John William Feargus - Romford

[JEB01]

Thanks again Jolee.Appreciated

[jonw65]

The family tree that I can see on ancestry says that John died 2/3/1889 (rather than 1899)
But it doesn't give any source (other than the 1914 Probate Calendar entry for his son John!) I can't find an entry in the death indexes for him.

The City Road workhouse A+D for Elizabeth Feargus says that she was admitted 28 Nov 1895 from 16 Chapel Street, and died 2 December. It says that she was Insane.

There may be an earlier entry for her in 1888, 14-16 July, in the Gray's Inn Road workhouse. Discharged "To Daughter". Was John off the scene by then?

In 1861 John and Elizabeth, and son John, were living at 15 Pultney Street, Islington.
Which is good news! Because there is a rough settlement exam for them in Islington, same year.
Short and sweet.
Dated 28/5/61
Fergus John 15 Pultney St 39 M Wife Elizth 31
1 Child Jno 2 yrs born Furnival Inns place
Married at St Andrew Holborn 31/4 yrs ago
At prest abode 12 mo next July (then gives a Clerkenwell address?)
I am Cab Driver - Native of Romford
son of John & Susan Fergus both deced
1 Brother younger
My father was Attorneys Clerk at Romford

John

[JEB01]

Jonw65 - thank you very much for your post.
It was originally longer I believe as I was away yesterday and only read the original in the evening.
Up to you of course but could you please repeat the now deleted part? It looked interesting!

[jonw65]

Rest of message restored.
I blame my long years of toil on the rootsweb message boards (aka the ancestry message boards) which has made me somewhat neurotic about non replies.

Yes it is interesting. Looks as though the marriage details may have been made up (not unknown)
If John was widowed in 1851 then there should be a death registration of a female Feargus or Fergus before then. Not sure if there is a likely one.
He may have undergone a name change perhaps
John

[JEB01]

jonw65 - thank you for responding.

The reference in the Islington settlement document from 1861 is particularly helpful, and even gives the names of JWF's parents, which is entirely new ground for me.

JWF's son, also John William Feargus was born in about 1860, and married in 1878. So yes, he was off the scene by 1888, when his mother was discharged "to daughter", who would have been Susanna (born 1864).

This is my late mother's side of the family, and many years ago, certainly pre-dating the Web, and PC's, she tried to piece all this together, without much success it has to be said.

I take your point about the lack of any record of JWF's first wife's death, which may well explain the lack of any marriage record to Elizabeth Pool.

I have a splendid wedding photo from 4th of June 1906 showing a group of 24 people in the leafy garden of what is almost certainly John William Feargus' (the self made mineral water manufacturer) house in Mill Hill Road, Acton. He looks every inch the successful businessman, celebrating his own son's marriage, and I wonder how much he reflected on his parents various misfortunes, and his own humble origins. Yet only 8 years later he was dead from cancer at 54.

Interesting too that one of the girls in the photo, aged about 12 years, is the spitting image of my mother (yet to be born) at a similar age, and another could easily be mistaken for my neice, born over 60 years later - those genes!

Anyway, thanks once again to all who responded to my original post for taking the trouble to look things up and to reply.