Newsletter – 18th
February 2022
Why are female
ancestors neglected?
Big savings on Who
Do You Think You Are? magazine EXCLUSIVE
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Have
you ever gone back to a part of your tree that you researched years ago and
realised just how much more there was to be found, if only you'd access to all
the resources that are at fingertips these days. Take,
for example, the family of my great-great-great grandmother Jane Till, who was
born in Great Coggeshall, Essex just 10 days before Christmas 1819. Some of you
may recall that I've mentioned Jane before: she was clearly quite a character
because she contrived to have 4 illegitimate children before her first marriage
in November 1846 to 74 year-old David Pilkington (whose
daughter from a previous marriage was old enough to be Jane's mother, indeed as
it turned out she was older than Jane's mother).
The
groom may have been 74, but he was clearly firing on all cylinders because just
4 ½ months after the marriage they were blessed with a daughter. However his health soon took a turn for the worse, and he
contracted pneumonia, suffering for 6 months before finally succumbing on the
72nd anniversary of American Independence. Two years after his death Jane was
pregnant again – her 5th illegitimate child and her 6th in all (though to be fair
they were all conceived outside of marriage). Jane did marry again, and
did have another (legitimate) child, eventually living to the ripe old age of 87
– but this story isn't about Jane, it's about her mother and her step-sister.
I
did most of my research into Jane and her family nearly 20 years ago, and it
was only this week that I discovered that Jane had a step-sister.
With the benefit of hindsight I can see that there were
some clues, but it's understandable that I didn't pick up on them at the time –
there were no Essex parish registers online, so whenever I needed to look up an
entry it was a case of driving over to Essex Record Office at Chelmsford and
ploughing through microfiche.
Even
when images of the registers went online, from 2008 onwards, it was some time
before I found her parents' marriage in Braintree. Also, though I now knew that
her mother's maiden name was Collis, there were two babies christened Ann in
1795, one in Braintree (to parents Charles & Rebecca) and one in nearby
Bocking (to John & Mary); on the face of it the Braintree baptism seemed rather
more likely, but one of the witnesses to Ann's 1813 marriage was a John Collis,
and Bocking was only two miles from Braintree.
Henry
Till, Jane's father, died in 1823 when she was only three – but I couldn't find
Ann's death. However, because my researches into the
Till line were going so well, I didn't take another close look at Ann Collis
for a long, long time – until this week, in fact.
For
me January was all about the 1921 Census, but this month I've been focusing on
my ancestors' deaths – morbid, I know, but I've got to the stage where even the
tiny clues that come from death certificates can be useful in confirming an hypothesis or tying up a loose end (there's another reason
too, but I'll tell you about that another time). I still couldn’t find the
death of Ann Till, either amongst the transcribed Essex
burials at Ancestry, or in the GRO death indexes; it did seem very likely
that she had remarried, but in the days before the Essex registers were
transcribed and indexed there was a limit to how much time I could spend
looking for a marriage that might or might not have happened – considering that she had at least three very
young children to look after, I'd assumed that had she remarried she would have
done so as soon as possible after Henry's demise, perhaps within months.
But
now that Ancestry have indexed Essex
marriages it's so much easier to search – and I soon found a marriage of
Ann Till (widow) to Richard Lawrence (widower) in 1828. This marriage took
place in Coggeshall, where Ann's children had been baptised, but Till is a common surname in the area, so I wasn't going to
jump to conclusions. Ann had made her mark when marrying Henry, and the Ann who
married Richard Lawrence also made her mark, but you can't compare two Xs in the way that you can two signatures – and the names
of the witnesses provided no useful clues.
I
soon found Richard and Ann Lawrence on the 1851 Census, but this didn’t tell me
much: it gave Ann's birthplace as Braintree, which would be useful information
if I could prove it was the right Ann, but the census showed that Richard was 73,
making him a lot older than Ann, and he was also shown as an army pensioner, so
one way or another it seemed quite likely that they'd had no children together,
especially since they were living on their own. The census also showed that Ann
was 63, far older than I had previously assumed – if true it would mean that
neither of the baptisms I'd found fitted.
But
when I searched the 1841 Census I struck gold – I could see from the Findmypast
search results that I'd previously viewed one of the census pages, and I was curious
as to why this might have been. One click later and I
had the answer:
© Crown
Copyright Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London,
England. Used by permission of Findmypast
In
1841 Richard Lawrence and his family were living in the same house as Jane Till
and her family – the surname Lawrence had meant absolutely nothing to me when I
first viewed this page, and there are countless examples of unrelated households
sharing the same address in every census. I probably didn't even know that Jane's
mother was called Ann – but in any case it’s a common
enough name.
