St Paul's, Parish Church of Shadwell baptism record look up request- Anderson

[meowkat]

My ancestors married in St Paul's, Parish Church of Shadwell on 19th January 1860. Their names were Henry Alexander Anderson (or Alexander Henry Anderson) and Fanny Maria Rutherford (or Rutterford).

Henry was a mariner who was at sea when the 1861 census was taken. Fanny was living at St George in the East, Middlesex at the time. I can trace either of them on the 1871 census. By 1881 they are living in South Shields with my great grandmother, who was born there in 1877. I can't believe that a couple who married in 1860 did not have a single child until 1877.

As they married at St Paul's in Shadwell, I though that might be the best place to look for other children. I've checked the BMD index and their appear to have been 43 Andersons born within the Stepney registration district between 1861 and 1876 and a few of those names look promising.

I'm hoping someone who has access to the Shadwell parish records could have a quick look to see if there are any Anderson baptisms registered whose parents are Henry or Alexander Anderson and Fanny Rutherford/Rutterford.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give me.

[louisa maud]

I can't see any listed but as always I stand to be corrected,

My Gt Gt grandparents went 10 years before having their first child, there was no evidence of any deaths either

Did you say you found them on 1871

Louisa Maud

[Scrabble]

I agree, can find nothing at St Pauls Shadwell.

However many Anderson Baps in the surrounding area. Findmypast have quite good coverage of these baptisms but unfortunately you can't limit the search to children of particular parents' names and have to look at each one separately and as you say there are a lot. Can I suggest you try logging on to FindMyPast at your local library. Even if you don't find any definite baps if you take a list of the birth registrations with you perhaps you can narrow the possibilities quite a lot.

[meowkat]

Thank you both for looking.

No, Louisa. They both appear to be missing from the 1871 census, at least from what I can see on Ancestry.co.uk. As Henry is a mariner I had wondered if they had moved abroad for some time. I'm planning on re-tracing his steps by getting his crew logs from the Maritime records in Canada. Those should give me some idea of where he called home. I do have his final log and that gives the name of his previous ship, so it's a case of back tracking until I find out where they where.

Scrabble, is FindMyPast cheaper to use at the library? I am registered with it online anyway, although my credits keep expiring before I get to use them all.

I guess it's possible that Henry was away so much at sea that they didn't have the chance to have a family for the first 17 years. That must have been very hard on Fanny, who turned out to be quite a character. By the time she married, she's already shaved 6 years off her age, by 1881, that had become 8, when she died her age is given as 56 when she was actually 73. In fact she was stated as 43 on the 1881 census and 42 on the 1891 census. I guess she must have looked good to pull the wool over so many people's eyes.

[louisa maud]

Well done Fanny, wish I could do that

Even though he was a mariner one would think Fanny would be around somewhere, unless she travelled with him but I do doubt that, were they in Scotland do you think?

Happy hunting

Louisa Mud

[Scrabble]

Hi Meowkat

I have been told that FindmyPast and Ancestry are free at my local library which is in Surrey but I understand that this is pretty standard throughout the country. I have used Ancestry there and found it is the standard version which doesn't give the London parish records but does have all the censuses etc. I haven't used FindMyPast at the library so don't know if it is the full version or a more basic version but I will be trying it when my sub runs out in early January.

Scrabble

[meowkat]

Thank you once again.

Louisa Maud, I have checked the Scottish census records. Most of my searches are actually done there. Fanny did find her way to Scotland after Henry died and lived there for the final 20 years of her life.

Thanks, Scrabble. I might pop in to the library over the next few days when I have a chance, or once Christmas is over.

Merry Christmas to you both.

Katrina