CW60 p66 Family History:Layout 1 29/9/08 15:27 Page 66
culture
Cornish
Family History
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Joseph Opie of Perranwell
A personal journey by Bob Richards
November 11, 2008 sees the 90th and known as Great Joe, a big, strong man. Henry, seven, William James, five and
anniversary of the Armistice which ended There were two William Opies in the Smith’s Charles, two, by the time of the next census
the Great War. Shop in the later years of the Foundry, both in 1881.
They said it was a war to end all wars, and from the same family line. His daughter Henrietta went to work at
that it was a war that would be over by There were other families, too, who had the woollen mill at Chyvogue in Perranwell
Christmas. How wrong they were. served the Foundry for all of their working and later married Richard Abraham, a
It was a war which cost the lives of lives, as had generations before them. Many butcher’s assistant. A marriage prompted, it
millions on both sides and affected their of these families returned to the site after the would seem, by the imminent arrival of their
families for ever. I want to tell you the story foundry closed and became Edwards first child, Lillian.
of just one of those millions. Brothers, Millers. The brothers took over the Of the other members of John’s family,
The 1841 census of Perranwell, half way site and ran it as a corn mill, producing and Rosina went to work for Charles Johnson, a
between Truro and Falmouth, shows a processing animal feed. Like many Cornish Baptist minister in Berkeley Vale, Falmouth, and
family of iron moulder Joel Oppy, 40, his wife families of the time, however, some married in September 1891. Thomas moved
Matilda, 35, and children Mary, 14, William members of the Opie family moved away away from Cornwall, joining the army and
Henry, 12, Eliza, 10, Joseph, five, Matilda, from Cornwall for work. Frederick is to be marrying a girl named Hannah Tweed in Norfolk.
three and Emily, one. found in Wales by the time of the 1881 The 1891 census records the remaining
Joel was baptised in 1798, in census with a wife, Elizabeth Jane (formerly Opie family still in Perranwell as: John, 49,
Perranarworthal and Matilda (formerly Dwyer) Dower) and five children, Ellen, Matilda, iron moulder, Emma, wife, 44, John Henry,
was baptised in 1804 in Budock. They Emmly, Fredrick, Cecelia and Edith. son, 17, agricultural labourer, William
married in Kenwyn Church in Truro in 1825. It is to John Opie, born in 1843, that we James, son, 15, agricultural labourer,
In addition to the children on the 1841 look to carry forward this family story. He too Charles, son, 13, agricultural labourer,
census they also had two other sons, John, went to work at Perran Foundry, like his father Frederick, son, 10, scholar and Joseph,
baptised on March 28, 1843, at the Parish and older brothers. The 1871 census shows son, six, scholar.
Church of St Piran, Perranarworthal, and him working there as a moulder. Now he had John Opie now had six sons and two
Frederick, who was born in 1848. The 1851 a wife, Emma, (formerly Roberts) whom he daughters, with five sons still at home.
census gives the spelling of the family name had married in 1866, and three children: The family home still stands, next door to
as Oppe and by this time William Henry had Thomas, four, Henrietta, two and baby Rosina, what was then the village reading room,
taken up his father’s occupation of moulder, just a few months old. which has subsequently seen use as a
and Joseph, now 15, was working as an Even after the closing of Perran Foundry, snooker club, butcher’s shop and more
agricultural labourer. Joel and William Henry John Opie remained living in Perranwell and recently as a dental surgery.
were both employed at Perran Foundry, retained his trade as an iron moulder. He Gradually through the 1890s the sons
where Joseph later joined them. walked each day to Penryn, a distance of married and went their separate ways, and
The Opie family lived in this area for some five miles, to work in a foundry set up by 1900 only Frederick and Joseph lived at
several generations. Other members of the there by the Sara family, former Perran home. Joseph, now 16 years of age, was
Opie family also employed at Perran Foundry employees. His family continued to employed as a gardener working at the
Foundry included Joseph Opie, son of Joel increase. He had three more sons, John nearby Mellingey estate, the family home of
66 hwegh ha tri ugens
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