However,
now I had good reason to believe that Ann Lawrence was Jane's mother, but that
wasn't the most important discovery – the fact that Richard and Ann called their
daughter Rebecca suggested that Ann was indeed the daughter of Charles &
Rebecca Collis of Braintree. My next discovery was an 1848 marriage between a Rebecca
Lawrance (sic) and Charles Noble – it was in the
right registration district, but I needed more confirmation than that, so I
looked for them in 1851. The census confirmed that Rebecca was a tambor worker
born in Coggeshall, which fitted – but it still didn’t guarantee that it was
the family, so went forward 10 years to 1861.
Once
again I had that feeling of déjà vu – one of the
search results had a tick, showing that I'd viewed that census page before:
© Crown
Copyright Images reproduced by courtesy of The National Archives, London,
England. Used by permission of Findmypast
Henry
Till was one of Jane's illegitimate sons – though born before Jane married
David Pilkington, he benefited from his stepfather's will, and it may be that
they both believed Henry to be David Pilkington's natural son (though there is
no mention of this in the will). Nevertheless, it might explain why he adopted
the surname Pilkington. Although Henry is shown on the census as a lodger, if
you've read the instructions to householders you'll
know that this doesn't preclude the possibility of a familial relationship –
and in this case it provided the confirmation I needed that Rebecca Noble (née Lawrence)
was his half-aunt.
Note:
after the 1861 Census there are no sightings of Henry Till/Pilkington. Did he
change his name again or emigrate, I wonder? The one thing I do know is that he
isn't the Henry Till who married in Lambeth. If you have any theories
please post them here
on the LostCousins Forum.
One
thing that intrigued me during my researches earlier this
week was the discovery that the baptism register showed the forenames of Rebecca
Lawrence as Rebecca Beevor Stock – but from then on
only her forename appears in the records. Stock is the name of a village in
Essex about 20 miles from Coggeshall, and I assumed that Beevor
was an ancestor's surname – but on the 1881 Census one of Rebecca's daughters
was shown as Maud Beaverstock Noble, which puts the
baptism register entry in a new light.
Note:
you won’t find Jabez Noble in the GRO quarterly birth index – he was registered
as Jabez Lawrence, because his parents didn't marry until 18 months after his
birth. However Charles is shown as his father
in the baptism register. I couldn’t find Jabez under either surname in the GRO's
new birth index,
Why are female ancestors neglected?
There
are many benefits to membership of the Society of Genealogists, but one of the
most exclusive is the opportunity to attend 'Lunchtime Chat' events, which are strictly
members-only. On Wednesday 16th March Else Churchill will be leading the discussion on the topic Tracing
Female Ancestors – Why are they neglected?
I've
already reserved a place – even though it's a virtual event, capacity is
strictly limited. If you're an SoG member (and if
not, why not?) I hope to see you there – follow this link to book.
The
first winner of a major prize in this year's competition was Jane in Australia,
who won the opportunity to knock down a 'brick wall' with the help of superstar
genealogist Dr Janet Few – but that's not the only piece of good luck that Jane
has had recently, as you'll see from this wonderful article she has written:
A geni-friend
likes to remind me that I once told him ‘If the ancestors want to be found,
they will reveal themselves’. There is, of course, no substitute for good,
old-fashioned, thorough, methodical research, using primary sources to build a family
tree or family story one piece of evidence at a time. But I’m sure we’ve all
had the experience of spontaneously having a flash of research inspiration that
results in finding an ancestor who has been eluding us for years or even
decades. Are these happenstances simply the culmination of a long period of
research and rumination bringing clarity to our thought processes? Or is it
possible that an ancestor has decided to gently tap us on the shoulder and put
a clue in our path to give us a helping hand. I like to think it’s a little of
both.
But
what about an ancestor who just seems to keep revealing themselves in ways that
no amount of careful research planning and goal setting could ever achieve. The
completely surprising discovery of things you didn’t even know existed so you
couldn’t have been looking for them in the first place. I have a great-great
aunt who has done this to me multiple times over the dozen years. It started
with a complete chance finding of a photo postcard addressed to her at a
collectibles market. At the time, collectibles markets were not a hobby of mine and I had no interest in postcards. Along with the
postcard, there was also a card-mounted photo of her and her sister, my great-grandmother.
It was a heart-stoppingly exciting moment, one that’s
almost impossible to fathom. Imagine how flabbergasted I was when about a year
later, I found another photo of my great-grandmother, a duplicate of one that
hangs on my mother’s wall, at the same market. Read the full story of those
discoveries here.
Fast forward ten or so years, and
late on a Friday afternoon, after a challenging week, a colleague hands me a
post-it note, saying ‘I didn’t put this call through to you because it sounded
a bit odd. Something about an old recipe book’. Half-listening to the words, my
brain was also trying to process the words on the note and there it was – the
name Eva Dow. And I suddenly realised I very much needed to return this call. The
caller explained that she’d bought a recipe book in a charity shop and the book
had Eva’s name inside the front cover. After cooking a few of the recipes, she decided
to see if she could find reunite the recipe book with Eva’s family. Read more
about that find here.
