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Hi all,

I am currently trying to untangle the life of Charles Henry Waring (bn 1888), and his wife Edith (bn 1893).

Charles and Edith married in 1917, had a child in 1918, and divorced in 1930.  The divorce papers have not been digitised (link is here https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8060956), so I can't view them and so I am having to rely on other methods to find out what happened to Edith.  The co-respondent is named as Claude P Dansey.  The only Claude Dansey who I can find is the MI6 one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Dansey and I don't believe he was overly interested in women.

Other than the divorce link, the last sighting I have of Edith is a passenger manifest from July 1928 when she is on the Berengaria sailing from Southampton to Cherbourg.  The passenger below her on the manifest is a Claude Dansey.  His address is given as (I think) 28 Gt James St, his profession is Agent (for what or whom, I don't know) and his age is 52.

I would like to find out what happened to Edith - did she end up marrying her co-respondent?  And who was her Claude Dansey?

Many thanks,

Spidermonkey

In these long lazy days of lockdown I have been going through my dad's Ancestry DNA matches, looking at common ancestor matches and then using the colour coding function to put them into groups.  I'm then using the shared matches function to identify other DNA matches whose trees don't have a common ancestor featured.

What I have found is that I have several DNA matches each of whom match my dad at 3x gt grandparents (so 4th cousin 1 x removed level), but who don't match each other - is this a normal thing when the connection is so far back (and only match on c. 8cM)?

Whilst looking at an article that might relate to a potential relly, I came across the attached article which discusses a far more interesting story than the one I was actually looking at!  It sounds beautifully far fetched, but I thought that people might find it a good way to pass a rainy Friday afternoon in lockdown 

The article is from the Manchester Evening News from 31 May 1904 if anyone wants to look at the original.

Yesterday's was completed in record time by Little Nell - perhaps today's photo will be more challenging..........

It is a photograph rather than a postcard, and there is nothing on the reverse of the photo to give any clues!

Warning!  Potential long and convoluted story ahead!  so short version is here:  Please can anyone find more information on Joseph Wood, musician, bn about 1834 in Salford, Lancashire to Joseph Wood (bn c. 1795)?


Longer version:
The father of my 2x gt grandfather - Joseph Edward (or vice versa) Reeve - has long puzzled me.  He has been featured in two previous threads that I have posted:
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=765714.0
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=742598.0


Essentially, from censuses, I know that Joseph Edward was born around 1862/63.  I have him on every census from 1871 to 1911, records of him being a licensee holder of a pub in Blofield, Norfolk, and his death in 1937.  In short, I have a pretty good picture of him and his life via paper records.  Except I have no trace of his birth.  Emily was not married to his "father" (as per census records) until 1868 so using the GRO index showing mmn, I have search for a birth under the surname of both Cracknell and Reeve.  Nothing.

However, last week I realised that FindMyPast allows you to search on first name and mmn without having to put in a birth surname (which you have to do on GRO).  Lo and behold, I found a record of an Edward Wood being born Dec qtr 1862 in Norwich with a mmn of Cracknell (there were other candidates with MMN Cracknell, but I managed to discount those via censuses/marriages as not being Emily Cracknells).  I ordered a pdf of the certificate and found these details:
Birth in the district of Mancroft, in the city of Norwich
11th November 1862 at Coburgh Street, Edward, son of Joseph Wood and Emily Wood formerly Cracknell.  Father's profession given as Professor of Music, and the informant was E Wood, mother of Coburgh Street, Norwich

The address tallies with where Emily Cracknell was living with her parents on the 1861 census.  However I was slightly skeptical as to whether Joseph Wood was a real person or not - by 1861 Emily appears to have had one child (George Edward Baldry Cracknell) before marriage and have been married to Richard William Herbert Froggatt (also a musician) in 1860.  Second child (my 2 x gt grandfather) is born in 1862/63, and then Emily married Henry Reeve in 1868 (slightly bigamously as RWHF doesn't die until 1877).

There is a Joseph Wood in Norwich on the 1861 census who could fit - a 27 year old lodger in the household of Charles Gardiner, Rose Yard, Norwich.  This Joseph Wood is an unmarried musician from Manchester. RG 9; Piece: 1214; Folio: 17; Page: 3

Going back, the closest match on the 1851 is at HO107/2223/0 which is a 17 year old Joseph Wood living with his father and brothers in Salford Street, Salford, and Joseph gives his profession as musician attends parties.  I can't find Joseph further back, or going forward, and I would really like to untangle this tale because if Joseph Wood is my 3x gt grandfather then I would like to be able to confirm via DNA etc.

Phew.  Apologies for long story, but I would be grateful for any help!