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Beginners => Family History Beginners Board => Topic started by: Mturnergeneology on Thursday 25 April 24 02:59 BST (UK)
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Hi!
My name is Mary T. And I am researching my great Grandfather who was a British Home Child. We have hit dead-end after dead-end trying to find anything about his family in England. This is what we know.
Born name: Michael Benjamin Chambers
Birthdate: August 24, 1890
Registered Certificate: Oct 15, 1890
Place of birth: No 8. Pipewellgate, gateshead, Durham England
Father's Name: John Chambers on his birth certificate, but we wonder if it was Benjamin
Father is listed as a general laborer
Mother's Name: Ann or Annie Johnson (I think this is NOT her full name)
Siblings name: George (brother), John Willie (brother), Annie (sister), Lizzie (sister). Michael couldn't remember if he had 2 sisters
Tragedy must have fallen on his family as he was placed in a workhome, around the age of 5, 1895/1896. He was later sent to Canada as a Bernardo boy in 1903 and sailed on Dominion. We can trace him in Canada and in England but we can't find anything about his parents or family.
We want to find his mother, father and siblings.
Any help would be appreciated.
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Have you looked on the 1891 census in England for him?
You can look up births for his siblings and a marriage for his parents then look for them on census records.
Will have a look to start you off.
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There's a George born in 1885 and a John William born in 1887 both with mothers maiden name Johnson. Both Gateshead.
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1901 census - There's a Michael Chambers (born 1890, Gateshead) at the Village Houses, Primrose Cottage, Shotley Bridge, Benfieldside, Lanchester, Durham.
Appears to be some sort of foster care place?
He's listed on a Canada, Home Children Board Of Guardian Records inspection sheet. Not much info for him except he had 1 inspection in 1904, and 3 annual re-inspections from 1905-07.
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This may be the marriage of the parents, although it is Mary not Ann/Annie
Marriages Dec 1883
CHAMBERS John William Gateshead 10a 1313
JOHNSON Mary Elizabeth Gateshead 10a 1313
I can't find an original image of the marriage so not able to check for further details.
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Hi!
Thank you so much for you help. I am very new to this research. Can you please tell me how to search through census records? Are they government owned? Would anyone know how to search for church records like for baptisms?
And when I do find them on the census... how do I continue to search for more info on his parents?
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This is a large scale map revised 1894, including Pipewellgate running from the top centre south westwards. They were sandwiched between a string of factories along the south bank of the River Tyne, and the huge North Eastern Railway Works.
https://maps.nls.uk/view/231276258
Added: This is the sheet to the north, showing the start of Pipewellgate and the Tyne bridges.
https://maps.nls.uk/view/231276219
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1901 census - There's a Michael Chambers (born 1890, Gateshead) at the Village Houses, Primrose Cottage, Shotley Bridge, Benfieldside, Lanchester, Durham.
Appears to be some sort of foster care place?
Shotley Bridge Cottage Homes were built by Gateshead Council
http://www.formerchildrenshomes.org.uk/shotley_bridge_cottage_homes.html
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There's a George born in 1885 and a John William born in 1887 both with mothers maiden name Johnson. Both Gateshead.
There is a baptism for a George Chambers on 25 Mar 1885 in Gateshead, parents Benjamin and Annie Chambers.
Is this one of the reasons you think that John, father, may also have the name of Benjamin?
Monica
PS: Welcome to RootsChat, Mary T :)
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So happens, there is a marriage for a Benjamin Chambers and Annie Johnston...but not till 1893 in Liverpool (2nd Qrt 8b/20) :-\
I cannot see any possible entry for the names we have on the 1891 census. There is a possible death for George maybe. A death shows for a George in Gateshead in 1885, the year we have for his birth (death 1st Qrt 10a/528). Age shows as 0, so weeks or months old
Monica
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I think you should look at the birth certificates for some of the other children in the family to obtain more information about the parents.
The £2.50 PDF download is quick & reasonably inexpensive to do.
CHAMBERS, GEORGE mother - JOHNSON
GRO Reference: 1885 J Quarter in GATESHEAD Volume 10A Page 922
CHAMBERS, JOHN WILLIAM mother - JOHNSON
GRO Reference: 1887 D Quarter in GATESHEAD Volume 10A Page 812
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Hi,
Is it possible to list the sources where this information is being pulled from?
