the death of the Lewis sisters of Rushey Green

Tragedy came in 1920 when four of Sarah’s sisters were all killed on the same day in 1920 at 6 Rushey Green Catford according to freebmd and the Probate Index.  I haven’t established what happened but suspect it can only have been a fire.  They seem to have conducted a small baby’s clothing manufacturing business from home.  Bertha was visiting from Horwood Hall, Havant and because her will was proved, we get the date of the accident - 21 April.  Another sister had died there six months earlier, presumably of natural causes.  The oldest sister had been there almost 20 years and was quite likely to be present on the night, but she died at Horwood Hall two years later, having had to administer the estates aged 86.

The Thompsons of Scar Top

Having established that this family neatly slotted into my Moses family, from Netherton near Carlisle, I wanted to look at the clue left by Mary Lago in her excellent book about Edward.  She names a grandchild, who it looked like was the child of Annie Thompson, herself born India.  However, how on earth was I to determine which Annie M Thompson married 1911-20 was the girl born in Trichonopoly!  Luckily the grandchild appears a couple of times on Google with her full name, which enabled me to find marriage, maiden name and then birth, leading me to Annie's marriage in London, and finally the death record which fits in perfectly.

1911 deleted entries at findmypast, now available at Ancestry

I wrote earlier about findmypast's contra-common sense approach in deleting people who were entered in the census, but then 'crossed out'.  Sometimes this is the sad misunderstanding of parents including long-dead children.  More often this could be nurses called out in the middle of the night to go and look after a patient or sons out fishing.  I'd like to hear if any lifeboats were called out on the night of 31 March 1911, whether those brave men are recorded in this census transcription at all.  I felt sure that Ancestry's more dogged approach, like a row of combine harvesters coming at ya, would be sure to pick up these 'crossed out' entries, rather than letting its prey escape on such flimsy terms.  Sure enough here is Robert Henderson, appearing nowhere else in 1911 except on Ancestry's index.  I'm sure there will be many more.  Perhaps even my own grandfather, still not located!

found our Annie from the Lakes in Blackburn

Annie Ward is sitting quietly at home at Troutbeck Bridge aged 12 in the census.  Little did I know that once her mother died, all three girls would go off to the cotton mills of Blackburn and there find husbands.  In 1911, Annie's husband just left most of the birthplaces blank.  In 1901, here is Annie born in Windermere.  But the Ancestry index has a garbled version which slowed me down finding her.  I had to guess she'd married in Blackburn like her sisters and follow up the only possible marriage there from freebmd.  Annie was the only one to have any family, and her son-in-law's youngest sister is still living in Blackburn.  I'd like to know more about these Blackburn girls.  Census image: Crown Copyright

Sure looks like my Ellen in Chowbent

Every so often I have a purge of hard-to-find relatives.  I clapped my hands with joy when I found Ellen and her eight siblings back in the 1990s thanks to the will that never was.  Little did I know that each and every one of them would prove a cow to find, across five counties.  Nathan gave me microfilm finger, Anna became Elizabeth, Sarah had the same name as her step-sister, while Carrie never married her husband.  And Ellen, I eventually found, had married as Sarah Ellen and moved to Lancashire.  When I saw this census entry I knew I'd got her.  Born in Matlock orphaned at 16, her father took the family away from that town's helpful records to Bollington where she disappeared.  Until now.  Thanks to the Atherton records at the online parish clerk, the Davies next generation haven't been too painful to follow up.  Census image: Crown copyright

Omitted from this account is my method. Well, I wasn't really convinced that Ellen might have died between the censuses. I went through all the Ellens born in Starkholmes, before spotting the Starkholmes reference in the above census. The name Esther clinched it as it was her mother, mother of the brood of nine.

census: 'my wife's cousin', a nice clue

I love clues like these: rare, yet so very helpful.  Jane Harris is named in the census image here as being cousin of the Taylors, specifically the wife Isabella.  Unfortunately much of the fun of the chase went as I already guessed she was Jane Airey baptised 1836 at Troutbeck.  However I didn't have her marriage, and good old freebmd showed this took place near Warrington, Lancashire.  And familysearch's Cheshire records gave the parish and confirmed her father's name.  The Lakes had so few people then it was easy to find Jane's remarriage, and later, her will.  Which led me to a great-niece (sic) aged 90 in the Isle of Wight.  Census image: Crown copyright

007 - James Bond proof

It was  great to find James Bond lurking at the wedding of my ancestor Miriam in 1777.  Was he there to ensure no foul play, or zip the bridegroom if he got his words wrong.  I felt sure he was Miriam's protective brother, but no baptism could I find either at Ditcheat or neighbouring Ansford.  I did find that four of his children left wills, and the entire wonderful Guppy clan of Bath were his descendants, not to mention half of Parramatta NSW.  To my shame it took more thorough combing by familysearch transcribers to locate his baptism, on 10 May 1755 at Ditcheat.  Great work but how did I miss it?!

in-between the census years again

I'd been hunting this guy for ever.  He shows up in the 1851 census for South Petherton, a carpenter, and then there's nothing ever after.  Except one daughter comes back to England to get married a generation later.  That's right I figured out he went abroad, to South Africa, about 1860.  But look there's one last clue before he goes, his remarriage and the birth of twins and a son BEFORE the marriage.  The lady was actually with him in 1851: his younger cousin.  How I stumbled on this is two-step.  One I found Jennie McIver listed in some Cotty grave records kept at the Society of Genealogists.  Two I found Jennie's birth (1855) based on her probate records at the National Archives of South Africa.  And that all took me back to these freebmd entries.  Nice n'easy huh?