The Lovell Family USA

The Lovell Family

The Lovell family is one of the old well known Romany families recorded in various books and of coures the Journals of the gypsy Lore Society.

They were to be found all over England and a branch also went to America along with other old Romany families such as Cooper and Stanley and Boswell to name just a few.

The Welsh family tree can be traced back to Slack Lovell, born in the 1700s. From him descended Major, Ladin, William, Tom, Frederick, Harriet, Charlotte and Trenit Lovell and their numerous offspring.

The Lovell circuit included Devon, Cornwall and Wales, with stopping places such as King Street in Plymouth (Cornwall). The men dealt in knife-grinding, horse-trading and farmwork, whilst the women went from door to door selling pegs and flowers. As always, there was fortune-telling and playing music.

Among the many families that the Lovell's married into was the Lee family who also had a branch that moved Into Wales and of course the Woods,Locks,Boswell and others.

The well known story of how Seth Lovell fought bare knuckle with Zachariah Lock (aka Harry Boswell) originally from Shropshire but he had fell in love with Maria Wood and they decided to live in North Wales but Seth objected, and so the fight took place and it is duly recorded that Harry won and thus, Seth Lovell moved his family further Southward Into Wales.

Among the many Gypsies who left for a better life in America was Walter lovell who married Rosanna (Lee?Smith?) below is a newspaper report of the time reporting Rosannas death:-

A GYPSY QUEEN DEAD:-THE MOST POWERFUL OF THE FORTUNE TELLER'S OF THIS COUNTRY

Published May 30th 1884

In a little dome shaped tent near the railway station at EL MORA NEW JERSEY the body of the late ROSANNA LOVELL a Queen of the Gypsies lay in state yesterday ,from early afternoon until far into the night. Three wax candles stuck a upon three crooked sticks burning at her head, cast a mellow light a upon the glistening casket and upon the white muslin draperies of the weather stained tent.

Camp fires surrounded by groups of men women and children in whispered conversation sent long lines of smoke trailing across fields and in the early twilight shoe dimly like beacons far at sea, causal visitors came and went, the horses stamped uneasily and dogs like skulking shadows prowled from tent to wagon with hungry restlessness, horse trading was stopped fortune telling ceased for a day the Queen was dead. Strictly speaking ROSANNA was not a Queen, at the same time it maybe said there are no Gypsy Queens in this country although many claim the title. Rosanna never claimed to be a Queen although in point of age influence and worldly prosperity she ranked above all strolling fortune tellers in America. She was born in England about 102 years ago until 1870 she roamed over England telling fortunes in villages in the suburbs of the cities and at country fairs.

In1870 she came to America and continued the same nomadic life. Her husband WALTER LOVELL to whom she was married very many years ago accompanied her and did profitable business Horse trading with venturesome strangers. He is now about 76 years of age and is hale and hearty as though he was scarcely 50!! He is BOSS of the LOVELL & SMITH band. Rosanna was his wife there was no Queen except in the imaginations of romantic minded people in the provinces, the Band in number of about 30 with 16 wagons came from near Oakdale Park Philadelphia about a week ago, at that time ROSANNA was taken ill , A physician who was called in said she was dying of old age.

On Wednesday night she died, She will be buried today in EVERGREEN CEMETERY Two years ago ROSANNA and her band performed in the ROMANY RYE at Booths Theatre in this city She liked the experience very much, WALTER LOVELL and others of the band own houses and lots near Elizabeth.

Extract from Romany Lavo Lil by George Borrow:-

LOVEL. - This is the name or title of an old and powerful English family. The meaning of it is Leo's town, Lowe's town, or Louis' town. The Gypsies, who adopted it, seem to have imagined that it had something to do with love, for they translated it by Camlo or Caumlo, that which is lovely or amiable, and also by Camomescro, a lover, an amorous person, sometimes used for 'friend.' Camlo is connected with the Sanscrit Cama, which signifies love, and is the appellation of the Hindoo god of love. A name of the same root as the one borne by that divinity was not altogether inapplicable to the Gypsy tribe who adopted it: Cama, if all tales be true, was black, black though comely, a Beltenebros, and the Lovel tribe is decidedly the most comely and at the same time the darkest of all the Anglo-Egyptian families. The faces of many of them, male and female, are perfect specimens of black beauty. They are generally called by the race the Kaulo Camloes, the Black Comelies. And here, though at the risk of being thought digressive, the writer cannot forbear saying that the darkest and at one time the comeliest of all the Caumlies, a celebrated fortune-teller, and an old friend of his, lately expired in a certain old town, after attaining an age which was something wonderful. She had twenty-one brothers and sisters, and was the eldest of the family, on which account she was called "Rawnie P., pooroest of bis ta dui," Lady P. - she had married out of the family - eldest of twenty-two.

