Thank you again, Iris
Interesting site about Meopham - no mention of 'Spinneys' anywhere!!
No - he wasnt there in 1901. He was only aged 3 then and was with his family in Westerham. (In 1891 the famiy were in Caterham, before that in Sussex where they all originated) But his Dad died in 1906 when he was 8, and the family seemed to move to Tonbridge as that is where his mum died some years later. His elder sister, Elisabeth, lived in Tonbidge when she made her will, but was in Sussex when she died, she never married. His elder brother, William, has proved as difficult as him to trace, I have no idea what happened to him. But John I eventually found - it was a long haul. I looked through all deaths from 1901 onwards, and the one that was the best match age-wise was this one, aged 44 in 'Gravesend' area. For years I just kept this as a 'possible' but eventually I sent for the certificate. That's when Meopham Green came in to it. The death was registered by his widow, Daisy L. So I went through years and years of marriages till I found a John Edmunds who married a Daisy L, and sure enough I found it, also in Kent.
But I still did not know if this John, married to Daisy and dying in Meopham in 1942 aged 44 was the same one who was a 3 year old in Westerham in 1901. I took the risk of spending another £7 on the marriage cert and was SO glad I did. Sure enough the details given for his father were perfect! Not only the right name (William), that alone would not have convinced me, it was too popular a name, but it also said he was deceased (yes, John's dad died when he was
AND that he was a master Grocer, which he was.
modified - dont know why the eight came up as a smily face!
