The Dean family: potters and brickmakers of Islington and Tottenham

William Dean I married Catherine Cole back in 1821 and from that time, the Deans seem to have worked the potteries and brickworks alongside the Coles up until the last available record, the 1901 census. This page outlines what we know of Dean genealogy.

St Anne Soho appears to have been a family church in that a William Dean was baptised there on 30 April 1792 to another William Dean and his wife Elizabeth. These William Deans could well have been the grandfather and father of the William who married Catherine Cole.

William Dean I was born between 1802 and 1803 in Islington, so his family probably worked or lived alongside our Cole ancestors there. He married Catherine Cole on 11 Nov 1821 at Saint Anne Church, Soho. By 1841 he was at the Tottenham Tile Kilns where he seems to have stayed for some years. He was buried on 4 Sep 1867 at Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington, so presumably died a few days earlier, having survived Catherine by two years. The couple had the following children, all of whom except William II were born while the family was at the Tile Kilns:

• William Dean II (William J Dean) (see below)
• Ann Dean (c1829 - ?)
• Sarah Louisa Dean (1831 or 1832 - 12 Aug 1879). She and her younger sister Charlotte Elizabeth emigrated together to Australia and there is more on them, their husbands and their descendants on the page about the Cox brickmakers. 
• Daniel James Dean (c1836 - ?). In 1881 he was a carman living at 19 Crescent Middlesex with his wife Emma aged 46. She was born Emma Cox in the March quarter of 1856 in Hackney and could have been a sister of the Cox brothers who married his sisters, Sarah Louisa and Charlotte Elizabeth. In 1861 Daniel was a carman living with Emma next door to the Colleys at the Tile Kilns in Tottenham. Emma was a sempstess aged 26 born in Islington. In 1871 Daniel was a carman 35 living at 4 Martha Street, St Matthew Bethnal Green with Emma 36. In 1881 the couple were at 19 Crescent Place Hackney, he a carman and she shirt maker. In 1891 the couple were at West Street Mile End. Possibly Emma died in the Dec quarter of 1892 aged 52 in the Bethnal Green district and Daniel in same area aged 56 in the December quarter of 1895. Both Emma and Daniel showed no records in 1901.
• Charlotte Elizabeth Dean (1838 - 22 Nov 1935). She and her older sister Sarah Louisa emigrated together to Australia and there is more on them, their husband's and their descendants on the page about the Cox brickmakers.

William Dean II (William J Dean) was born circa 1825 at Islington. He married an Eliza, probably Elizabeth Shephard on 1 Jul 1849 at Old Church, Saint Pancras, London. Not being my direct line, though, I have not bought the certificate to check the details. William II, like his father William I, worked at the Tottenham Tile Kilns, first as a labourer and then as a tile maker. He was buried on 21 June 1884 at Abney Park Cemetery, Stoke Newington. He and Eliza had the following children: 

• William Dean III (William T Dean) (see below)
• Eliza Ann, born c1854. She was probably the Eliza, age 17, one of many domestics at The Manor Hall in Lambeth in 1871. She possibly married in the March quarter of 1879 in Edmonton district to either Henry Hoddell or Lemuel Voss.
• Daniel J Dean, born c1855. He married Agnes Mary A Bell at Edmonton in the June quarter of 1879. In 1881 he was a potter aged 25 living at 5 Overton terrace Tottenham with Agnes 25 and daughter Eliza J age 5 months. A daughter of the same name was stillborn in the Dec quarter of 1882. By 1891 the family was at 1 Garden Avenue (with Daniel listed as James0, Tottenham, potter born Tottenham, with wife Agnes 32 born Bermondsey, with children Catherine 8 born Tottenham, Arthur 4 born, Tottenham, Daniel 6 born Tottenham and Charlotte 5 born Tottenham. Agnes died in the Sept quarter of 1893 at Edmonton aged 37. In 1091 Daniel was a potter aged 45 at Wood Green with a new wife Jane.
• Henry Dean, born c1858 who probably died young.
• Catherine Dean, born c1858. She was a housemaid for the Paul family in Middlesex in 1881.
• Joseph Dean born c1867. In 1901 he was a builders labourer living alone at 3 Milton Road Tottenham.

William Dean III (William Thomas Dean) was born between c1851 at Tottenham while his parents were at the Tile Kilns, where he became a labourer. He married Mary Ann Freshwater in the Dec quarter of 1877 in the Edmonton district, and in 1881 was 29 a general labourer and living in a cottage next to his father’s cottage in Green Lane Tottenham with Mary age 23 and son George 1. By 1901 he was at the Cole's White Hart Lane Pottery where he was a labourer, age 49. No family was with him. 

If anyone can add to our understanding of the Dean family's history or genealogy, please get in touch, particularly if you have any old photographs.