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Topics - carlbos

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Travelling People / Boswell family Staffordshire, then Stockport
« on: Sunday 05 August 12 13:05 BST (UK)  »
Hi everyone,

I am trying to go back a generation in my search on the leg of my family that were travellers and I am having to  to take some stuff as OK purely on a best match and just wanted to run this by anyone who is willing to read and offer an opinion.

My search started with Mackantire Boswell who is my Great Grandfather. He is listed on the 1911 census (he is listed as Macey (which was a transcription error for Macky) Boswell there) as living in Stockport with his wife Annie Coates. I could find very very few details for Mackantire (lots of different spellings and abbreviations all tried). I did find a christening record for Ipstones, Staffs for 1886 which showed his parents as William and Lucy.

Question number 1: I also found a birth record for a Mark Boswell for 1886 for Ipstones Staffs. How likely do you think this is the same person?

Other searches for William and Lucy didn't yield much. I found them in the 1901 census living in Cheshire with several children but no mention of Mackintire or anything else that I thought could have been mistaken for him. William and Lucy turn up again with additional kids in the 1911 census. This time they are living 4 houses away from Mackintire and Annie in Stockport.

Question number 2: Is it reasonable to continue along this line of enquiry and assume that the other children listed are Mackintire's siblings?

I have lots of other details about Mackintire, including his military record files. I also believe there is a cemetery in Reddish, Stockport that contains many Boswell graves including a famous one which I now believe is linked to Mackintire. I am hoping that line of enquiry will tie up some loose ends because these traveller folk were not hot on consistency! :-)

Any ideas or suggestions very welcome.

Thanks in advance.

Carl

2
The Common Room / Luke Lees and the Fanny mystery!
« on: Wednesday 01 August 12 16:08 BST (UK)  »
The Lees/York/Hill dilemma/mystery

Here’s the story, grab a cuppa, it’s a long one.....it’s a difficult narrative to get across but I will try my best.
My link is to William Lees (1882-1964) who is my great grandfather.

1881 Census
45 St. Johns Terrace, Normanton, Yorkshire
Luke Lees, Head, 30, Coalminer, Colemoor, Staffs
Fanny Lees, 26, Wife,    -   , Opengate, Shropshire*
Jannett Lees, 3, Daughter,   -   , Staffs
Jane Lees, 9m, Daughter,   -   , Normanton, Yorkshire

We know that Luke Lees’ (1882-1964) father’s name was John. A search for marriage records for Luke Lees returns very few results and only one in Staffordshire which is for a marriage to a Fanny Yorke in 1875.

LEES, Luke   -   YORKE, Fanny   -   St John, Burslem.   Register @ Stoke-on-Trent  3/06/165 (Staffordshire BMD for 1875)

1891 Census
15 Lower Bents Lane, Bredbury, Stockport
Luke Lees, Head,  40, Coalminer, Colemoor, Staffs
Fanny Lees, Wife, 40,    -   , Bilson, Staffs*
Jeanette Lees, Daughter,  14, Cotton Reeler, Tunstall, Staffs
William Lees, Son,  9, Scholar, Bredbury, Cheshire
Edward Lees, Son, 7, Scholar, Bredbury, Cheshire
James Lees, Son, 4,   -   , Bredbury, Cheshire
* Age and place of birth different.

Now the mystery unfolds. We always thought that Fanny’s maiden name was Hill because all of the childrens’ birth records except for one show mother’s maiden name as Hill.

Staffs BMD birth index for 1877:
LEES, Janet   -   Sub-District: Tunstall, Register @ Stoke-On-Trent, Mother’s Maiden name: MYATT Ref: TUN/074/078

Yorkshire BMD birth index for 1880:
LEES, Jane   -   Sub-District: Sandal, Register @ Wakefield, Mother’s Maiden name: Hill
Ref: SAN/36/27

I also found a baptism record for Jane in Normanton for 19/6/1880 showing parents as Luke and Fanny Lees.

Cheshire BMD birth index for 1882:
LEES, William   -   Sub-District: Hyde, Register @ Tameside, Mother’s Maiden name: HILL
Ref: HYD/67/36

Cheshire BMD birth index for 1885:
LEES, Edward   -   Sub-District: Hyde, Register @ Tameside, Mother’s Maiden name: HILL
Ref: HYD/71/24

Cheshire BMD birth index for 1887:
LEES, James   -   Sub-District: Hyde, Register @ Tameside, Mother’s Maiden name: HILL
Ref: HYD/75/3

Here’s what I have done so far to try and get to the bottom of it.
I contacted Staffs record office to check if the name in the register for the marriage of Luke Lees and Fanny Yorke was correct because there was no original image to check myself. They very kindly checked for me and verified that it was Luke Lees and Fanny York (no e on the end) and confirmed the names of their fathers' which confirmed it was the right Luke Lees at least (unless there are two the same age and with the same father which I suppose is always a possibility).

Staffs record office confirmed that on the marriage record Fanny was aged 19 and Luke aged 24.
I then started thinking that maybe Luke did not stay married to Fanny York very long and ended up with someone else also called Fanny but Fanny Hill. Odd I know but plausible. I went off looking and whilst I found no record of divorce or a further marriage for Luke Lees I did find another marriage for a Fanny York where her age at time of marriage and her father’s name match. This was also in Staffs.

Fanny York married a Richard Chandler on 22/12/1878.

Another mystery is that I can find no birth record for a Fanny York(e). She was from an extended family where the father had married twice and the children in the household were from both marriages. I did think that maybe one of the older children could have had a child and Fanny was in fact a granddaughter but could find no birth record of a Fanny Hill that was in the right time and place either. I also checked if the kids could possibly have belonged to Luke’s brother but they did not receive the kids all at once and the maiden name of Luke’s brother’s wife was not hill so that was another dead end.

My hypothesis is that the wedding of Luke and Fanny York(e) didn’t work out and failed within a year or two. Probably because he had a fling with this Myatt person (mother of Janet/Janett/Jeanette) and Fanny found out about it. Fanny went off and married Richard Chandler and Luke got left with the Myatt baby and then met Fanny Hill but never got married to her.

Is this a plausible explanation or should I be able to find out more?
Any suggestions about where else I could look and what else I could look for?

I am very new to this so there is probably an avenue of investigation I have overlooked so all and any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,

Carl




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