James Austen, Godalming

[Jane Masri]

Tril, the will can be downloaded from the National Archives site;
http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/

I've just been searching around again & found evidence on the Ancestry public trees that Arthur Elvey Austen did indeed go to SA as he married Elizabeth Susannah Jorden FRANCIS, 10/12/1870, Good Hope, Eastern Cape, SA.  He died in 1919.

I've also found that Isaac's daughter, Ellen, who married Henry G. Milns, 30/3/1847, Godalming, tragically died a week after her husband from injuries sustained from a fire in Tonbridge.  She died 18/1/1856.  I'm trying to get more information.  It looks like their children survived & went to her husband's parents.  I'll get back to you when I've more info,

jane

[Tril]

Jane, I'm now waiting to hear from TNA as to how I, an American, can pay for a copy of Isaac's will.  I don't know if my credit card will work in England.

I filled out a free family tree at Ancestry, but I got nothing except notices that to find out more about the possible matches, I'd have to pay.  If I had the money to do so, I would, but it's out of the question right now.

I've emailed the St. Louis Public Library in St. Louis, Missouri for James's immigration date.  The Library offers such look-ups, even for immigrants arriving in states other than Missouri.  It could take several weeks to get the information, but I think knowing when James emigrated from England could be very helpful.

What an awful tragedy about Isaac's daughter Ellen and her husband Henry dying as the result of a fire!  Glad the Milns children survived, but how sad about their parents.

So, it appears that S. Africa was indeed in the picture.  Interesting!

I think I should probably wait to see what Isaac's will says regarding heirs before I request information at the Kent board.  I, like you, feel sure Isaac was my great-great grandfather, but to avoid embarrassment if it turns out he's not,  I'd first like to make absolutely certain he is, if I can.

[marinerclark]

Hello from another American researcher  TNA works great with American VISA   Instant gratification Visa only charged about 15 cents for currency conversion  Worked out to $5.75 for a will  Happy Thanksgiving  LIZR

[Tril]

Thanks very much for the information, marimerclark.     I'll order the will now.

Tril

[Tril]

Isaac Austen's will was very easy to download, but it's certainly not easy to read!  I can make out enough of the words, though, to know that the name, James, isn't on the document.

Isaac bequeathed everything to his wife, Mary Ann, and appointed Mary Ann "to be Guardian of My Infant Children."  He appointed Mary Ann, his daughter Martha Austen and his son George (can't read middle name, but it doesn't look at all like Durrant) Austen as executors.  Witnesses are Henry Austen (can't read what is written in smaller script after his name.  It looks like "Bronckly") and George Durrant Austen, Soliciiter, 28 Laurence Lane, Lo???ton.

The date of the will is June 17, 1857. 

No James.  I wonder if he had already emigrated to the States.

[marinerclark]

Just keep reading and you will get the hang of the different letters  I still have a married daughter's name I cant read. LizR

[Jane Masri]

Liz is right.  The more you read the document the easier it becomes with the handwriting & archaic legal terms.
LIZ, why not put your deciphering problem on this board.....
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php/board,425.0.html

Back to Austen's.  Tril, George's second name might be 'Frederick', that's the name I noticed from his birth reg. on FreeBMD.
James must have set sail for the States sometime after March 30 1851, that's the date of the 1851 census & he was with his sister, Eliza, in Hampshire on that night.
I was looking for information concerning the fire in Tonbridge which took the lives of Henry George Milns & his wife, Ellen, James's sister.  Sadly I couldn't find anything. I read on one of the Ancestry trees that their daughter later had an illegitimate daughter & both emmigrated to Australia.
I think information that you might find in the States concerning James is going to give you some important clues.  Are you near an LDS centre?
Why James wasn't in the will?  Maybe he was estranged from his father?

jane

[Tril]

Liz and Jane, yes, the more I study the will, the easier it is to make out the words.  Amazing.  I'd all but given up.

Jane, if Frederick is the middle name I couldn't read, it would be yet another clue.  My grandfather's and my dad's  middle names were both Frederick.

Yesterday I contacted the St. Louis Public Library in St. Louis, Missouri, and requested a search for James Austen's immigration records, or his name on a ship's passenger list.  I said he would have emigrated from England sometime between an unknown date in 1851 and  September 1862, when he enlisted in the Union Army.

The Library offers this service regardless of where the immigrant settled in the U.S., but it so happens that St. Louis is where James's son, my grandfather, made his home and brought up his family.

I wonder if James would have had to have been naturalized as a U.S. citizen to enlist in the army and/or to remain in the States after the war.  Maybe he maintained dual citizenship.  I'm going to see what information I can find about this.

Would LDS refer to Latter Day Saints (the Mormons)?  If so, no, I'm not near a center, but I found a weblink for the research website.  I will see what I can accomplish there.  Thanks for the suggestion.

Another Australia connection!  I wonder if the Milns's daughter and child went there to stay with the son of Isaac who'd gone there instead of to South Africa.

I too have been wondering if James was estranged from his father.  James's history gets curiouser and curiouser.

 

[marinerclark]

Dear Jane  I know Rootschat could help but I need to learn to cut and paste from my documents clear to a Rootschat topic  Have kids so maybe I can do this  over the weekend.
   Tril Capital L looks like a cursive s in my will and look at the word the.  The e is very different I thought my ancestor had two daughters named Mary  The other was Mercy but they looked very similar.  LizR