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Family History News Xmas ‘07
Not a good year for family history research I’m afraid, after losing Mum at in February, I’ve had very little time to spare, and the increasing difficulty of finding, even small amount of information, requires more and more time. However I have found a few things in recent months and, as usual, I wish I had found them before Mum died, as I know she would have been interested. Mum told me (and I think I mentioned it in a previous Xmas letter) that her cousin (our Aunty ‘Dick’) was illegitimate. This is not true, I found her mother (Aunty Gert) marrying in 1904 and Dick (Dorothy Gertrude Adelaide WARE) was born in 1909. Unfortunately her father died within a few months, so it appears that Mum’s memory of Gert’s ‘partner’ Mike had nothing to do with Aunty Dick. The increasing amount of data available ‘on line’ has meant that I can start searching for more recent events, notably in the 1900’s. I have now found the deaths of gt grandparents William George McLEAN & Sarah (STERNDALE). The last information I had on them was from the 1901 census, when they were in Lisson Grove (near Lords Cricket Ground). They appear to have moved to West London (Hammersmith), because they both died there in 1925. Curious that Mum could just remember her grandfather but not her grandmother, they died within a few months of each other. Mum’s other grandmother, Catherine Mary (UPTON) WEEKES also had me searching. In fact I searched 30 years of the death registers before it occurred to me that she may have remarried after Walter John WEEKES died. It only took a few seconds searching the marriage registers to find that she remarried in 1905. When sending for the certificate (to confirm the full details) I checked the registers again, and discovered that her remarriage is only a few lines away from her daughter’s marriage (Mary Catherine WEEKES to grandfather William G MacLEAN), I had found that one six years ago, but not spotted Catherine Mary so close to Mary Catherine in 1905 !. Catherine Mary was 48 when she remarried, her new husband (Tobias COLLINS) was a 76 year widower with 10 children, he died in 1909, and I still don’t know what then happened to Catherine Mary. Catherine Mary’s first husband Walter John WEEKES’ death remains a mystery, I cannot find it in the registers. For a time I wondered whether he really had died, or if he had perhaps run off. But the remarriage seems to discount this, I’m now wondering if he died abroad and if so where ? (he was in his forties, so I would have thought unlikely to have joined the army and been sent to the Boer war). The year is ending strongly with the discovery (via ‘Google’ ) of another distant cousin Sheila RICCIONI. Sheila’s gt grandmother was ‘cousin Miff’ (her wedding photo is on my web site). Sheila has already provided a lot of details about her uncles/ aunts/ cousins etc., most of which adds to the information left by Aunty Dora. Sheila has Miff’s address book which includes Aunty Dora. I have also confirmed (as stated by Aunty Dora) that many of her cousins emigrated to New Zealand. Emigration Passenger lists have recently become available on line, and I very quickly found 8 cousins (two families) emigrating with their mothers (Lillian and Agnes) in 1926. Both fathers are missing, I had already found that ‘Uncle Stern(dale)’ had died, just a few weeks before his mother Sarah (STERNDALE) in 1925. However Uncle John Jack remains a mystery, he was not with the families when they emigrated, but I cannot find a UK death reference for him. I’m wondering if he emigrated separately, and met his family in New Zealand. It is possible that Miff’s address book may allow us to get in touch with our New Zealand relatives. Of interest is that the whole McLEAN family seems to have retained that spelling of their surname, except our grandfather, who insisted on MacLEAN. In the last week I have been contacted by two descendants of our SMITH family ( Ellen SMITH was The Old Man’s mother). They had been in touch with each other, and found my web site. Valerie Fildes (nee SMITH) is descended from Ellen’s brother Edwin Elbert, whilst Terry Harris descended from Ellen’s Uncle Alfred John. Valerie tells me that Alfred John became Lord Mayor of Bristol c1905, whilst James Jenkins SMITH (his brother) became Mayor of Truro in 1904, more investigation is needed on these findings, but please see Valerie’s web site at http://trees.ancestry.co.uk/fhs/home.aspx?tid=1543485&pid=0 . There is a great deal of information on the site, including a photo of a portrait of gt gt grandmother Mary Ann SMITH. Of interest is that Alfred John SMITH owned the “Newport Coal and Coke Company”, there may be a clue here as to how/ why Ellen suddenly turned up in Newport where she married Jesse William STANTON. I hope everyone is keeping well. Seasons Greetings. Neil. |
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