Apology for lengthy post
Mabel, Millipede and Rosie,
As always you are most kind,thankyou for taking time to re visit my Hines-Donovan enigma and I very much hope to be able to return your help.
I will try to condense my reply to you all in order to save everyones precious time by going over what I know already and where I have been unable to progress over the last number of years.
I have not been able to find a marriage for James H / D and Mary Ann Cowell either in London or Kent using peramateurs of surnames for both parties.
I have birth details and St Paulinus church, Crayford baptism entries for Alice Maud (direct decedent on my tree) and her younger siblings and the children transpose their christian names throughout their lives.
I have been unable to find the birth of their older brother James Jnr c 1882 " Old Kent Road " I bought a few JD 1882 certs but these proved incorrect and far too many births in the same name to continue along this vein so thought I would try and locate a baptism in order to see if it would shed new light on his parents or godparents.
I am also considering the possibility that James may have been married previously given the age difference between him and Mary Ann and that James Jnr mother may be someone else entirely.
Now my quandary re James Snr birthplace :
1891. 12 The Bank, Bexley James 40, Hadley (sic) Suffolk place of birth.
1901. Orchard Hill, Crayford James 50, Ireland place of birth.
While speaking to older members of the family, one being Alice Maud's great grandson it is commonly believed that James came from Donegal but not proven so may just be hearsay and nothing to support this.
1904. Mary Ann died on 27th Aug age 41, James present at death, still in Orchard Hill
1911. James 67 ( year of birth varies here to c 1844 ) and son Walter 19 are inmates of an institution still in the same area, James place of birth again given as Hadleigh Suffolk.
I have not found a death for him so far in Kent
Which leads me to your Dunningham/Hines reply Mabel, this is certainly very interesting and a great find on your part and very possibly correct in respect of the name change, my only reservation at this stage is that your 1911 quote does not fit with my 1911 find.
but I will certainly look at this family closely and will not discount them.
For now though I am concentrating on James Jnr trying to find a baptism in the London area where he was born in order to maybe throw some fresh light on his parents or godparents, so fingers crossed. I lost track of him by 1901 as he is not with family.
Thank you all again, enjoy your day
Scatty
