Ideas needed to help find John Easton, miner

[Elizajb]

Hi All,

I have come to a bit of a dead end in my search for John Easton, a miner, formerly of Bathgate, Linlithgow, Scotland and would really appreciate any ideas to try and trace him.

He was born in 1857 to parents Henry Easton and Janet Sheriff (they appear on several Ancestry trees) and married Barbara Inglis in 1881 in Bathgate. They had five children and appear on the census records for Bathgate in 1891. John was the informant at his father's death in 1892.

In 1894, Barbara emigrated with her children to New Zealand, but her husband John was not with them. I assumed that he had already emigrated to New Zealand to pursue mining but I have not been able to match him to any electoral records or  any NZ death records.

Barbara and the children lived in Christchurch and she shows in the electoral records from 1896 working as a laundress. John is not with her.

I checked the death records in Scotland but can find no record of a death for this John and when Barbara died in 1942,  she was listed as a widow on her death record.

I cannot be sure that John actually came to New Zealand, that was an assumption based on the emigration of his family. Can anyone cast any light on my problem? I'm trying to trace his death and perhaps whether he and Barbara were still together after 1894.

Many thanks,
Regards Eliza.

[alamar]

Might not be of much help but I noted that on the passenger list the clerk wrote "wife" for women travelling with their man but "mother" for those women who were without a partner but who had children. In addition she worked as a laundress, a common occupation for women supporting a family. Hints that he might have died in the UK.

Her headstone at Bromley reads "Our mother, Barbara Ingles EASTON, 1857-1942". The City Council Cemetery database names her Barbara Inglis EASTON, a widow aged 85.

Alan

[Lucy2]

Hi Eliza

I agree with what Alan has said.

There is a second listing for the family > at familysearch.org ... NZ Immigration Passenger Lists.
It's not terribly helpful though.  Firstly they're listed as "EUSTON" - it does give christian names for the sons, and confirms the family were destined for Lyttelton (Canterbury).   The index shows "B. EUSTON" as being "married" but that's probably an assumption (on the part of the indexer), given she's shown as "Mrs" on the immigration list.

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/160792

I checked the crew list for this 1894 voyage of the "Gothic" to see if John EASTON had maybe worked his passage to NZ ... couldn't see any sign of him though.

   ~  Lu

[Lucy2]

Hi Eliza ... just a thought.

Might Barbara and her children have come to NZ to be close to other family members ??

[It seems a huge undertaking to have moved from the other side of the world with small children.
Also, once here, she resided in central Christchurch.    If her husband had, or was to join her, then his occupation as a miner, would likely have precluded them settling in Christchurch. ]

   ~  Lu

[Elizajb]

Hi Lu & Alan,

Scuse the delay (work) in replying. Both of you make good points I had not thought of. I have checked the ScotlandsPeople site for possible deaths of John Easton without success but will do so again, casting my net more globally.

It is possible that if he died then Barbara may have come to New Zealand to other relatives. She is my current person of interest in my research into the Easton family so I have not yet started on her siblings, but now will do a bit of an overview search of them  to see if any emigrated to New Zealand.

Another look at the electoral rolls shows that she was recorded as a widow in 1911, but previously had nothing  noted with regard to her marital status. Whether that means she was really a widow or had decided after 7 years that it was reasonable to call herself one if John had deserted them is the question.  It does seem likely that he died, so I'll pursue that avenue as thoroughly as I can first.

I've checked old newspapers which might have mentioned the family in Scotland but found nothing I could conclusively pin down to this John Easton in particular. There are a couple mentioned who were miners after Barbara had emigrated but at this point I can't tell whether they were her John or another one.

I'll have a fossick around with regard to the possibility of a relative being in New Zealand and let you know what I find.

Many thanks for the thoughts,

Regards Eliza.

[Lucy2]

He was born in 1857 to parents Henry Easton and Janet Sheriff (they appear on several Ancestry trees) and married Barbara Inglis in 1881 in Bathgate. They had five children and appear on the census records for Bathgate in 1891. John was the informant at his father's death in 1892.

Hi again Eliza

Just poking around further, and decided to check those Ancestry trees.   

One of them has an image of the death certificate for Janet EASTON.

Linlithgow

EASTON - Janet - 68 years
Widow of Henry EASTON (Coal Miner)
Died:  13 July 1902 - at 30 North Street, Bathgate
Parents:   John SHERRIFF / Jane nee MARTIN (both dec'd.)
Informant to Death:     John EASTON, son (present).
[Source:   Mollon family tree ]

   ~  Lu

[Lucy2]

Do you have access to the 1901 and 1911 Scotland census' ?

[Lucy2]

Hi Eliza

Can see Janet EASTON and son on 1901 Scotland census (but no sign of John EASTON (bc 1857))

1901 - Linlithgow - Bathgate

EASTON - Janet - 65
EASTON - William - 24 - labourer (colliery)

[Elizajb]

Hi Lu,

Wonderful, wonderful - thankyou very much indeed!! That answers one big question.........he was alive when Barbara emigrated.

A fresh pair of eyes sure does help pick up the pieces I miss, I had seen the other trees but clearly didn't read them all properly......thankyou again.

Now - I've just spent some time on ScotlandsPeople and combed both the 1901 and 1911 census records for John. There were several (I searched in all areas in case he had moved) but none seem to match the John I want. None was born in the right place at the right time and I made sure to buy the images to check for details. So with no result on that, I then checked the England census records in case he was mining in Durham or Cumbria or working elsewhere, but once again, no match, although there were several John Eastons.

I then went back to ScotlandsPeople and searched death records from 1902-1957 (assuming he would not have lived beyond 100 years) both under his full name, plus name variants, then his christian name with expected age and mother's maiden name. No match I'm afraid.

I also googled and checked for mining accidents in the areas around Linlithgow but no result.

So, if Barbara was accurately described as a widow in the 1911 electorals, John must have died between 1902-1911. However, if they separated by 1894 when she emigrated (taking into account the headstone details that Alan found which do not mention a husband.....thanks very much Alan) then John may well have still been alive beyond 1911.

He could have emigrated somewhere but gone home at the final illness of his mother, or, he may have gone to sea and been away from time to time.

I do recall when I checked the newspapers that there was the occasional mention of a John Easton, miner, in the area who seemed to be in minor bother for drinking etc so I'll have another look at those and see if I can match that person to any other local records. The name is not really rare which is a bit of a nuisance.

Still working on the siblings of Barbara, there were a few of them.

Thanks once again Lu and Alan for taking the time to help, sometimes I "can't see the wood for the trees!!"

Regards Eliza.