First look at the 1921 census

 I haven't done much family history research over the last couple of years.  But the release of the 1921 census on FindMyPast seemed a good opportunity to dip in to it again, to see what information the census could add about some of my closest ancestors, people I had actually known.  

I'm not normally one to 'rush in' as soon as a database is released - there's often too many issues to make it worthwhile, better to wait until demand has settled down a bit and any initial technical problems have been resolved. But, with a short priority list, I reckoned a late night/early morning finding them would mean I could then get on with other activities again.

So that's how I found myself, counting down to that midnight deadline:   

So this was my list of priorities:

Grandfather: Donald Martin PARRY, (1904-1980)

Grandmother: Elsie May THOMAS, (1902-1982)

Grandfather: John William Frederick ALLEN (1892-1967)

Grandmother: Maud Emily Alice DOWDING (1896-1971)

Great Grandparents: George THOMAS (1871-1955), with wife, Rose Hannah (1874-1958)

Great Grandparents: John Prosser ALLEN (1866-1945), with wife, Caroline (1866-1953)

Great Grandparents: Charles Henry DOWDING (1865-1933), with wife, Minnie Louisa (1865-1934)

2xGreat Grandparents: John THOMAS (1843-1929), with wife, Priscilla (1846-1932)

2xGreat Grandparents: George HAYNES (1855-?), with wife, Caroline (1855-1933)

(This was the point at which I realised I still have eight death dates for various 2xGreat grandparents to identify.  A talk by Jeanne Bunting, on the importance of "burying your ancestors", at a Guild of One-Name Studies seminar, flashed briefly across my brain.)

Donald Martin PARRY, (1904-1980)

Finding Donald was easy - he was exactly where I expected him to be, in Rowleston, Herefordshire.  I have already written about him in my "Favourite Photo" post at https://notjusttheparrys.blogspot.com/2018/01/52-ancestors-in-52-weeks-week-2.html  Orphaned when he was 14, he and his sister were separated and sent to live with 'relatives'.  I knew this was a WILLIAMS family for Donald, but now, finally, I know which WILLIAMS family - a Joseph Henry WILLIAMS, with wife Gertrude, and children, Geraldine, William, Henry, Irene, and Gwendolyne.  

A quick search revealed Gertrude's maiden name was THACKWAY, which hasn't appeared in my research so far, and, although I do know about various connected WILLIAMS families, this particular one isn't one I have come across before.  So investigating how they might be related to us has gone onto my "ToDo" list.  

Elsie May THOMAS, (1902-1982) and her parents, George and Rose Hannah THOMAS

After the intial success with Donald, I was feeling positive - but disappointment soon followed, when I searched for Elsie.   Despite trying various search tactics, I was unable to find her.  Her parents were easy to find in Collington, Herefordshire, along with six of her siblings still at home.  But Elsie and three other siblings are absent.  

It's not surprising - they were all old enough to be working (or married) and, as females, would often be 'living in', in service somewhere.  That perhaps increases the possibility of errors in recording or transcription, as the census entry will probably have been completed by a non-family member, who might not get the name correct, or a transcriber not spotting the variations in a household's surnames.

More work needed there, unfortunately.

John William Frederick ALLEN (1892-1967), and his parents, John and Caroline ALLEN

Initially, there was more frustration when I searched for my other grandfather, John.  There are a lot of John ALLENs in London!

Again, I tried a variety of tactics - parts of his first names, birthplace variations, other members of the family.  I wasn't sure whether he would be with his parents - although I did know he was widowed, with a young son who his parents had looked after while John was away in the army.  

Fortunately, when looking at entries in the index, by hovering over the 'payment' options, it is possible to see some of the other people in the household.  So, finally, having searched for Caroline, and checking out an entry appearing in the index as just "C ALLEN", I found them.  Yes, only John senior was recorded by name - all of the others, Caroline, my grandfather, 'John', another son, Robert, and the son of my grandfather, 'John Frederick", are all recorded with just one initial!  Not only that, both my grandfather and his son are shown with the initial "F" - I always knew the son was referred to as "Freddie", but I didn't expect that for my grandfather.

