Van Steenhoven family legend

[IgorStrav]

Hello all

My great grandfather was Victor Desire Van Steenhoven, born c 1846 in Antwerp.

He moved to London in the early 1870's, and his eldest son was born in London in 1876.  He married in 1877.  There were 7 children in all, (one died at birth),  born between 1871 and 1888.

He appears in the UK Census in London in 1881 (as Vansteenhoven), in the 1891 (as Steenhoven), and the 1901 (as Steinhoven), on each occasion with the occupation Cigar Maker.

There is a family rumour that he left his wife and family, stealing all his wife's savings, and went to America.  He failed in the US and returned to England, but his wife refused to take him back and he had to try and beg for money from his daughter, my grandmother, who was herself working in a cigar factory.

I think that this episode, if it happened at all, will have been between the 1891 and 1901 Censuses, as he was in the UK in both.  My grandmother would have been working during those years. If it happened later, then it must have been between 1901 and the birth of her first child in 1904. Victor died in 1915.

I cannot track down a passage for a Victor Vansteenhoven or Steenhoven or Steinhoven in the period, can anyone help me with suggestions as to how to explore this further?

many thanks for your interest

[IgorStrav]

Hi

Could I just add that although I don't have Ancestry World Membership and can't afford to upgrade, when I put in Victor Desire Van Steenhoven in Historical Records/Immigration and Emigration/Going to America, there are a number of entries that I can't read.  Or see what they are about!

Can anyone with World membership help?

many thanks!

[avm228]

Sorry not to be very helpful, but I have all the memberships and can't see him travelling either, whether at the UK end (www.findmypast.com) or in the US.  I'm not sure what the entries that you can't read are likely to be - can't see anything myself.  Do they show his name?

Anna

[IgorStrav]

Thanks for replying Anna, I'm not sure what these Ancestry notes mean.

I simply typed in Victor Desire Van Steenhoven into the very first search page on Ancestry, with just year of birth 1841.  I hit SEARCH, then under the NARROW YOUR SEARCH column hit IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION and then under the NARROW YOUR SEARCH IMMIGRATION AND EMIGRATION hit a title which is called GOING TO AMERICA

and that gave me VICTOR DESIRE VAN STEENHOVEN nine times, with, next to it, chapter, page number, title - none of which I can open.

However, I think we should ignore this, and if you can't find anything, then maybe there's nothing to find.

Perhaps he simply left for somewhere closer at hand, drank the money, and slunk back home?

[avm228]

Ah yes - I see the nine entries.

Very misleading they are too! They are links to books about emigration to the US but rather than finding the whole of the name Victor Desire van Steenhoven they have found:

7 references to "van"
1 reference to "von"
1 reference to "Stanhope"

I always wonder how many people sign up to subscriptions/upgrades on the basis of supposed search results like this, only to be deeply disappointed when they see what is actually there.

Anna

[jorose]

If he went to the US after 1891, he should be here somewhere, but I can't spot him:
http://www.findmypast.com/passengerListPersonSearchStart.action

I see that he died in 1915, and that wife Annie possibly died in 1917 - you could see if his death certificate suggests they were still living together?

Perhaps he didn't go to the US - if he went to Europe he wouldn't be on any passenger lists (not the ones leaving the UK, at least).

[IgorStrav]

Thank you Anna.

I did investigate how much it would cost to upgrade my Ancestry to Worldwide, but I really can't justify the expense - particularly if the results are as good as you've just told me  

I suppose this excursion to America will just have to remain a family legend unless anything else emerges from the 1911 Census.

I got the impression that his wife didn't ever take him back.........so the period from 1891 to 1901 is only a guess, since he was with her in the 1901.

Yet another example of how I should have asked MANY MORE QUESTIONS of my relatives.  



And Jo, thanks for your suggestions, which I've just read after writing the above.  The death certificate is a good suggestion, ahead of the 1911 Census.

He might have gone somewhere else entirely (perhaps with some lady or other  ) and the US story was just to protect the other woman.

Very many thanks for your interest.

[greenvalley]

have you tried Ellis island records?

http://www.ellisisland.org/search/passSearch.asp

They're free and they can be quite useful.

Greenvalley

[IgorStrav]

Thanks for the Ellis Island records.  He doesn't appear on those either!

These family stories, eh