I have posted this twice, once in ireland, but I need some leads, so here I am!
We always knew my grandmother as
Patricia May Brown. She had 6 children, from the years 1951 - 1959, with my grandfather (George Brown) in Deniliquin, NSW, Australia. She disappeared in 1959/60 after her children were taken to a home, and to be adopted out... this was after George left the family, and she had to sing at the local pub (Irish songs so the story goes) to make some money. There was a rumour that she went off with a man to Victoria, Aus, but we dont know much about this... we dont know anything about what happened to her after this point.
One child (my dad) was adopted out because they could find my grandfather to sign the certificates, and one other was fostered (not adopted because my grandfather couldnt be found either)... the other 4 were placed in Burnside Homes in NSW, but were too old for adoption/fostering. They all finally found each other about 15yrs ago, and got some information from George prior to his death in 2000.. he was never very helpful..
The story George told us was that he had met Patricia at a station in the Snowy Mountains, NSW, and she left 2 children and her man there to be with him.. the name we had for this man was Joe/Joseph KINGSTON. No-one could find any leads until about 18months or so ago, when I took it up and joined the GenesReunited.co.uk site, and searched for the name... No matches came up for
Patricia May SHELDON, which was written on my dads birth certificate as her maiden name (remember this, may come in handy later)...
I finally (in Dec 05/Jan06) found someone who had a similar story, and it was resolved in me sending them a photo of Patricia (the only one we have).. the 2 siblings immediately recognised her, even though previously they would never had been able to describe her... werent THEY shocked to find out that they had an extra 6 siblings.. they never knew what happened to her.. to them, she just disappeared (sound familiar?)
Now THIS is where is gets confusing...
They always knew her a
Phoebe May. She travelled out to Australia with Joseph Kingston as his wife (on shipping records as Mrs Kingston), in 1949. They lived on a station outside of Cooma, NSW, where Phoebe met George (then named Cleo), and left with him in 1950... Joseph went into depression, and died about 6months later... the two children were also put into foster care, as they couldnt track down the mother to sign the adoption papers... it was after she left that she and Cleo changed their names to Patricia and George (although she always kept her middle name of May)
The story of how Phoebe met Joseph is as follows.
Joseph was a married Irish man who had to travel to England to get work, since there was none in Ireland... it was during these trips that he met Phoebe... we believe they met in the early 1940s, and in the vicinity of Manchester (although this isnt sure)... (Joseph's family, once found by his two children with Phoebe, tells us some of the following)...
Phoebe apparently had/was married to an English man (a soldier?), and had a child with him. When Joseph met her, she had the child, so we are presuming the child was born prior 1942 at least)... we think the soldier went to war, unsure if he died etc, but the child was put into a home, and Phoebe apparently used to visit... until she moved to London with Joseph (who had left his wife and one son). There they had two children, girl in 1945, and boy in 1947. The maiden name on the girls certificate states:
Phoebe May PHILLIPS (formerly WARD)... the name on the boys was Phoebe May Kingston (she had taken up Joseph's surname)
Can I tell you how estatic I was to get this piece of info? My theory is that if she was widowed, then of course she would have written her married name down...
So, off I searched for her first (and only) marriage... I had a lovely person find a listing that might fit on the description. I ordered the certificate and the details are as follows:
Thomas PHILLIPS (24yrs) to Phoebe WARD (19yrs)
17th August 1939
Bilston, County of Stafford, England.
Fathers Names: Thomas Phillips & Albert Victor Ward.
Witnesses: S. Ward & Mrs M.A Ward <--- mother?
NOW *breathe* this fits into the timeline we have so far... her age on her childrens birth certificates (9 so far, but only 8 accounted for) was always aroung the early 1920s... so this would fit... gives her birth year at 1920/21.
SO.. that is where I have gotten up to... I can find records of Thomas Phillips' dying in the war, but either the descriptions dont match (family names etc) OR the descriptions are too vague.
Ive found a few births in the general Staffordshire/Manchester area (assuming they moved from one area to the other), and I know I will need to order them to find out, but then there is the other possibility that she had the child prior to marriage, in which case it would be listed under WARD as its surname...
Also, where does SHELDON (the maiden name of my dad's birth cert) come from? My theory is that it was her mothers maiden name, BUT this is only a guess....
Im sure Ive got to write to the GRO in Ireland to order her certificate, but Im not sure if I have enough information, and of course the birth indexes for the years I want were "unavailable" for filming!
Did I ever mention this was confusing?
I think that’s all so far.
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