I rather enjoyed myself the other day when my sister asked me for help to solve a little puzzle. It's always a good feeling when one can find the solution to a little mystery.
Returning to researching her husband's family tree after a couple of years' break, Angie reviewed her previous progress and found that she had Samuel Heys married to Kate Jane Hemus in 1892 (as did several people with public trees on Ancestry - possibly all copied from my sister's!) but with the aid of the new indexes at the GRO site, she found that Samuel's children had a mother with the maiden name of Fallows. There were no listings with the same reference for both Samuel Heys and a female Fallows, but there was a Clarissa Fallows married in the same district, same quarter, but with a different page number.
There were only 3 entries on the page which included Clarissa, but 5 entries on Samuel's page, suggesting that perhaps the index entry for Samuel had the wrong page number. So Angie then looked for Samuel in the 1911 Census and saw from the transcript that he wife's name was Christine. She asked me if her reasoning was correct and that Christine and Clarissa were one and the same.
My first move was to look up Alfred Bright Sear, one of the marriage entries, in the 1911 Census. I chose him because his name was fairly distinctive and the 1911 Census because middle names are most likely to appear there. Alfred showed up as having been married for only 14 years, but he had a 17-yr-old daughter, suggesting a previous marriage; and what's more, his daughter's name was Kate Jane! So I then turned to the GRO website and found that Kate Jane's mother's maiden name was indeed Hemus. (Incidentally, Kate Jane senior died the same year her daughter was born, so possibly as a result of childbirth complications.)
Next I looked up Samuel Heys in the 1911 Census and again I looked at the image, not just the transcription. (Sometimes we have to make do with a transcription, but always look at the original or an image of it, if possible.) I read that Samuel and his wife Catherine had only been married for 10 years, but his children were 18, 16 and 14. Back to FreeBMD to look for a marriage of Samuel Heys to a Catherine in about 1901 and find entries for Samuel Heys and Catherine White in December Q 1901.
The last step was to look for the death of Clarissa Heys, sometime between the marriage in 1892 and Samuel's marriage in 1901. Fortunately, Clarissa Heys is not a common name and there is only one entry in that period - June Q 1900.
It's worth nothing that I used 3 different websites to work on this problem, although 2 would have done: Ancestry or FindMyPast have the 1911 Census and Marriage Indexes but only the GRO site has mother's maiden name on the Birth Indexes prior to the September quarter of 1911. Contrary to what's implied in the television advertisements, just typing your name in Ancestry does not reveal everything you want to know about your forbears! And especially if you blindly copy what others have written, rather than doing your own research!
Until next time ... cheers!
Saturday 25 February 2017
Tuesday 14 February 2017
Travelling far and ... not so far
To-day I've been working with members of my Chandler family - rather distant members, I must admit.
Firstly, I was looking at the family of Joseph Ashbee (born about 1800 in Kent) who married Jane Faith (born 1804 in Kent) who was my ½ 1st Cousin 5 times removed (!). Joseph and Jane, who married in 1826, had 6 children, 5 of whom survived to appear with them in the 1841 Census. But then where did they go? I thought I might have found Joseph and 2 of his sons in 1851, but I wasn't convinced and where was Jane?
After a while, I discovered that the family had emigrated to the United States and settled in Madison, New Haven County, Connecticut. I have yet to discover whether all 5 children went with them, but certainly the youngest 2 did. These were James Douglas Ashbee and Emma Elizabeth Ann Ashbee. I still have work to do on this family, but I know that James married and that he and his parents can be found on the Find A Grave website. James must have done quite well for himself because he had sufficient money to make several journeys between England and the United States and a welcome find on Ancestry was his application for a passport, which included a photograph of him. I am always thrilled to find a picture of a relative: it's lovely to know what they looked like.
I then moved on to Jane's brother Francis Faith (baptised 1897 in Denton, Kent.) I had found his marriage to Alice Austen a few years ago, but had not pursued them any further at that time. Francis and Alice are slightly less common names so I thought they should be fairly easy to track. First of all I found them in 1841, living in Denton as expected and Francis described as a Farmer. Living with them was a 6 yr-old child named Mary Faith, This appears to be their daughter, but surprising that they apparently only had one child after about 17 years of marriage!
The baptism of Mary Ann Faith in 1835 to parents Francis & Alice suggests that the Mary of the Census is indeed their daughter, but rather surprisingly Francis is described as an Innkeeper, living "up the hill from Folkestone" and the Baptism took place in Folkestone. I then found what appeared to be Francis's death, but if it is him, he was then living in Canterbury. So then to find Alice in 1851: I was pleased to see her in Canterbury, and with her daughter Mary Ann, but was brought up short when I saw her age of 45, which would mean she was born in 1805 or 1806. I rushed off to check whether I'd made a mistake in the marriage date, which I had recorded as 1817! I knew she had married "with the consent of parents" but even so ...! Yes, the marriage date was correct, so if this is indeed the right person, she followed the well-worn tradition of ladies knocking a few years off here and there.
