Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Leoni

Pages: [1] 2 3
1
England / Re: Edwin Brooks born 1890
« on: Wednesday 15 January 14 19:22 GMT (UK)  »
Thank you for the additional info about Winifred :-) I will continue to look for any info about her and Harold. These are solid leads I can try and trace this side.
I really appreciate your dedicated help :-)

2
England / Re: Edwin Brooks born 1890
« on: Monday 13 January 14 20:24 GMT (UK)  »
Thank you for laying it out in such a logical way, it makes a lot more sense now and I'm sure I must find something relating to this information somewhere.

Just a general update:
I'm currently investigating the life of Winifred, but I think best would be to request an unabridged birth certificate from our department of home affairs based on the information we have. (if they'll allow me to request it without proof that she's family) It can take anything from 8 weeks up until 6 months. Our home affairs department don't classify ancestral document requests as 1st priority. So I'll only have this available at a much later stage. I'll however keep on searching online in the mean time.

I also phoned a few places today, local immigration offices - they could not assist, by the time I was referred to the 6th department I decided to give it up for today - Mondays are perhaps not such a good day for ancestral research, hehe, will continue another day. Online I'm getting nowhere yet with passenger lists / immigration info, mostly due to a lack of information, but I'll keep on looking. I'm hopefully seeing someone within the next two weeks who can guide me as to how to go about getting our ancestral local immigration records.

A little humor, sorry I have to share this, I found it quite amusing (yet frustrating) :-) I tried to find out whether there's maybe any records of an Edwin Bernard Brooks that might have been adopted which might explain the surname change from Brooks to Brooks-Benning, I'm not saying he was adopted, I don't know, but I have to keep an open mind because anything is possible.
They however refused to do a search, they insisted on getting my grandfathers permission, even when trying to explain to them that he's dead, and suggesting that my mother can maybe give her consent to allow a general search just to get an indication - they still refused and insisted on having his permission, hehehe (I do respect their privacy policy and rules)

I'm also trying to retrieve our local census information, not finding anything yet.

If I do manage to find anything else of use, I'll post an update.

I want to thank everyone that helped me thus far. Every bit of information is truly appreciated.


3
England / Re: Edwin Brooks born 1890
« on: Monday 13 January 14 06:44 GMT (UK)  »
Hi Ian,
Thank you so much for the info - funny you should mention these particular details, my initial post in 2010 / 2011 was for birth year 1889, death 3 Jan 1943... my mother also mentioned back then that she sort off remembers a brother John, but because she was so young when he died, the brother John might have been his father, this info she gave me matches your information below.

Here's quotes of 2 posts I submitted in February 2010:
"Can anyone please help me with information about Edwin Bernard Brooks, born 4 July 1889 in Reigate, Surrey, England.
I need family history of him. Schools he might have attended, brother, mother and father names etc. where he lived, anything will be helpful.
He passed away 3 January 1943 in South Africa"

and then also:
"Full name: Edwin Bernard Brooks-Benning
Born 4 July 1889 in Reigate, Surrey, England
Had one brother we know of named: Johnny (maybe a nickname for John)
He was a member of the High Church of England"

But these were of course information I had before I received the death certificate from our department of home affairs and saw that his actual death was 14 January 1943, not the 3rd of Jan, they have no birth date on his death certificate or any other document, only his age, but if I subtracted his age on his marriage certificate, my mothers birth certificate and his death certificate, it seemed like he was rather born 1890 and not 1889 - but, I've noticed on most of our ancestry records that there's inconsistencies with dates, human error etc.

Thank you again, I really appreciate this and will follow up on this.

Are there any census information for a Edwin Brooks born 1889 with a father John in the 1891 and 1901 census perhaps?

4
England / Re: Edwin Brooks born 1890
« on: Sunday 12 January 14 10:07 GMT (UK)  »
thank you for the information about Harold Staveley Armstrong. I will follow up on this. :-)

I agree with you about the age thing on the death notice, and that's what makes me wonder if her surviving spouse Raoul Harter perhaps didn't record her birth place incorrectly too. It would be interesting to know if there's a family that has a Edwin 1890 and Winifred 1895 Brooks listed as children anywhere on the 1901 census

I will see if I can get more information on Winnifred as well as her daughter perhaps.

5
England / Re: Edwin Brooks born 1890
« on: Friday 10 January 14 22:14 GMT (UK)  »
Hi :-)
Thank you, nope not discarding her, I want to know who she is but I'm just playing out the different scenarios of what if's in my head :-) I kind of feel lost because there's so many directions this can go into. I do think she has some sort of link (my gutt tells me shes my grandfathers sister because of the brooks-benning surname similarity and them being born 5 years apart - but one born in England and the other in S.A. - bit weird, unless the immigration happened within that period of time) one would think it's easy to find an ancestor... hehe  ;D

Here's what I could see what doesnt quite make sense.
It seems like Raoul Harter was her 3rd husband if I look at the amount of surnames and what I can make out on the death notice.
The death notice reads"No children by the surviving spouse, subsequent to the diseased HS Armstrong, Fernhead whom she was divorced no children of that marriage"

There's no information about the first husband except the surname Fernhead, second was Harold Staveley Armstrong, they had a daughter Jean, Harold passed away 7 August 1936, and then she married Raoul Harter born 14 September 1900. She nominated Raoul Harter as her executor and left most of her valuables to her daughter, the balance was to be divided as per executor's discretion.