Surely, that was more than my fair
share of amazing, unexplainable family history discoveries. Apparently,
however, Eva is not done with me yet.
On a recent Tuesday morning, I
opened my work mailbox and found the following email:
Hi! I was taking
a look at a Brisbane auction site and found two albums of postcards and
I did a wee bit of research and found a website mentioning Jane is related to
the Dow Family at Maryborough. Anyway, here's the link to the auction for Jan
13, 9:30am. Best wishes, Lisa.
I did not know this person. She
did not know me. We are not related. I clicked on the link - it was to a lot at
an upcoming auction. The lot description was "2 albums theatrical
postcards". No more information. No provenance. As noted above I'm not a
postcard collector (although since 2009 I do pay them more attention than I
used to).
Looking
more closely at the photos of the albums, my excitement level increased. Quite a few of the postcards were address side
up and the address was clearly readable. They were nearly all addressed to Miss
Eva Dow at the house that was the family home for nearly 100 years. As I examined
the images in the lot further and read the messages that were visible on some
of the cards, it became clear that the albums constituted one person’s
collection and that person was Eva.
Naturally, I had to have these
albums. Fortunately, the auction was taking place only a couple of days' hence, was to be conducted online, and advance bidding
was allowed. I placed a bid that I was confident would win me the albums, even
if faced with other keen collectors. Two anxious days later the albums were
mine for the relatively small sum of $95 and 24 hours after that I had them physically
in my hands.
It had been hard to tell from the
photos just how many postcards there were. I had estimated 40-60. In fact, there
are 90 postcards in the two albums. The majority are written to Eva by her
siblings and friends in the first decade of the 20th century; there
are a few between other siblings or to their mother. At that time, they were in
their early 20s and just beginning their lives independent of the family home. Individually,
most of the messages are rather mundane:
Dear Eva, hope you like this one.
I have not your letter yet. Will answer when I get it. What sort of weather is this. Love from Fred and Francia.
Dear Eva, Had no letter from you
this week. Am better from Influenza but have a severe cold. Jack is down at
Chalmers. Love to all from Francia
Dear Eva, We
shall be passing through Maryborough next Tuesday afternoon should like to see your self and Mother. Fond love from your friend L.B.
Others are more poignant, such as
this one below written by my great-grandmother to her mother:
Dear
Mother, Just a line to keep you from wearying. We are
expecting Eva up this afternoon after train time or tonight. Fred was in last
night. Baby & I are getting on so well, 5 days old today. Jack will be in
town tonight. Hope all are well. Love from Fred, Francia and Baby Mae.
That five-day old baby was my
grandmother! Also within the collection is a postcard of Almondbury
Grammar School in Yorkshire, addressed to Eva’s father:
I saw this in a shop window the
other day & I thought you would enjoy a look at your old school. Let me
know any other views you would like.
Not
only does this tell me where my great-great-grandfather went to school it
reveals that he stayed in contact with friends or relatives in Yorkshire long
after he emigrated to Australia. There’s also a photo (right) dated 1860 of my great-grandfather as a seven year-old with one of his
brothers. This is the earliest photo we have of any member of our family tree!
This collection is answering
questions and giving fascinating insight into this family at a when the
siblings were leaving home and starting their adult lives. But it also poses
many questions. Some practical, like: Where have the albums been for the past
50ish years since Eva passed away? Who had them? Who was selling them? And less
tangible questions: What forces were at work that resulted in us being reunited
with this heirloom? Is all this serendipity or is Eva trying to tell me
something? What will be the next thing she puts in my path?
Perhaps these are unanswerable
questions. Regardless, I have a wonderful new family treasure and the project
to scan, transcribe and research the postcards will occupy me for many
enjoyable hours.
What
a wonderful story – thank you, Jane! You might well say that Jane has been fortunate,
but in my experience it's not just about luck – you also have to be alert to
opportunities (see, for example, this article
from 2010, as well as this article
from 2020). By the way, the first photo in this article shows Eva herself, and
was probably taken around the same time as the postcards were being sent.
It's
worth bearing in mind that the instructions for the 1921 England & Wales
Census required householders to enter in column (k) an individual's occupation even
if they were out of work at the time of the census – this is something that has
confused one or two people whose ancestors were unemployed in June 1921.
Tip:
iIf you haven't already done so, it’s worth reading
the instructions to householders shown on the front of the form (this is one of
the additional images that is unlocked when you purchase the main image).
Your dream job?
Essex
Record Office is seeking an Archive Assistant – it’s a permanent position (or
at least, as permanent as any job is these days), with a salary of up to
£22.915 per annum, which is less than the median wage in the UK, but well above
the Minimum Wage.
