Jack & Annie Rowley, Hamilton, ON - Lost

[KayP]

JJ, Jacquie and kiddo -
I just received your message JJ and have spent ages reading back over the messages that have been flying around the past couple of days.  I have no idea you were still working on this. 

I have been doing some searching of my own and I too have come up with the possibility that Annie Vernon Harper living with Robert and Esther Harper in the 1881 census is in actual fact a niece or Robert's and was Annie Vernon, daughter of William and Esther (nee Harper) Vernon.  Annie's mother died in 1880 (possibly in child birth or shortly after) and maybe she was with her aunt and uncle whose children were older just to help out her father as he had quite a few other children (the youngest being about 4 and rhe eldest about 16).

I have found William and his family through his marriage to Esther in 1860 and then on the census 1861, 1871, 1881, 1891 and 1901.  Annie Vernon does not show up with her birth family on the 1891 or 1901.  William had many brothers and sisters as did Esther so I have a feeling that Annie may have been taken in by anyone of them over the years so I really do not think that she is a Home Child.

I have photographs of Annie and Jack Rowley taken around 1954 when my aunts visited them in Hamilton, Ontario.  I have just been going on their say so as to how old she was and I could have misunderstood.  Unfortunately the aunts have passed away and so has anyone else in the family who could have helped.  From the photos Jack and Annie look "elderly" but of course that is not much help.  I did wonder if there was anywhere I could find out about Annie's passport application from Canada.  She must have needed one when she visited the UK around the time Jack died in the 1960s or so?  Maybe that would help. 

I am pretty sure that she was Auntie Annie to the aunts and they may have confused her with name with someone else.  We have no Polly's, Mary's or otherwise in the family.  Annie Vernon was my mum's first cousin 2x removed.  The connection is through my mum's great grandfather Robert Harper who was brother to Annie's mum Esther.  My grandmother was also called Esther (nee Holland) and there are lots of Esthers in the Vernon and Harper families too.

It was my mum who said that Jack Rowley had a furniture making business in Hamilton but she had no idea if he was from UK or Canada.  She also said that it was an aunt of her mother's who they were going to visit and that ties in exactly with the relationship between Annie Vernon and my grandmother Esther Holland (daughter of Robert and Esther Harper's daughter Esther who married Henry Holland)

Thank you J.J., Jacquie and kiddo once again for your work on my behalf - you really are stars

Now I have information about Annie's family and I truly feel that she is the daughter of William and Esther Vernon and that Robert and Esther Harper were looking after her for William either for a short spell or on a longer term or as mentioned she could even have been "visiting" them on the night of the census.  Its a tricky one but it is amazing to have come so far with these records and feel fairly confident about the findings.  I am going to keep on searching for her and Jack.

Thank you so much for everything.

KayP

[kiddo]

Kay
I so glad you have made those connections! Thanks for explaning..
Jacquie (of the great Canadian Logo)..too many K's I guess. ;-) sorry to confuse everyone...

I hate being beaten by something "in my own back yard" so to speak. I was a kid growing up with a pile of relatives all over Hamilton at the time '54. Wish I had an old phone book!!

See you all out there..
Kiddo

[KayP]

Problem solved - thank you so much to Jorose, J.J., Jacquie and kiddo and also to the others who have given me help and advice in trying to sort out what happened to Jack and his wife.

It turns out that I was correct when I thought my aunts had mentioned an Uncle Jack and Auntie Polly, I just managed to convince myself it was an Auntie Annie we were looking for.  Jacquie, you reminded me that "Polly" can be another name for "Mary" and then kiddo suggested I try the Hamilton Public Library for information in the City Directories.   They told me that John Rowley and wife Mary lived at 14 Greenaway Avenue in Hamilton from 1954 until John died in 1957 and then Mary lived there until 1970.  Also they told me that there was a burial for a John Rowley 1874-1957.  I have been checking and found a Border Crossing from Canada to USA in 1923 which was for John Rowley, wife Mary at the above address.  From that I discovered that John was born in 1874 in St Helens, Lancashire (where all my other relatives are from).  I then found John and Mary Rowley on the 1901 census in Bolton Lancashire.  Mary was also born in St Helens in 1876.  I then went through my own records and found a Mary Ball daughter of Samuel and Lassey.  I also found this marriage:

Marriage: 22 May 1899 St Peter, Bolton, Lancashire, England
John Rowley - 24 years Bricklayer Bachelor of 30 Halstead Street
Mary Ball - 23 years Spinster of 106a Castle Street
Groom's Father: William Rowley, Contractor
Bride's Father: Samuel Ball, Plate Glass Maker
Witness: William Rowley; Mary Yare
Married by Banns by: E. Hoskyns, VicarRegister: Marriages 1893 - 1902, Page 164, Entry 327

Mary Ball is the great aunt of my twin aunts who went to visit Jack/John and Mary/Polly (not Annie after all) in 1954.  So finally, after all this time of looking for Annie Vernon Harper I now discover I should have been looking for Mary Ball Wink  Isn't that the way family history goes though?

So I have, with all of your help, solved two family puzzles.  I now know the origins of Annie Vernon (not Harper) and have found the Rowleys after all this time living in Hamilton.

You guys have been great help and I thank you all once again.  Everyone on this message board has been so generous with their time on my behalf.

KayP