On Christmas Day 1830, Joseph Laflin married Elizabeth Winters somewhere in Norfolk. In the 1841 census, Joseph and Elis Laflin were living in Laflin’s Row, Heigham, Norfolk and Joseph was described as being “of independent means”. They have yet to be found in 1851, but Elizabeth Laflin died in the winter of 1857 in the Norwich area.

Joseph married again in the summer of 1858, this time to Elizabeth Reynolds, who was some 30 years younger than he and they had four children. In 1861 Joseph and Elizabeth Saflin were living in Village Road, Sprowston, Norfolk and Joseph was working as a harness maker. With them were their two eldest children, Elizabeth (born in the spring of 1859) and Joseph (born in the spring of 1860).

In 1871, Joseph and Elizabeth Laflin were living Waterloo Road Cottage, Horsham St Faiths, Norwich with their four children. Joseph was said to be a 71-year-old, deaf school master while his wife Elizabeth (aged 47) was a school-mistress. All four children were at school,they were Elizabeth aged 12 and Joseph aged 10, Benjamin (born in the spring of 1866) and Isabella (born in the summer of 1867). Joseph died in the winter of 1874, aged 76. His widow Elizabeth died in the spring of 1880, aged 54.

The eldest daughter disappeared from the records and may have moved away and married (she would have been 22 in 1881). The other three were living in Waterloo Cottage, Horsham St Faiths, with Joseph Laflin (a shoemaker aged 20) as the head of the household. With him were his brother Benjamin (a carpenter aged 15) and his sister Isabella (aged 14 and still at school).

Joseph moved to Felmingham and in the summer of 1888 he married Emma Middleton from Cromer. Harry Benjamin Laflin was born on 7th May 1889 at Felmingham near North Walsham in Norfolk. He was the son of Joseph Laflin, a journeyman shoemaker and Emma (formerly Middleton) and the birth was registered on 24th May by his father.

In the 1891 census, Joseph and Emma Laflin were living in Church Street, Felmingham and Joseph was working as a shoemaker. With them were their son Harry and a visitor - Sarah Middleton aged 28 who was probably Emma’s sister.

Their other children followed soon afterwards - Maud Elizabeth in 1891, Arthur in 1894, Frank in 1897 and Frederick Charles in 1900. In 1901, Joseph and Emma Laflin were living in the parish of Skeyton in Norfolk and Joseph was a shoemaker. With them were their five children, Henry aged 13 and working as a farm labourer, Maud aged 9, Arthur aged 6, Frank aged 3 and the baby Frederick. All the children had been born in Felmingham.

Meanwhile, Joseph's brother Benjamin, aged 35, was working as a furniture warehouseman in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.

Then in June 1907, when the eldest boy Harry was 18, his father Joseph died at the age of 46. Four years later, in 1911, Harry married Beatrice King and in 1919, his brother Arthur married Nell Seager. The other children have not yet been traced.

Bill Atkins from Basingstoke had a "great-aunt Beattie" or Beatrice who married a "Harry B. Laflin" and had 3 daughters, one of whom was alive in 1991 and living in Norwich. Beatrice Morris/King was born on 11 March 1885.

Sources for this section.

IGI Marriages for Norfolk.
Civil Registration Indexes available online from FreeBMD
Civil Registration Indexes and Census Data available online from Findmypast

Page maintained by Susan Laflin. Last updated in January 2008.