Where did this family go?

I’ve had a couple of posts on this blog about good, solid Sussex folk called Lorenzo. Today we’ll look at another one.

Lorenzo Peirce was born in 1865 in the Maresfield district of Sussex. He would have been my cousin three times removed. His grandfather was my great great great grandfather.

Lorenzo appears on the 1871 census, with his parents in Crawley in Sussex. He was still there with his widowed mother in 1881.

In 1887 Lorenzo married Elizabeth Dowse at the parish church in Ewell in Surrey.

22 year old Lorenzo was a bricklayer. The witnesses, named Marshall, have not been identified.

The following year a first child, Ellen Daisy Peirce, was baptised – again in the parish church at Ewell.

And after that we find nothing. The family do not appear on censuses or death registers in England and Wales so presumably they emigrated. I haven’t located them on any ship’s manifest or on easily available censuses.

I have written this blog after a contact from Tony in Australia. He and I are third cousins descending from this Peirce line and we’d both love to know where this Lorenzo got to. Do get in touch if you can help.

Tags: Dowse, Ewell, Lorenzo, Maresfield, Peirce