Lillian Rush b about 1892

[UpstairsDown]

Apologies, Janey. I am more than happy to give more information. George Henry Evans is listed as Richard Charles Henry Evans' father on the marriage certificate. Unfortunately I never met Richard, my direct ancestor due to a rift in the family regarding Richard and his children. My mother had no idea of his parentage before I began looking.

[JaneyCanuck]

Didn't want to pry ... but knowing what the unknowns are is important.

That explains. Such sad situations people get into.

There is a somewhat interesting person named Elsie Alice Rush -- just the kind of old-fashioned names a modern young woman might decide to abandon. (My grandmother was a Lily, although we didn't know until she was quite old: her husband, my grandfather, thought it was too common and insisted she call herself Lilian after they married. And a while ago, I tracked down someone's grandmother Lilian Marian being born as - what was then considered - plain old-fashioned Lily Mary.)

Elsie Alice Rush ... Lilian Althea Rush?

[edit - ruled out - see later post]

George Henry Evans was born in Camelford reg dist in 1885.
Oh dear, I had missed this because I was searching in Ancestry's post-1916 index.
George died at age 29 in late 1914.
The last Evans-Rush child's birth was registered in June quarter 1915 - after her father's death.



[edit - info about Elsie Rush removed - see later post]
It's a bit of a wild theory, and I do tend to have them ... but they have a way of turning into fact a lot of the time. Worth investigating?
[edit - investigated and ruled out!]

[JaneyCanuck]

Just on the other Evans-Rush children:

Georgina I R Evans was born and died in June quarter 1915 in Camelford.
That must have been a very tragic time for Lilian.

Harold R Evans was born December quarter 1911 in Camelford and died June quarter 1925 in Camelford. (FreeBMD has transcribed his age as 18, but it was 13.)

I can't find another record of Lylock M Evans (or as Lilac), born December quarter 1913 in Camelford. Ah, wait. A Lilac Marjorie Quick born October 1913 died in 1991 in Launceston, so I think that could be her. Hm, Lilac M Warren married Quick in 1936 in Launceston ... but no birth of a Lilac Warren, so I think it was her. There is no marriage of a Lilac to a Warren to explain the surname, however. Possibly she was placed with another family when her father died, when she was two years old. I wonder whether all of the children were.

I believe there was one birth to Lilac's marriage. That child married and likely had two children, both of whom would be middle-aged at present.

[UpstairsDown]

Janey, you are an angel. I never occurred that Lylock might be Lilac, though I did have my Cornish mother pronouncing the name to see if the registrar might have misheard. I have just ordered the death certificate for George Henry Evans as it appears to be the right person and area- maybe some clues. I have been messaging a descendant of Alice, Lily's daughter and had it confirmed just Lily left her husband. May have more details soon.

[JaneyCanuck]

Well you did suggest Lilac back on page 1. I don't know about elsewhere, but lylock is exactly how lilac is pronounced here in Ontario!

I just ran across an interesting name on a tree search at GenesReunited:
Lillian Rush born 1914 Cornwall
- the tree owner is named Rush

This is the birth:

Lilian E Rush, mother Cock, birth reg Sep quarter 1914 Camelford

There is no Rush-Cock marriage to account for it. The only other Rush-Cock birth ever is in Middlesbrough in 1919 (wartime relocation could account for that if it were the same couple).

But I'm just wondering. The Evans-Rush births went:

Harold Dec 1911
Lilac Dec 1913
Georgina Jun 1915

There is room in there for a Jun-Sep 1914 birth.

The rule was that births had to be registered under the husband's surname if the mother was a married woman - regardless of who the father was. But it wasn't always followed. And women didn't always want to admit to the status of their children. So registering a child under her own name and giving the father's name as her birth surname ... well, it's been done.

Then when Georgina was born, Mr Evans was deceased, so he wasn't around to object, if she wasn't his child.

It will be interesting to see who the informant of death was on his death certificate.


Okay, knock my Elsie Alice Rush theory on the head and bury it deep.

I don't know why I missed her before; stupidity is the only explanation! In 1911, she was a servant in the Taylor household in Tintagel. So my post of musings about her is a red herring, and I'll edit it some to take out family info, and just leave enough to show she's ruled out.


I've been poking around to try to get an idea of where Lilac might have got the surname Warren. There is a Warren couple married in 1911 in Launceston reg dist who seem not to have children; they might be candidates for having adopted Lilac. (There was no formal adoption in England at that time.)

But hang on. There were Warren-Rush births in Camelford in 1916, 1917 (died), 1918, 1919, 1921, 1922, 1924, 1926.

