William Patterson

[Tickettyboo]

Thank you so much, that is the William Patterson I am speaking of.  I appreciate your help.
Would that account for the grave being paid for by the Imperial War Graves Commission?

Well the pension record did say the reason for the medical discharge was because his condition was aggravated by his service. I am no expert with military stuff but that would suggest they took 'some' responsibility for his death and had agreed (at least temporarily) to award a pension, so yes its highly possible that they paid for the burial (though I don't know if they paid for the grave as such, the cemeteries dept would be able to tell you I should think)

Did the address in the deaths/in memoriam notices agree with what you know? What about his wife's name and the names I posted for the children from the pension record - are they a match for what you know?

Boo

[Tickettyboo]

aah light dawns here! (it would have been really helpful if you'd given James William's birth year/age at death)

 I just trawled through the Ryhope burial registers and found James William's entry. He was 25 when he died so in 1917 when the pension record didn't mention his name that would be because by then he was 22 and no longer classed as a dependant of the deceased soldier. The others were young enough to be classed as dependant which is why their names were listed.

all seems to add up now :-)

Boo

[MiraMax131]

Yes, I’m sorry, I could have given you more information.  Williams wife was Mary Ann Patterson and their children included James W Patterson whose age on the 1901 census is 5 which would put his DOB as 1896.  This all ties in nicely. Thank you so much.

[Spelk]

In case anyone wants to see the family on the census records they are more likely to be found as PATERSON than PATTERSON.
I wondered where Elijah got the name Venus from. The GRO shows that his mother was called VENUS.
Freebmd has marriage 1894 Gateshead William Little PATTERSON and Mary VENUS.

[MiraMax131]

Williams wife was Mary Ann Venus and she was born in St Mary Cray in Kent. Her father was Aaron Venus who was quite the hero, going down a 150ft deep well to retrieve a man’s body who had committed suicide.  Sadly he committed suicide himself some years later.  I found out quite a lot about him and his children one of whom had the name Israel and another Elijah and another Aaron.
I think his son Elijah committed suicide too.  I also found a story of someone who found in their house structure a parcel containing seamen’s records, letters and a gold wedding ring with hair twined around the ring.  They put the story on the internet and a family member who lives in Durham came forward to collect it.  I thought it was such a lovely thing to have from one of your ancestors.