Emily Mills Kearns

[irishrose]

Looking for descendants of Emily Mills,b1875, to George and Catherine Mills,  from Iden, Playden Rye, Sussex.  who married James Kearns (an Irish soldier) in Portsmouth in November 1896.  He was serving in the Boer War in the 1901 census, and she was living as a domestic nurse to a church of England rector and his family.  James was  discharged from the army in may 1909 and moved to Rye.   Sadly he died in September that year and Emily returned to live with her family. On the 1911 census she states she is a widow and had given birth to one child who died(I have not been able to find a record of this)
Did Emily remarry and have any other children as she would only have been 34 at the time of James death? I cannot find a death for Emily Kearns so I am presuming she remarried. I would love to know what happened to her

[Roy G]

An Emily Kearns died in Rye aged 59 in 1924 (1924-49= YOB c1875)   
Two young Mills children died in Rye district, when Emily was in her late teens. 
 George Alfred aged 0 in 1893 and James Harry aged 2 in 1895.  Roy G

[irishrose]

Hi Roy.
Was the Emily Kearns 49 or 59 in the record you saw, and how can I access it.  The childrens deaths are interesting, although Emily came from a large family so they may be either a younger sibling or nephews.  Thanks you for your help
Ros

[Roy G]

Sorry, the 59 was typing error.  The official Records Office index for the death is
Deaths March quarter of 1924  Kearns Emily Age  49    GRO Ref no   Rye    2b   4
Access the index no charge on the FreeBMD website. 
Access the full record by putting your hand in your pocket and ordering it from the GRO or the Registrar of Deaths for Rye. 

I agree the Mills children's deaths are very much an outside possibility. If the infant who died was born with the Kearns surname, you would need to know Emily's location soon after her marriage in Postsmouth.  I got the impression from the 1901 census that she returned to Sussex soon after, and the indexes showed there were no Kearns infants who died in Sussex during those years after her marriage.   
If she had a child before she wed, perhaps there is someone who can check the parish baptismal registers for Iden, Playden or Rye c1893 to see if either have an entry that could tie George Alfred (burried Rye aged 21 days) or James Harry Mills to her.   

You are unlikely to find any direct descendents from Emily for her only child died, and there is no evidence of her having a furher child in her widowhood, so the line ends there.  You may however, be lucky and find someone who traces their line back to one of her seven siblings and their parents who lived in Hoad Mill.    Try Genes Reunited for there are two on there that appear to have family ties with Emily's elder brother George born Iden c1859 and another to her younger brother Herbert born Playden 1879.     Roy G

[irishrose]

Hi Roy,
Thank you so much for your help. I am going to recheck my old notes that I took over 30 years ago from an elderly aunt. I know that James served in the Boer War until 1902 and he served in Ireland until his discharge from the Army on grounds of ill health in 1909. My aunt told me that James had married an English lady and that she lived her in our home village for a couple of years, but she never liked Ireland, and on his release they moved back to Rye.       I have a vague memory, when checking the local parish registers here of finding a Kearns death that didn't fit in with my grandfathers line  (he was John, a brother of James).  The name Emily Mills meant nothing to me then.  I have recently joined Findmypast.co.uk and accessed my grandfathers, and four granduncles army records.  All the info I have on Emily came from there.
I found more info in an afternoon than I had in 30 years of researching on findmypast.  Great site even if its a little pricey.  thanks a mil again