several brickwalls

[david54]

Good evening all.

I am Aussie trying to find my heritage and extended family and hoping someone can help me get thro' a couple of brickwalls please.

I have two people (one on each side of my family) for whom I cannot find much detail.

Janet Hancock, .. born about 1876 I believe in Manchester. I have found Mother and father and siblings but not much about her. My grandma did not talk about her much. Single mother and trying to find as much as I can about her please.

next, James Bennett Gibbs, my GG grandfather on the other side and I believe that he was a "bluecoat". Is there a way that I can trace his family please. His family once he came to Aust. is easy ..... but the Bluecoat school has become major "road block"

Any help appreciated.

Thanks   David 

[lizdb]

Hi, and a warm welcome to Rootschat.

It may be easier if you start a separate thread for each query. 

Lets start with Janet (and keep this thread for her) - can you tell us all you already have for her? Where did the year of birth and possibility that it was Manchester come from?  Who were her parents and siblings and where have you found them (censues etc)?  Have you got her on any censuses?  You say she was as single mother, who was the child and when and where born?   

(I'm not seeing a Janet HAncock bn 1876 ish MAnchester on the 1881 census? Have you got the family on that census?)

[david54]

Hi Liz,

Thanks for the reply, maybe easier as you said two threads.

Here is what I know and will go with what I know (not what my brother says ... the Manchester thing)
 I believe she was born in Edinburgh MD, Devon (no idea what the MD is)  and was in a home for many years where she died in Dec1972, in Exeter, Devon

Father was Arthur Hancock and Mother Janet Glascow.

I have her and grandma living/boarding with family as per several census (family Berrie)

And there I stop.

Thanks

[lizdb]

So this is her death:

Dec 1972
Exeter
7a 1090
Janet Hancock age 96  dob 5th Oct 1876

And this must be where the Manchester idea came from:
Christening
Hulme St George
5th Nov 1876
Janet Hancock dob 5th Oct 1876 (same dob as death)
parents Arthur Hancock and Janet Glasgow


There is a little note by the names saying "Glasgow. m Edinburgh 1876"

comparing it with other entries on the page it does seem to be the mothers maiden name and the marriage.

So - if you are sure from other sources that 'your' JAnets parents were indeed Arthur and Janet nee Glasgow, then this must be her and she was christened in Manchester.
Whether she was born there, or born in Edinburgh and they moved there between 5th Oct and 5th Nov, is another matter!

Which censuses have you got her on - where is she and who is she with (full names and dates!)

[lizdb]

Is she the one who is in Northumberland?   In 1891 age 14 as an inmate in some sort of school, (bn Manchetster) and then in 1901 age 24 as a servant (bn Scotland) still at a school in Alnmouth Northumberland?

A long way from Devon!  - but you say you have her with grandma, so maybe the Northumberland lass isn't her.

Where are the siblings you say you have traced?

[lizdb]

An Arthur and Janet Hancock also seem to christen an Arthur in 1879 in Berwick, Northumberland, and also an Arthur in 1884 in Berwick Northumberland.  I can see original page to check details, but on the face of it the first one must have died.

So if this is the same family they did go to Northumberland. 

There is a 6 yr old Arthur Hancock in Berwick ion Tweed workhouse in 1891. It says bn East Indies, but the person above him was bn Berwick, so I wonder if the enumerator got the lines mixed up?

However, I do wonder if I am on the wrong track. we do need to know more about what you know already.

[david54]

Hi Liz,

Try answering these before I fall asleep .... long long days at work.

Yes, I am correct about parents, father (Arthur, born Leicester) and Mother (Janet Glasgow)

There were 2 x brothers of the same name, both Arthur and it would make sense that one was born in India as Arthur died in Rawapindi (sp) India as he was part of the Indian regiment.

Robert, don't know much about.

I talked to mum earlier tonight about this and she said her mother Janet Hancock never talked about her brothers, now I start to understand why, if he was in workhouse she would not have known them.

The only census Janet hancock appears on that I can find is 1911 where she is living in Heavitree, Devon with a family by name of Berrie (Prescilla Federata and kids, but no mention of husband/father)

I know the stories I heard as a kid and but not sure fact or fiction.

I do know that Janet Hancock was infirmed at somewhere in her middle age and was there until she died in 1972. My mother never knew her grandmother, altho' her mum (my grandmother) talked to me about here, not always in terms of endearment so not sure what happened.

Any help appreciated, I would like to know and would love to be able to tell mum her Grandma's story.

Thanks to all, David

[lizdb]

On the census you refer to (didn't she move a long way! Northumberland to Devon is one end of the country to the other!) I see she is "deaf and nearly blind".   
I wonder what made her move to Devon.
I see her child was born there, so she moved before her birth.  And presumably then stayed in Devon till her death in the '70s

[rosie99]

Hi David
Welcome to rootschat

It may be easier if you start a separate thread for each query. 

Lets start with Janet (and keep this thread for her)

A very good idea lizdb.  There is another thread for James Bennett Gibbs so replies for him would be better there 
http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=758755.

Rosie