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« on: Friday 08 November 13 16:10 GMT (UK) »
Father of this family was James Sim, born about 1854 in Dundee; died at sea 16th November 1905. He was a joiner, who later became a ship's carpenter and it was while working as a carpenter on the Ancenis that he was swept overboard and drowned.
The mother was Elizabeth Jane Benny. She was born 27th October 1853 in East Borland, Denny, Stirlingshire. She and James Sim married on 24th June 1879 in Dundee. She was a Milliner. they had 7 children:
William James Benny Sim was born 11th July 1880 in Dundee. He was a Stationer's Porter. He married Barbara Donaldson 9th September 1904 in Glasgow. They had one son, Malcolm, born 16th November 1906. Barbara died in 1907 of TB and William returned to Dundee, where he died 20th July 1942.
Ann Sim was born prematurely in October 1881 in Dundee and lived only 3 days.
The next two children, Robert and Annie, were both born in Renfrew. Renfrew is on the River Clyde and there was a strong shipbuilding industry. My guess is that James Sim may have moved there to work as a joiner/carpenter on the ships, but it's just a guess.
Robert was born on 24th January 1883 and served in the Royal Highlanders and the SW Borderers. He served in India while in the army (info from his father's testament) and the SW Borderers were certainly in India at the time in question. He married Maud Louisa May Sider in June 1913 and had a son, Leslie Robert in September 1913 in Medway, Kent.
Annie was born 23rd January 1885. She was living with her grandparents, Donald and Sarah Sim and brother William in Coupar Angus at the 1891 census. Donald Sim died in 1894. In the 1901 census, Annie and Sarah Sim were living at 5 Reid Street, Govan (also a shipbuilding area), Glasgow and this is also the UK address given in James Sim's testament. Annie married Joseph George Reynolds in 1907 and they remained in Glasgow. They had 3 daughters. One, Annie Sim Reynolds, died as a toddler of TB. The other 2 still have family members in the Glasgow area.
The next of James and Elizabeth's children was Janet Benny Sim, born 25th May 1888 in Dundee. The 1891 census shows her living with Robert and mother Elizabeth in King Street, Broughty Ferry (which is very close to Dundee). She married Archibald Rogers in Liverpool in 1908 - her address on the marriage registration was in Dundee. Archibald was killed in WW1. Their son, Henry John Rogers was born in 1909 and he was killed during WW2 when his ship was torpedoed by a German U-boat. There was also a daughter, but I don't have details, other than that she was known as "Bunt".
Janet remarried in 1923 to William Henry Bomford. They had 2 children, Vera and William Douglas (known as "Douglas" or "Doug". Vera settled in Panama and Douglas lived in Chile, Peru and Panama before settling in Florida. He died in September 2013. Janet settled in Wallesey in the Birkenhead area of Merseyside. she died in 1970.
The next child was Donald, born 13th April 1892 in Broughty Ferry. I haven't located him in the 1901 census. In the 1911 census he was with the Air Battalion of the Royal Engineers in Aldershot. He married Annie Dodds and settled in the Birkenhead area. He died in 1955.
The youngest child was David Taylor Sim, born 3rd November 1893 in Broughty Ferry. I can't locate him in the 1901 or 1911 censuses. He married Florence Teggins in 1922 and they lived in Wallesey, Birkenhead. He was a baker / confectioner. He died in 1972.
I would be really interested to here more about this family.
I've not really discovered anything about Elizabeth Jane Benny/Sim after 1893 (the birth of the David Taylor Sim) although there was an Elizabeth J Sim who died in 1931 in Wallesey, who might be her. I haven't worked out how Janet, Donald and David all wound up in Wallesey/Birkenhead. the other strange thing is that James Benny's testament was handled by Annie Sim, who at that time stated that she had not heard from her mother in 12 years and the only sibling she makes reference to is a brother in the army in India (who would be Robert) so it seems that she had also lost touch with older brother William (who was actually living only a few miles away in a different part of Glasgow at the time) and the younger siblings, Janet, Donald and David.
I have the birth registrations for all the siblings, showing parents James Sim and Elizabeth m.s. Benny and the correct date and place of their marriage, so am confident that there's no mistake about parentage, but piecing together the movements of the various family members is proving a challenge.
Any help out there?
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