Elsie May THOMAS - another look at the 1921 census

Back in January 2022, I wrote about the release of the UK 1921 census, which is currently only available through FindMyPast, and about those ancestors I had expected to find in it. [That post, "First look at the 1921 census" can be seen here ]

At the time, I was unable to find my grandmother, Elsie May THOMAS, who was not at home with her parents, George and Rose THOMAS in Collington.  Six of her siblings were with them, including Elsie's older brother, Ernest:

As can be seen, the four youngest children are all aged under fourteen, and still in full time education, but Matilda, at 15, is already working as a servant for someone else in nearby Wolferlow.

Since the ages of the 'missing' older girls ranged from seventeen to twenty four, I suspected they were all living away from home, probably employed in some form of domestic service.  This was soon confirmed to be the case for the eldest girl, Edith, aged 24, who I found with her grandparents, John and Priscilla THOMAS, in Stoke Bliss, recorded as working for John, dealing with the poultry and dairy work.

The other two girls were not difficult to find: 

Hilda Mary THOMAS, aged 22, was in Mamble, Cleobury Mortimer, in Shropshire, employed as a "Help" to a farmer and his wife, who had an eight month old baby.

And Ada Annie, at 17, was a domestic servant for another family in Collington. 

But there was no sign of Elsie.  I suspected that she was in the database somewhere, probably local to the rest of the family, but just mistranscribed to such an extent that it made her difficult to find.  I did try some possible alternative spellings, but without success.

This is always a problem when using computerised databases - if you don't search using the spellings that match what is recorded in the database, even with the use of wildcards, it can be impossible to find people.

Fortunately, in October last year, FindMyPast introduced an additional subscription covering the 1921 census.  So, for a relatively small payment (compared to what I could have previously spent trying out "possible" entries), I would be able to view all of the 1921 census images.  This meant that I could go back to using the "old" method for finding someone in a census, ie ploughing through the images page by page.

And it didn't take long.  

As I had suspected, Elsie was still local, in Upper Sapey, just a few miles from Collington, working as a general domestic servant.  She had been transcribed under the name of "Elsie Mary NAMAS"

 

After obtaining confirmation from some of the other Guild members, who agreed with me that it was "May," rather than "Mary," and also that the surname was more likely to be THOMAS, than NAMAS, I contacted FindMyPast, who also agreed and soon made the correction.

With hindsight, it becomes easy to ask, "Why didn't I try.... combination of search terms?" In my defence, all I can say is that I did my best, especially given that it was past midnight, and many of the combinations I did try were producing hundreds, if not thousands, of results. 

So I am just happy that Elsie had a job fairly locally and that the 'old' method therefore worked quite quickly.

The ongoing search for my ALLEN ancestry

I recently returned to looking at my mother's ALLEN ancestry.  The research on this line hit a 'brick wall' some years ago, with an Edward ALLEN, born about 1786 who moved into London from Hertfordshire, probably sometime around 1840.  He appears in Lambeth in the 1841 census, with his wife, Sophia, and four of their eight children, all of them recorded as born outside of the county.* 

The connection back to Hertfordshire had been made (after many years of searching!) following the discovery of the baptism of Edward's son, John Prosser ALLEN, my 2x great grandfather, in the parish of Thundridge, on one of the LDS Vital Records cds.    

In the later censuses, once the family are in London, they never seem to put their parish of birth, merely the county, and, in several of the census entries, it reads more like "Herefordshire" than "Hertfordshire".  Hence the long search for where they had come from.

Having finally identified the relevant parish, I'd viewed the parish registers on microfilm at my local LDS Family History Centre. The register for John's baptism gave the family's address as High Cross, Standon - which is actually a hamlet in the adjoining parish to Thundridge.  Working through the register, I found the baptisms of the other children who appear in the censuses, as well as discovering the burial of Edward and Sophia's eldest daughter, Louisa, in April 1841, with the address recorded as Lambeth. So that helped to confirm the connection.

But attempting to take the family line any further back stalled with the discovery that there were two Edward ALLENs born around the same time - one Edward born 1785, son of a John and Jane, and the other Edward born 1787, son of an Edward and Ann - and no obvious way to confirm which one was 'mine'.  

ALLEN is quite a 'popular' surname and so, with other activities to deal with at the time, it was easiest to pause the research there.  Returning to it again recently, I first refreshed my memory by grouping the various entries, which I'd previously collected in a spreadsheet, into families.  John and Jane had four children between 1779-1785: William, Ann, Sarah, and Edward, with a possible fifth, an Elizabeth, christened with parents, John and "Jenny", in 1789.  Edward and Ann had six children between 1781-1791: George, Christian, Hariott, Edward, Richard and John Canfield. [Note: two spellings of this name, "Canfield" and "Camfield," appear in the records so, for any references below, to searching for the name, I will have checked both versions.]  