All the other details match up - John senior was a toy maker, working for himself, my grandfather John, was widowed and in the paper trade, and the other son, Robert, was a decorator - so I am quite content that this is the 'right' entry.   The address is also 21 Lambeth Walk - which, if  I had thought about it, I could have used as a search term, since I did know that was their address from at least 1911 until many years after 1921.   And, having now tried the address search, just to check out how it works, I can see from the index that there is another family at the same address - it's the third son of John and Caroline, Albert Edward ALLEN, with his wife, Alice Irene, and baby daughter, Doris Irene.  An interesting contrast between the two families, with even middle names recorded fully in Albert's household, yet most of my grandfather's household recorded with just first initials.  

I'm sure my mother would have found that amusing - she always said her dad could be an "awkward 'so & so'" 😄

Maud Emily Alice DOWDING (1896-1971), and her parents, Charles Henry and Minnie Louisa DOWDING

DOWDING is not such a frequently occurring surname as ALLEN, THOMAS or PARRY are, and there were only a few 'Maud DOWDING's of the right age, so my grandmother was easy to find.  She and her younger sister, Ethel, were living with their parents in Pratt Street.  

The 1921 census gives more occupational details than has been recorded in previous censuses and, although I knew that my grandmother worked in a tobacco factory, it is great to have the name of the factory, "Faulkner & Co", and location, "Blackfriars Rd", as I can now investigate more about them, where exactly the factory was, how large it was, what working conditions were like etc.  All of that detail adds 'colour' to the lives of my ancestors.

I was also interested to see that Maud's sister, Ethel, was a machinist for a "theatrical costumier", H M Raynes, of Waterloo Rd.  That conjures up images of glamorous, extravagant, costumes - definitely worth further research.

 So who did that leave from my priority list - just two sets of 2xGreat Grandparents.

John THOMAS (1843-1929), with wife, Priscilla (1846-1932)

Fortunately, by this age, my ancestors were a bit more 'settled' - and, not only did I find John and Priscilla in Stoke Bliss, where they'd married over forty years before, but with them was one of their daughters, Lilly, and also one of their granddaughters, Edith, who was one of the four daughters 'missing' from George and Rose Hannah's family.

George HAYNES (1855-?), with wife, Caroline (1855-1933)

Again, George and Caroline HAYNES were easy to find, having been living in Sheep Street, Bromyard for many years and still there in 1921.  There's nine in the household, a mixture of family, both children and grandchildren, as well as a couple of boarders.

And, for the first time from any of the 1921 census entries, I have some new family information, since there's a married daughter, Annie PULLEN, as well as two, previously unknown, grandchildren, Ellis Thomas PULLEN and Lilian HAYNES. 

Clearly, I do have a lot more research to carry out now, adding the new members of the family to my files, as well as recording the additional information about occupations etc from the census.  

As well as not finding my grandmother, Elsie May THOMAS, I was unable to find Donald PARRY's sister, Rosina Jane PARRY, despite trying the variety of names she was known by.  I did identify an entry for their aunt in Hereford, who I believe Rosina was sent to live with after their father had died in 1918, as well as possible entries for the aunt's two daughters, who had moved to London by 1921.  Unfortunately, according to one of Rosina's daughters, Rosina also moved to London when she was about 16 - which would be in 1921 - so she could be almost anywhere that year! 

But, overall, I felt this was a fairly successful set of results for my first foray into the 1921 census (and I wasn't that late to bed, either!)

2020 Week 7: 52 Ancestors - and their descendants. John PARRY & Rosina PREECE

One of the lessons I learnt quite quickly, when I began using DNA as a tool for researching my family history, was that I couldn't limit my research in the way that my parents had.

For my father, his goal was to trace the direct lines back. Yes, he would use information about any siblings if it helped him to identify the 'right' line, but those siblings were never a focus in his research.

My mother was more interested in family life.  How many siblings did her ancestor have? What was life like for the family growing up?  And how did that mother cope with ten children?  (Answer, as supplied by the aunt with ten children - "It's all right, after the first couple, the oldest bring up the rest" )

Now that I am making use of DNA results in the research process, I realised that the people who make up our DNA match lists (if genuine, genealogical matches, which they might not always be) have to be descendants of our ancestors, ie in order to trace our connection, it is not enough to just know who the siblings of our ancestors were, sometimes we might have to follow them down through several generations in order to arrive at our DNA matches.