How do I go about obtaining birth certificates?
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I would say that Michael's birth registration has already been obtained given the details on Mary's first post with address and parents' names.
The other two would be worth checking too as you suggest.
Monica
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Have you applied for his records from Barnardos? Maybe they will contain something with more information.
https://www.barnardos.org.uk/former-barnardos-children
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1901 Netheron Stannington Northumberland
John William Chambers 13 inmate (looks like a group home) born Gateshead.
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1901 Netheron Stannington Northumberland
John William Chambers 13 inmate (looks like a group home) born Gateshead.
It’s the North Eastern Reformatory
https://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/NethertonRfy/
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https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/search.pl
There is a John Chambers who died in the Gateshead district in 1894, aged 40.
To obtain any of the certificates mentioned you go to the GRO:
https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/certificates/indexes_search.asp
If there is a digital version available it is the same information, just cheaper because a scan rather than a paper copy.
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Further to the death for a John Chambers found by jorose this may well be the cemetery register related to this death.
John Chambers labourer age 40 abode 3 Welford's Buildings, Church Walk - burial 19 May 1894
( A quick google search suggests that this address may have been in Pipewellgate).
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSJ7-CDPP?i=471&cat=825277
( Mary T - to view the image you would have to register with familysearch for free if you have not already done so. I originally found a reference to this burial doing a free search on Durham Records Online, a very useful site for this area. Re your question about census information familysearch will give transcripts but to view images you would need to use commercial sites like Ancestry or FindMyPast).
William
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John Chambers labourer age 40 abode 3 Welford's Buildings, Church Walk - burial 19 May 1894
I agree that this death looks very promising, and that Church Walk was in the Pipewell Gate area.
Good find Jorose.
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( A quick google search suggests that this address may have been in Pipewellgate).
Not quite in Pipewellgate but very close.
The listing in the 1911 census gives the sequence: Church Street, Church Walk, Welfords Building, Church Stairs.
All, apart from Welfords Buildings can be clearly seen on this map. So I'd suggest Welford's Buildings were approximately in the position of the blue marker
https://www.rootschat.com/links/01t4v/
The eastern end of Pipewellgate lay a little to the south-west of this
https://www.rootschat.com/links/01t4w/
Not that this helps to find any of them in 1891 :-X
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There is a possible death for George maybe. A death shows for a George in Gateshead in 1885, the year we have for his birth (death 1st Qrt 10a/528). Age shows as 0, so weeks or months old
The burial register states that he was the son of William Chambers, buried 10th January 1885, aged 3 weeks.
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/3:1:3Q9M-CSJ7-L95Z-C?cat=825277
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Thanks, JenB. George is there still be found then.
Monica
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Hi there!
Thank you for all the help thus far from everyone.
We found a death record for Michael's Dad, John Chambers, which I have attached.
The informant is listed as a brother W. Chambers of the Village Backworth.
Michael was younger than George and John Williams, so I don't think he died as an infant. There is some information to support that John Williams (or John Willie as Michael remembered him) was also placed in a workhouse and was later sent to Canada.
Michael remembers a sister, but isn't sure if thr family had 2. I imagine the sister may have been born after Michael.
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Hi Mary, Why do you think that death for John Chambers is correct? Do you have a death certificate or burial record that supports this? I don’t think it will be the right person because Morpeth is a long way from Gateshead. John Chambers is a fairly common name.
The death and burial record found for John aged 40, in Gateshead (as posted earlier) is more likely the correct one, but you should get the death certificate to check all the details.
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This was a death certificate that my grandmother was able to find. The timeline of events matches this John Chambers what little we know of his family.
Michael Chambers was placed in a boys workhome in 1895/1896, the same year his father, John died. Michael was at least the 3rd or 4th child.
We know that one of his brothers, either George or John Williams, who was older eventually was placed in a boys workhome and eventually was sent to Canada too. The records we have found indicate that it was John Williams.
The record shared below of a John Williams Chambers placed in a Northumberland workhome is local to the father, John Chambers who died in the Morpeth workhome.
The family also can't be located in the Gateshead 1891 census, so I theorize that maybe the family moved maybe due to the father getting injured? From what research I have done for the time period is that the workhomes were for people who were too sick or injured or didn't have family to care for themselves. John Chambers and his family lived on pipewellgate, which had a lot of factories, he is listed as a general laborer on Michael Chambers birth registry.