The births start after the Evans-Rush births / after George Evans' death in late 1914.

But no Warren-Rush marriage. But:

Lilian Evans married Henry Warren Sep quarter 1915 Camelford.

I'll bet that certificate shows her to be a widow, in spite of there being apparently no marriage to Mr Evans. She had children, so she had to have been married.

So there's the explanation for Lilac Marjorie Warren. Mr Warren was her stepfather.

And there is a huge number of half-siblings for Lilian's other children. I won't list them because the births go up to 1926 and a person aged 86 might well be living.

They mostly have very distinct names with at least one and in several cases two middle initials, so tracing them would likely be very easy.

[JaneyCanuck]

So I would order up that Warren-Evans certificate toot suite! There is a chance that Lilian gave accurate information about her father's name and previous marriage and age.

Meanwhile, the Warren-Rush children:

Samuel Warren 1916 died 2000 Launceston
Edith D Warren 1917 died 1917 Camelford
Edward J J 1918 ?
Arthur Titball 1919 died 1995 Liskeard
1921 found marriage but no death
Norah Gwendoline R Dillon 1922 died 2003 Launceston
Frederick Rupert 1924 died 1988 Launceston
1926 found marriage but no death


I still see no death for Lilian, and the names Lilian Warren and Henry Warren are just too common to tell whether either of them might have married again, let alone pick him out in a census or identify his birth, for example.

The marriage certificate should give more information about both of them that would help trace them further.


Ah, one more thing I had set aside to check; Edward's death:

http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2383508/WARREN,%20EDWARD%20JOHN%20JAMES

Warren, Edward John James, Signalman
killed at age 23 in 1942, buried in Libya
Son of Mr and Mrs H Warren of Egloskerry, Cornwall


1921 child: on electoral roll in Cornwall with spouse up to 2006; spouse died in Cornwall in 2005; that child could have died since 2005 also (the index goes only to 2006). Two children of the marriage.

1926 child: no apparent children of the marriage. Ah, second marriage; child is on electoral roll to 2009; spouse died in Launceston in 2000.


The children are in the trees of a few members at the GenesReunited site; one person in particular has all of them in their tree.

That person also has:
Herbert Rush 1883 Boscastle
Elizabeth Rush 1891 Camelford
Frederick Rush 1888 Boscastle
Charles Rush 1888 Boscastle

That household in 1901 is:
Nicholas 56
Mary A 54
Charles 12
Fred 12

The record at Ancestry has been corrected from Rust to Rush - for some reason, Ancestry is refusing to let me look at the profiles of users who have made corrections, so I can't see whether the user has a tree.

In 1891 the household also has Hannah M 10 and Herbert W 8.

Could this be a tree that shows the family as Rush and Lilian as Evans? Not in that tree at the GenesReunited site, but maybe somewhere else.


edit - info about Lilac and family sent by PM (in case anyone else is following and considering trying to help find family - I can't find her child / surviving grandchild after the grandchild's birth); have not made a real start on finding families of Warren-Rush children

edit - have also traced descendants of the 1921 and 1926 children and PMed info

[JaneyCanuck]

Just placing our bets here.

... Oh no, I was so sure of this one. Lucky I hadn't placed mine yet. Just adding this to rule her out too.

Lily Ethel Rush, birth reg June quarter 1893, Stoke Damerel, 5b 316
- no death for any Lily Rush that age to 1911, no marriage for Lily E Rush until 1919 Ipswich, unlikely.

... No, not unlikely ... it's her ... read on ...

I had noticed several Rush children in the workhouse in Totnes, Devon, in 1901:

Bessie, c1888
Albert, c1892
Frederick, c1893
Ethel, c1897

Ethel's age on the image does clearly say 4, born South Brent, Devon, and matches a birth in Totnes in late 1896. So that isn't the Lily Ethel born 1893.


Here is Lily Ethel in 1901, in Aldershot ... feeling very smug, I was ...:

Elizabeth Rush, 31, married, born Stowmarket, Suffolk -- husband in South Africa
Lily Ethel Rush, 7, born Devonport
- younger children born Devonport and Aldershot - one with the middle name Tintagel, an excellent connection with the Camelford area.

So then I took a couple of guesses at the marriage, and checked Kevin Asplin's Imperial Yeomanry list for the Anglo-Boer War ... and then I checked the 1911 ... and there they all are in Suffolk, Lily Ethel included.

And that would have fit my fancified names suggestion so well: plain old Lily Ethel becomes Lilian Althea.

Another possibility ruled out.


I've been suspecting that
(a) Lilian's mother was a Rush who married after Lilian's birth
(b) Lilian's mother married a Rush after Lilian's birth
but have not come up with a match for either possibility.

