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Independent Islands => Isle of Man => Topic started by: LyndenMHughes on Wednesday 02 May 18 15:46 BST (UK)
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I have just joined this Group in this hope that someone can help me find the marriage of Frances LUCAS to Henry ALLEN around 1854.
Frances was the daughter of Thomas Edward LUCAS and Ann CHRISTIAN and lived at Lewaigue, Manghold. She was baptised there in 1826. By 1856 Frances and Henry had moved to USA and had their first child there. I have exhausted the online marriage records (FamilySearch, Ancestry, FindMyPast) for Isle of Man, and am hoping that someone out there might be researching the same family. The Lucas family seem to have been fairly prosperous, and other family marriages are reported in the local newspapers but I can't find this marriage for looking. In Henry's obituary his marriage is given as 1854 - of course I don't know where the obituary writer got his information, but Frances was living at home, unmarried, in the 1851 census, so the marriage must have taken place between 1851 and 1856. They could have married in USA but, again, I can't find any likely records and surely it seems unlikely that a girl from a good family would have travelled with a man, unmarried. I cannot find any record of her arriving in USA before this either.
Henry worked on the Liverpool Steam Packet Line so there is a small possibility they married on the mainland, but I just can't find any likely record.
I am hoping someone might be able to help find marriage, or be researching the same family. Frances was one of 6 sisters (Elinor Christian, Frances, Matilda, Alicia, Julia and Evalina, and one brother William).
Very grateful for any help.
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Hello :)
Quite often if a marriage can't be found they never married at all but not saying that's the case here.
Maybe she simply ran away with him and they pretended to be a married couple when they arrived in the US!
Do you know if she had any contact with her family after leaving home?
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Sorry one more question - where is Henry in 1851?
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Is this the right family?
1860 San Francisco
Henry A Allen 33
Frances 28 born Isle of Man
Laura F 4
Julia 2
Anne 1
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Hi Milliepede - sorry have been offline for a few days. Yes you have found the right family in 1861 in San Francisco. Henry died in 1865 in a shipping disaster. I can’t locate him for certain in 1851 as Henry Allen is quite a common name and he could be in US, UK or somewhere in between! The family is actually enumerated twice in 1861(but it is definitely the same family) with both Henry and Frances giving different ages and for Henry a different place of birth. Not helpful!
I don’t think Frances or any of the children went back to Isle of Man after Henry’s death, although Frances does appear in some legal papers selling property on IOM in the years before and after. At least one of her sisters also married (on Isle of Man) and went to live in San Francisco so I believe there was family contact.
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This doesn't help with the marriage or immigration, but in case you don't have the following...
1859 San Francisco Directory
Henry A. Allen, dwl Harris House Pine (Pine Street?)
Henry A. Allen, Purser stmr Cortez, dwl SE Cor Third and Perry
San Francisco, District 10 Census - 20 June 1860
Henry Allen was recorded as age 45, Seaman, born Mass.
Henry and Fanny (age 30) Allen as well as their children Lora F (age 4), Matilda (age 2) and Anne D (age 1) were living next door to John Hyland (Blacksmith) and his family on one side and Henry R. Barker (Brayman) and his family on the other.
1860 SF Directory
Do not see Henry A Allen listed
John Hyland, blacksmith, dwl S s Harrison bet Second and Third
Henry R. Barker, drayman,, dwl S s Harrison nr Third
1860 San Francisco, District 10 Census, 24 July 1860
Henry A. Allen, age 33, Seaman, born Conn
Frances (age 28), Laura F age 4, Julia age 2, Anne age 1
Entry under the Allens was Wm Bailey, Manuf Oil Camphine(?) and wife
Two entries above the Allens was Wm Delaney, Ship Carpenter
1860 San Francisco Directory
Wm. Bailey, agent Pacific Oil and Camphene Co., 70 Front, dwl S s Townsend abv Third
William D. Delany, ship-carpenter, dwl SW cor Third and Silver
Perhaps the Allens were moving between the two locations during the time of the census.
In the obituary in the San Francisco newspaper, it stated:
"...Mr. Allen came to this coast in the year 1854...Mr. Allen was married in the year 1854..."
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01m0x/
Death notice for Anna, age 6, daughter of Frances and the late Henry A. Allen, 18 Dec 1865:
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01m0w/
1867 San Francisco Directory
Frances Allen (widow) dwl 554 Stevenson
Could this be your Frances?
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Your Allens?
1880 San Francisco Census
Frances Allen, age 47, ________? Bakery, born Isle of Man. Father born England; mother born Isle of Man
Tillie Allen, age 18, daughter, Keeping House, born California. Father - Conn.; Mother - Isle of Man
George Allen, age 15, son, At School, born California. Father - Conn.; Mother - Isle of Man
Perhaps Tillie was Matilda Julia. Perhaps George was born right before or right after his father's death.
Street address was recorded as Sixteenth (most likely 16th Street, not 16th Avenue)
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Perhaps your George?
1866 Voter Registration
George Allen, age 22, birth year estimate - 1864, born California
Event place: 3053 Sixteenth
Source: FamilySearch.org
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1883 San Francisco Directory
Mrs. Frances Allen, bakery, 2926 Sixteenth
George P. Allen, boilermaker, r 2926 Sixteenth
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Matilda J. Lawton passed away in October 1901. Her family members were Captain Henry and Frances Allen and George P. Allen. She was aged 41 years, 1 month and 1 day. Isle of Man papers were asked to copy.
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01m0y/
Are you interested in further information about the family, or are you only interested in the marriage date? :)
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Hi Lisa,
Thank you very much for your reply. I have traced the 4 children of Frances and Henry and the marriages and sadly early deaths of each of them. George P(arker) Allen was the only one to have children and I have traced them through to 1940s but no further.
Frances has been relatively easy to trace from Isle of Man records, but Henry is proving difficult, as I can’t find any definitive proof of his date or place of birth. I can’t find him before 1860, when he is enumerated twice in San Francisco on the Federal Census, and his children all give different places of birth for him on subsequent censuses. My belief is that he was born circa 1815 somewhere near Providence in Rhode Island, but I haven’t been able to confirm that. I was hoping that the marriage record for Henry and Frances would give his father’s name, which would narrow down my search considerably. I have contacted a likely Church in Providence to check for baptisms around that time and am waiting to hear back from them.
Very grateful for any further help 😊
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Also - thanks for the other information you provided and the time you spend digging it out. I have the newspaper clippings but not the Directory information which is all useful information. Frances died in 1883, so no need to look for her after that date.