Which is why, as well as posting about my direct ancestors in this series, after each couple, I will include a post about their other children and any generations beyond that, that I know about - subject to any privacy considerations regarding living people, of course.

For close generations, as in the case of my great grandparents, John PARRY & Rosina Louisa PREECE, we hit the privacy limit quite quickly.

John and Rosina had two children, my grandfather, Donald, and his sister, Rosina Jane, who was always known as "Aunty Joan" by my Dad's generation. Sadly, their mother Rosina Louisa died after giving birth to Rosina Joan and so it is unlikely I will ever find any records showing the whole family together.  John also died quite young so the children, aged 13 and 14, were sent to live with separate relatives.

But, despite such beginnings, the known descendants of John and Rosina have numbered over eighty five people, spread across four generations. They aren't all living any more but, even so, I think that's an impressive legacy, from such a short marriage.

A few of the descendants of John and Rosina have taken DNA tests and show up as matches to me at the levels which would be expected for such close relatives.  It is very useful having such relatives in the DNA databases, as they make it possible to narrow down which lines of my ancestry any shared matches are likely to connect to:

 

How DNA tested close relatives can help in identifying connections to shared DNA matches

2020 52Anc. Wk 6: Rosina Louisa PREECE (1882 - 1905)

Bridge Cottage, Mordiford, Herefordshire. (1901 census location)

One of the reasons for taking up the "52 ancestors in 52 Weeks" challenge in the way that I am doing it - effectively "auditing" the information I have on each person - is to finally make some headway with the "Do-over" that I started in 2015.  I have a lot of documents and files relating to my family history, but many of them were produced, or obtained, by my parents, rather than by me.  So the Do-Over is a good opportunity for me to "start again" from myself, to ensure my research is on a proper footing, and that everything is recorded properly. It is also a way for me to get to 'know' my ancestors, as well for me to add any additional information now available since my parents did their research.

This process of going through everything is bringing to my attention information that I had missed when just looking at Dad's family tree file. 

Rosina Louisa PREECE, my Dad's paternal grandmother, was born 18 January 1882, in Park Street, Hereford.  Her parents were Charles PREECE, a draper, and Jane, formerly TAYLOR.

I had not realised that Rosina's birth was actually registered with the names "Rosa Louisa", although later documentation, (two census records, her marriage certificate, her two children's birth certificates, and her death certificate) all refer to her as Rosina.

Something else I had not noticed - the birth was registered on the 4th March 1882, over six weeks after the event.

The informant for the birth registration was a Susan NICHOLAS, who lived in Conningsby Street, and who is described as having been present at the birth.   When I first saw who registered the birth, I just wondered, was Susan a friend or a relative?  To be trusted to register the event, I suspected she was more than just a casual acquaintance - but then again, it did seem odd that she might have made a mistake about the name.

Once I noticed how long it had taken for the birth to be registered, I wondered if I had got this wrong. Perhaps it is more likely that Susan was a local woman who regularly attended women during childbirth - effectively an untrained midwife.  It was the responsibility of someone present to register the birth and, if Susan was acting as a midwife and she then passed on to the Registrar a list of babies she'd attended in this "semi official" capacity, that might make more sense regarding the late registration and the name discrepancy.

A Susan Nicholas does appear in Hereford in the 1871 - 1891 censuses, although not living in Coningsby Street.  She's the wife of a Joseph Nicholas, who was a sawyer.  There's no occupation shown for Susan, but that's probably not unsurprising, since midwifery wasn't legally recognised until 1902.

I wonder if it's possible to check whether there are many other children whose births were registered by Susan?

But back to Rosina....

Rosina was the second known child of Charles and Jane, the first being William Charles PREECE, who was born in Hereford in 1870.  Since there are almost twelve years between the births of the two children, one wonders at the family circumstances - the father, Charles, is present with Jane in the 1871 census but, in the 1881 census, Jane is the head of the household in Park St., working as a laundress but still shown as being married.

