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| Cornish Family History |
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Page 1 of 5 Joseph Opie of Perranwell A personal journey by Bob Richards. November 11, 2008 sees the 90th anniversary of the Armistice which ended the Great War. They said it was a war to end all wars, and that it was a war that would be over by Christmas. How wrong they were. It was a war which cost the lives of millions on both sides and affected their families for ever. I want to tell you the story of just one of those millions. The 1841 census of Perranwell, half way between Truro and Falmouth, shows a family of iron moulder Joel Oppy, 40, his wife Matilda, 35, and children Mary, 14, William Henry, 12, Eliza, 10, Joseph, five, Matilda, three and Emily, one. Joel was baptised in 1798, in Perranarworthal and Matilda (formerly Dwyer) was baptised in 1804 in Budock. They married in Kenwyn Church in Truro in 1825. In addition to the children on the 1841 census they also had two other sons, John, baptised on March 28, 1843, at the Parish Church of St Piran, Perranarworthal, and Frederick, who was born in 1848. The 1851 census gives the spelling of the family name as Oppe and by this time William Henry had taken up his father’s occupation of moulder, and Joseph, now 15, was working as an agricultural labourer. Joel and William Henry were both employed at Perran Foundry, where Joseph later joined them. The Opie family were part of this site for several generations. Other members of the Opie family also employed at Perran Foundry included Joseph Opie, son of Joel and known as Great Joe, a big, strong man. There were two William Opies also in the Smith’s Shop in the later years of the Foundry, both from the same family line. |
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