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Brentford Families - Sims

It is in Brentford, Middlesex, England that John and Sarah SIMS first enter the record books. John was a carpenter/builder/undertaker and is mentioned in the 1826 Trade Directory as living at Butts. Parish records of St Mary Ealing (which was the parish church for Old Brentford) confirm that their children, all born at Brentford, were:

• Charles b 19 May 1804
• Thomas b 5 November 1805
• Mary Ann b 16 December 1807 **
• John b 4 September 1809
• Samuel b 6 October 1811
• Sarah b 15 August 1813
• Ann b 3 December 1814

John died in 1836 and Sarah died in 1837 so they are not recorded in any censuses. John left a will.

Clara Ann Wyeth TURNER was born on 15 February 1812 also in England. The IGI shows that Clara was the daughter of Mary and Thomas TURNER. John and Clara married on 8 July 1832 at Saint James Cathedral, Westminster, London.

John and Clara had the following children -

• William Wyeth born 6 November 1831
• Mary Ann born 11 October 1833
• John George born 2 December 1838
• Michael Clare born 22 April 1841
• Sarah Clara Ann born 21 August 1843
• Emma Eliza born 11 November 1849
• Ann born 18 November 1851
• Charles born 19 March 1854

The Sims’ first appear in the census of 1841 living at No 2 Albany Place West (between 289 and 290 High Street) in Brentford, Middlesex. John, a carpenter, is aged 30, whilst Clara is 25. Their children, William aged 10, Mary 8 John 2 and Michael (6 weeks), all born in Brentford are also recorded with them.

By 1851 John and Clara had moved their family to 47 High Street in Old Brentford. William has left home as has Mary whilst John, aged 12, Michael 10, Sarah 8, Emma 2 and Ann (3 months) all live with their parents. The older children are all listed as scholars.

At the 1861 census the Sims’ are living at 2 Tobiah Cottage, New Road, Brentford with Emma aged 11, Ann 9 and Charles 7.

In 1871 John, Clara and Charles aged 16 appear at Bowdens Gateway, 312 High Street, Old Brentford.

A death certificate for a two year old Anne Sims, father John Sims, carpenter of Brentford, for 1849 has been found. If she was born in 1847 then this would make her John and Sarah’s daughter

In 1861 Sarah had moved in with her sister Mary Ann and her husband William Taylor at the Hand and Flower pub at 378 High Street, Brentford. After Mary Ann died in 1866 Sarah left and was replaced by Ann in the censuses of 1871, 1881 and 1891, living with William and his family.

John died in 1880 at Brentford aged 71 and Clara died in 1881 aged 69.

John George paid £5 to emigrate to Australia aboard the ship ‘Aloe’ which left Liverpool on 12 April 1857. John was nineteen at the time of his emigration, a carpenter. The ship ‘Aloe’ arrived on 31 July 1857 at Sydney.

A will for Charles Sims, shopkeeper of Old Brentford, proved in 1809 lists his children as being Thomas, John, William, James, Charles, Michael, Elizabeth, George and Christopher. Charles's wife is listed in the will as being Elizabeth. From the will, Charles appears to be John's father and also the father of Charles Sims (a wharfinger living in Boars Head Yard, Brentford in 1841). See Tayler family page for other Sims connections.

Note added September 2012 by Celia Cotton: a Mary Ann Sims, age 83, unmarried, living on own means, born Brentford, was lodging with William and Elizabeth Anthony at 60 New Road Brentford in the 1891 census

Page published April 2010; updated September 2012