In the 1891 census, Rosina and her mother, Jane, now widowed, appear in Norton, Radnorshire.  The address is "The Laundry", but the enumeration schedule number is 26A, with number 26 being described as "Gardener's Cottage".  Based on the enumerator's marks, as well as this numbering, I suspect the cottage and laundry were the same property. The building appears to have been part of the Boultibrooke estate of the Jones-Brydges family and, since Jane's occupation is given as a domestic laundress, it seems likely she was working for that family.

By 1901, the family are living in Bridge Cottage, Mordiford, Herefordshire.  In the census for that year, as well as Rosina Louisa, aged 19, and her mother Jane Elizabeth, there is a child, Ethel Kate PREECE, aged four, who is described as a daughter to Jane.  However, since Ethel Kate was born in Abertillery, Monmouthshire, she is more likely to be one of the daughters of Jane and Charles' son, William Charles PREECE and would be the grandchild of Jane.

Rosina married John PARRY, at the parish church in Mordiford, on the 16th April 1903.  John was 37, Rosina was 21.  Her father, Charles PREECE, is not shown as deceased on the certificate but, from the 1891 and 1901 census entries, where her mother is shown as widowed, it appears he was (or certainly was nowhere to be seen!) The witnesses were her brother, William Charles PREECE, and John's brother-in-law, Thomas Daniel SMALLMAN.

John and Rosina had two children, one of which was my grandfather, Donald.  Sadly, Rosina died after giving birth to her second child, a daughter, her death caused by "flooding collapse" two hours after the delivery, followed by cardiac failure 16 days later.  She was just 23 years old. 

John PARRY was with her when she died.  One can only imagine the impact the death of his young wife would have had on him. 

I'm sure many of you have similar tragedies in your family history.  How lucky we are these days, to have our modern medical care, which reduces the numbers of such incidents.





Sources
1871 census: (Rosina's parents, Charles & Jane, with brother, William Charles, staying with Jane's parents, William and Mary TAYLOR) Class: RG10; Piece: 2699; Folio: 60; Page: 39;
1881 census : (Rosina's mother, Jane, and brother, plus visitor/boarders) RG11; Piece: 2594; Folio: 83; Page: 41;
1891 census: Class: RG12; Piece: 4581; Folio: 18; Page: 5;
1901 census: Class: RG13; Piece: 2478; Folio: 60; Page: 4;

Census entries for a possible Susan NICHOLAS:
1871 (Green St, St Owen, Hereford) Class: RG10; Piece: 2698; Folio: 66; Page: 39;
1881 (Gaol St, St Owen, Hereford) Class: RG11; Piece: 2595; Folio: 85; Page: 6; G
1891 (Hunts Cottage, All Saints, Hereford) Class: RG12; Piece: 2061; Folio: 94; Page: 7;


First Midwives Act 1902 - https://memoriesofnursing.uk/articles/midwifery-in-britain-in-the-twentieth-century
Enumerators marks:  A single diagonal line is used between households, or families, within the same building, and double diagonal lines are used between buildings.

2020 52Anc. Wk 5: John Parry (1865 - 1918)

The theme for Week 5 of the 2020 '52 ancestors in 52 weeks' was "So Far Away" and, because I am now moving on to ancestors that I didn't know personally, that seems applicable as, historically, they are so far away from me!

This post is about John PARRY, my great grandfather.  Since he died in 1918, when his son, my grandfather Donald, was only 14, none of my father's generation knew John either, so there are very few stories passed down about him and what I know is being reconstructed from the records.

John was born on the 3rd September 1865, in Glynfach, Breconshire, according to the birth certificate, although his birthplace is often recorded in census records as "Capel-y-ffin".  He was the second son of Thomas PARRY and Sarah, formerly JONES.  His siblings were Thomas, Elizabeth, and Lewis.

The first census John appears in is 1871, when the family is living in Llanelen, Monmouthshire.  Sadly, John's mother, Sarah, and his brother, Lewis, had already passed away and the family were living with John's grandmother, Anna PARRY (frequently recorded as "Hannah" but not in this census).  John's uncle, James PARRY, aged 23, was also living there.

