Hello there,
I really hope somebody can help me in the quest to find my Great Grandmother ‘Eleanor Crowe’, we have tried for many many years to trace her but I feel now that we are at a dead end. I’ve written our story below, if anyone can shed any light on this that would be greatly appreciated, especially the reason for the crossing out of the father’s name on both the birth & christening certificates.
Eleanor Crowe, gave birth to my grandmother Marjorie Crowe in January 1905 at 13 Back Sea View, Hoylake, Wirral (at the house of a Minnie Webster).
The baby was supposedly provided with a large sum of money for her education and some expensive baby clothes. The baby was apparently advertised for sale in the Liverpool Echo and possibly also the Chester Chronicle . She was adopted by a couple in Frodsham (called the Carringtons) who unfortunately spent her inheritance money and burnt what we believe were some form of adoption papers. On the 1911 census Marjorie is shown living with the Carringtons and listed as their adopted daughter.
When I ordered the birth certificate (for Marjorie Crowe) from the GRO, it shows the mother as Eleanor Crowe (domestic servant) living at 19 Back Sea View, Hoylake, Wirral and had the father’s name crossed out (Thomas Shields).
A couple of months ago I found out that the baby, Marjorie was christened at the Holy Trinity Church, Hoylake in February 1905. I ordered the christening certificate from Chester Records Office and it is a sheet of paper with a few rows of baby's Christenings on it. Under Parents name, there are 2 columns one for Christian name and one for surname. In the row for Marjorie Crowe, the ‘Christian name’ column says Thomas & Eleanor, but again Thomas is crossed out. In the surname column it says Crowe. So this matches with the birth certificate where Thomas was crossed out. The only difference is that when the entry was made the vicar must have thought he was Thomas Crowe, as only Crowe is stated in the surname column (ie no mention of Shields) plus Marjorie is spelt Margery.
In the 40s or 50s my Grandma (Marjorie Crowe, married name Marjorie Lewis) went with her children to see Minnie Webster (who’s house Eleanor gave birth in) to find out information about her Mother, Eleanor Crowe. We have no idea how she found out about Minnie Webster, all we can presume is that she found out from her adoptive parents.
Minnie told them that all she knew about Eleanor Crowe was that she was a young girl and after the birth planned to go back to the Isle of Man where she was from to live it down! I believe Minnie wouldn't give any more details as she had been sworn to secrecy. I have researched into Isle of Man Eleanor Crowes and there doesn’t seem to be any, so how true Minnie’s information was I don’t know.
Marjorie Crowe as a child did see some form of adoption papers that the Carrington’s had and all she remembers is seeing the words Christ church and sun/sunshine.
Thank you
Lisa
