A reader recently commented that it is “always interesting to see what others find on the Addis family”. I second that thought, and the extended Addis family has heard us! Several current Addis family members have been updating the Addis family tree on the website Ancestry.com.

Though both S. J. Addis and his younger brother J. B. Addis lived well into the age of photography, to date no photographs of them have been published. But two of their siblings sat for portraits, a brother John Hadzley Addis (1815-1874) and a sister, Mary Ann Addis (1842-1876). John Addis is listed in the 1841 census as a whitesmith, in the 1851 census as a smith, with his son William, age 14, living at home also listed as a smith. In the 1861 census he is listed as a blacksmith, his son William was still living at home working as a blacksmith with younger brothers Edmund and Samuel, ages 19 and 15, also listed as blacksmiths. Three other sons listed as ages 11, 9, and 3 had not yet entered the trade. In 1871, John is again listed as a whitesmith with three sons ages 21, 19, and 13 also listed as smiths.  As John was never listed as an edge tool maker he must have worked in another branch of the smithing trade but would have learned his way around a forge alongside his brother S. J. Addis in his father’s shop on Church Street, Deptford. In turn he trained many of his own sons starting their training when they were as young as 13 years old.

John would have been between 40 and 50 years old in the photograph. There is no way of knowing how closely he  resembled S. J. and J. B. Addis, but they likely shared a similar physique from years forging at the anvil.

John Hadzley Addis 1815-1874. Deptford, London, England. c. 1860.  John Addis spent his entire career in Deptford. He died at age 59. Image from Ancestry.com.

St. Paul’s Church, Church Street, Deptford, London, England. c. 1835.