Looking for Eustace

[philipsearching]

In 1873 Eustace married Maria Adelaida MOREY ARIAS in Ambato, Peru.  On the register his surname (as written by the priest) looks like SENIOR.  However, a document written (in Spanish) supporting his wish to marry has a surname which looks like SERREL.  This states that he comes from Kingston upon Thames, and is Eustace Michael Meljado (?) Serrel, single, the legitimate son of Eustace and Lady Jane.

I can't find a likely birth in Surrey on FreeBMD.  Could some kind person see if he or his family are on a census? (1861 would be the best bet)

Many thanks
Philip

[hurworth]

Do you have an approximate year of birth?

[CaroleW]

The 1861/71 is available on FS

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1493747?collectionNameFilter=false

https://familysearch.org/search/collection/1538354?collectionNameFilter=false

Have you looked for a possible baptism on FS?

When and where did he die - England or Peru or elsewhere?

[JenB]

However, a document written (in Spanish) supporting his wish to marry has a surname which looks like SERREL.  This states that he comes from Kingston upon Thames, and is Eustace Michael Meljado (?) Serrel, single, the legitimate son of Eustace and Lady Jane.

Strangely there is this baptism in Kingston Jamaica:

Melhado, Eustace Miguel, son of Michael E. Melhado and Isabella Ruiz, bap 8/5/1841, b Kingston 7/26/1841. Sp= Daniel Melhado, Caleb Stanford Melhado and Adella Serrelle. p. 121
http://www.jamaicanfamilysearch.com/Members/cbpat03.htm

[philipsearching]

Many thanks for your replies.

hurworth - the only information I have is what I posted.  As Eustace married in 1873 a birth year of c1830-1855 is most likely.

CaroleW - I didn't realise familysearch had these censuses.  Yippee!  No luck with a baptism in England on either FreeBMD or FreeReg.  I have no idea when Eustace died, but  he and his wife had no children and at some later time she seems to have married again (year not yet known).

JenB - the names are too close to be coincidental.  This has to be him!

The difficulty with an English speaker in a Spanish country is it is impossible to know what information is deliberately false, or what has been misunderstood in translation.  Maybe he had secrets to hide?

With any luck this could be one of those searches where all sorts of interesting skeletons come tumbling out of the closet!

Philip

[Erato]

Ambato is in Ecuador.

[philipsearching]

Ambato is in Ecuador.

You are quite right.  My mistake.  The marriage was in Tarapoto, San Martin, Peru.  I confused it with other family BMDs in Ambato.

[Cimarra]

Just to clarify - in Spanish the letter J is pronounced as an H. This would explain why Meljado has become Melhado in the Jamaican records.

[philipsearching]

The marriage of Eustace was on 21 April 1873 in Tarapoto.  On 2 August 1874 Juan Rosendo SEREL (son of Eustace and Adelaide) was baptised in Tarapoto.  There is no indication on the baptism record that Adelaide was a widow, so it is probable that Eustace was still alive.

From the late 1870s Adelaide has several children with Nicolas DAVILA, but they do not seem to have married.  Presumably Eustace was gone by then.  So some time between 1874 and c1878 Eustace disappears.

The "where did he come from?" question seems to be settled (thanks to JenB), now I have the "where did he go?" question to resolve!