D A T L E N - Family History Project

Home

History

Genealogy

Profiles

Sources

Photo Album

Notice Board

Joseph Dietlen 1806 - 1885
Report by Shaun Griffiths - “The Search for Joseph Datlen”
Originated September 2006

Johannes Datlen had five children that we are aware of, his first son Adam died in infancy. His second and fifth born, Adam and Robert, are very well documented and form the two branches of the Datlen family tree. But very little is known of his remaining two children, Joseph and Charlotte. It has often bugged me how we have accumulated so much information for Adam and Robert but can find no trace of Joseph and Charlotte.  Did they survive childhood? Did they marry? Did they have children? and if so then could I track down any descendants that could be living today?

CHATHAM AND DOVER
Joseph was born in Chatham, Kent in 1806^[1] and Charlotte in 1808^[1]. But apart from their baptism entries in the Chatham Parish registers there is no other evidence for their existence. I know that Johannes and his two sons, Adam and Robert moved to Dover at some time between 1813 and 1827 where marriage, baptism and death entries have been found in the various parish registers. But I have not been able to find any records relating to Joseph or Charlotte in any resources for Dover.

So if they were not in Dover could they have stayed in Chatham?  When I visited The Centre for Kentish Studies in Maidstone in 1999, I only checked the Chatham Baptism and Burial registers up to 1820. My priority at this time was to identify Johannes' children and approximate birth dates and the question of whatever happened to Joseph and Charlotte had not yet been raised. At least I can say that it seems they survived childhood. However, assuming that they stayed in Chatham and the parish registers after 1820 do indeed contain records of their marriages and children’s baptisms it does not explain why I have not found any other evidence of their existence despite conducting extensive blanket searches through other archives including the census and Public Record Office registers of Births, Deaths and Marriages.

CHARLOTTE
The absence of any records for Charlotte can be explained quite simply if she married before civil registration began in 1837 and the first useful census was taken in 1841. She would have been about 29 years of age in 1837 and once married would no longer be traceable. My only hope here would be to revisit the Chatham registers and consult the Marriages from 1820 onwards. I have searched the British Censuses for any Charlotte who was born in Chatham about 1808 and found a number of likely matches which need to be followed up.

JOSEPH
So what of Joseph Datlen? If he survived childhood but did not accompany his parents and brothers to Dover then where did he go and why am I unable to find any record of his existence elsewhere? It could be that I missed his burial record in the Chatham registers or that he was buried elsewhere. It is possible that his burial was not registered  or that the entry is missing for some reason. It is also a possibility that his burial is not registered in the UK at all, maybe he died at sea, or abroad while serving in the military or perhaps he emigrated

If he did emigrate then it is unlikely that he married and had children for the simple reason that every Datlen so far encountered anywhere in the world can be traced back to either Adam or Robert Datlen. There are no unaccounted for Datlens that cannot be placed on one of the two main branches of the Family tree. That is not to say that there is not a pocket of Datlens somewhere in the world that are yet to be discovered who originate from Joseph Datlen.

There is another very likely explanation for the fact that I am unable to find any trace of Joseph Datlen and that is that there was never a Joseph Datlen at all. We know that Johannes Datlen's original name was not Datlen but some variation of Dietlein or Dieterlen and that when he and his sons settled in Dover the name became corrupted to Datlen and it is this spelling that they choose to adopt. What if Joseph did not move to Dover but found himself elsewhere, maybe because of his employment situation or pursuit of a relationship that led to marriage? In this scenario his name corruption is likely to have resulted in slightly different variation or perhaps he retained the original spelling of the name completely.

In my research I have always been careful to check for name variations Datlin, Datlan, Datten, Dathen etc... However these are more mis-spellings or transcription errors than variations. But what about names like Dietlen, Dietlein? These are names in their own right and a search on the IGI or other online indexes will produce many results. Turning my attentions to this name I consulted the online 1881 census index. I chose this resource because it has an advanced search facility that allowed me to search for any Joseph with a surname which is similar to Dieltlen that was born in Kent around 1806.

