Roman Catholic Baptism Certificates for Dodd children 1882-1893

[samsscraps]

Hello my name is Sam & I am from Australia & currently researching the Dodd family of Kensington.
I have exhausted all my resources looking for further documents online for my ancestors as I cannot find any new leads. I came across a Baptism Certificate for one of the children from Westminster, St Mary's, Kensington but cannot find any for the other children & was wondering if anybody could further search this for me for the other children or point me in the direction I can further research.

The children's names are:

Clara Matilda Dodd B:26 March 1882 D:29 July 1882
Louis Harold Dodd B:20 July 1885  D:9 May 1969 (Spelling also found as Lewis on 1911 census)
Elizabeth Mabel Dodd B: 20 Jan 1889 D: unknown already have this Baptism Certificate (Listed as Bessie in 1891 census)
Gerald Harcourt Dodd B:24 June 1893 D:8 Oct 1973 (Spelling also found as Gerrold on 1911 census)

Parents are listed on all birth certificates & Elizabeths Baptism as Thomas Dodd (B: unknown) & Mary McMillan (B: 1856 in Ireland) - I cannot find any marriage details for these two & Thomas is never in any of the census records with the family. I have & the 1891 & 1901 census listing Mary as a widow but I believe Thomas was still alive until at least 1908, as he is listed on Louis marriage certificate. On Geralds marriage certificate in 1916 Thomas is listed but as deceased.

Thomas is listed as a soldier/ pensioned soldier & carpenter journeyman on the birth certificates but I cannot find any further documents with this info.

I do have another post with further details on the family here https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=843539.msg7104457#msg7104457

Any help with the baptism certificates greatly appreciated

[ciderdrinker]

Hi
Not seeing the baptisms but did wonder about the Godfather on the one you have.
Gerald Harcourt Chaplain death born  1861 -Mar 1893 Kensington  .Burial on deceased on line.

Surely he must be somekind of relative.
In 1889 he is on electoral reg Beckenham
Other godparent Elizabeth Chaplain.

Ciderdrinker

[Lola5]

On census where is Mary,s birthplace.
She may have married in her  own parish and had first child there.

[Lola5]

Possibly married in Ireland since Mary Josephine was born there
Was Thomas in army.?
Any idea what county Mary came from.?

[Milliepede]

I have & the 1891 & 1901 census listing Mary as a widow but I believe Thomas was still alive until at least 1908, as he is listed on Louis marriage certificate. On Geralds marriage certificate in 1916 Thomas is listed but as deceased.

Just to say fathers weren't always marked as deceased even if they were.  Often just the fathers name was given so unless we have a confirmed death for Thomas he could have died before 1891 ** as Mary claims.

** Just read that again and Gerald born 1893 so that doesn't fit.

[samsscraps]

I thought the same thing about the Godparent & have tried to follow that line but cannot link the Dodd & Chaplain families at this stage. I do believe they were family of some sort as my Grandfather was also given the Harcourt middle name, which he hated he once told me.

I was hoping the other Baptism certificates would give me a few more clues

Thanks for your input, apprecaited

Hi
Not seeing the baptisms but did wonder about the Godfather on the one you have.
Gerald Harcourt Chaplain death born  1861 -Mar 1893 Kensington  .Burial on deceased on line.

Surely he must be somekind of relative.
In 1889 he is on electoral reg Beckenham
Other godparent Elizabeth Chaplain.

Ciderdrinker

[samsscraps]

Hi I have Mary listed as being born in Ireland in 1856. Updated the main post to reflect that but we know nothing of this side of the family & as far as we knew my great grandfather was an only child but I now know different

Unfortunately, my Grandparents didn't really speak about England much once they moved here so we know very little. I reconnected with a relative we didn't know was a relative until last year but she does not know much about the English side of the family either. I have also just recently come across a Vina P Hardy last known address is Hemyock who is a descendant of Louis Harold Dodd but I am having a hard time finding an address to contact her to see if she is willing to share any details

Thanks for you questions

On census where is Mary,s birthplace.
She may have married in her  own parish and had first child there.

[samsscraps]

I have updated the details I have for Mary in the main post. No idea where in Ireland she was from, its like both her & Thomas just appeared on the children's birth certificates & never existed before that! & then disappeared again between 1893 & 1916

I cannot find any records of marriage & I have 3 documents that say either soldier, pensioned soldier or sgt major but cannot find any records that fit except 2 army pension records

Thanks for the questions

Possibly married in Ireland since Mary Josephine was born there
Was Thomas in army.?
Any idea what county Mary came from.?

[samsscraps]

Yes, you see my dilemma!
My theory after watching many episodes of who do you think you are & reading many posts about similar situations, I believe that Thomas left at some stage as he is never listed with the family (early on I assume to due to his service in the army & later as he left the family)  as I have found a few Thomas Dodd's working as carpenters in census records after 1891 when she first lists as a widow, I just cannot work out who fits where.

I think back then being in the religion she was at the time, that divorce was out of the question so she was listed as a widow. I have read a few instances of families doing their tree believing family members to be dead but records show they had just left & started life again somewhere else but as I have little to no info on Thomas, I don't know where he could have ended up. 

I have & the 1891 & 1901 census listing Mary as a widow but I believe Thomas was still alive until at least 1908, as he is listed on Louis marriage certificate. On Geralds marriage certificate in 1916 Thomas is listed but as deceased.

Just to say fathers weren't always marked as deceased even if they were.  Often just the fathers name was given so unless we have a confirmed death for Thomas he could have died before 1891 ** as Mary claims.

** Just read that again and Gerald born 1893 so that doesn't fit.