RootsChat.Com

Hello All,

I'm looking for recommendations of people or places I can go to get some military records explained. I've downloaded some records for an ancestor of mine who was an engineer in the Navy during WW1, and I'd like them interpreted for me.

I'm willing to pay a reasonable amount.

Has anyone here ever used a service like that?

Hi All,

I'm looking at Harwood Maulkinson who was a resident of the Port of Hull's Society Orphan Home in 1891.

I'm confused because I know his father was dead by this point, but his mother, Charlotte Anne, was still alive and didn't die until 1902. In fact he is living with her and her relatives in 1901. 

In 1891 his other under age siblings were living with his mother still, who was living with her relatives.

So have they farmed him out because she can't afford to keep him? I suppose money was tight if she had to live with her relatives.

Thank you in advance for your thoughts.

Hi All,

I have a relative who would have been eligible to serve in the military on the basis of age during WW1 but I have no record that he ever did so.

I speculated that it's because he was a trained ship plater and that this might have been a reserved occupation. I can imagine someone with his skills would have been in demand in industry.

Does this make sense to anyone else?

Hello All,

Please be aware that this is a sensitive post which discusses slavery.

I'm doing a one name study into the 'Wheldale' name and in the course of my research a man called Dr Thomas Wheldale has emerged.

All I know about him is that he died in in 1825 in Trelawny in Jamaica. He was a surgeon for the Trelawny regiment from 1809. He may have had a son born in Jamaica as there is a baptism record for a Thomas Wheldale for July 1816.

I have also learnt that he was a slave owner, at least as early as 1817.

I just want to take this opportunity to say that I apologise in advance if I upset anyone with how I have written about this topic in the following post. I am aware that this is a horrible topic which will be very painful for many people. I've never done any research in this area before so I'm trying to tread carefully but I'm aware that I might in error offend someone with the way I discuss this. Please do let me know if I've used words or terms that are offensive.

There is a from 1817 a record which states he had three slaves, a women called Clarah and her two children Mary and Billy. Their surnames are not given on this particular document.

In 1823 he is recorded as gaining a baby boy Richard by birth. No surname or parents given.

Later in 1826, there is another document which states there was a Thomas Wheldale who owned a baby called William and a slave called Sam died, aged 10. Given Dr Thomas Wheldale was dead by this point, I assume this refers to his son Thomas Wheldale? Again no surnames or parents for the slaves are given.

I'd like to know who Dr Thomas Wheldale was, how he got to Jamaica and if he is connected to the Wheldale family in England. I'm assuming that he is but I can find no records so far to support this.

I'd be very grateful to anyone who can help me.

Furthermore there are a number of documents from 1817 and 1820 which list some slaves in the ownership of a man called Charles Rose Ellis Esquire. At least one of them has the surname Wheldale. One child was called Thomas Wheldale and he was 13 years old. There are possibly other people with the surname Wheldale on these documents but I don't know how to read them. They are listed with their forenames and then no surname, but under the 13 year old Thomas Wheldale. I don't know if that means that they were also Wheldale's?

I would also like to know more about these people and what their connection was, if any, to Dr Thomas Wheldale, because I would like to know how they came by the Wheldale surname.

I'd be very grateful for further assistance with this.

Hi Everybody,

I'm hoping to find a record for a marriage of a Benjamin Brothwell. He was of Ewerby, Lincolnshire in around 1812. His other half was called Sarah, also of Ewerby.

Their first child was born around 1835 so at a guess if they married it would have been around then.

I know lots about him post 1835 and have all his census records, just not his marriage.

Thank you for reading