Is there a better way to verify to ensure accuracy?
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Sadly all the Morpeth workhome records were destroyed during WW2.
The family does have hereditary spherocytosis which was carried by Michael Chambers and passed onto his children, great grandchildren and great great grandchildren. Spherocytosis can be carried and passed down by either the mother or father, so Michael inherited this blood mutation from his mother or father. Generally a splenectomy is performed, but if not the person can carry severe health complications throughout life.
Spherocytosis wasn't documented until 1871 in England.
Do medical or school records still exist from this time period?
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Is there a better way to verify to ensure accuracy?
Yes. You can look at the census records for the John Chambers who died in Morpeth in 1895
AND
You can obtain the death certificate (details directly below) for the John Chambers who died in the Pipewell Gate area in May 1894.
CHAMBERS, JOHN Age 40
GRO Reference: 1894 J Quarter in GATESHEAD Volume 10A Page 449
You will see that John Chambers who died in Morpeth was from Scotland, born abt 1847-48.
His family seem to have come from Peebleshire and were in Northumberland from the 1860s working in the brick making industry.
John’s brother, William (born abt 1844 Scotland) is living in Backworth with his wife Hannah and family. This John Chambers appears to have married an Elizabeth, but it looks like she died before they had any children. I doubt this is the John you are looking for, and I cannot see any sign of him being in Gateshead.
You can check this yourself. Yesterday I sent you a PM with information about how to access census records on FamilySearch, and how to obtain birth and death certificates from the GRO.
There are various other suggestions given in the thread which you may also want to follow up on, to try to gain more information to assist you in your search.
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The record shared below of a John Williams Chambers placed in a Northumberland workhome is local to the father, John Chambers who died in the Morpeth workhome.
If this is the case, then John William Chambers was placed in the Reformatory (not 'workhome') some time before 1895, when this particular John Chambers died. Do you have evidence of this?
Given that this was a place dealing with boys who were regarded as 'criminals' and 'delinquents' I think it's most unlikely that any consideration would have been given to placing him near his father.
He was certainly placed there in mid-March 1901, (i.e. very shortly before the census in which he appears there) having been found guilty of theft (see attached snip).
I have to agree with Neale that the evidence suggests that the John Chambers whose death you've found in Morpeth looks very unlikely to be the one you are looking for. If I were you I'd definitely purchase the 1894 Gateshead death certificate.
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Thank you to this group!!!
I need to learn how to use these tools for myself. Still getting used to Familysearch and the lot of available resources. I have spent hours on thr websites that have been provided but I'm still clumsy in my navigation.
I need to duplicate pulling the information that has been shared.
There is a FamilySearch geneology center just down the street from me. I will pay them a visit and start my "training".
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Take your time to learn what sources and info is available :)
Mary, can I ask, one another forum (Facebook I think?) you mentioned there on a post that you think John William may also have gone or been sent to Canada at some point. Did Michael meet up with him there from family recollections? Just to put a face to Michael, I saw this photo of him yesterday on Family Search https://ancestors.familysearch.org/en/KWCZ-WGD/michael-benjamin-chambers-1890-1938
Birth certificate for Michael also included in the gallery on this FS tree.
Monica
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There is a FamilySearch geneology center just down the street from me. I will pay them a visit and start my "training".
I don't know which of the three children of Michael and wife Pearl you are descended from. The youngest, Inez, looks to have been very active in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her obit provides lots of details on this www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/saltlaketribune/name/inez-hoggard-obituary?id=24589518
You very likely have all this!
Monica
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Have just come across this baptism
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JMC3-S2Q
George Chambers born 17 Feb 1885 bap Gateshead 25 Mar 1885
Parents Benjamin and Annie Chambers
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Have just come across this baptism
https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:JMC3-S2Q
George Chambers born 17 Feb 1885 bap Gateshead 25 Mar 1885
Parents Benjamin and Annie Chambers
Yes, this baptism was noted in reply #8.
Without a matching birth certificate however, it is not known if it is the correct family.
It has been suggested that Mary obtain George's birth certificate, and details have been supplied.
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My apologies, I missed that one.
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I just want to thank the group again for all the generous geneology heroes who have helped me! I'm sure this isn't the last question I'll post, but I'll wait until I gather more education for myself and know how to use my tools.
I will be making my visit to a geneology center later this week!