Joshua Hickman Armstrong

[molar]

Hi
I wonder if anyone can help confirm or refute my suppostitions. After my father-in law died recently I have been sorting through some old photos. I found a sepia photo/postcard of a young boy ( maybe 3-6 years old ) and a younger girl.
The writing on the reverse is as follows:
Dear Father
What do you think of little Josh now he is--- a little the Canadian climate must suit him-also his little sister she will soon be as big as him. Wishing you a merry Xmas and a Happy New Year and that you are in good health and will continue so.  ---- kind regards from Jean Josh Tucker and myself.

Fancy not putting her own name ! Anyway Joshua was a common name in my mother -in laws family so I went back to old research and found an aunt of my m-in-l whose marriage I hadn't found

I found Septima Hickman had married in 1909 and one of the names on Free BMD was Thomas Armstrong.  I found the birth of a Joshua Hickman Armstrong in 1910. I cannot find the birth of Jean .
1911 census I found Joshua Hickman aged 11 months in Morpeth Northumberland. I couldn't find Septima but there is an entry for Armstrong  Mrs Tomas  correct age in Morpeth.
I haven't got subs to Ancestry or Find my Past (have to save up or wait for my birthday!) but by looking at the free searches it seems as if Septima, Thomas and Joshua Hickman  Armstrong may have sailed from Liverpool to Halifax Canada in 1911, whether they sailed together or Septima and her son followed later.

It would be great to know if my research is correct or whether I have made up a good story to fit the photo/postcard.

sorry about the long post!

thanks
Linda

[jorose]

Incoming images for passenger lists are here:
http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/passenger/index-e.html

There is a wee trick - from the above you can find the names of all the ships that went, e.g. from Liverpool to Halifax in 1911, and FindMyPast allows you to search by ship name as well.  By this, it's possible to figure out that Septima was on the Grampian, with Joshua. Here they are:
http://data2.collectionscanada.gc.ca/e/e148/e003688068.jpg
(Grampian left Liverpool 1911-11-16 arrived Halifax 1911-11-24)

I think their destination is Amherst, NS.

http://www.automatedgenealogy.com/census11/
 shows a married Thomas Armstrong, aged 26, b. Dec 1884 England and arrived 1911, living in Amherst in the 1911 census.

However, they may not have stayed in Canada. I cannot see a Thomas Armstrong b. Dec 1884 on the Canadian WWI records, and there is a possible death for Joshua H. Armstrong in 1919 aged 9 on freebmd.rootsweb.com (and not any other likely births to match this death record).  In the same area there are some more Armstrong/Hickman births.

[molar]

Thank you so much for the great info. It seems like I guessed well to start this search.
Not done too much family history recently but I'm hooked again !! Now to find what happened to baby Jean.

Linda

[cosmac]

Returning to England from St. John N.B. arriving Liverpool 14 Dec 1915 on the Corsican
28 year old Mrs. Thos Armstrong with 6 year old Joshua and 3 year old Jean.  They were intending to reside in England.

Death for Septima Armstrong Dec 1965 age 76 Northumberland Central 1b 265

On the 1911 British census Joshua and his mother are living with Josua Hickman, grandfather/father, and a few Hickman brothers.

added:
34 Bridge St. Cambris Blythe Northumberland
Joshua Hickman 65 b. Dudley, widowed, miner and sons
Joshua Hickman 33, William Hickman 31, both miners
Robert Greenaway Hickman 13, grandson
Mrs. Tomas Armstrong 22 and Joshua Hickman Armstrong 11 months b. Blythe


Debbie

[molar]

Thanks for the great information.
I suspected that Septima may have been staying with her father prior to going to Canada. My husband lived at 34 Bridge St Cambois as a young child but he cannot recall  knowing a great -aunt Septima, he would have been 9 when she died. My husband's grandfather was the son,  Joshua age 33 in 1911.
I wonder if Thomas Armstrong did not return to England with Septima whether it was because he had died or if it was something connected to world war 1.
thanks again

Linda

[cosmac]

There is an online ancestry tree that follows daughter Jean M, her marriage to Nicholas G. Frazer (1912-1948)  in Sep 1932 Tynemouth and Jean's subsequent death in 1933 but not before the birth of a daughter.

Debbie