Finding the father of Francis Fabian Madison Sperry and Reginald Poutney Sperry

[avm228]

http://archiver.rootsweb.ancestry.com/th/read/GENANZ/1997-10/0876816231

Pountney, Mary Ann/Marjie Anne/Maize/Polly born Eng.Warickshire. 1876May17-
3 Church Rd. Lodge rd.Birmingham,War,England
Parents:William Pountney 1828 gun maker Ann Parry 1830
Spouses:William Wilford/Henry Sperry 1.m.Henry Baylie Cullerne
Children: 1.m.Fabian,Reginal,2.m.
2.m. Harry (Bart)/Henry Owen, Leslie Carroll 1902

This doesn't look right as to Mary Ann's birthdate, so shouldn't be relied upon without careful checking, but may give you a starting point.

From baptismal records it appears Mary Ann Pountney was born 4 May 1865 and baptised 2 May 1866 at St Peter & Paul, Aston, nr Birmingham.*

Parents were William (gun maker) and Ann, of Tower Road.

* At least one brother of this Mary Ann - Walter Reginald Pountney b 1873 - made his way to NZ.  He was on the electoral roll in Parnell 1905-6, and still in Auckland in 1911.  He died in WW2 in 1916.

[avm228]

At the age of 21, Mary Ann Pountney married William Arthur Wilford, a widower, "agent", at St Andrew's Bordesley, Warwickshire on 17 April 1887.

The parish register shows that William claimed to be aged 27, but his father's unusual name of "Wood(h)all" Wilford makes it possible to identify that he was in fact older than that.

He was baptised as plain William Wilford at Nuneaton on 18 October 1857 (born 14 October 1856), son of Woodall and Maria.  He was therefore already 30 when he married Mary Ann.

William's previous marriage seems to have been (again as plain William Wilford) to Louisa Elson, Jun qtr 1883 Nuneaton. (In April 1886 William's brother John Noel Wilford married Louisa's sister Harriet Elson, and William Wilford was a witness).

William & Louisa had a daughter Maud Maria Wilford - birth registered in Foleshill district in Dec qtr 1883.  Maud was baptised at St Laurence, Foleshill on 18 November 1883 to parents William (brickmaker) and Louisa, of Jackers Hill.

There is a possible death for Louisa Wilford, aged 25, in Stratford upon Avon district in Sep qtr 1886.  The age is about right (Louisa Elson's birth was registered in Rugby district, Dec qtr 1861).

I have not traced what happened to Maud Maria or to William & Mary Ann after their marriage, or indeed identified where the Sperry name first comes into the picture.

[ShaunJ]

The 1917 Auckland Star article mentions that two Pountney cousins, Walter and Ernest, had died on the Somme.

[avm228]

The 1917 Auckland Star article mentions that two Pountney cousins, Walter and Ernest, had died on the Somme.

Were they said to be cousins of Mary Ann, or of another family member? Mary Ann's brothers included (birthdates from baptism register of St Marys, Birmingham where they were baptised together 1 Nov 1882):

Ernest Pountney born 3 Apr 1869

Likely death: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1463753/POUNTNEY,%20ERNEST

Walter Reginald Pountney born 10 Apr 1873

Likely death: www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/1463754/POUNTNEY,%20WALTER%20REGINALD

[ShaunJ]

They were cousins or Reginald and Fabian - http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=AS19171207.2.54.23&srpos=2&e=-------10--1----0fabian+sperry--

[avm228]

Thanks ShaunJ.

Here's a bit of info on Admiral (Charles Stillman) Sperry in case he really is connected:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Stillman_Sperry

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:M8N8-LXG (1870 census as Stillman Sperry) ignore this

https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVKN-PMSW (burial, 1911)

[avm228]

I have not traced what happened to Maud Maria

I've now found Maud M "Willford", 7, with grandparents Woodhall and Maria, in Foleshill in 1891.

RG12/2446/106/9

[jaywit]

I have not traced what happened to Maud Maria

I've now found Maud M "Willford", 7, with grandparents Woodhall and Maria, in Foleshill in 1891.

I just found that I think she married in Foleshill in 1912

[MaureeninNY]

http://search-collections.royalbcmuseum.bc.ca/Genealogy/AdvancedSearch

Maud Maria DANIELS dies Salmon Arm,BC in 1971.