In 1881, John is living with his grandparents, William and Hannah JONES, in Tyndrain, Glynfach, Breconshire, where he is recorded as a Farmer's son, working with his grandfather.

I've struggled to identify John in the 1891 census.  However, my Dad did think that, at some stage, John travelled across to America as a cattle man.  It is possible that this explains my inability to find him in this census, and "John Parry" is just too common a name for me to identify him amongst records such as passenger lists etc, at the moment.

However, by 1901, John is living in Holmer, Hereford, with his occupation as a "Cattle Dealer".  He is still single but living with him is his sister-in-law, Mary PARRY, and her three children, Eleanor, Elizabeth, and Walter.  Although Mary is recorded as married, unbeknown to them, she had been widowed by then.  John's brother, Thomas, had been killed in July 1900 in South Africa, during the Boer War.

John married Rosina Louisa PREECE, on the 16 April 1903, in Mordiford, Herefordshire.  Their first child, Donald, was born in Mordiford, their second, Rosina Jane, in Cornewall Street, Hereford.

Sadly, Rosina died having given birth to their second child and John was left to bring up the two children on his own, no doubt with assistance from friends and relatives.

One of Amy Johnson Crow's prompts for this week's topic was "Maybe you found an ancestor far from where you expected?".  And, yes, I think John's 1911 census entry fits that description, although not because of distance - but because he is in Hereford Gaol!

That certainly was far away from the situation I expected him to be in, as a widowed father of two, in employment as a cattle dealer (and no, there's no hints of "rustling"!)

I am still piecing together the full story of his stay in prison, so I am not going to write more about that at the moment.  But just to say, for now, that I imagine nine months in prison must have had quite an impact on John and his two young children who, at that time, were aged just seven and five.

However, I know from Poll Books for 1910 and 1912 that John Parry was living at 104 Widemarsh Street, Hereford, both before and after his time in prison.  This is the address where his children were boarding in 1911, so clearly a level of stability was maintained for them while their father was absent.  The description of the rooms occupied shows "Bedroom, first floor, sitting room, ground floor, furnished". 

The Landlord (or, at least, the person to whom the rent was paid), was a Charles OLDACRE.  Charles Edward OLDACRE is also the Head in the 1911 census, living in the property with his wife and three children of their own.  There are also another two adult boarders.  Charles is occupied in "horse dealing" and one of the other boarders is a "stock dealer".

The photograph below is not of the relevant house, but just one I took in 2011.  At the time, I didn't have all the details I do now about John's addresses, but I knew that 'Widemarsh Street' was an address my Dad had mentioned, so it seemed like a good idea to photograph the sign showing the name.

A corner of Widemarsh Street, Hereford, photographed in 2011

John passed away on the 21st November 1918, aged just 53.  His address at the time was 18 Newmarket Street, Hereford, and the informant was an M A FRANCIS, described as a step-niece, who was present at the death. 

The causes of death were given as "morbis cordis" and "syncope".  My Dad obtained the certificate and appears to have asked what the causes meant since, stored with the death certificate, is a response stating that morbis cordis is heart failure, and that this would have been the most likely term to put if John had died as a result of a general weakness following 'flu'.  The syncope means 'fainting' - although, as the respondent says "I never knew it was fatal!"

Whether John had suffered from the flu of 1918, or whether there were other factors which caused his death at such an age, I will probably never know.  Following his death, I believe the two children were sent to live with other relatives, Rosina possibly in Hereford but later in London, and Donald to the Rowlestone area of Herefordshire.

I don't know exactly what John's occupation as a cattle dealer involved - but writing this reminded me of the shows my family visited when I was young so I thought I would end with a cattle photograph, probably taken in the early 1960s, more than likely at the Three Counties Showground, Malvern.

Cattle parade, photographed approx. 1965

1871 census: Class: RG10; Piece: 5311; Folio: 28; Page: 9; 
1881 census: Class: RG11; Piece: 5470; Folio: 71; Page: 1
1901 census: Class: RG13; Piece: 2482; Folio: 90; Page: 32
1911 census: Class: RG14; Piece: 15712; Schedule Number: 215