RootsChat.Com
General => The Common Room => Topic started by: kath davis on Saturday 18 September 21 19:32 BST (UK)
-
Watching this week’s episode of A House Through Time, Leeds I heard a familiar name mentioned. Noah Exelby. He was an employee of the owner of the house in question, and had suffered an accident at work and died almost immediately. There was much reporting in the Newspapers.
Exelby was my mother’s maiden name, and I remembered that she had a cousin named Noah, in fact his name was William Noel - but the bell had rung. I did a bit of foraging to get the details of Noel, and looked up his dates in my records, to see where he fitted into the family time line. I was a bit taken aback when I found him already in my record. Noah Reynard Exelby, born 1839 was my Great Grandfather’s second cousin!
Has anyone else had this happen to them? My research has now gone off at a tangent, to find out what happened to his wife, Mary Ellen Snell and their daughter, Amelia.
Kath
-
I'm pleased you found Noah to add to your family story. Clues do sometimes pop up from diverse sources, don't they. I felt very sorry for Noah and his family and wondered what happened Mary Ellen.
I was also curious about his employer, Mr. Wild; was he a self-made man or did the business come down the family? And his partner, was he the ruthless one? And maybe they 'saw Mary Ellen right' privately, many factory owners looked after their staff in sad circumstances, I know that personally. Problem is, we only get snapshots of the past, we don't know the whole story.
I hope you find good news about Mary Ellen, let us know what you find.
-
I am still looking. Mary Ellen married twice more and lived to 84. She had her first child out of wedlock, 4 children with Noah, up to 1851, so could be more, but I don’t think so. 3 of these died leaving the youngest, Amelia, who I found in 1861, at 14, living with half brother Richard, although transcribed with his surname as wife! No sign of Mary Ellen in 1861, but in all following censuses to 1901. I have been unable to find her birth or baptism.
You have given me an idea, could Mary Ellen be working for Mr Wild under another name in 1861?
-
Good, it seems Mary Ellen came through well. I was afraid they'd end up in the Workhouse.