Joseph Reeder 1862-1953
Courtesy Betty Reeder
Above is a wonderful image of a true Great Ellingham man, Joseph (Joe) Reeder.
In 1883, Joe (then 21) married 19 year old Elizabeth Reeder. Joseph and Elizabeth were both great grandchildren of Peter Reeder and his wife Hannah nèe Hewitt. This made them ‘second cousins’.
However, this was not their only family connection. Joe’s father, Robert Thompson Reeder, and Elizabeth’s father, John Thompson Reeder, were brothers. Accordingly, Joseph and Elizabeth were also first cousins!
1891 census
The national head-count of 1891 captures 29 year old Joseph Reeder with his 27 year old wife Elizabeth living in a four-roomed dwelling in Low Common.
Joe’s parents, Robert and Jane Reeder, were also living in Low Common. Like many of the men in the village, Joe is working as an agricultural labourer.
Although they had been married for nearly 8 years, it would not be until the following year that they welcomed their first child.
Five Children
Emma Elizabeth Reeder was born in 1892. Two years’ later in 1864, Joe and Elizabeth welcomed John Joseph. William James followed in 1895, with Emily Rose in 1897.
Sadly, the couple buried three month old Emily Rose in the churchyard of St James’s Church on the 27th May, 1897.
The following year, Elizabeth Reeder gave birth to another daughter, Emily Ethel.
Tragically, Joe and Elizabeth’s eldest daughter Emma Elizabeth died aged just six years in March 1899. Emma was also buried in the churchyard in Great Ellingham.
1901
Prior to the 1901 census, the Reeder family had moved to a three-roomed property in Attleborough Road.
The census finds 38 year old Joseph with his 36 year old wife Elizabeth and surviving children Johnny 6, William 5 and two year old Emily, in Attleborough Road. Joseph is working as a yardman labourer.
I believe their home was one of the two semi-detached cottages which backs onto the churchyard of St James.
On the 5th June, 1905, Joseph and Elizabeth welcomed their last child, James Harold.
1911
The 1911 census tells us exactly where this Reeder family is living at that time.
Portwood Cottages
Photograph taken November 2019
Joe (now 49) and his 47 year old wife Elizabeth (together with their family of four children), are living at Portwood Cottages. Their home comprise five rooms.
Joe Reeder is still working as a yardman as is his 16 year old son John. William aged 15 is also working. The census gives his occupation as ‘feed stock’. 12 year old Emily and five year old James are attending school.
Joe and Elizabeth had then been married for some 27 years.
1916
Tragically, like so many other families, the Reeder family was affected by the events of the Great War. On the 4th September, 1916, Joe and Elizabeth’s eldest son, John Joseph Reeder, was killed in action.
In the June of 1918, their daughter Emily’s husband, Arthur Macro, died in a German Prison of War Camp.
1921
By 1921, Joe and Elizabeth Reeder had moved to Long Street. Although the census says ‘Long Street’, the Reeder’s home may well be in Town Green.
Thought to be Joe & Elizabeth Reeder’s home at Town Green, Great Ellingham
Original Lindsay Brothers. Also published in The Mercury 17th March 2000
Courtesy Betty Reeder
At 59, Joe Reeder is working as an agricultural farm labourer for Allan Lincoln at Cemetery Farm (now known as Home Farm).
Elizabeth is 57, and is no doubt busy looking after the household, which now includes Joe’s 84 year old father, John Reeder.
The couple’s sons, 25 year old William and 16 year old James, are both working as agricultural farm labourers for farmer Fred Southgate at Hall Farm.
Joe and Elizabeth’s grandson, five year old John Reeder, completes the household.
Young John was born to the couple’s daughter Emily in 1916, just prior to her marriage to Arthur John Macro. Following her husband’s death, Emily married Ernest Mallett in 1918.
Long Street Home
The Electoral Registers show that Joseph and Elizabeth Reeder continued to live in ‘Long Street’ until 1931, when they are captured (with their youngest son James) in Bow Street.
The Street
Church Street near to the junction with Chequers Lane/Long Street
However, the 1939 England & Wales Register finds retired cowman Joseph Reeder with his wife Elizabeth living in ‘The Street’, Great Ellingham. I believe their home was one of the cottages in Church Street at the junction with Chequers Lane and Long Street.
The Great Ellingham Invasion Committee Record of 1942 also finds the couple in Church Street.
Deaths of Joseph & Elizabeth Reeder
Church of St James, Great Ellingham
Joe Reeder had reached the age of 90 when he died in March 1953. Sadly Elizabeth, his wife of some 70 years, died within a few weeks of Joe’s death. They are both buried in the churchyard of Great Ellingham Parish Church.
The Reeder Family
Several of Joe and Elizabeth Reeder’s descendants remained living in the village for many years. Indeed, as the Reeder family is one of the few families who can trace their family history back several generations, it is likely that there are Reeder family descendants living in and around the village today.
Sources:
Great Ellingham Parish Registers. Norfolk Record Office. PD 609. Also available at www.familysearch.org and www.ancestry.co.uk
GRO Index. FreeBMD website.
1871 census RG10/1841/90
1881 census RG11/1974/89
1891 census RG12/1549/81
1901 census RG13/1867/81
1911 census RG14/11473/6
1921 census RG15. Registration District 231. Great Ellingham Schedule 119. Viewed via www.findmypast.co.uk
Register of Electors in the County of Norfolk, 1844-1952. England Norfolk register of electors, 1832-1915. Norfolk Record Office. C/ERO 1/2-271. View via www.familysearch.org
1939 England & Wales Register.
The National Archives; Kew, London, England; 1939 Register; Reference: Rg 101/6590h. Ancestry.com. 1939 England and Wales Register [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018.
1942 Great Ellingham Invasion Committee Record. Sue Fay