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Topics - DianaCanada

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1
The Common Room / Confused - is BNA available on FindMyPast?
« on: Wednesday 29 January 25 15:21 GMT (UK)  »
I currently have a subscription to British Newspaper Archives, but am wondering if it is available on FindMyPast?  I have a subscription to that too, so would like to pare it down to FindMyPast, especially now that the 1921 is on Ancestry.

2
The Common Room / Wicks/Relf (Sussex, Reading, and on to Wiinipeg)
« on: Saturday 16 November 24 20:21 GMT (UK)  »
Hoping to find Annie Maria Relf, who was born in Burwash, Sussex on 27 May 1885 (birthdate from baptismal record), the daughter of William James Relf and Hannah Potten.  The Relfs had a large family and moved around a bit, by 1911 William was in Eltham, London and Hannah declares she has 12 children, 12 living.  In 1921 she is in an institution in Brentwood, Essex.

I have had trouble tracking Annie but think she might be the Annie M. Relf who married Albert Wicks in Reading district in Jun 1914.  They are likely the couple who arrived at Philadelphia, USA, 23 Apr 1914.

The age is a good match for Annie.  They were heading for Winnipeg, Manitoba and appear there on the 1916 Manitoba census and the 1921 Canadian census.  In 1916 Annie is listed as Annie Maria.  Albert is a carpenter, as he was on the passenger list in 1914. They were going to an uncle, J. Richards, Winnipeg, on the passenger list.  I do not know who he is.

Annie gives her birthplace as Sevenoaks, Kent on the passenger list (Albert's is Reading).  This is the only blaring discrepancy that I can find but there is no Annie M. Relf on FreeBMD for that time period born in Sevenoaks.

Find My Grave has Albert's death as 8 Dec 1947, and his is buried in Winnipeg.  A very good candidate for Annie arrives in England (Liverpool) in 1948, going to 33 Kennett St., Reading. Her age matches.

I believe it is possible Albert arrived in Canada well before Annie did, and that he returned to England at some point, perhaps meeting her there, and decided then to return to Canada.

If anyone has any connection to these folks or can identify Annie more precisely, I would be very grateful.

3
The Common Room / Four surnames - two illegiitmate births
« on: Thursday 17 October 24 15:29 BST (UK)  »
I thought I would post this as it might help someone looking for illegitimate relatives, known to be illegitimate or not known.

Decided to trace one of my great-grandmother's cousins, who I had entered in my tree but then "neglected".  Hannah Potten was born ca Feb 1860 in Burwash, Sussex, and according to the census of 1871, the daughter of John Potten and Hannah (Russell).  They were married 27 Dec 1861 in Burwash.  John was my ancestor's brother.

In 1861 Hannah, as a baby, is with her mother (not yet married) and her Russell grandparents, Samuel and Caroline.  Listed as Russell.

In 1871 she is with her parents, and is listed as Potten.  Her only sibling, also John, died as a baby.

At first I could not find a marriage, nor a death, that worked using Potten and Potter (often transcribed that way, incorrectly) but did find a good match on the 1891-1911 censuses for a Hannah of the right age, b. Burwash, m. to William James Relf.  On the 1911 it stated she'd had 12 children, 12 living.

I looked up the children on gov.uk and found 10 registered as mmn Potten, one as Potter, and the eldest I could not find at all.

Then I went to DNA matches, and found a match to a couple of descendants of one of their daughters, so I felt confident I had found Hannah Potten and her husband, but could not find a marriage.  I looked under Hannah Russell, didn't see a Relf match, but went back to it later, and saw the husband match was William James R. Ellis.  William James Relf?  Yes, found their marriage in the Burwash records.

So William James Relf began life as William James Relf Ellis, the illegitimate son of Richard Relf and Mary Ann Ellis (his "housekeeper" in the 1861, but they did marry later). 

The first child of Hannah and William's, Ellen, I could not find registered in gov.uk but she is found on FreeBMD as Ellen Relf Ellis, Mar Q 1881. 

If you have stuck with me so far, we have four surnames - Ellis, Relf, Russell, and Potten.  It took quite a bit of digging around to find the family, which actually ended up in London.

Sadly, I found Hannah in the Hackney Branch Institution, Brentwood, Essex, in 1921.  After that, I cannot pinpoint her death with any certainly.  Her husband is likely the William J. Relf of the right age, who died in Lewisham district in 1933.

Just posting this to show that it is possible that two illegitimate individuals can marry and with the use of two-four surnames it can throw up some brick walls.


4
Canada / Shaughnessy/Doyle: Ireland and Pickering, ON
« on: Sunday 29 September 24 21:53 BST (UK)  »
Wonder if anyone has any further information on Michael Shaughnessy (b. 15 Oct 1842, Galway, Ireland, son of Thomas Shaughnessy and Ann Hay, d. 23 Nov 1918, Pickering, ON) and his wife Margaret Doyle (b. 12 Feb 1839, Killaloe, Co. Clare, Ireland, dau. of John Doyle and Mary McGrath, d. 7 Jul 1910, Pickering, ON).

Wonder if there are any obituaries available?  I am helping someone with this, believe they have info. on their children, particularly a daughter Kathleen, b. 1880.

5
The Common Room / Cost of PDF Death Certificate
« on: Friday 23 August 24 16:08 BST (UK)  »
Finally got around to ordering some death certs from Gov.UK and the charge for a Death PDF (1918) is 8 pounds! I thought they had gone up to 3 pounds, but 8?!

6
The Common Room / Rosina wife of John Saul, b. England 1835, died California 1902
« on: Thursday 01 August 24 15:06 BST (UK)  »
Through a DNA match I recently found one of my ancestor's brothers had emigrated to the US sometime after 1851 and before 1856.

His name was John Saul (my ancestor was his brother William who stayed in England), b. ca 1829, Chipping, Lancs., both sons of Robert Saul and Mary Kenyon.

John is on the 1851 census but by 1860 he is married and living in Brooklyn, NY.  He died in 1897, most likely in San Francisco, where he and his family had been living.  His oldest son, John Thomas, was born ca 1856 in Pennsylvania and three daughters were born in New York, most likely Brooklyn.

I have contacted the DNA match but to no avail.  John's wife Rosina (also Rosena, Rosaina, Rose) was also born in England, 23 Jun 1835, and arrived in the US in 1849 (from the 1900 census).  For some reason, I thought I found her maiden name was Denny, but now I cannot find any reference to this anywhere.

Two of the children married - Alice to Frank Conklin (have found his parents) and Mary/Mary Ann to George Makinson.  Alice died before 1897, as did her sister Margaret Ellen, who was single.  The only known son, John Thomas, does not appear to have married. 

Would appreciate any hints on how to find Rosina's maiden name (cannot find a marriage), and where she came from in England. 

7
The Common Room / Pankhurst, E. Sussex
« on: Sunday 09 June 24 16:06 BST (UK)  »
The siblings of my ancestor, Isaiah Pankhurst, b. ca Jun 1847, Burwash, Sussex) are giving me fits, but I will start with just one.
Isaiah and his siblings were the children of William Pankhurst and Caroline Kemp.  Both were born in Burwash.  The family tended towards non-conformity.
Their second child, and second son, Javis, was registered in Jun 1839 and was b. in Burwash, according to the 1851 census.  He also appears as Javis on the census, although Anc has it indexed as Juris.

I have not located a baptism for him in Burwash, but there is one for Japhet Pankhurst in May 1839, in Penhurst, Sussex, about 7 miles south.  Parents William and Caroline.

Nothing further for a Javis after 1851.  I did find a J. Pankhurst, age 30, Aldershot, Hants., a soldier (private), b. Burwash (not giving a lot of credence to the age 30, as there were six in a row listed as 30, seems like too much of a coincidence), no further military records found.

In the 1871 census I found a Jabez Pankhurst, right age, b. Refell, Sussex (cannot find anything resembling that for a place name), married to Margaret.  I did find an incomplete marriage record on Anc* with his father's name as William.  Margaret was a widow, surname Morgan, maiden name Hony, father Timothy (she was b. Ireland according to the census).  The marriage took place in 1865 in Maidstone, Kent.

After 1873 the couple disappear, can find no further records.  There were a couple of newspaper mentions for Jabez in the local paper in 1873, but nothing that helped me pinpoint who he was.

So Javis, Juris, Japhet, Jabez...all the same person?

Just to add - there is a Jabez Pankhurst living in upstate New York, but he is much too old to be mine.


8
The Common Room / Registered Foster Mothers
« on: Wednesday 22 May 24 14:58 BST (UK)  »
A relative, Anna Jeannette Oliver, b. 1875, Fairlight, Sussex, is listed in the 1939 register as a "registered foster mother", in Hastings.  There are four individuals redacted, so am assuming they were foster children.
Does anyone know more about registered foster mothers?
Anna was single and had lived with her mother, likely until she died in 1928, so this might have been some way to supplement a meagre income.

9
The Common Room / Marriage Index Question
« on: Wednesday 22 May 24 14:51 BST (UK)  »
Literally, in the past two days, I have come across two instances of this type of listing (FreeBMD):
Marriage (one in 1946, one in 1977, and I do know at least one couple, and likely both had been living together for decades):
Smith, Ann
Jones, Ann (surname from first marriage)
Smith, George
The other couple also listed, in the normal fashion.

Now, I do know that in the case of "Ann" her maiden name was "Taylor" and I have info. on the first marriage.
In the case below, Williams was her maiden name:
Oliver, Thomas
Williams, Mary
Oliver, Mary
 I have seen divorced women be listed on a second marriage with their maiden name and their first husband's surname
What I am wondering is the married name included (Smith, Oliver) because the woman had been using that name for many years? (i.e. "aka")

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