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Bob Lovell's Family *Arrival in Wales. ( As Compiled by Robert (Bob Lovell)

Tradition hands down that the Lovells came from Spain, fleeing persecution along with such families as the Boswells, Hearns, Coopers and Lees. After arriving in Cornwall from France, they established a travelling circuit between England and Wales.

As with many Gypsy tribes, a British surname was adopted and used among non-Romanies instead of their own. Lovell was chosen either because it meant the same as their Romani name (which means good-looking) or, legend says, because they protected a "Lord Lovell" from being imprisoned and were allowed to use his name in gratitude.

Slack Lovell

The Lovell circuit included Devon, Cornwall and Wales, with stopping places such as King Street in Plymouth (Cornwall), the Upper Race in Pontypool (Torfaen) and Brooks Field in Newport (Monmouthshire). The men dealt in knife-grinding, horse-trading and farmwork, whilst the women went from door to door selling pegs and flowers. As always, there was fortune-telling and playing music.

Adolphus Lovell

Frederick Lovell, one of Slack's sons, had ten children, among them Syrenda. Syrenda married a Romani from Cornwall called Rosi Small, and one of their sons was Adolphus, born at the King Street atchantan (stopping place) in 1884.

Adolphus married Bertha Lee, a Welsh Gypsy descended from Sam Lee.They travelled throughout England, Wales and Scotland, with Adolphus grinding cutlery and dealing in horses whilst Bertha and her daughters sold door to door. The family owned two vardos (waggons), one a Reading-type pulled by two grai (horses) and the other a Bowtop.

Like many Gypsies, the Lovells enlisted during the two World Wars, and in WW1 Adolphus fought in France on horseback and was wounded. Between the wars Brooks Field in Newport beside the River Usk had been a favourite camping place for Gypsies and was known as the Travellers Rest. In the 1940s it

was officially closed down, and many Gypsy families were forced to live in houses for the first time. Adolphus settled in Newport and opened a marine store, dealing in scrap metal. He died in 1945. His wife, Bertha, kept the two vardos into the '60s.

Adolphus Ruben Lovell

Adolphus and Bertha had two sons: Seth and Adolphus Ruben. Seth was named after a 19th century ancestor who lost a fight with the Locks over a travelling circuit in North Wales and hence moved south. Seth the younger went unmarried and is buried in Newport with his parents.

Adolphus Ruben Lovell, the other son, was born at the Pontypool atchantan in 1923. From the 1920s to '45 his family travelled most years from Cornwall up to Westmorland, returning to Wales to overwinter. As a lad, one of his jobs was to look after the ponies in which the Lovells traded, sometimes as many as 12, and another was to help his father with the knife-grinding work, wheeling the barrow into each new village.

Adolphus rarely went to school. He preferred to be out and about with his father, learning the Romany way to survive: to understand the countryside, to know which herbs to use as medicines and where the shoshai (hares and rabbits) were to be found, and how to mend broken things with skilled hands.

During WW2 he joined the British Merchant Navy and was twice on Russian convoys in the North Atlantic when his ship was torpedoed by German

submarines and sunk. In 1947 Adolphus left Wales for the last time: fate and the Navy took him to New Plymouth in New Zealand, where he met Rona Beard. Rona's parents were Smoky Bill and Pearl, and they had ten children. They were said to be Scottish travellers who were lured down under in the 1900s by the prospect of gold. Adolphus jumped ship to stay with Rona and was hidden by her parents on a farm. He gave himself up during an amnesty, spent six months in jail and was allowed to remain in the country. He was illiterate all his life, but good with the heavy horses which were still in use on the farms.Adolphus's son Robert was born in New Zealand. Bob is a Kiwi-Romani singer/songwriter and very proud of his heritage.a big Thank you to Bob for kindly allowing me to reproduce his story on my web site and as Bob would say "mishto pren bokt tiro pral Bob"

Lovell pictures and text copyright Bob Lovell 2006