Whilst researching my WW1 and WW2 Framlingham War Memorial books in 2011 and 2012 I took photos of graves in Framlingham Cemetery, as I was sure many would fit into the family trees I was compiling for each soldier’s family.
One photo I took was of the grave for the Gibbs family, as I was intrigued by the use of the name Dorling as the middle name and I was sure I had come across this surname during my research.
Now having had time to investigate further I have discovered that there is a link between the Dorling family and Hearn family that I wrote about last year.
Walters Joseph Lazell who was killed in WW1 was married to Rose Anna Hearn and had two children Henry and Lucy. Lucy married Cecil William Dorling in 1934 who was the son of Frederick and Alice Dorling (nee Hayward)
Frederick Dorling was the son of John and Emma Dorling (nee Johnson) and it was John Dorling’s brother Charles who married Elizabeth Baxter daughter of Joseph and Maria Baxter (nee Dorling). Elizabeth Baxter’s sister Maria married Charles Gibbs in 1846 and had eight children including Susan Elizabeth (1852-1902), Lancelot Dorling (1861-1933) and Eustace Dorling (1864-1903) all shown on the headstone.
On checking the 1901 census I found that the family were living in Fore Street in Framlingham with the household comprising of Maria Gibbs a widow aged 78 occupation Confectioner & Baker, Elizabeth Dorling sister of Maria aged 75 (also a widow), daughter Susan aged 49 a Confectioner, Lancelot aged 38 a Baker, Eustace aged 36 and granddaughter Lydia Gibbs aged 23 (who is also at bottom of headstone 1875-1962)
Maria Gibbs died in 1915 and would have been instrumental in erecting this headstone to the memory of her children Susan and Eustace in the cemetery.
It is interesting to see that the Dorling name used came through the family on both the father’s and mother’s line and it is always a great help in family research when a surname is used as a middle name for the children.
Simon
charnwoodgenealogy 