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Author Topic: When A Hunch Pays Off  (Read 1590 times)

Offline Cybermouse

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When A Hunch Pays Off
« on: Saturday 07 September 13 05:48 BST (UK) »
For over a year now I have been researching a particular ancestor who was a bit of a mystery. Nora was my grandfather's youngest sister who disappeared off the census records after 1911. One particular entry of a death record seemed like a close match but after ordering it is still didn't give me much joy as this Nora died at Storthes Hall asylum in 1917 from "exhaustion from mania" after a being in the Eccelsall Union Workhouse for some time. So...........no next of kin on her death certificate. After more emails and letters to the archives and NHS (with the help of a good friend living near the archives in Sheffield) I was able to ascertain that she was indeed my Nora. But why was she in a workhouse? Why did she die two days after being transferred to Storthes Hall Asylum? She was 17 and came from a upper middleclass family for goodness sakes. Taking a stab in the dark I looked up births in the area at that time and found one that seemed to fit as the mother's name was listed as the same surname as the child. 3 weeks of waiting finally paid off yesterday when I received the birth certificate and lo and behold .............the mother was my Nora confirmed by the address of where the child was born. A bitter sweet ending I feel. So happy to finally have some answers but so very sad for Nora who became an unmarried mother at 16 and with no family to support her died at 17 in an asylum where she is probably at rest in the grounds to this day still a child herself. I love when a hunch pays off but sometimes the answers are not always what we would like to hear. :(
Booth of Derbyshire, Susquehanna, PA and Victoria, Australia, Rogers of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, Denial, Naylor of Yorkshire, Holloway of Staffordshire, Birch of Staffordshire, Pike of London and NSW, Australia.<br /><br />UK census data is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline Finley 1

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Re: When A Hunch Pays Off
« Reply #1 on: Saturday 07 September 13 08:56 BST (UK) »
What happened to the baby?


xin

Offline smudwhisk

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Re: When A Hunch Pays Off
« Reply #2 on: Saturday 07 September 13 11:17 BST (UK) »
Hi Cybermouse, yes it's very satisfying when a hunch pays off however long it takes. ;D
(KENT) Lingwell, Rayment (BUCKS) Read, Hutchins (SRY) Costin, Westbrook (DOR) Gibbs, Goreing (DUR) Green (ESX) Rudland, Malden, Rouse, Boosey (FIFE) Foulis, Russell (NFK) Johnson, Farthing, Purdy, Barsham (GLOS) Collett, Morris, Freebury, May, Kirkman (HERTS) Winchester, Linford (NORTHANTS) Bird, Brimley, Chater, Wilford, Read, Chapman, Jeys, Marston, Lumley (WILTS) Arden, Whatley, Batson, Gleed, Greenhill (SOM) Coombs, Watkins (RUT) Stafford (BERKS) Sansom, Angel, Young, Stratton, Weeks, Day

Offline pinefamily

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Re: When A Hunch Pays Off
« Reply #3 on: Saturday 07 September 13 16:19 BST (UK) »
It is always satisfying as you say when a hunch or theory pans out. However in this case it is obviously tinged with sadness. Like Xinia, I am curious to know what happened to the baby.
I am Australian, from all the lands I come (my ancestors, at least!)

Pine/Pyne, Dowdeswell, Kempster, Sando/Sandoe/Sandow, Nancarrow, Hounslow, Youatt, Richardson, Jarmyn, Oxlade, Coad, Kelsey, Crampton, Lindner, Pittaway, and too many others to name.
Devon, Dorset, Gloucs, Cornwall, Warwickshire, Bucks, Oxfordshire, Wilts, Germany, Sweden, and of course London, to name a few.

Offline Cybermouse

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Re: When A Hunch Pays Off
« Reply #4 on: Sunday 08 September 13 06:41 BST (UK) »
More info has come to light. Going on a photo of the headstone that my friend in Sheffield emailed me yesterday it would seem Nora's mother took the baby in as her own - "Minnie mother of John (?) and Ronald (Nora's baby) The headstone is a memorial to Nora who died at the asylum and her twin brother who died aged 16 at the Battle of Somme. Ronald died aged 25 at South Yorkshire Mental Hospital.  :'(
Booth of Derbyshire, Susquehanna, PA and Victoria, Australia, Rogers of Lincolnshire and Yorkshire, Denial, Naylor of Yorkshire, Holloway of Staffordshire, Birch of Staffordshire, Pike of London and NSW, Australia.<br /><br />UK census data is Crown Copyright, from www.nationalarchives.gov.uk

Offline Finley 1

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Re: When A Hunch Pays Off
« Reply #5 on: Sunday 08 September 13 09:40 BST (UK) »
excellent -  keeping baby in family - great



xin
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