1881 CENSUS
In 1881 Joseph would be about 75 years of age His older Brother Adam died in 1880 aged 76^[2] years and his younger brother Robert died in 1887 also aged 76^[3] I did not hold out too much hope in finding Joseph but the search returned one very interesting entry.

This was almost a perfect match. If this was our elusive Joseph Datlen then it would follow that he did not travel with his parents and brothers to Dover but for whatever reason settled instead in London and his name indeed followed a slightly different evolution. Could the surname that Joseph used actually be the original spelling? I still can't be absolutely sure that this census entry relates to the Joseph Datlen that I was seeking. It would have been nice to have seen his place of birth listed as Chatham.  If I could find his record of marriage to Ellen or try and trace him in other census returns then perhaps I would gain more evidence to confirm him as the right man.

TWO WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL
I then turned my attention to the www.ancestry.co.uk database. A search for Joseph Dietlin returned the following records from the Pallot's Marriage Index for England: 1780 - 1837:-

Jane Francis & Joseph Dietlenn  1826  ST. MICHAEL BASSISHAW, London
Ellen Nairn & Joseph Dietlenn  1836  ST. MICHAEL BASSISHAW, London
Ellen Nairn & Jos. Dietlenn  1836  ST. MICHAEL BASSISHAW, London

The records relating to Joseph and Ellen indicate that Joseph was a widower. So all these entries could in fact belong to the same Joseph Dietlenn.

I next managed to find Joseph in the 1871 census:-

Apart from the slight change in the street name and Ellen becoming Eleanor this does relate to the same couple that I found in the 1881 census. The great news is that Joseph's birthplace is given as Chatham, Kent and we now know that he was a baker.

I also managed to locate an entry in the International Genealogical Index at www.familysearch.org. This was a record of a christening that occurred on the 29th July 1832 at Saint Matthew Church, Bethnal Green, London and was for Ellen Grace Dietlenn. She was born on the 21st December 1831, parents were Joseph and Jane Dietlenn.^[4] The Pallot marriages would indicate that Jane died not long after Ellen’s birth and in 1836 Joseph married Ellen Nairn.

GOING BACK
The PRO death index shows that Ellen died in 1881^[5]  and Joseph in 1885^[6]  both at St George in the East, London. I was keen to know if Joseph had any other children. To discover this it would be necessary to move backwards through time and locate Joseph and Ellen in earlier censuses. I found their entry in the 1861 census:-

What leaps out is the fact that Joseph’s name is now spelt DATLEN. This is an important detail because it gives further credence that this Joseph is the “lost” son of Johannes. But no children were recorded living with them at this time and I knew that I had to go back further still.

As I had already found the christening record for Ellen Grace Dietlen in 1832 I was sure that the 1841 census should show her as the daughter of Joseph.

This was exactly as I had hoped and another child had been identified, Joseph Dietlen aged 11 years putting his birth date at about 1830. The 1851 census did not reveal any further children and neither did an extensive search through the GRO indexes. I did discover that Ellen Grace Dietlen married George Mole in Lambeth in 1856 when she was 25 years old^[7]. The couple had at least four children whose descendants may well be around today. 

JOSEPH JUNIOR
I shifted my efforts to tracing Joseph junior through the census records and the Civil Registration Indexes in the hope that he married and had children thereby spreading the Dietlen name through this third branch of the family tree.

He was born Joseph John Dietlen in Cannon Street Road, London, Middlesex, England at some time between 1830 and 1837^{[8][9][10][11]} He married Charlotte Sarah Day at Newington, Surrey in 1860^[12] and they had at least five children. He was a hatter working in London and died in 1910 aged 80 years old^[13].

Their children were:
Jane Martha Dietlen born c1861 in Newington, Surrey, England^[11]
William Dietlen born c1864 in Newington, Surrey, England^[11]
Ellen Dietlen born c1866 in Newington, Surrey, England^[11]
Charlotte Dietlen born c1873 in Camberwell / Southwark, Surrey,England^[11]
Ada Dietlen born c1875 in Newington, Surrey, England^[11]

Jane Martha Dietlen died unmarried in 1903 aged 42 years^[14]. Charlotte married Ernest Arthur Woodward in 1898^[15]  and Ada married Alfred Henry Luffman also in 1898^[16].  Both Charlotte and Ada had children. So far I have been unable to find any records relating to Ellen.

