Show Posts

This section allows you to view all posts made by this member. Note that you can only see posts made in areas you currently have access to.


Messages - Coomera

Pages: [1] 2 3 4 ... 9
1
Family History Beginners Board / Re: Ellen Burke
« on: Wednesday 19 July 17 06:37 BST (UK)  »
Well, I was told that when she went up to London to train at the Savoy Hotel in 1930 that this was the first time that she had worked. The date indicated to me that perhaps Elizabeth's income had fallen due to the stock market crash and she could no longer pay for Ellen & the children. It was assumed that she would never be in that position.  Elizabeth must have continued some support as they lived better than her salary would have indicated. As Ellen was married from Scarborough, she may have gone back there, where Elizabeth was living (I think!) Have not seen the will myself, but I do know that Ellen was intended to be the sole benificiary, at least that it is what I was told.    regards,   john.

2
Family History Beginners Board / Re: Ellen Burke
« on: Tuesday 18 July 17 05:21 BST (UK)  »
I was always told that she was raised by Elizabeth and the fact that she kept Ellen in some luxury (a maid, housekeeper, and girls at boarding school) indicates she was very attached to her. I think that she and James were both living in Scarborough at the time of the marriage. Ellen went to the famous RC school at Harrogate (so she said) but after Joseph died Elizabeth seemed to have moved her to The Mount School in York. Given that Ellen was raised as a middle class woman with no job skills I find it hard to grasp how she married a Draper's Assistant, which would have been at the lowest of income levels. How did they meet? Perhaps this cross cultural marriage just did not work out with Arthur trying to keep up with his wife's income. The past - they do things differently there.
best wishes,   john.

3
Family History Beginners Board / Re: Ellen Burke
« on: Monday 17 July 17 07:19 BST (UK)  »
Many thanks for the brilliant work by all concerned. I am now confident that I have Ellen's mother & father (James & Margaret) and her birth. Just need to find out what happened to Margaret that led to her baby going to Elizabeth to be raised. Re the males, thanks so much for this, I could never have traced it all. The 1949 court case is Donovan, as Ellen bought a small business after the war with her inheritance (the house at St Annes in part). They all worked in it until it failed in the early fifties.
Fantastic result!      john.

4
Family History Beginners Board / Re: Ellen Burke
« on: Saturday 15 July 17 02:58 BST (UK)  »
Phew! this is something - the granddaughters are not too impressed. There is one interesting point: Raymond (Peter) must have got remission for joining the army as he was with the BEF and was captured in Northern France trying to get to Dunkirk in 1940. He spent nearly six years in Poland and almost died on the "death marches" of 1945 until rescued by the Americans and flown back to London.
Regarding "did the family know?" - I would say yes, as the address of Harrow Weald was a house that Ellen rented (backed onto Harrow School playing fields) where she and all the children lived - she herself working in Harrow. They were there until well after the war. Donovan (known as Don) may have still been in trouble after the war as when I first knew the family he was not around and suddenly appeared. He too never married.

5
Family History Beginners Board / Re: Ellen Burke
« on: Friday 14 July 17 06:35 BST (UK)  »
Wow! thanks despair, this quite something. I started this project to satisfy the curiosity of the four grandchildren to whom Arthur was just a name, there is not even a photograph, and from whom they inherited a quarter of their genes. Ellen & Arthur were living at Hilpshire (just north of Blackburn) before they moved south, so this would also be  worth checking for unsocial acts leading to the move south.   many thanks,  john.

6
Family History Beginners Board / Re: Ellen Burke
« on: Thursday 13 July 17 06:24 BST (UK)  »
No, Violet was never registered, as she found when she tried for her pension (or it may have been a passport) and she did not exist. She usually went by the name Vivian (its OK, she has been dead for years and had no children).
Wow! this report of an assault involving Arthur Taylor Burke is a real gamechanger and makes you wonder why they left the bustling cotton towns to bury themselves in rural Sussex in the first place. I lived in W.Sussex in the 60's and it was still pretty bucolic even then. I will have a try at this but must confess never had much luck with newspaper reports - just one in my wife's family and he was an entertainer. Arthur must have been around up to late '25 to early '26 for him to have fathered his last daughter. Hope some one can crack this now that we have this sniff of success.   john.

7
Family History Beginners Board / Re: Ellen Burke
« on: Wednesday 12 July 17 06:44 BST (UK)  »
Sorry, yes he is the Accrington  Arthur Burke. his DOB was 9.3.1890.
Regarding Cuckfield I only had this by word of mouth, but the third daughter (Violet) was born 1926 and when she applied for her OAP there was no record of her, which caused some problems! Whether Arthur copped the blame for not registering her, as he was no longer around, or if it was just an oversight it is hard to say. Certainly Ellen, having not long having given birth and with three children under five plus the two boys, would be forgiven if she neglected to do it, especially as her husband had just left her. The girls, who did not use the names that were registered to them, always claimed that their father did not register them under the names agreed with Ellen.      john.

8
Family History Beginners Board / Re: Ellen Burke
« on: Tuesday 11 July 17 03:29 BST (UK)  »
Well, I started a post and it suddenly vanished. I can't find it anywhere so hope this is not a double up. Thank you - I now have a clear path to follow and should have no difficulties. My apologies for not referring to my previous post - realize this was an error on my part.
Now, Ellen's husband - Arthur Burke. I have no problems with his history which goes back to 18th.century Ireland. Born into a Preston mill worker family but chose to be a Draper's Asst. First child born 1914 at Lytham. Joined the navy late 1915, discharged early 1916 (medical grounds). 2nd child born early 1918 at Blackburn, Arthur a commercial traveller in ladies' clothing. 1922, the whole family living at Cuckfield, West Sussex, Arthur a manufacturer's agent. Three girls born, 1922, '24, '26. Just after the birth of the younger child Arthur leaves his wife of 13 years, his five children, and is never seen or heard of again. He even neglected to register the birth of his youngest daughter. I have checked the shipping records but he seems not to have left the country and also the 1939 survey with little success.Have not checked if he was a guest of her majesty. The navy added his mother's maiden name to make him Arthur Taylor Burke, but only one of the children used this and none of the girls.
So, whatever happened to Arthur Burke? Of course, this is not easy but I have great faith in Roots Chat to solve the very difficult!   John.

9
Family History Beginners Board / Re: Ellen Burke
« on: Monday 10 July 17 02:21 BST (UK)  »
Well, much to digest. No, Ellen had no occupation on marriage, not until 1930 in fact. Re James: I liked him as a Master Mariner as he does not appear in the census apart from 1881 when he was in port. If he worked out of Hull then retirement to Scarborough would be logical. I also like the 1891 census giving the ages of Joseph & Eliza as I know that she lived into the forties and died in Lytham during WW2.
The marriage of Joseph Wilkinson & Elizabeth Atkin (father James)  ticks too many boxes to be a coincidence. However, the fact that Ellen was married under the name Atkin indicates that she was not the product of Joe & Eliza's marriage, so the suggestion that she was born to a sibling of Eliza does hold water. It may be that after Joseph died that Eliza could not afford keep Ellen so she (or both of them) lived with James in Scarborough and James was passed off as Ellen's father rather than her grandfather. This sibling of Eliza is the one to look for I think.
John.

Pages: [1] 2 3 4 ... 9