#52Ancestors, Favourite Discovery

There have been a few finds which have taken some digging, putting to one size, reinvestigating and lateral thinking.

There was Annie H Richards born in Mold, listed on the 1881 census for Dudley as “niece” in the household headed by my three times great grandfather Henry James. Who was she and how did she fit in ? Richards was a surname we hadn’t come across at all in our research. The others in the household were Henry’s unmarried daughter Elizabeth and his grandchildren Albert and Laura. Some late night puzzling to determine how she could be a niece of Henry uncovered Henry’s mother’s marriage to a Mr Richards after Henry’s birth and several half siblings – and that how Annie fitted in. Like he did for his grandchildren, Henry had taken in Annie after her father (his half brother) had died.

Then there was unravelling the story my mother-in-law had told us about her grandmother being a twin. The twin had died young and the mother remarried. Confusion as to which was her birth name and which the surname of her stepfather made it tricky to know where to start. It took over 30 years – but I got there in the end.

But probably the one that still makes me smile is finding Aunt Lizzie. I wrote about her in Week 14, Maiden Aunt; #52Ancestors 2018.

We had her birth certificate, and had found her on census’ from 1851-1901 (1861 excepted) as Elizabeth. She lived with her parents and then father and sister, and later stayed and cared for her father until his death in 1905.

We had a family story about her emigrating to the US when she was in her 70’s. I searched and searched for her in Ellis Island records and in immigration records on Ancestry. Nothing.

We had a note written by my grandmother’s cousin detailing some of what he remembered of life in England and who they had stayed with on arrival in Boston, en route to Seattle.

They stayed with a family in Boston who initially we thought were simply 2^nd cousins – part of the family that Elizabeth and her parents had been staying with on the night of the 1851 census. Elizabeth’s mother and the wife in the Duffill household were sisters. We had no other apparent connection to that family.

Until I broadened my search (Elizabeth and James are such common names to be searching for) and found (in the wee small hours) Bessie. Not Elizabeth, not Lizzie, but Bessie; arriving in Boston in 1906. The information about where her intended destination was and who she was meeting was a revelation. Her address was to be care of her brother in law Albert Duffill. The same family, but to be a brother in law their must be a sister – surely.

Lizzie wasn’t Lizzie at all - she was Bessie ! and she wasn't 70 either.

Turns out she and Mary (my 2xgreat grandmother) had an older half sister who had married one of the half siblings of their Duffill cousins. (Mr Duffill senior had at last 4 wives and children from every marriage). A descendant of Ellen (the half sister) sent this photo to my third cousin and myself not long after we made this connection.

 Is it a 1908 Model T Ford ? I’m not a car person but I have been comparing old photos and it seems about right. We don’t know just who is who, but we all believe that two of them are Ellen and Bessie.  I colourised the photo on a free site recently to see if colour would help pick out any features. Not really, but I am inclined to think Bessie is the lady facing towards the camera 2^nd from the left – just because her face shape is similar to that of her father in a (labelled) photo found in a family album.

Making this discovery certainly filled out our tree and tidied up some loose ends 10 or so years ago. While we haven’t found much more or been able to jump back to earlier generations than those we already knew, I have spotted some DNA matches amongst the matches of my mother, brother third cousin and myself who connect back through this family to the Thomas family of Ellen and Bessie’s mother.

Just wish they would reply to messages though.