RootsChat.Com

Hi there,

I am having a few Qualms at the moment chasing my likely Great Great Grandfather.  I'll get the story out of the way as quick as I can:

My great grandmother was an illegitimate child born in the Pancras Warehouse in 1899.  Her mother promptly returned to her parents' house in Oxfordshire and left her there to be raised by them as 'their own'.  My great grandmother 'Gwen Jessie Empson' never knew her father and saw very little, if any, of her mother.  But curiously enough a father's name does appear on her marriage certificate as 'John Hasenclever Empson' a Bank Clerk.  The 'Empson' bit was clearly added to give the impression of legitimacy.  Doing a search on the censuses, immigration records and alike, I could find no mention of a John Hasenclever anywhere.  However, in the 1901 census there wasa JOSHUA Hasenclever, a commercial clerk, living not much more than a mile away from where Jessie's mother was previously living.  Based on the assumption that the only people who would have told Jessie the identity of her father were her Grandparents, having never met the man, and also getting on a bit, I imagine that Joshua becomes John fairly easily in a moment of confusion.

My first question is, does this seem a reasonable conclusion to make?  That Joshua Hasenclever is my great great grandfather?  Considering that I am yet to find another male Hasenclever in the UK at the time on any record?

Secondly, researching this family anyway, I have discovered that Joshua's father was a man called Albert Joshua who became a Naturalised British Subject in 1866.  He only appears in the 1871 census with his wife, and in 1891 his wife appears as a widow.  I cannot find any mention of either of them in 1881, nor can I find a Death record for him in the index.  Does anyone fancy having a stab at finding them?

Thanks very much,

Chris

Hi all,

Just a quick message really, nothing critical, but someone on here might have more experience of this than me.  Barnardo's have been really slow regarding most enquires so I thought I might get a quicker response from someone in the know on here.

I have discovered that my great great grandfather had two sisters who were sent to Canada as part of the Barnardo's Charity Home Children thing.  They have their full file at Barnardo's and we recently sent an application to obtain a copy of it.

However, the application has been refused on the basis that we are not direct descendants of the children in question.  This wouldn't be such a big deal were we not so sure that neither of these relatives actually HAD any children.

Does this mean that these files are locked up forever?!

Cheers.

Chris

Hi guys,

This is just a general appeal for help.  I have a family who as of yet I have been unable to find in the 1891 census.  After reading much about finding elusive ancestors and listening to a brilliant talk by Dave Annal on the National Archives website, I really thought I would at last be able to find them.

Sadly though after 5 months of searching, I have no idea where they are, and my understanding the likelyhood of them being missed is slim.

Just to outline the family for you, the family consists of:

Susan Mowbray, born 1851, Norton/Bromyard, Herefordshire (by the time of the census she had literally been a widow for about a month)
Daughter Mary Elizabeth Mowbray (known as Lizzie), born 1873, Bromyard, Herefordshire
Daughter Sarah Ann Mowbray, born 1883, Aston, Warwickshire
Son Richard Mowbray, born 1887, Bromyard, Herefordshire
Twin Daughters Annie and Lillie, born 1885, Bromyard, Herefordshire
There may also be an infant named Edward.

Mary Elizabeth may well be in service by 1891, but Richard and Sarah are living with Susan in both the 1901 and 1911 census.  The family moved to Aston briefly during the 1880s but it seems they moved back to Bromyard in 1887.

This family were in and out of the workhouse a lot, in spite of the fact that their father was on a chelsea pension (it clearly wasn't enough!).  But my understanding is that the workhouses are included in the census, are they not?

I cannot find them using wildcard searches, nor can I find them by searching the original scanned returns for either Norton, Brockhampton, Bromyard or Aston.  If anybody is able to find ANY of these people it would be a fantastic help.  Alternatively, if you can think of a likely reason why they are not going to be found I'd appreciate that also.

Thanks very much in advance for anyone's input.

Chris

Hello there people,

I can appreciate this is rather random topic to bring up, but I'd be interested to see if anyone has any comments about this.

In researching one line of my lineage I have come across my Great Grandmother and her family in the 1911 Census.  I printed off a copy of the census last time I was at Kew, and her father has clearly written his place of birth as being Camden Town.

Now, I recently made contact with someone who turns out to be a descendant of my Great Grandmother's brother, Victor.  Victor had written down before he died all that he knew, and one fact of interest was that his father was from Milton Damerel in Devon.  Now, there is indeed a correctly named person, James Slade, born in Milton Damerel at the right time.  So the question is why on earth did my Great Great Grandfather lie on the 1911 census?  I've heard of people lying about their age, but their place of birth?  If the Milton Damerel James Slade is indeed my ancestor, then he lived in Devon for at least 30 years, and is unlikely to be merely mistaken.  Any comments?

Cheers

Chris