Hi Babygirlbill,
ANY help you could provide would be most appreciated. I was in touch with someone away from RootsChat who provided me with a Buckley tree from the Bexley Archives (not sure what these are - other than archives, obviously
). It shows a Joiner Buckley b. circa 1810 - a Tinker - who was married to a Seni Smith. Not much doubt this matches with your guys. Their kids are: Santalina (male), Ganation (male), Justinia, Arkless (male), Frank, Kiomi and Noah. The 'Kiomi' is shown as being married to Jimmy Taylor, so it's likely it was a mistranscription somewhere along the line from Naomi to Kiomi. Just wishing my g-g-g grandfather James Taylor had slightly less common name!! I get the feeling that my Naomi and James WERE the couple on that marriage cert (from my previous message), but unless I can find something (a baptism of one of their 10 kids?) which shows my Naomi's maiden name, it's just a hopeful theory.
BTW the tree from the Bexley Archives shows more generations of Santalina and Frank.
I've attached a pic - the only one we have - of my grandmother Clara Naomi Skingley (daughter of Susan Taylor - so one half pure Romany, other half rural Essex girl from way back). She died aged 28 in 1943 when my mother was only 4.
The circumstances surrounding her death were very sad - this is what I've so far discovered ... Clara became pregnant to someone else while my grandfather, Harry Blackman, was away at sea during WW2 and either she was booted out or he left and took their two children with him when he returned. She died of pneumonia and complications of the childbirth. The child, named Veronica Blackman on the birth cert (registered by Clara 6 weeks before she died) was adopted by people so far unknown but suspected of being relatives of Susan Taylor's second husband Benjamin Owen (Thomas Skingley, the first, died in WW1). The adoptive parents changed her surname so she'd never find out the circumstances surrounding her birth (or, of course, her true background). So, somewhere out there my mum has a half sister - someone who is probably completely unaware of her 1/4 Rom heritage.
Then, less than a year later, Susan Taylor herself died. I'm currently waiting for the death cert ... but a descendant of one of Susan and Benjamin Owen's children has said that there's an old family rumour that Susan tried to kill herself because she was so upset over daughter Clara's death - but ended up in a mental institution when her suicide attempt failed. The alternative rumour going about in the family was that, while running to an air raid shelter in the dark during the Blitz, she collided with a beam that was shoring up a bomb-damaged house - receiving a fatal blow to the head. Either way, my great grandma died at 52, regardless. Of what ... and exactly where ... watch this space!
BFN, Sarah
