Hi all,
I need to find an ancestor that "disappeared". His mother and all brothers and sisters emigrated to Australia (Fremantle) in 1909. He was married so stayed in UK (Wigan area, Lancashire). He decided to join his family but his wife was pregnant (they had lost 2 babies who died, this was their third) so she was to join him later. He was never heard from again!
The wife remarried in 1928, but she had to get approval and show she had tried all measures to find him.
Now, that baby was born early 1911 (she appears in the indexes as born Jan-Mar, and on the 1911 census is 2 months old). The 1911 census has the wife and baby only, not him. She is listed as married though.
I can't find him on any passenger list to Fremantle in late 1910/early 1911. His uncle & family did come out and arrived Nov 1910 on the Bremen and I did think he might be on that ship but I can't find him (mind you a good part of that passenger list is not readable). I have gone to the state library and gone through the microfiche for all arrivals in those months and couldn't find his name.
I spoke to a family research expert there who could not offer any further suggestions than what I had tried apart from suggesting he may not have got on the ship. How could I check this? Is there any list of people who were booked & paid their fare but didn't travel? Maybe he went to London or Liverpool and got into trouble (got drunk and run over by a cart or something) and never left.
The problem is his name is not unusual - William Thomas Price (he went by Tom). So looking for a person by this name brings up a lot of possibilities. I really need to find if he did get on a ship, or if he didn't leave at all.
His wife was Kate (nee Foster) and the baby was Annie. They both married Rimmers later on.
I guess if he died somewhere other than with family, no-one may have known his name so he may not have been registered with his name and parents names.
I have postcards from him to his family saying how much he missed them, so I am presuming he didn't disappear by choice. My father says the story he heard (this all happened long before he was born and he was told by his grandmother on the other side, so may be distorted somewhat) was that Tom was on a ship going to Sydney, was supposed to get off in Fremantle to see family but didn't. Now that we have the postcards, it doesn't seem to gel as he was so keen to see his family so we are reasonably sure he wouldn't have been going on to Sydney. Dad says his name was always hushed up if mentioned.
I have gone through all the WT Price, W Price, T Price or just Price on FindMyPast that may be him, but all were either travelling with wives, or totally different occupations (like clerks etc, he was a collier). He was born 1887, in Pemberton.
Does anyone have any ideas of what I can do from here? I have checked deaths in Australia, but none that stand out - again if he was here and died without family no one would know his parents names.
To totally confuse things there is another William Thomas Price born around 1887 in Wigan, but he married a Mary, had children called Enoch, James & Mary, died 1918 and lived at 2 Iron Monger Lane. That is not him!
I have also checked Trove for any notices of missing persons as they sometimes had, but nothing for him.
Kate apparently had the Salvation Army try and find him - would they have archive records?
Sorry to be so long winded but I didn't want anyone wasting their time on things I had already checked so thought it best to give all the info!
Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Mosher