I'm
sure many readers of this newsletter will meet the requirements of the role,
and the good news is that these days they can't discriminate against those of
us who are a little older than average – though they do state that the role "involves
some manual handling and working at height", which might be problematic
for a few. Mind you, those of use who had to lift those enormous indexes of
birth, marriage and death indexes (in the days before
the Internet changed everything) are likely to be able to handle everything
they throw at us!
Big savings on Who Do You Think You Are? magazine EXCLUSIVE
I'm
delighted to say I've once again been able to persuade Who Do You Think You
Are? magazine to organise an exclusive offer for LostCousins members. I've
been a reader ever since issue 1, and I can tell you from personal experience
that every issue is packed with advice on how to research your family tree,
including how to track down online records, how to get more from DNA tests, and
the ever-popular readers' stories. Naturally you also get to look
behind-the-scenes of the popular Who Do You Think You Are? TV series.
There's
an extra special offer for members in the UK, but there are also offers for
overseas readers, each of which offers a substantial saving on the cover price:
UK - try 6 issues for just
£9.99 - saving 68%
Europe - 13 issues (1 year)
for €45 - saving 54%
Australia
& New Zealand
- 13 issues (1 year) for AU $80 - saving 50%
US
& Canada
– 13 issues for US $59.99 – saving 64%
Rest
of the world
- 13 issues (1 year) for US $59.99 – saving 49%
To
take advantage of any of these deals (and to support LostCousins) please follow
this link.
John
Vize, the brother of my great-great-great-great
grandfather Stephen Vize, was born in Berkshire but
became a brewer in Rotherhithe, just outside London. He clearly prospered –
when he died at the age of 47 in 1823 he left his wife
Esther three freehold houses.
©
Image copyright The National Archives; Kew, Surrey, England; used by kind
permission of Ancestry
But
was his will valid? The copy held by the National Archives in PROB 11 (part of
their collection of Prerogative Court of Canterbury wills) shows that the witnesses
to the will were Joseph Rum, John Porter, and Richard Cooper. Clearly someone
was 'having a laugh', given that porter is a type of ale, and a cooper is a barrel
maker.
Have
you ever come across an example as blatant as this? It certainly gives new
meaning to the phrase 'bearing false witness'!
Royal
Mail have decided that ordinary stamps, or 'definitives',
and Christmas stamps will only be valid for postage after 31st January 2023 if
they incorporate a unique barcode. However you don’t necessarily
have to use up your stamps before then – for 12 months from 31st March 2022
there will be an exchange scheme which allows you to swap old stamps for new.
Of
course, just as in the tale of Aladdin there is a catch – collectors with mint
stamps in their collection will no longer have a safety net to protect them
against market fluctuations. They can either keep the stamps and run the risk
that their value dwindles to almost zero, or exchange
them for new stamps and leave a gap in their collection. Stamps dealers and speculators
will have a more challenging problem – it's likely that they'll exchange large
numbers of stamps whose current value to collectors is hovering around face
value, but the removal of those stamps from the market could lead to price
increases for those who are prepared to gamble.
The
last time something like this happened was in the 1980s, when the Post Office decided
that they would no longer buy back stamps denominated in pre-decimal currency.
On that occasion it worked to my advantage because I was able to purchase
complete sheets of the stamp issued in 1966 to celebrate England's victory in
the World Cup for less than their original face value – making up for the disappointment
I'd felt when, as a 15 year-old schoolboy, I arrived at the Post Office soon
after it opened on the morning of issue only to find that they had already sold
out.
Note:
I'll provide further information and advice regarding the exchange programme
when Royal Mail announce the terms and conditions.
A few weeks ago I bought lots of leeks at a bargain price, but they've
been sitting in the salad drawer of the fridge ever since, because there were
always vegetables that were easier to cook – and after a long hard day's work I
don’t want to spend very long in the kitchen.
But
then I spotted a Delia Smith recipe
online that takes 5 minutes to cook, and even less long to prepare – and because
it tasted so wonderful the first time I tried it, there are now no leeks left!
As
you can see from this photo of the simple meal I cooked for our wedding anniversary
on Monday, the leeks don’t look particularly special – but the flavour is
divine!
Last
night we had fried sea bass fillets with finely sliced root ginger, home-grown red
chilli, and spring onions – and instead of serving it on a bed of plain rice as
I would normally, I mixed the cooked rice with leeks à la Delia,
and added mange touts on the side. Fabuloso!
Note: we don't always dine as well as this,
but those two meals were actually far less expensive
than you might think, thanks to a Valentine's Day offer and other savings.
The good news is that our power was only off for 5 hours - the last time we had
a storm like this it was off for several days. If you'sedre still without power you have my sympathies.
Peter Calver
Founder, LostCousins
© Copyright 2022 Peter Calver
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