#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.

#52Ancestors, Week 14, The Maiden Aunt

Tricky subject this one. I can only think of three. One who I met, but don’t know too much about, and two who I heard about; but only one who I have researched.

She was a mythical relation when we first began researching, but actually turned out to be the key to so many more discoveries. When we finally solved HER puzzle.

Elizabeth James, born 1 May 1846 at Broadward Bridge near Clungunford was the eldest child of Henry James and his wife Ann Thomas. They had married in Brimfield in 1843. Henry was a gardener or green grocer most of his life from church records and census’. Henry was born in Bucknall, Herefordshire, Ann in Wales. On the 1851 United Kingdom census, her birthplace was transcribed as “Slangyowitch” – what ? A bit of deciphering and map searching, it turns out this must have been the enumerator recording the Welsh place name LLanymynech as phonetically as he could, and the Ancestry transcriber trying to make sense of his writing. Anyway, I digress.

By the time the 1851 census came around, the small family, now including Elizabeth’s younger sister Mary, were living in Dudley, staying with a Duffill family. The significance of this family would become apparent much later.

Elizabeth was my grandmother’s grand-aunt; the sister of her grandmother. Nana didn’t share a lot about her family. Just little tidbits to keep you interested. She spoke about this Aunt (Lizzie) fondly; admiring her “pluck”. Aunt Lizzie, Nana told us, was a pretty remarkable lady. She had gone to America on her own when she was seventy years old.

Two of Nana’s uncles had gone to America too, and it appeared that Aunt Lizzie had gone to join them. But things are never quite as they seem.

After the death of her sister Mary – also known as Polly – Elizabeth and her father took in Mary’s two young children at least until their father remarried eight years later. On the census’ her occupation is recorded as Dressmaker, in later years when her niece and nephew were no longer staying with her, she was living with her father. From the way Nana spoke about Elizabeth, I always felt she had known her, and that she had left for America while Nana was young.

A note left for his children by my 3^rd cousins grandfather, my grandmother’s cousin, he wrote of how his family had left England to live in America when he was seven. Where they had lived in England, relatives in England or at least his memory of where they lived; who they stayed with on arrival in Boston and how they travelled to Seattle.

A Duffill family lived in Boston. Nana’s aunt and uncles had stayed with them after arriving in Boston, before travelling to Seattle. What was the connection we wondered. It transpired that the wife of Thomas Duffill on the 1851 census, where the James family had been recorded as lodging, was actually the younger sister of Ann (nee Thomas) James. She was an aunt of THIS Elizabeth. 

So some more research was done, and the same Duffill family, or parts of it were found living in Boston on United States census’ and other records. So, we thought, Elizabeth must have kept in touch with her cousins after they emigrated and facilitated a meeting with her nephews when they emigrated. Wrong again.

My American 3^rd cousin was not aware of this aunt at all, she was also not aware of the 2^nd uncle travelling to America – but that is another story. We searched and searched for passenger lists for Elizabeth James aged about 70 travelling to America. A needle in a haystack.

Perseverance though, and much research in to the wee small hours came through in the end. She wasn’t Aunt Lizzie at all, she was Aunt Bessie ! Furthermore she had emigrated earlier than we had thought. 1906. Nana wasn’t even born then ! This aunt who she had spoken of with such admiration was not someone she actually knew. But wait, there’s more. Her intended address on arrival in Boston ? The home of her brother-in-law Mr Duffill. What ? How could she have a brother-in-law when her only sister had married someone else and died almost 30 years earlier.

Well, this is how. Turns out she had an older half sister who had married into the Duffill family. Not marrying a cousin though, but a half cousin. Mr Duffill senior had at least five wives and children from each marriage bar the last. More research ensued and a letter was found by a descendant in a Bible, written by Elizabeth to her sister after the death of Elizabeth’s father in May 1905. This mentioned his burial “with mother” and inferred that he had assumed the role of father to her half sister. These half relationships get a bit tricky to keep track of, so apologies if you are lost.

So, when Nana’s aunt and uncles had emigrated a year later and stayed with the Duffill family in Boston, they will have been reconnecting with Aunt Elizabeth/Lizzie/Bessie, not just with distant cousins they did not know.

The connection that Nana, her brother and sisters had with their grand aunt must only have been by post. Most likely embellished by the memories of their own mother about her, during their very early years before she was taken from them.

Elizabeth James died in 1921 in New Hampshire having spent her last years living with the family of her half sister.

One of these remarkable ladies is Elizabeth James and one her half sister Ellen, exploring the sights of New Hampshire or Massachusetts in a magnificent car