Sometimes, when you say to yourself "I am going to find this person today come hell or high water", you do. Sometimes, you don't. I think we'll have to wait for the Warren-Evans marriage certificate and try again!

[JaneyCanuck]

Susannah Rush

1891 census: Langeglos, Camelford reg dist, aged 12, mother Elizabeth, widow
(2 miles from Michaelstow)

baptised 01 Oct 1879, Lanteglos by Camelford, parents George and Elizabeth Jane, father quarryman
http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=baptisms&id=2161602

was very young when she had a child (if she was this mother):

Elizabeth Ann Rush, baptised 02 August 1891, Michaelstow, mother Susan, residence Langeglos, no father's name but occupation labourer
http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=baptisms&id=1953554

On 18 August 1895 at Michaelstow, Susannah Rush married Richard Cowling; he was 22 and she was 18, but that was a lie: she was not yet 16; witnesses were Matthew Rush (her older brother) and Ellen Rush; she was daughter of George, a labourer, and resident at Trenewth
http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=marriages&id=770979

In 1901 in St Teath, they are:

Richard Cowling 27, slate quarryman
Susanna 22 (in fact 21)
Richard R 5
Flossy I 3

The two children's baptisms:
Richard Ronald at Michaelstow 05 April 1896, mother Susan, father Richard,  labourer
http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=baptisms&id=1953563
Flossie Irene at St Teath 26 April 1897, mother Susanna, father Richard, quarryman
http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=baptisms&id=958416

Elizabeth Ann Rush's birth was registered June quarter 1891 at Camelford.
There is no further record of her (marriage, death) in Cornwall.

In 1901 there is this household in Lanteglos:

Samuel Rush 29, slate quarryman
Susan 30
Elizabeth 9
Mary Jane 8
John Robert 6
Richard H 4
William James 3

Samuel Rush was the son of John and Elizabeth of Langeglos.
Samuel Rush and Susan Smith married June quarter 1891, Camelford.
There are two baptisms for them at the OPC site: Harold 1900 and Loveday 1904, but not the older children.
There is no other birth or baptism of an Elizabeth Rush c1892.

Now, the other possibility is that Susan Smith, by then married to Samuel Rush, was the mother of Elizabeth Ann Rush 1891. It would seem odd that her husband was not named on the baptism record, if so, and that the father was called a labourer (but the usual entry "single woman" was not made).

Susanna Rush Cowling (born in Lanteglos c1879) and Richard are still in St Teath in 1911, with one more child, Leonard. Susannah Cowling died in 1940 in Camelford reg dist.

Susan Smith Rush (borne in Michaelstow c1869) and Samuel are in Lanteglos with numerous children. Susan Rush died in 1962 in Camelford reg dist.

I had originally thought Susannah Rush Cowling the more likely candidate to be the mother of Elizabeth Ann, but perhaps Susan Smith Rush makes more sense.

On the other hand, your Lilian naming her first child Richard might point to Richard Cowling, husband of Susannah Rush Cowling, being her father or stepfather (but for some reason she was reared by the other Rush couple, who were presumably related anyway, and would have been just married when Elizabeth Ann Rush was born to the very young Susannah Rush, if that was the case). The birth certificate itself, for Elizabeth Ann Rush, might clarify this.

In any event, I think this Elizabeth Ann Rush is very likely your Lilian.

It will be very interesting to see whether Lilian named a father on her marriage to Mr Warren, and what she said her marital status was.

btw, in case we haven't done it, George Henry Evans's 1886 baptism is here:
http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=baptisms&id=1641988
(and the baptisms of Alice Maud and Richard Henry Charles are there as well)


edit -

There are 7 famiy trees at Mundia/ancestry showing Samuel Rush, most of which show Elizabeth Ann Rush, but with no info about her beyond her census age from 1901 (for some reason, searching for Elizabeth herself brings up no results).
Susannah Rush is in one or two trees, but the only information is her birth.

[UpstairsDown]

To finish the story for anyone that is interested.

Lily Althea Rush, born Elizabeth Ann Rush, to samuel and susan Rush- the former being a quarryman, the family having a long association in that area of both china clay and slate quarrying. It is a possibility that Elizabeth, or Lizzie, may have been samuel's niece, daughter of his sister also named susan. By 1915, after marrying her 2nd husband, samuel is named on the marriage certificate as her father.
 
Lily married George Henry Evans young in 1909 and they had a least four children together before he died in December 1914 from a tumour. Lily remarried just 8 months later, in August 1915 and her younger children from the marriage to George Evans took the 2nd husband's name.