Searching for Sarah...

[tigtag]

Hello 

I'm new round these parts and have probably close to a million Hull/Goole/Knottingley questions but am I going to start with the one thats driving me round the twist the most 

The object of my pending insanity is sarah Rosa Naomi Osburn and this is what I factually know:

31/12/1880
Born at 4 Victoria Terrace, Delapole Place, Drypool USD to William Osburn and Rosa Hannah Osburn (nee Shaw). William was the informant who gave his occupation as a Steam Tug Captain and address as 10 Steam Boat Tavern, Humber Street, Hull.

1881 Census Return (Osborn)
Address 10 Humber Street, Kingston upon Hull. With mum, dad (merchant seaman), elder brother George (1879) and paternal grandad (George Shaw) who was the beer house keeper of the Steam Boat Tavern.

1891 Census Return (Osburn)
Address 51 Hannocks Terrace, Spyvie Street, Drypool, Kingston upon Hull. (Sutton with Stoneferry) with mum and brother. Dad was on The Shah 

1901 Census Return (Cousses  )
Address 11 Harcourt Street, Kingston Upon Hull. Transcribed as *Rose Naomie Cousses*. With mum and brother. Dad on The Shah again.

1904
Present at the death of her father William and residing at 10 Harcourt Street.

1905
Married Charles Nicholson at St Andrews (Drypool), Hull.

3/71914
Gives birth to my Grandmother (Rhoda) at 68 Albert Avenue, Kingston Upon Hull. Father Henry Thomas

13/08/1914
Registers Rhoda's birth with Henry and the all reside at 57 Somerscales Street, Hull.

THEN - she appears to fall off the face of the earth 

Rhoda was brough up in (we think) a catholic orphange (in Sheffield) from approx the age of 4. She would tell family that her mother was still alive until she (Rhoda) was 16 - how true this is I dont know.

I would LOVE to know what happened to Sarah - I have trawled marriages and deaths - nothing 
What happened to Charles?
Who is Henry?

I'm sorry this got so long but I would love ANY info on either Sarah, Charles, Henry or any of the address'.

Thank you all in advance 
Jo

[lizdb]

In 1914, was Rhoda registered as Nicholson or a Thomas, and on her birth cert was her mother (Sarah) using the surname Nicholson or Thomas?

[tigtag]

Lizdb

Thanks for your reply 

When Rhoda was registered under the heading of *name* it says Rhoda Thomas. If you search the bmd (yorkshire) its also under Thomas yet she marries as Rhoda Thomas Nicholson (with a father of Thomas Nicholson which I guess was to cover her illegitamacy).

Sarah was going by Sarah Rosa Naomi Nicholson

Thanks again
Jo

[lizdb]

This is intriguing.

In the GRO birth indexes there is an entry for Rhoda Thomas (mothers maiden name Osborn) and also an entry for Rhoda Nicholson (mmn Osborn) in 1914, both Sculcoates area, both ref 9d 326.

Re: Sarah and what happenend to her. i have been thinking of different scenarios and how we can explore/rule out each one:

a) Sarah settled with, maybe eventually married Mr Thomas. This seems unlikely, although they were living together as a family with little Rhoda when ahe was born. If this were the case Rhoda would ahve kept the durname Thomas (after all she was registered as that) and got married as Rhoda Thomas ,father's name Henry Thomas, no qusetions asked.
b) Mr Thomas hops it. Sarah maintains the name Nicholson, Rhoda uses Nicholson too (the other name she was registered in!) and they try to forget Mr T. When Rhoda marries she makes up the name of father to hide illegitimacy.
in this case - why was Rhoda not brought up by her mother, and why can we not find a death for Sarah under Nicholson (I too have trawled through deaths) The only explanation is that sarah moved right away to a different area.
c) Sarah, having got fed up with Mr N and Mr T, moves on and lives with or marries someone else. Rhoda is in the way and gets sent to an orphanage. Sarah is known by a new name and her death is registered under that surname.

Dont like to think it, but (c) looks rather likely

[tigtag]

Thanks again lizdb

I didnt know that Rhoda was shown on the index's under both surnames. I already had a copy of her birth cert from my aunt and as I found it on yorkshire bmd (under Thomas) I never looked anywhere else. I suppose technically she didnt lie about her name being Rhoda Thomas Nicholson when she married.

I am currently trying to track down the orphange or home that she was brought up in. I'm not having a great deal of luck as all we know (and thats not 100%) is that it was RC and in Sheffield. I'm plodding on though.

Also we are going to take a trip to Hull Archives to check a few things out and hopefully there may be a bastardy order on Mr T for Rhoda - fingers crossed.

As well as searching the deaths for Sarah I have also looked at marriages - still a brick wall but it has just occured to me now I have been looking under Sarah Nicholson - maybe she reverted back to Osburn - its certainly something to look at.

I also think option C is pretty likely - is there anything I can do to look into this scenario? Its a shame we cant search by Christian name only as I think Sarah Rosa Naomi would be pretty easy to find - hohum 

The other thing I found odd was that Rhoda was the only child of Sarah - especially as she was 33 before she had her - no doubt something else I will never know.

Thank you again
Jo
 

[hullfox]

Its an interesting story.  Its possible that Sarah took off, but why would she leave Rhoda and dump her in an orphanage if she remarrried and/or lived away.   I think it more likely that she became an inmate somewhere, perhaps the local asylum or workhouse. Her death should be recorded, but there are a number of possible surnames there to check on.  There ought to be records of the institutions to check at Hull Library or the County Archives.

[tigtag]

Hullfox

Thanks for that. We are planning to visit Hull soon (we are hoping there is a Bastardy Order for the ellusive Mr Thomas) and I will be asking what I can expect to find there and suggestions of look ups - as a relative newbie to FH I am only just learning there is a whole world out there beyond BMD & census'

I will certainly be adding *Institution Records* to the list 

Thank you again Jo

[tigtag]

Hi to all

I thought I had updated this thread but I must have posted the *news* elsewhere.

lizdb

You may be interested to know that I have since discovered that Sarah had 4 children with Mr Nicholson  and three lived to a ripe old age.

She also abandoned that family so it seems that she made a habit of taking off!! Still no sign of her though after 1914 and that includes passenger lists after disovering that cousins and aunts immigrated to the states.

I have just found her mothers death in 1920 so post Christmas it will be very interesting to see who the informant on the cert is but also raises the question;
Is her mothers death (1920) and Rhoda's incarceration (c1920) mere coincidence?

THE BEST NEWS is that I am now in contact with the living children of my great gran's first family and we have a reunion planned for the new year.

Such a shame my Gran didn't life to find out she wasn't *all alone* 

Kindest Regards
Jo 

[dismo]

Rosa Osburn nee Shaw was witness at my great grandparents wedding in 1900