#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.

#52Stories, Week 13, If you could make a good living doing the one thing you love most in the world, what would it be ?

Well, I think being a family research detective might just be my dream job

Anyone got any contacts at Ancestry.com ? Familysearch.org ? FindMyPast.co.uk ? Heir Hunters ? I'd move to Utah quick as you could blink, or Sydney, or London or New York or LA - anywhere they have an office.

I've been thinking about jumping into this market for a few years now - since I have had some mind blowing breakthroughs in my own family research. I have also helped some friends find out about their families too, in New Zealand, Australia and England. 

I love poring through records deciphering handwriting from the past. Admittedly it would be great to view the originals, but the many records which are now available online are just as easy to read. On the plus side I can do it from the comfort of home and save money on travel to the other side of the world.

Saying that though, travel and family history research - combining the two would just improve my job satisfaction level exponentially.

Part of my failed plan to relocate to the UK a few years back was to set myself up there to help folk back on this side of the world with research, headstone hunting, village exploring. Putting the flesh on the bones of our ancestors. Names and dates are one thing, finding where they lived and how they lived just brings them closer. Maybe I will get another shot at that before I am too old and decrepit. 

If you are keen to get started let me know, maybe I can help. If you have already started but got stuck...let me know. I love a challenge. I think I should have been a detective.

Anyway, to really get paid work in this field you need to have some qualifications, it seems. Thirty years of doing it yourself doesn't appear to count for too much. With this in mind I am looking to enrol in a diploma which is available in Australia.

I'll keep you updated with developments !

UPDATE - One brick at a time

A short update to my earlier post about breaking down a brick wall.

It occurred to me after I had posted the discovery that I now had an alternate (correct) spelling for Mary's surname - Gerrard - and that I hadn't searched the GRO for that combination.

So I went back and looked again and lo and behold there WERE two more children born to Mary and Robert before they emigrated to Australia.

Two baby girls - one who had included in her name, a surname linking her to a previous generation, just so that I could be doubly confident. They lived only briefly though, Ellen 9 months and Lilian for 15 months.

I do have a copy of a photo of one of them....if I could only find the right box, I could include it here, or at least make a better guess about whether it was Ellen (Nellie) or Lilian (Lily). Or maybe it isn't either of them ? Perhaps it is a younger brother ? There are only two children in the photo and at the time both of these babies were born, eldest child Margaret was still alive.So if the baby is either Ellen or Lilian then there should have been three children in the photo. 

Oh well, another day.

One brick at a time...

I have been looking for ages for information about my daughter's 2x great grandmother Mary Millicent (sic) Hogg, nee Barnett or Jerrard/Jarratt. Since before she was born even !! 

When I started researching the family I had married into I asked lots of questions. I have stored all the answers and information, like a squirrel, for safe keeping in my mind. My mother-in-law had told me that her grandmother was a twin, that the twin died and then their mother (her great grandmother) remarried. But there was some confusion about whether the birth name of Mary was Barnett or Jerrard/Jarratt and which name belonged to the stepfather.

Her Australian death certificate has her name as Mary Millicent Hogg nee Barnett – and her mother’s name as Mary Milne.

I purchased her marriage certificate about 12 years ago. She gave her name as Mary Milne Jerrard in 1901 and said she was “over the age of 21”, when she married Thomas Watson Hogg. On most of her children’s birth certificates she gave her maiden name as Barnett.

It was also said that there were more children born in the UK before they moved to Australia, but I’ve not been able to find any registered. Especially now that you can search using the mother’s maiden name which you’ve never been able to do before. On the 1911 census, which was the last one taken before they emigrated, she says she had had 2 children and that they were both still alive (although only my daughter's great grandfather – Robert - was at home with her on census night). The elder child, Margaret, I later found enumerated as a patient in hospital. There are additional deceased children listed on her death certificate – but still no evidence !

On her husband’s Army enlistment papers for WW1 (found on Ancestry) her name is recorded as Mary Milne Jerrard (with Barnett crossed out) with the same marriage date. Just two children are listed, a 3^rd was born in 1914 so not on the census, and the 1^st had already died and was not included. When they emigrated to Australia after the war their 4^th child had arrived.

When I was having a spend up on the GRO in their email pdf trial in November last year, I decided to take a stab at the birth certificate for their first child Margaret in case there was information on there to help. But not really – apart from confirming that the address where they were living in 1902 was the same as in 1919. I found her death in 1913 from TB, aged 10 years. Her death certificate gave her name not just as Margaret Hogg (on the birth certificate) but as Margaret Jerrard Hogg. A clue perhaps, considering the naming patterns that are commonly used in Scotland.

Last night I decided again to see if I could find any additional children born to the Hogg/Jerrard Hogg/Barnett family. Nope.

So I thought I would try again to see if I could find Mary’s birth in Scotland. On the 1911 census (the only official UK document I had found where she had recorded her birthplace) and on her death certificate (where the information was supplied by her children) the place of birth was given each time as Aberdeen.

I’ve looked and looked there so many times !! Even back when one of my nieces was living in Aberdeen - at least 12 years ago, maybe 13. 

Scotlandspeople have updated their website and search function too and things are a little easier to navigate. I tried several searches, changing spelling, looking for the mother’s name as well and then BINGO !! A birth for Mary Milne Gerrard in Aberdeen ! I looked at the birth entry and the mother’s name was Margaret Gerrard (sound familiar ?).

To be doubly sure that I had found the right baby – I looked to see if there was a twin. Yes there was ! James Milne Gerrard, born 20 minutes earlier. (I LOVE the information on Scottish certificates !) They were born in the Poor House in Aberdeen to a single mother. Again, I am wondering if the naming pattern points to their father being a Mr Milne ?

So anyway, still trying to align with the information which I had been told, I looked for a death for the twin, and found one, aged 17 months, in the Poor House from croup. At that point I wondered had she left both of her babies there ? Her occupation on the birth certificates was Domestic Servant, and the same on the death certificate for baby James. How would a young girl look after 2 babies on her own back then in 1882, in a city like Aberdeen ? She would have had to keep working. Who cared for the children ?

The next event I needed to confirm was a marriage. Knowing now that HER name was Gerrard – and that the children’s birth names were Gerrard, the marriage should logically be to a Mr Barnett. And what do you know, there it was, in a slightly different part of Aberdeen. Margaret Gerrard (Domestic Servant) marrying George Barnet (a Paper Mill worker).

I eventually found them living as a family on the 1891 Scotland census, where he was working at a Paper Mill (which is actually still in existence today !) and Mary was listed as his stepdaughter. YAY !! Now I know I have the right people.

In 1901 when Mary and Thomas married, she said she was living in Benwell. I’ve not been able to find her (for sure on the 1901 census) but I did find her mother and stepfather, along with a half-brother and a step-grandparent living in the Benwell area of Newcastle on Tyne. The half-brother, George, isn’t on the 1891 census which is odd. I thought he may not have been born by the time the census was taken, but his birth certificate shows he was born in 1890 – to the correct parents. Maybe the enumerator just forgot to write him down.

Mary’s mother died in 1901 – between the census and Mary’s marriage. She was 38 years old. Her death is registered as Margaret Gerrard Barnet – further confirmation of the naming pattern and correctness of all this searching. Margaret must have been aged about 18 or 19 when she had her twins, and as I suspected Mary was not "over 21 years of age" when she married.

So there you have it, a story passed down which turns out to be true, I love it when that happens.

Very pleased with myself, I am. One brick wall smashed - now to focus back on those other ones. Julius, Mowbray, Charles et al., I WILL find you.