WILLIAM DIETLEN
The 1901 census shows that William aged 37 was unmarried and still living with his parents.^[17] However, the civil registration index reveals that William married Alice McKenna in 1910^[18]. And the Civil Registration Index records that they had two children, both girls, Alice born 1911^[19] and Hilda born 1912.^[20] William and his family were living in Brighton and he was employed as a Civil Servant Telegraphist. William died in 1926^[21]  thus ending the Dietlen name down this particular branch of the family tree.

Hilda married Albert Hughes in Brighton in 1933^[22] , they moved to Birmingham and had two children, Edward born 1935^[23]  and Eileen born 1936.^[24]

CONCLUSION
Although it seems that the Dietlen line from Joseph died out with William Dietlen in 1926 it is very probable that there are descendants living today. Maybe the Hughes’ in Birmingham, the Mole’s or Woodwards or Luffmans in London or perhaps other descendants elsewhere. If you are one of these named descendants then please do get in touch and claim your place on the Datlen Family Tree....

References
[1]  St Mary's parish registers, Chatham - Register of Baptisms 1790-1815 ref: P85.1.22 - The Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone .
[2]  England and Wales, Civil Registration Index Ref: Deaths MAR 1880; 2a/661; DOVER (aged 76)
[3]  England and Wales, Civil Registration Index Ref: Deaths JUN 1887; 2a/529; DOVER (aged 76)
[4]  Family Search Internet Genealogy Service. Batch No: C046984 - Parish registers for St. Matthew's Church, Bethnal Green, 1745-1900
[5]  England and Wales, Civil Registration Index Ref: Deaths Dec 1881, St George in the East, London, Surrey, 1c/306
[6]  England and Wales, Civil Registration Index Ref: Deaths Dec 1885; St George in the East, London, Surrey; 1c/272
[7] England and Wales, Civil Registration Index. Marriages Ref: Jun 1856; Lambeth, Vol 1d Page 425
[8]  1851 census ref: HO107, 1559, 453, 20
[9]  1861 census ref: RG9, Piece 344, Folio 118, Page 42
[10]  1871 census ref: RG10, Piece 740, Folio 48, Page 23
[11]  1881 Census ref: RG11, Piece 0607, Folio 76, Page 12
[12]  England and Wales, Civil Registration Index Ref: Marriages 1860 June, Newington, Vol 1d, Page 221
[13]  England and Wales, Civil Registration Index Ref: Deaths Sep1910; Wandsworth; 1d/266
[14]  England and Wales, Civil Registration Index Ref: Deaths Dec 1903; Southwark; 1d/81 (aged 42 years)
[15]  England and Wales, Civil Registration Index Ref: Marriages June Qtr 1898; Lambeth; 1d/707
[16]  England and Wales, Civil Registration Index Ref: Marriages June Qtr 1898; St Saviour; 1d/6
[17]  1901 census ref: RG13, Piece 376, Folio 103, Page 52
[18]  England and Wales, Civil Registration Index Ref: Marriages June Qtr 1910; Southwark, 1d/200
[19]  England and Wales, Civil Registration Index Ref: Births Dec Qtr 1911; Brighton; 2b/363
[20]  England and Wales, Civil Registration Index. Births Ref: Dec 1912; Brighton, Vol 2b Page 402
[21]  England and Wales, Civil Registration Index. Deaths Ref: Sep 1926; Brighton, Vol 2b Page 264
[22]  England and Wales, Civil Registration Index. Marriages Ref: Sep 1933; Brighton, Vol 2b Page 690
[23]  England and Wales, Civil Registration Index. Births Ref: Mar 1935; Birmingham; Vol 6d Page 124
[24]  England and Wales, Civil Registration Index. Births Ref: Dec 1936; Birmingham; Vol 6d Page 187
 

©2004

Designed and maintained by SLG Computer Services.
Last reviewed:  June 2010