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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Lincolnshire => Topic started by: anasfell on Monday 07 January 13 05:30 GMT (UK)
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I'm new here, but I have some family mysteries that I could use some help solving.
My great-great grandfather is Benjamin Hicks (b 1852 in Gedney, Lincolnshire). He married Susan Elizabeth Tinker (b: 7 July 1857, d: ????) in 1874, and she had his son (Benjamin Titus "BT" Hicks) about 9 months later. (Family mystery #1 - forced marriage or honeymoon baby?)
Benjamin died young in April of 1875, 6 months after his marriage and 3 months before his son was born. I believe he is buried at St. James in Long Sutton. He was 22.
I realize solving family mystery #1 is near impossible, but family mystery #2 is discovering why Benjamin died so young. Is there a way I can find an obituary or a cause of death? Am I able to see his death certificate somehow? Or if there was a tragedy of some kind, would there have been a news story?
When BT was 3 months old, Susan left England with her family and went to Quebec, then America, cutting him off from the Hicks family in England. I've been talking to my 90-year-old grandmother (BT's daughter) and we would both love to uncover more about this mystery!
Thanks so much for any help or pointers!
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Hi,
Welcome to Rootschat :)
Both mysteries are solvable but you would have to purchase the birth, marriage and/or death certificates from www.gro,gov.uk (you have to register but its free, the certificates cost approx. £10)
Is you go to www.freebmd.org you can find details and references for the certificates.
You will need name, quarter the event was registered(ie. March would mean January, February or March) ,district (Holbeach) and the reference.
The death cert will give cause of death and the birth of Benjamin jnr and Benjamin nrs marriage certificates will solve the age old mystery of Benjamin Titus' birth.
Any queries just ask, we are a very helpful lot :)
Cathy
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From familysearch
Benjamin Hicks age 22
bride Susan Elizabeth Tinker age 18
married 11 November 1874
Holbeach, Lincoln, England
groom's father John Hicks
bride's father George Shaw Tinker
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Neither Benjamin juniors marriage nor his birth registration give a middle name of Titus :-\
groom Benjamin Hicks age 32 years
groom's birthplace England
bride Bertha A. Sager age 21 years
bride's birthplace Indiana
marriage date 9 January 1908
Meauwataka, Wexford, Michigan
groom's father Benj. Hicks
groom's mother ...lizabeth Tinker
bride's father Geo. W. Sager
bride's mother ...nna Barrick
Birth September qtr 1875
Hicks Benjamin
Holbeach 7a 362
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Welcome to Rootschat anasfell.
Benjamin died later than April 1875;
Burial;
Benjamin HICKS, 22 May 1875, St James, Sutton St James, Lincolnshire
Abode Holbeach, age 22
(Source FreeREG)
Marriage is also on FreeREG 11 Nov 1874 with Witnesses.
A Tree has Benjamin Titus born 19 July 1875 so she may have been pregnant when they Wed.
It was more common than you would think in those days for the Bride to be in the Family way.
Or Benjamin Jnr was born a little early due to the trauma of losing her Husband.
As to why Benjamin Snr died age 22 you would need the Death Cert.
Trish :)
1901 Census;
Susan E MALLETT
Born Jul 1857, England
Residence 1900 ED 145 Cedar & Rose Lake township, Osceola, Michigan, United States
Spouse George E Mallet, Birth Nov 1855 England
Married 22 years, 6 Children, 5 Living
She is still on the 1930 Census as Susan Mallett c 1857 England
Both on Familysearch.Org
You would have to look for a Death Reg post 1930 in Michigan for her.
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Thank you, everyone! And thank you for the link to order the certificates. I ordered all three and we will see what they reveal...
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Good luck anasfell and let us know the outcome as we can help trace the Family back if you need to.
(also I am very interested in what happened to Benjamin Snr, so sad, so young)
Trish :)
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I received two of the three documents (marriage and Benjamin Sr's death) but not B.T.'s birth certificate yet. I learned a few interesting things from them...
Benjamin Sr died of "phititis" which I guess is tuberculosis or a "chronic wasting." So Susan must have known he had this condition when they married -- it's not a sudden condition, as I understand it.
From his death cert, I see that Susan could not write her name. She signed it with an X and someone else wrote that it was her mark. From their marriage cert I learned that she was employed as a servant, which I didn't know.
The most curious thing about the marriage certificate is that Susan's father is listed as a witness, but the other witness is a woman named Sarah Ann Allwood. This isn't Susan's mother -- I have no idea who she is. But wouldn't the groom's father usually be the other witness? Perhaps the family stories of his parents' disapproval were true, and they weren't present at the marriage?
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A few random comments -
It's phthisis. It doesn't mean if you had a chronic disease you knew you would soon die
It's fairly uncommon for a woman to name an occupation at marriage, at least, on the certificates that I have.
Again, in my experience, in those days parents rarely were witnesses at marriages - it was more often siblings or friends.
:)
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here is the story I have
My grandfather, George Ray Mallett had an older half - brother who's last name was Hicks. The family story as told to me was that their mother had been a maid in an English
household, and George's father had been the carriage driver for the household.
As the story is told she had married a son of the household and the family disinherited the son for getting married to the maid and kicked them out. They managed to get by
until after the birth of their son when her husband became sick and she could no longer take care of him. At that point she went to the family and asked for help but they
would only do that if the marriage was annulled and she left England.
George's father had already left England for America and she camed over and married him.
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Thank you for sharing that story! My grandmother had heard something like it, but without the specifics. We originally started our Ancestry search because she wanted to know if her grandfather was an illegitimate child -- she had been told that too. It doesn't look like that was the case, though the marriage was scandalous! I wonder if there is some kind of annulment record to verify it? She continued to use the Hicks name on her passage to Canada.
It's very interesting that Susan knew George Mallett back in England. We assumed they met in Canada.
I guess we are some form of cousin then... nice to meet you! :-)
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I have info on her dad, George Shaw Tinker, if you need or want it. also her uncle also came to America. I'd love to find out more about Benjamin Sr family and find a pic of the house where George and Susan worked.
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Looks like I got ahead of myself again. I see you have a tree on Ancestry with the same info on the Tinkers that I have.
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Mi death index