Chapter One - Awakening Charlotte
Lugg Bridge, Presteigne, 1905, connecting Radnorshire, Wales with Herefordshire, England.
Charlotte appears quite like the mist wisping across the Lugg valley. One minute, she is as clear as day, and the next, she barely leaves a hint of what may have been. Writing a family story like this has been a challenge but one I can't seem to let go of, so I will begin.
Presteigne, Radnorshire, Wales, with its thick sloping woodlands filled with oaks and wind-burdened hills covered in heather and dabs of whinberries, once hailed a county seat. With its nearby moorlands still shrouded in tradition and the banks of the River Lugg yet gently woven with forest, it was a growing border town, quaint and bustling at the same time. Its sturdy stone bridge unites Broad Street, Presteigne, with Herefordshire, England, even today. Lord Byron, upon a visit, would soon describe the Presteigne area as "wild and consequently delightful." This is the Presteigne that Charlotte knew so well.
As a child, Charlotte would see the weekly stagecoaches go by, carrying a mélange of people into Wales from London, uniting families or hopeful visitors seeking proposals or refreshment from city life. There was coach service from Worcester, with the stage stop at Castle Inn on High Street. Passengers overnighted at one of many lodging places in town before a long, unsteady ride to Aberystwyth or one of the few stops along the way. Without a doubt, Charlotte thrived upon seeing these travellers. Unlike the usual aproned crowds on Saturday's market day or ordinary townspeople leading cattle or carrying sacks upon their shoulders with their clothing labour-laden and sallow, these people carried adventure. The women came dressed in their finest. The most stylish with their white, muslin dresses, loose and goddess-like, hooded overcoats in palest colours, white hats with feathers, and silken slippers that seemed to glide on the feet. They were escorted by companions of prominent families, often visiting one of the many manor houses or a grand imposing house in town. Charlotte's eyes would light up. To be able to afford just the fabric for such splendour left her in awe.
The old language of Welsh was still spoken on occasion, with spellings of family names mixing together, but the language of the day was predominately English. Radnorshire was referred to as not quite England and not quite Wales. Castle ruins stood as a reminder of turbulent days, and the hanging of Mary Morgan and her daunting gravestone, from not that many years before, stood outside St Andrew's churchyard in grim remembrance to many. Presteigne's population was growing daily, and unemployment was mounting as workers without small family businesses competed for jobs, left to survive with just seasonal income. Roads soon bypassed the border town, taking business elsewhere, and with the loss of its corn and malt trade to other towns, poverty was on the rise. Times were already hard following the Revolutionary War, but now after the War of 1812, the cost of living had risen even higher. From 1817 to 1820, the sale of bread went from four pennies for a 4.5-pound loaf to nine pennies for just a 4-pound one.
Charlotte was born about 1808, an estimation based on her average age in various records and censuses. The only birthplace listed for her is Presteigne in the 1861 census. After months of combing through area parish records on rented microfilm, I've yet to find an infant baptism record for Charlotte. Much to my surprise, I happened upon a conditional baptism for her as an adult in the church records of Trenchard Lane Chapel, also known as St. Joseph's Chapel, in Bristol. Recorded in Latin as Caroletta Anna Ince nee Vaughan, she was conditionally baptized at age twenty-nine on August 24, 1840, by Patrick O'Farrell, the parish priest. St. Joseph's was the first Catholic Church built in Bristol since the English Reformation and served by the controversial and much-loved Jesuit friar Robert Plowden when it opened in 1790. Why she chose to take a path disparate from her family and follow the Catholic faith hovers alongside so many mysteries of Charlotte in this story.
Charlotte's Conditional Baptism entry, "Caroletta Ann Ince nee Vaughan",
1840, St. Joseph's Chapel, Bristol.
Towards the end of 1823, Charlotte gave birth to her first child, Joseph Jessie Vaughan. On a mid-autumn day, November 9, 1823, the new mother walked up the Presteigne church path to present her baby for baptism. Perhaps a little nervous were her steps, for infant Joseph was illegitimate. Charlotte was about fifteen years old.
Baptism entry for Charlotte's first child, Joseph Jesse Vaughan, baptized 9 November 1823, Presteigne.
Illegitimacy was not an infrequent occurrence in Presteigne. At the time, the county of Radnorshire had the highest rate of children born out of wedlock in Wales, though it did not seem to carry the social stigma as it did in the Victorian era. The parish register shows numerous baptism entries with just a mother's name; their occupation is recorded as a servant. Situations often vary, of course. Many children were born to couples that held off marrying for economic reasons while a partner became established in a trade. Other partners had no intent on commitment at all. And, of course, there are obvious reasons. But then there are the reasons harder to understand, such as the mistreatment and abuse of young females, especially servants. I have no idea which situation Charlotte found herself in, but I am sure there was safety in numbers, for it appears her sister Sarah, a single woman, two years earlier gave birth to a son, Henry Thomas Vaughan.
St. Andrew’s Church, the parish church of Presteigne, is a 13th-century medieval church on the remains of a 9th-century Saxon church. The postcard is from the 1910s.