusual names to feature in the family - "Vine".
Where this would normally be taken as the surname of a mother, so far, it has been used as a first name, with a Vine Steadman (a witness at James and Elizabeth's marriage in 1829), who may have been a sister to James.
"Vine" spreads down the generations with William Steadman fathering an illegitimate daughter with Susan Taylor of Cutter's Yard, Ely. The daughter, born in Bull Lane in 1852, was given the name Sabina Steadman Taylor, using the middlename to name the father on the birth certificate. It took four years for the parents to marry (not sure why) and Sabina often appears as "Vina" or "Nina" in census returns, but in most records she's usually listed as "Vine".
"Vine" eventually gets handed down to Vine Elizabeth Moden, the Great Great Grand-daughter of James and Elizabeth.
The name then appears amongst their children with another unusual name of "Crow" to make Vine Crow Steadman.
All of James and Elizabeth's children have the name of Crow - this time it comes from the children's paternal grandmother, Sarah Crow.
Steadman family connections
The Steadman family are directly linked to a small number of my ancestral maternal families so far: