RootsChat.Com

Apologies in advance. When I've asked questions here before, its usually asking for advice on how to find certain information myself but this time I'm asking if someone could do a look up for me.

I'm asking about my great great grandmother, Mary Ann Gavin ne้ Smith. She was born 18/11/1846 at Great Bradley in Suffolk. I've managed to track her life up to the 1891 census but I can't be sure what happened after that. Previous census entries show her growing up then working in her home village as a servant, then working in nearby Cambridge as a servant. She has an illegitimate son and then appears in Sheffield married to my GG grandfather Joseph Gavin (although no marriage details found).The family move to Salford and settle there.

I can't find either of them in the 1901 census but in the 1911 census I've found someone that I'm 75% sure is my GG grandmother. The entry is for a Mary Gavin, same age as my GGGM, married the same number of years, same number of children born, same number of children who have died. The only discrepancy in the place of birth which is listed as Duxford in Cambridgeshire. Thing is.... Duxford is only 12 miles away from Great Bradley where GGGM was born. I think that is a big coincidence with all the other details being identical. The 1911 census entry for GGGM was completed by the property owner (her employer) and I wonder if she has mentioned Duxford to him and he assumed she was born there. She may have worked in Duxford in between the census entries I have.

So would it be possible for someone here with better access to records try and ascertain if there really was a Mary Gavin born in Duxford in 1846? I know that Gavin is the persons married name which makes things more difficult but Duxford was a small village, probably around 200 population in 1846 so I can't imagine there were more than 20 births per year.

As a side question regarding the lack of marriage certificate, was it normal/accepted to live with someone and take their surname without actually getting married?

Thanks in advance

I've had an interesting time tracing my paternal line. My initial problem was that my great grandfather was a petty criminal who actually used one of his alias names when he got married. He ended his life under his real name but his descendants, including myself still have the alias as a surname.

It was a relief to get to the bottom of that mystery but I have a slight problem with his father, my great great grandfather. His name was Joseph Gavin (sometimes Gaven or Gavan) and I have him 100% identified on the 1881, 1891 and possibly the 1901 England census in Yorks and Lancs. He is listed as born in Ireland and a prison record narrows that down to Roscommon, Ireland. Now I have records of a Joseph Gavin born in Roscommon in 1839 who's age matches my gg grandfather and I have records of his father and mother and siblings in Ireland.

My problem is that I'm only 75% sure the Irish Joseph Gavin is the same as the on in English records but I really need to be 100% sure. How do I go about making certain that these two names are the same people? Were there immigration records from Ireland to UK in those days? I use Ancestry.co.uk most of the time. Is there a better, more appropriate source of information in this case? Thanks for your time.

I've just received the service records of a relative and one entry dated 9/8/1919 was "Embarked H.T. Ixion Liverpool". So he served in India with the Welch Regiment so this was obviously his ship out but its the H.T. bit that I'm wondering about. The SS Ixion was a merchant ship built in 1912 and sunk by U boat in 1941. I'm assuming that H.T. is an army designation and means Horse Transport. Am I barking up the wrong tree here?

Thanks.

Am I right in thinking that if a relative is listed in the 1939 register and they were born in 1925, then that person must be dead?

Thanks

I'm reading Robert Roberts excellent book "The Classic Slum" at the moment. The author's parents ran a shop in Zinc street and one of my relatives reckons that my great grandmother used to shop there. I was trying to figure out how close the shop was to where my great grandmother lived but Zinc street has now gone. Could someone please tell me where it was? I've been scouring old maps but I can't find it.

Thanks.