When she died in 1857, her age was given (in the Death Index on the GRO website) as 56, which seems much more realistic. I have yet to satisfy myself that I have found her Baptism. 1852 in Lenham seems most likely: mnother's forename is Mary and father's is William which ties in with William Austen being one of the witnesses at Alice's wedding, but another witness was an Ann Austen and I haven't found a sister named Ann for Alice. I like to be fairly sure before I add records to my Legacy family file so I won't add the Lenham Baptism to Alice just yet.
Until next time ... cheers!
Firstly, I was looking at the family of Joseph Ashbee (born about 1800 in Kent) who married Jane Faith (born 1804 in Kent) who was my ½ 1st Cousin 5 times removed (!). Joseph and Jane, who married in 1826, had 6 children, 5 of whom survived to appear with them in the 1841 Census. But then where did they go? I thought I might have found Joseph and 2 of his sons in 1851, but I wasn't convinced and where was Jane?
After a while, I discovered that the family had emigrated to the United States and settled in Madison, New Haven County, Connecticut. I have yet to discover whether all 5 children went with them, but certainly the youngest 2 did. These were James Douglas Ashbee and Emma Elizabeth Ann Ashbee. I still have work to do on this family, but I know that James married and that he and his parents can be found on the Find A Grave website. James must have done quite well for himself because he had sufficient money to make several journeys between England and the United States and a welcome find on Ancestry was his application for a passport, which included a photograph of him. I am always thrilled to find a picture of a relative: it's lovely to know what they looked like.
I then moved on to Jane's brother Francis Faith (baptised 1897 in Denton, Kent.) I had found his marriage to Alice Austen a few years ago, but had not pursued them any further at that time. Francis and Alice are slightly less common names so I thought they should be fairly easy to track. First of all I found them in 1841, living in Denton as expected and Francis described as a Farmer. Living with them was a 6 yr-old child named Mary Faith, This appears to be their daughter, but surprising that they apparently only had one child after about 17 years of marriage!
The baptism of Mary Ann Faith in 1835 to parents Francis & Alice suggests that the Mary of the Census is indeed their daughter, but rather surprisingly Francis is described as an Innkeeper, living "up the hill from Folkestone" and the Baptism took place in Folkestone. I then found what appeared to be Francis's death, but if it is him, he was then living in Canterbury. So then to find Alice in 1851: I was pleased to see her in Canterbury, and with her daughter Mary Ann, but was brought up short when I saw her age of 45, which would mean she was born in 1805 or 1806. I rushed off to check whether I'd made a mistake in the marriage date, which I had recorded as 1817! I knew she had married "with the consent of parents" but even so ...! Yes, the marriage date was correct, so if this is indeed the right person, she followed the well-worn tradition of ladies knocking a few years off here and there.
When she died in 1857, her age was given (in the Death Index on the GRO website) as 56, which seems much more realistic. I have yet to satisfy myself that I have found her Baptism. 1852 in Lenham seems most likely: mnother's forename is Mary and father's is William which ties in with William Austen being one of the witnesses at Alice's wedding, but another witness was an Ann Austen and I haven't found a sister named Ann for Alice. I like to be fairly sure before I add records to my Legacy family file so I won't add the Lenham Baptism to Alice just yet.
Until next time ... cheers!
Monday 13 February 2017
In the beginning ...
I'm rather shocked to find it is actually some years since I first decided to create a blog (inspired by a Legacy Family Tree webinar) and set the process in motion ... but never quite got as far as making my first post. A few days ago I decided it was really time I got on with it and began to think seriously about what I would write.
My research encompasses any and all the relatives of my four grandparents who were, on the paternal side, Francis John Dodd (born in Kent, England in 1889) and Mildred Fanny Chandler (also born in Kent, in 1887) and on the maternal side, Edward Thomas Paul (born in Cheshire in 1875) and Edith Gertrude Bloor (also born in Cheshire, in 1878.)
I intend to write not just about my researches and my discoveries concerning my own family but anything to do with genealogy or family history which arises along the way and which might be of interest - if only to me!
Until next time ... cheers!
My research encompasses any and all the relatives of my four grandparents who were, on the paternal side, Francis John Dodd (born in Kent, England in 1889) and Mildred Fanny Chandler (also born in Kent, in 1887) and on the maternal side, Edward Thomas Paul (born in Cheshire in 1875) and Edith Gertrude Bloor (also born in Cheshire, in 1878.)
I intend to write not just about my researches and my discoveries concerning my own family but anything to do with genealogy or family history which arises along the way and which might be of interest - if only to me!
Until next time ... cheers!
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