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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: jonwicken on Sunday 02 August 20 14:48 BST (UK)
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For about 20 years I have been trying to find out what happened to my granddad's aunt. She disappears from the records in 1901 and I am wondering if a new pair eyes might please help me crack it.
Emma Eliza Colman was born in Clapham, Surrey, in 1879.
Her parents were Alexander Colman and Jane Sarah Smith who married in 1878 and separated in 1886.
In the 1881 census she is with her family at The Bull's Head pub, 39 Rectory Grove, Clapham.
In the 1891 census she is with her family at 45 Belvoir Road, Dulwich, Camberwell, London.
In the 1901 census she is at 10 Ethelbert Terrace, Margate, Kent. She is with her mother and two boarders (her aunt by marriage Lilian Colman & Frances M. Graffon).
After this I have never found any trace of her.
Her mother Jane Sarah Smith|Colman died in 1910 and her death certificate show she was living with her son and died at The Albion pub, 155 Commercial Road, Peckham.
The Colman and Smith families had various burial plots at West Norwood Cemetery which they first used in the 1860s and family members including Emma's mother were buried there. If Emma had predeceased her mother between 1901 and 1910 I would have thought she would have been buried there too. She however is not there.
There is a 1915 marriage in Hampstead of an Emma Elizabeth Colman who was married to Richard James Adams, but this is not her as this Emma is younger and her father was Henry Colman.
If anyone is please able to help crack this mystery and find out what happened to her, I would be most grateful.
With thanks and best wishes,
Jon
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I think you have probably done this, but have you checked all the Emma Elizabeth Coleman (with an “e”) marriages after 1901?
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There is a marriage in 1928 to a Charles E Simmons in Milton, Kent
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVZ1-QZCH
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There is a marriage in 1928 to a Charles E Simmons in Milton, Kent
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVZ1-QZCH
I believe she was born c1898, possibly in Sittingbourne pre WW2
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Unable to find her mother, Jane S Colman, on 1911 census either.
Sorry. Had not read it fully. She died 1910. Senior moment!!!!
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I think you have probably done this, but have you checked all the Emma Elizabeth Coleman (with an “e”) marriages after 1901?
Thanks yes I have but just did it again to be certain! Still nothing comes up there! The name is certainly sometimes incorrectly spelt but this did not bring her up, sadly.
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There is a marriage in 1928 to a Charles E Simmons in Milton, Kent
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:QVZ1-QZCH
I believe she was born c1898, possibly in Sittingbourne pre WW2
Thanks both for this and for looking.
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Could this be Emma?
Deaths Jun 1961
COLMAN Emma E 83 Colchester 4a 576
Can't check the full name as GRO deaths stop at 1957.
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A marriage in Natal, South Africa, 15 Sep 1904
Conrad Burford Dewsbuy
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Emma Eliza Colman
Image here
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:S3HT-66TW-SXG?i=1892&cc=2063749
Free index to 1911 census has Emma Eliza Dewsbury, 31, born London Clapham, living in Wandsworth
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XW5K-FT8
Two children there
DEWSBURY, JOYCE
Mother's Maiden Surname: COLMAN
GRO Reference: 1908 M Quarter in WANDSWORTH Volume 01D Page 673
DEWSBURY, MARJORIE
Mother's Maiden Surname: COLMAN
GRO Reference: 1909 M Quarter in WANDSWORTH Volume 01D Page 658
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South Africa Magazine: Domestic Announcements 1/9/1915
DEWSBURY-On January 3, in Maritzburg Hospital, of enteric fever, whilst on active service
with "Botha's Horse," Conrad Burford Dewsbury, aged 32.
Did Emma remarry shortly after?
June 1915 Lambeth 1d 965
Dewsbury, Emma E. - spouse Harkins
Harkins, Daniel H. B. - spouse Dewsbury
Harkins, Howard B - spouse Dewsbury
A couple of Harkins births up in Halifax later, mother Colman, one was Howard John in 1918.
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Death
HARKINS, DANIEL HOWARD BRACHER
Age at Death (in years): 52
GRO Reference: 1925 M Quarter in MANCHESTER SOUTH Volume 08D Page 236
Probate Calendar
Died 10 January 1925, Royal Infirmary Manchester
Administration to Emma Eliza Harkins, widow
https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=harkins&yearOfDeath=1925&page=2#calendar
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Marriage
June 1929 Manchester South 8d 395
Harkins, Emma E. - spouse Withington
Withington, Samuel - spouse Harkins
Lancashire BMD
Ref CHO RM/356/94
Chorlton-on-Medlock Register Office or Registrar Attended
HARKINS Emma Eliza + WITHINGTON Samuel
COLEMAN Emma Eliza + WITHINGTON Samuel
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Am reading with my mouth open! This looks like it is her. And this is absolutely amazing! Thank you!
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Hi
Some more work may be needed to verify things after the death of Conrad
He is in the probate calendar too
https://probatesearch.service.gov.uk/Calendar?surname=dewsbury&yearOfDeath=1915&page=1#calendar
And 1915 South Africa death notice / estate documents here
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CS7P-6WDM-L?i=857&cc=2573604
Good luck
John
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Interesting death, even if the age is a bit out
Emma E Withington
Death Age: 46
Registration Q1 1931
South Manchester Vol 8d p325
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Thanks again to everyone in this thread. It never fails to surprise me how amazing rootschat is.
I have ordered Emma Eliza Colman's birth certificate which shows she was born on 7 April 1879 at the Bull's Head pub in Clapham. This is where she was in the 1881 census.
I have also ordered the 1915 marriage certificate to (Daniel) Howard Bracher Harkins which will show her father's name to definitely confirm this is her.
There appear to be two sons: Howard John Harkins born in 1918 and Patrick G. Harkins, but I can't find them in the 1939 register.
I have found thanks to the South Africa probate document previously posted here that there was another daughter Hilary Sara Dewsbury born to her first husband Conrad.
I have also found the 3 daughters and where they ended up which was living in Dover, Kent, where they all died between 1970 and 1982:
Joyce Dewsbury|Smith married Alexander D. Smith in 1930 [no children in 1939 register]
1907–1970
Marjorie Dewsbury|Gotliffe married Maurice Lee Gotliffe in 1935 [had one son who died in 2017]
1909–1982
Hilary Sara Dewsbury|Green married Frederick L. Green in 1950 [but using the name Green in the 1939 register]
1911–1980
I am hoping I might actually be able to make contact with the descendants of Emma Eliza Colman after all these years which is very exciting.
My re-interest in her was created as last week DNA identified an unknown illegitimate niece of Emma whose father was previously unknown with the father's name blank. Now I know they are part of the Colman family and it got me doing more digging into the Colmans.
Thanks again for all the help and I will update here when I know more!
Jon
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I have also ordered the 1915 marriage certificate to (Daniel) Howard Bracher Harkins which will show her father's name to definitely confirm this is her.
Hi I just wanted to update this thread to say the marriage certificate arrived. It names Emma Eliza's father as Alexander Colman, licensed victualler. This shows it is definitely her!
I really can't believe how this has been resolved and so again thank you very much.
It states Alexander was dead on the certificate. He wasnt actually dead, but had actually left Emma's mother 29 years previously for someone he met in the pub he then managed - The King Lud, so the story goes.
He married her bigamously, but for six months kept two marriages going. It is all revealed in judicial separation papers his first wife filed along with the certificates.
Anyway thanks again for helping me crack a long standing mystery.
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Just wanted to update you and let you know that thanks to all your help I am now in touch with one of Emma's grandchildren. Thanks again, everyone.
Jon