On This Day in May........Tell us about your ancestors' anniversaries

[stonechat]

On this day in 1835 my great great aunt Elizabeth Boyce Donaldson was baptised at Egham in Surrey to James Douglas a watchmaker, and Martha Ann nee Boyce daughter of a Baker

She was the oldest daughter.

She married John Donaldson, a farm bailliff at St John's Waterloo in 1856

They had 6 children between 1858 and 1864 in 4 different places in Sussex and Hampshire where JOhn was farm bailiff

Elizabeth died - according to a family note on 18.9.1867 . Cause of death is unknown as there is no entry in the GRO index. They were living at Hucksholt Farm on the Uppark estate, but she was buried at Linch Sussex and the burial record indicates she was at Woolbeding when she died.

John then died on 1.12.1868 of 'Rupia 10 months, Ulcer of Scalp 4 months, Haemorrhage 10 days'

The 7 children were then farmed out to uncles and granparents, Martha Ann and James Douglas taking the youngest JOhn junior.

Judging by letters the children kept in touch , we can see that when one had TB and was in a hospital , her sister was visiting her.

[nanny jan]

Born today in 1847 in London, my gt.grandma Elizabeth Mary Ann Burgess, daughter and first child of Robert Richard and Elizabeth (nee Gandy). She was baptised 2 years later at St. Thomas, Charterhouse.  In 1865 she married George William Barham (and added Mary Ann to her name) at St. James, Shoreditch.   They had 8 children; my grandpa being the youngest.  Elizabeth died in 1919 in Holborn Workhouse and is buried in Manor Park Cemetery.

[LizzieW]

On 10 May
Bridget Hirst (nee Hobson) my 2 x g.g.aunt was baptised at Denby Dikeside Wesleyan Church, Cumberworth, Yorkshire in 1809

Nicolas Smith my 6 x g.g.uncle was baptised at St Mary’s Parish Church, Dalton in Furness, Lancashire in 1719

William Alvin Brothwell my 5 x g.g.uncle was baptised in Heckington, Lincolnshire in 1745

James Beech my husband’s 2 x g.grandfather died at Denton Lane, Hooley Hill, Audenshaw, Lancashire in 1859.  The cause of death was given as paraplexy.

Mattias Gaunt yet another 1st cousin 4 times removed (and Wiggyhobbes g.g.grandfather and she has written a potted history of him in her post) died in Tasmania in 1874

Peter Pemberton my 2 x g.grandfather was buried at Kingsley Parish Church, Kingsley, Cheshire in 1860 aged 47.  The cause of his death was Chronic Hepatitis of 5 months.  He was a butcher at the time of his death, so I’m not sure whether his illness was caused by alcohol or something else.  He wrote his will on 29 March 1860, but didn't add the usual comment about being sound in mind, but frail in body and also added a line about what should happen if his wife died before him.  As she didn't die until 9 years later, presumably she wasn't ill at the time and he mustn't have known he was ill enough to die.

[genjen]

Three today -

1761 - a 6 x great uncle, Robert Jaffray was born in Belhelvie, Aberdeenshire.

1762 - Matthew Iley, 4 x great grandfather was baptised in Eaglescliffe, County Durham.

1896 - James Raitt - 3 x great grandfather died in Old Machar, aged eighty-three. I have talked about him many times in the past. Not my favourite ancestor, it would seem he took his wife for granted in a major way and although I know I ought not to, I can't help looking at him with twenty-first century eyes and values.

[quest40]

On 10 May 1876 my 2nd cousin once removed, Elizabeth Angelina Harriett Peppercorn, was born in Haggerston, London.  She was the daughter of Alfred Peppercorn and Elizabeth Donovan, and married Richard Godley in 1875.  They had four children, three of whom died in infancy, and then the fourth, Percy Alfred Thomas, was killed in France in 1917.

[Wiggy]

That's pretty sad isn't it!   Poor couple.

[quest40]

Yes, it makes you wonder how they coped with such tragedy.

[nanny jan]

Born today in Clerkenwell, London in 1875 a 1st cousin 2R, Emma Matilda Burgess;  daughter of Robert Richard and Eliza Elizabeth (nee Hall).  Emma married Henry Manser on 25 December 1896 and a daughter was born November 1897.  The family emigrated in 1901 to Australia where Henry died in Cairns, Queensland in 1910.  Emma re-married 2 years later and died in 1961 and is buried in Manunda.

[LizzieW]

On 11 May 
Charles Gilchrist my 2 x g.g.uncle was baptised at St Botolph’s Church, Boston, Lincolnshire in 1830

Samuel Woodward another 2 x g.g.uncle was baptised at St Laurence Church, Frodsham, Cheshire in 1817

William Wane my 6 x g.grandfather was baptised at Aldingham, Lancashire in 1690

Jonathan Benson, my 1st cousin 5 times removed was baptised at St Mary’s Church, Dalton in Furness, Lancashire in 1800

Ethel Whittaker (nee Wright) the 1st wife of my husband’s father, (so mother to his 2 half brothers) died in Denton, Lancashire in 1935.  The cause of her death was cardiac failure and pneumonia.  Interestingly, the story my husband and his stepbrothers were told (who were 4 & 3 when their mother) was that she had had a baby girl called Olwen who had died soon after birth and that Ethel was so distraught that she died too.  The truth is she did have a baby girl called Olwen who died aged about 6 weeks of asphyxia in a convulsion due to gastric disturbance, but this was 2 years before her mother died.  I guess her 2 sons would have been too young to remember when their baby sister was born and how close that was to the death of their mother.

William Benson my g.g.uncle was buried at St Mary’s Parish Church, Dalton in Furness, Lancashire in 1859.  He was the little one who died of whooping cough of 4 weeks duration, when he was just under 7 weeks old.

Elizabeth Howard my husband’s 2 x g.g.aunt married William Duffin at St James Church, Toxteth, Liverpool in 1834