James Boyd

[abbeyfield]

James Boyd was one of my maternal gt.grandfathers.He seemed to be shy of officialdom,I cannot find him in any census between 1871-1901,he had 2 daughters,Catherine born 1880 and Louisa my grandmother born 1884.I know the DoB of his daughters from their marriage certificates,James never registered their births,consequently I am unable to discover the name of his wife.From the marriage certificates I find that Catherine beleived her father to be a tailor,Louisa thought he was a labourer.I find Catherine in the 1901 census,but as a married woman,Louisa is there also,but working as a domestic servant in another household.Anyone got any other ideas as to how to progress this search?
Thank you
Abbeyfield

[claudia99]

Abbeyfield,
How do you know he never registered the births?
Are you sure he is their father and not a stepfather?
Their mother may have been widowed and remarried after 1884 to James and both girls thought he was their father.
How have you obtained DoB from marriage certificates - this would only give age at marriage? (And so birth year)
Have you tried to find Catherine in 1881/1891 and Louisa in 1891 census?

I have tried to find Catherine in 1881 but nothing obvious as I am not sure where in Lancshire you believe them to be from.

Can you give more information including marriage dates for both Louisa and Catherine and I will try to help further.

Claudia

[abbeyfield]

Hello Claudia,Many thanks for your interest.I know James did not register his daughters' births because I have had a search made for them both,I searched at the GRO and at the Liverpool record office (they were both born in Liverpool) and there is no sign of them.Catherine does not appear in the 1881 or 91 census,she does however appear in the 1901 census as Catherine Davies,she married her husband Edward in Liverpool on the 1st.October 1899.The census piece she appears on in 1901 is 3438 and the address is 4 house,3 court,Maynard Street,Liverpool.Louisa does not appear in the 1891 census,but she does appear in the 1901 census,but not at her home address,she is a domestic servant aged 17 working at 31 Carlingford Street,Liverpool.Her details are shown on piece 3438,folio 112,page 40,schedule 245.Louisa married my grandfather Thomas Roberts in Liverpool 6th.August 1905.Both girls obviously knew James as their father,but Catherine thought he was a tailor,Louisa thought he was a labourer.Louisa died in childbirth in 1923,Catherine was certainly alive in 1948 but do not know when she died.
Thank you very much for your offer of help in this matter,hope I have given you sufficient information.
Abbeyfield.

[claudia99]

Abbeyfield,
I think its unlikely that they were both not registered and do not appear on the census returns until they are married.
My theory of James Boyd being a stepfather may be the case and James may not have been around until after 1891 even and so they were "known" by their birth name until then at least.
I think you have to go with that theory as a possibility.
I tmay be worth you posting to the census lookup boards for a 1881 and 1891 lookup for these girls - I cannot access 1891 at this time - and when a comparison is made then someone may come up lucky.
Good luck,
Claudia

[abbeyfield]

Hello Claudia,I tried out your theory by checking the IGI for girls named Louisa who were born in Liverpool in 1884,Louisa had only the one name so I discounted any Louisa with more than one name,I found 21 altogether.I then cross referenced the families I found to see if any of them had a daughter named Catherine born in 1880,there were none.So I am left with my original situation.
If you can think of any more ideas I would welcome them because I have definitely hit a brick wall here.
Thank you for your input.
Abbeyfield

[celia]

Hi Abbeyfield
This afternoon i had a look on the 1837 on line deaths,no wonder you cant find Catherine.There are must be hundreds of them. I went from 1948 to the middle fifties all the 1/4,but there was too many and i didn't take note of her age so i couldn't do my sums .About 80% of the deaths for Davies took place in wales (naturally ) but there are some in liverpool.It would have been handy if Catherine had a middle name

Celia

[abbeyfield]

Hi Celia,What a gem you are many thanks for taking the trouble to do so much research for me.I was fascinated by the picture of Cecil,my uncle William Roberts,the youngest son of Louisa,Catherine's sister lost his life Aug.19th 1941 when his ship 'Aguila' was attacked and sunk by a U-boat as she led convoy OG 071 to Gibraltar.
If only Catherine had had a second name.
Many thanks once again.
Abbeyfield

[celia]

Hi Abbyfield
There have been a lot of nice comments about dads photo,i only have about six,mum gave me years ago(to borrow)but that is the best one.The others are earlier,before he took of to Malta.Unfortunately i knew dad because i was only a baby when he was lost at sea in 43.thats only going by the age  the newspaper said i was when they mentioned the children and wife left behind. The only thing i know about dad  is that he was with the Malta Convoy trying to get essentials to the island.His ship was torpedoed and he was badly injured and burnt.According to relative he spent six weeks in the hospital on Malta.When well enough he was sent home,sadly he was torpedoed again not far from England and he didn't survive      sorry getting upset now

[abbeyfield]

Hi Claudia,I thought I would give you an update on my search for Catherine & Louisa.
I am by no means at the bottom of it yet but progress has been substantial.
I have a 2nd.cousin whom I have never met,(I am 65 now)my 2nd.cousin is the grandson of Catherine.It took me months to trace him and he was amazed at my question.
It seems he has 3 sisters and they all know of Catherine as Catherine Boyd,this has caused much dissent in their family because many years ago my cousin had been told either by his mother or by Catherine herself,he wasn't sure who,that Catherine had been born Catherine Boyle,not Boyd,the 3 sisters were not aware of this and would not have it.
Armed with this new information I searched the birth indexes for the girls and found them very easily.Their parents,my gt.grandparents were James Boyle & Mary (nee Doran).I can find no marriage cert.for the couple so it appears they were not married.James Boyle was born in Ireland in 1841 (no county,town,or parish is mentioned) Mary had been married previously to a John Whitehead,and they had a daughter named Mary J Whitehead.James Boyle and Mary also had another daughter named Mary who was born in 1877,I was completely unaware of her existence. At this time that is as far as I have got,but I still have no explanation for James Boyd or as to why the girls took his name on their marriages rather than their own father's name.
Sorry to be so long winded but I thought you deserved a detailed run down since you were right with your theory.
Best wishes
Abbeyfield