Chelsea Pensioner

[andersongh]

Hi All,
I'm based in Auckland (New Zealand). My Great Great Grandfather was Harold Nelson. His birth register entry (18306/71) gives the following information:

Harold Rudolph Nelson
b. 12 Dec. 1871
Father: Nicholas Peter Nelson, Mariner
Mother: Louisa Nelson (nee Dabell)

Unfortunately, I know almost nothing about this branch of the family. I have no idea where Nicholas Nelson or Louisa Dabell came from, when they came to NZ (or if they were born here), or whether they were in fact married in NZ or the UK. I thus noted with interest the reference on a Rootsweb message board (http://boards.rootsweb.com/surnames.dabell/1/mb.ashx) to a Louisa Dabell who has family connections to NZ and was b.1833 at Nottingham. I'm rather hoping that this might be the Louisa I'm looking for (and this seems not an unreasonable theory)... Those posts refer to her father as being an Alexander Dabell- apparently the same individual referred to in this thread.

I've just made some searches on the NZ 'Papers Past' website which gives the following results:

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XIX, Issue 1934, 28 September 1863, Page 2: "...NAMES OF PASSENGERS PER SHIP 'TYBERNIA'...Ellen and Sophia Dabell ..."

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXII, Issue 2759, 29 May 1866, Page 7: "...ARRIVAL OF THE SHIP 'ALEXANDRA' FROM LONDON...She brings the following second and third class passengers, having no cabin passengers oh board ;— ...W.Dabell..."

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XXIV, Issue 3322, 10 March 1868, Page 3: "...CROWN GRANTS. Crown grants in favour of the following persona are now ready for delivery at the office of the Registrar of Deeds, High-street, Auckland :— ...Alexander Dabell..."

I initially took this last entry to suggest that Alexander Dabell was in NZ (along with Ellen, Sophia and Elizabeth Rebecca). It occurred to me last night that this might not be the case- I’m not sure whether you had to be in NZ to receive a land grant so perhaps this was an absentee application for Ellen or the children?

I'm not sure who the mystery "...W.Dabell..." could be...

Hopefully this information is of use to someone. Likewise, I'd really appreciate any further info on the Nelsons or Dabells that anyone could be able to share. I’d particularly like to confirm (or refute) the link between Louisa and Alexander/Ellen; and confirm her marriage and emigration details.

Cheers,
Graham Anderson

[km1971]

Hi Graham

Welcome to the Forum. It is a bit early here so apologies if I do not grasp the specifics of your question.

Louisa is probably the daughter of Alexander and Ellen. They are listed in the 1841 census living in Notts, along with other children, including an Agnes who was born after BMD registration started, so you should get Ellen’s maiden name from Agnes’ BC.

They have been indexed by Ancestry as Daboll. If you do not have an Ancestry account then I am sure someone will send you the details. I found them using the Soundex option.

Louisa Dabell is also in the 1851 census as a servant, still in Notts.

Regarding the military side of things, have you applied for copies of the service record for Alexander given in Valda’s post of 1 Feb 2006? If not the WO97 reference is for the microfilm in Kew holding his record. You can apply to the National Archives) for copies for about 40p a page. I would recommend asking for A3 pages as they are often hard to read.

You should not build your hopes up that they will contain any FH information however. The army just did not recognise marriage in this period, and you do not get anything useful until 50 years later.

Here is a link to a useful NA page - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/militaryhistory/army/step4.htm The Muster and Pay Lists will tell you month by month the towns he was stationed. But these are original documents so you will have to employ a researcher. But as he only served for three years it should not take long.

Ken
 

[Valda]

There really is not enough evidence to say that Louisa the daughter of Alexander was the mother of Harold Rudolf Nelson or that she wasn't.
Louisa Dabell the daughter of Alexander was a servant in Lenton Nottinghamshire in 1851. Lenton is in Radford registration district. There doesn't seem any other candidate for this marriage but the Louisa born in Nottinghamshire circa 1833.

Marriages Jun 1852   
Dabell  Louisa    Radford  7b 244   
Higgs  Robert     Radford  7b 244   
Holroyd  Solomon     Radford  7b 244   
Smith  Jane     Radford  7b 244

There is a Jane and Robert Higgs on the 1861 census but no Solomon Holroyd and Louisa. Likely candidate for Solomon was one born circa 1827 in Nottinghamshire.

Even if a woman marries again and has children with her second husband the children's birth certificates should usually state the former married name e.g.

Louisa Dabell formerly Holroyd

From the IGI

LEONARD JAMES HOLROYD
Birth:  01 JUL 1855   Omata, Taranaki, New Zealand
Father:  SOLOMON HOLROYD   
Mother:  LOUISA DABLE 
treat with care as this was submitted by a church member and not indexed directly from a parish register

Henry Hector Holroyd 
Christening:  30 AUG 1857   New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand
Father:  Solomon Holroyd   
Mother:  Louisa 
treat with care as this was submitted by a church member and not indexed directly from a parish register

Ada Sophia Holroyd 
Christening:  31 JUL 1864   New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand
Father:  Solomon Holroyd 
Mother:  Louisa 
treat with care as this was submitted by a church member and not indexed directly from a parish register


There are other Louisa Dabells born in Nottinghamshire. I can't see any possible marriages of a Nicholas or Peter Nelson to a Dabell or a Louise or Louisa in this country.

From the civil registration

Births Sep 1842 
Dabell  Louisa     Bingham  15 447

From the IGI

LUISA DABELL
Birth:  1835   St Mary'S, Nottingham, Nottingham
Father:  WILLIAM DAYBELL 
Mother:  JANE 
treat with care as this was submitted by a church member and not indexed directly from a parish register

LOUISA DABELL
Christening:  07 AUG 1842   Screveton, Nottingham
Father:  WILLIAM DABELL 
Mother:  SARAH 

and two others spelt Dable in Lincolnshire.

Regards

Valda

[JillJ]

Hi Graham,

I have quite a lot of information about the family of Alexander Dabell, far too much to put here!  If you would like to send me a personal message with your email address I'll be pleased to let you have it if you are interested.  I don't have much for Louisa but this is her baptism:

Baptism from Notts. FHS:  St. Mary's, Nottingham
Louisa – 27 November 1836.  Parents Alexander & Ellen Dabell of Howard St., FWK

Alexander Dabell was born 1799 in Nottingham, son of William Dabell abt. 1760 and Elizabeth Gray who were married in Leicester on 11 August 1781.  Alexander married Ellen Liggett, born about 1801 in Belper, Derbyshire on 18 March 1824 at St. Mary, Nottingham.  They had 10 children.

Jill

[andersongh]

Hi All,

Thanks for your replies (and the welcome!). As Valda points out, there is too little information at the moment to either confirm or deny that Louisa of 1833 is the one I'm looking for. Nevertheless, the NZ connection and relatively uncoomon name mean that this avenue of research is perhaps one of the more likely ones...  I've been quite lucky when following these hunches in the past! Certainly large chunks of my family have come out to NZ in this way (ie. on the reccomendation of family or friends already residing here).
The birth entry record I have for H R Nelson was transcribed by a family member many years ago, so it's quite concievable that some information was ommitted (ie. an earlier married name for Louisa). I'll have to go and get a copy of the certificate from national archives to check...
Thanks for the offer of info. on Alexander, Jill. Anything you can provide would be great.

Cheers,
Graham.

[nevhunt]

Hi Graham,

Im trying to make contact as Im a family relation on the John Benjamin Nevill Millicent side of the fam.
kind regards
Rob