What seems odd is that the death notice says Armstrong was the 2nd Husband but the Antenuptial Contract mentions her as Winifred May Langford Fernhead, born Brooks-Benning.... what happened to Armstrong?
Mrs. Harter's will says her daughter's name is Jean Staveley Fern (born Armstrong), also weird because the Death Notice says it's Jean Stevely Epstein, born Armstrong. (She perhaps got married to Epstein but why the Fern on the Will then?)
Perhaps the order of the husbands was incorrect on the death notice Mr. Harter wrote, maybe Armstrong was the first husband, which will explain the Antenuptial surname referral.

Then there's the age issue. The Antenuptial Contract says she was born 2nd day of April 1895 of Johannesburg which is located in a different state (Gauteng) than Cape Province. The Death Notice says she died 20 January 1951 at age 58, and 9 months (supposed to be 56), birth place and nationality says Cape Province. I can't make out the town name, it looks like Mount Frere, there is a mount Frere in our Eastern Cape state.

I still can't get the age thing though... I'm sure a husband won't get his wife's age wrong? But why the birth date on the antenuptial contract? Can that be a typo then?

It seemed like she died while on holiday because her place of death is Badplaas Hotel near Carolina in our Mpumalanga state, it's a holiday resort.

Only additional information on the death notice is that her occupation is a Consulting Engineer, makes sense why she had so many valuables.

I could e-mail these for private viewing if required, let me know.

6
England / Re: Edwin Brooks born 1890
« on: Friday 10 January 14 18:26 GMT (UK)  »
Thank you for the information below.

yes, place of origin says Cape Province (in South Africa) - But this estate file has a few inconsistencies starting from the Will to the Antenuptial Contract drawn up 1 year before her death. (dates / surnames etc.) Her surviving husband, Mr. Harter, completed the hand written death notice I have, and some of his info doesn't correspond with info on the will / antenuptial contract etc. Too much detail to mention but for one, he wrote her incorrect age on the death notice which is weird. Her birth date is only specified on the antenuptial contract, nowhere else, not even on the death notice, and the hand written death notice is the only document that specifies place of origin.

That's why I'm querying the 1901 census. Maybe Winifred was actually born in England, linking her to my grandfather, Edwin, perhaps. If so, then it is possible that the 1891 Brooks family could be my ancestors.

If there's no sister, Winifred, born in 1895 in England with a brother Edwin Brooks born in 1890 (my grandfather), then Winifred Harter whom I have the death notice of, is of no relation to me, then her being born Brooks-Benning is pure coincidence.

There's also the possibility that my grandfather's parents immigrated to S.A. shortly after he was born. Narrowing down my immigrants list from 1890-1895. And then the Brooks family mentioned in the 1891 census won't be my ancestors because Edwin and Violet was still in England in 1921 when their daughter was born.

Many questions / speculations in my head. I'm trying to work on every possibility to try and find information about my grandfather :-)

7
England / Re: Edwin Brooks born 1890
« on: Friday 10 January 14 15:59 GMT (UK)  »
Hi again :-)
Is it possible to check whether the Brooks family mentioned in the 1891 census was listed anywhere in England in the 1901 and 1911 census? If there's listings of them later on, was there perhaps any additions to the family? A sister maybe born in 1895?

1891 census, reference RG12, Piece 557, Folio 20, Page 34
Lamberts Cottages, Mays Corner, Send, Surrey

Brooks, William  Head  M  30  Gardener Jobbing  b Send
Brooks, Anna  Wife  F  31  b Send
Brooks, Henrietta  Daughter  F  6  b Send
Brooks, Elizabeth  Daughter  F  3 b Send
Brooks, Edwin  Son  M  1  b Send[/size][/i]

Here's a follow up on Edwin & Violet Brooks's investigation about their daugther :D I collected the 1951 death notice at our archives library, turned out it's not the same person :'( but instead I found information that triggered the 1901 and 1911 census request.

Mrs. Harter, born Brooks-Benning was born 2 April 1895, 5 years after my grandfather. She died 20 January 1951. Sadly the "parents of deceased" section on the death notice only says "deceased", no names/information supplied (very frustrating). The death notice says she was age 58 when she passed away, but if you do the math, she was actually 56, not 58.

Leoni

8
England / Re: Edwin Brooks born 1890
« on: Wednesday 08 January 14 20:03 GMT (UK)  »
this is what i can find under William George Brooks and Louisa Benning - pure coincidence I guess with their surnames... no Edwin listed here:

Husband:      William George BROOKS
Birth/Chris:   
... 1836 at ...
Death/Burial:      at ...
 
Wife Louisa BENNING

Married  1867
________________________________________
Children:
1. BROOKS, James Benning - at ...
2. BROOKS, Louisa H - Birth/Chris: ... 1869 at ...
3. BROOKS, Alice Mary - at ...
4. BROOKS, Edgar William - at ...
5. BROOKS, Annie Caroline Maude - Birth/Chris: ... 1876 at ...
6. BROOKS, Charles A - Birth/Chris: ... 1878 at ...
7. BROOKS, Hilda M - Birth/Chris: ... 1880 at ...
8. BROOKS, Arthur Ernest - Birth/Chris: ... 1885 at ...
9. , Ivy VLBROOKS - Birth/Chris: ... 1888 at ...
10. BROOKS, Frederick G - Birth/Chris: ... 1890 at ...

9
England / Re: Edwin Brooks born 1890
« on: Wednesday 08 January 14 19:55 GMT (UK)  »
Is there perhaps be any relation between these two William George Brooks men?
The William married to Anna Collyer mentioned in the previous posts, and the one that married Louisa Benning.
found on FreeBMD
Marriages Jun 1864   
Benning    Louisa        Lambeth    1d   483    
Brooks    William George         Lambeth    1d   483    
George Brooks and Louisa Benning seems like the perfect couple who'd register their children as brooks-benning- but I can't pick up that they had a son or perhaps grandson named Edwin though. :-)

Pages: [1] 2 3