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Hello, Mr. Smith. A while back, I came across your genealogy website about the Axworthy descendants of John of Yealmton. My wife is a descendant of Albert Riggs (1852-1921), who married Luvenia La Dora Still (1857-1934), who was born in Alton, Madison Co., Illinois. Luvenia was the daughter of Jeremiah or Jeremy Still, whose wife was named Charlotte, maiden name AXWORTHY. Luvenia was the fourth child of Jeremy and Charlotte. She married Albert Riggs in 1874.
We don't know anything about Charlotte's ancestry. It's interesting, but maybe only a coincidence, that your website shows a Lavenia Cecilia Axworthy, as well as a Leadora Axworthy. "Luvenia" is a variant spelling of "Lavenia" or "Lavinia," and "La Dora" is similar to "Leadora." I wonder if our Charlotte may have belonged to your Axworthy family and thus commemorated some of her female relatives in naming her daughter Luvenia La Dora. (Luvenia later had a granddaughter who was named LaDora after her.)
Jeremy and Charlotte were from England, coming to America in 1851 with their eldest daughter Sophia. After settling in Alton, Illinois, they had Luvenia, as well as four other daughters and a son (making a family of six daughters and one son). The 1870 U.S. Census shows Jeremy and Charlotte residing in Alton with their daughters. Jeremy is said to be 42, so born circa 1828, and Charlotte is said to be 40, so born circa 1830. By the time of the 1880 U.S. Census, Charlotte had died, because in 1880 Jeremy is listed as a 54-year-old widower (so born circa 1826), a shoemaker living in Godfrey, Illinois, near Alton.
Jeremiah Still was born in Fontmell Magna in Dorsetshire, England, but I do not know where or exactly when his wife Charlotte was born, nor who her parents were. The 1841 British census of the Channel Islands shows a "Charlotte Axworthy," age 10 (so born circa 1831), daughter of John and Elizabeth Axworthy, both 40 years old, of the parish of St. Peter Port on the Island of Guernsey. The same census indicates that Charlotte was born on Guernsey, and lists her with two older siblings: Elizabeth, age 20, and George, age 13. We can find no other likely candidate for our Charlotte Axworthy in the 1841 census, so it is possible that John and Elizabeth Axworthy's daughter Charlotte is our Charlotte. However, there was also a "Charlotte Axworthy," age 15 (so born circa 1831), who arrived in New York Harbor on 11 May 1846 aboard the S.S. Switzerland, which had sailed out of London, England. It seems most unlikely that the Charlotte Axworthy who came to New York in 1846 was our Charlotte, because our Charlotte arrived in the U.S. in 1851 accompanied by her husband Jeremiah and her infant firstborn daughter -- unless she came to the U.S. in 1846 but soon returned to England, where she married Jeremiah in 1847 and then emigrated to the U.S. a second time in 1851. It is possible, however, that neither the Charlotte of the 1841 census nor the Charlotte of the 1846 passenger list is our Charlotte -- and it is also possible that the 1841 Charlotte and the 1846 Charlotte are the same person, but not the Charlotte we are looking for. Another question to be answered is, if the Charlotte Axworthy of Guernsey Island is our Charlotte, how did she and Jeremiah, who lived in Dorsetshire, meet and marry?
Jared Olar
Pekin, Illinois, USA
P.S. This and other information of Jeremiah Still's family may be found at my website here:
http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~fesschequy/StillAxworthy.html
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