Since the two couples were having children in the same place, over similar time periods, it seemed possible that Edward and John might be brothers.

The John Canfield ALLEN later used the middle name of "Canfield" for his first two sons, and then the middle name of "Kilham" for two others, but at least three other sons had no middle name.  In view of the fact that my Edward also only gave one of his seven sons a middle name, that seemed intriguing.  But, since I knew that this John Canfield ALLEN was not my ancestor, I had not paid a great deal of attention to him before.  

However, this time, I decided to research him, since he was the brother of one of the Edwards who 'might' be my ancestor.  Following him through the censuses - I promptly realised that, in 1851, he has his brother Edward living with him!*  Maybe I saw this and didn't realise the significance before, or maybe it wasn't available then (we forget how many records the genealogy companies have added over the years).  But, since I know that 'my' Edward had died in Lambeth in 1849, this obviously means that I can now discount the baptism entry for Edward, the son of Edward and Ann.  

So, potentially the Edward, son of John and Jane, could be the correct one for my line.  

But how could I be sure? 

As well as searching for John Canfield ALLEN on the genealogy sites, I'd looked in the National Archives catalogue, since the combination of his three names was likely to be easy to identify.  There I found a couple of relevant references, for example "Henry Allen of Wadesmill, Thundridge, son of John Canfield Allen, farmer..." and a conveyance to him of land in High Cross, Standon.

Then I tried just "Canfield AND Allen" - that resulted in a reference to a Court Roll in April 1744, which was described as "Admission of Mary Allen, widow, under will and surrender of Andrew Camfield."

Since this item is held by Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies, I switched to their catalogue, where I found another interesting and very informative entry:

Title: Waggon and Horses

Description: (Formerly Gun and Catherine Wheel, formerly Gun), blacksmiths shop and yard; messuage abutting on its north side; 2 other messuages all in High Cross, copy will, Andrew Canfield of Highcross blacksmith proved 15 Sep 1741; copy will and codicil, Edward Allen the elder of Highcross, blacksmith, 29 Dec 1791; probate John Forster of High Cross, labourer, 1 May 1746; copy will, Edward Mason of Stanstead Abbott, cordwainer, proved 16 May 1788 (74)

Aha! Relevant names in the relevant place.  And, what was particularly interesting to me, they were both blacksmiths.  Because, although John Canfield ALLEN's occupation is generally recorded as farmer, or corn factor, the occupation of my ancestor, Edward ALLEN, was that of a blacksmith.  

Back on FindMyPast, I found a burial for an Andrew Canfield, blacksmith, in Great Hormead on 20 August 1741, which seemed to be the only one that fitted the Will reference.  Another entry among the results caught my eye - one, dated 1740, for an Andrew Canfield in the "Essex Wills Beneficiaries Index, 1675-1858"  Checking the details indicated that he was the father-in-law to the testator, a "W Allin", of Great Hormead.

The Essex Wills Beneficiaries Index is, as one might expect, an index of the beneficiaries in Wills - but there are a few 'unexpected' features.  It just covers Wills held in the Essex Record Office and primarily only lists beneficiaries who have a different surname from the testator.  The place given might be for the testator, and not the beneficiary.  Also the date given is the date of the Will, ie when it was written, not the date when it was proved, which could be some years later.  I found helpful information about the Index on the "Essex and Sussex Surnames" site at, https://essexandsuffolksurnames.co.uk/essex-wills-beneficiaries-index/ 

Having found the entry referring to Andrew CANFIELD, I then searched for ALLENs in the Beneficiaries Index and found the following, potentially relevant, entries:

BR22 383, dated 1731, testator: A Canfield [Standon] listing ALLEN beneficiaries of Mary (dau), William (son-in-law), and then William, John and Edward, all grandsons.

MR12 50, dated 1752, testator M BANGS [Standon] listing ALLEN beneficiaries of Jane (daughter) and John (son-in-law).

MR12 50, dated 1755, testator W BANGS [Standon] listing ALLEN beneficiaries of Jane (daughter) and John (son-in-law).

So, based on the first entry, Andrew CANFIELD had a daughter, Mary, who married a William ALLEN.  They had children, William, John and Edward.  Could the John and Edward be the two men in the "Edward and Ann" and "John and Jane" couples above?

At this point, several issues dawned on me:

• The marriage of Jane BANGS to John ALLEN (of Braughing), which, according to FindMyPast, took place in Standon in 1749, was not in my spreadsheet. Therefore my spreadsheet must be incomplete.
• If that's the John and Jane ALLEN having children between 1779-1785, then that's a long gap between their marriage and having children.
• Likewise, since Andrew Canfield listed his grandsons, William, John and Edward, when he wrote his Will in 1731, that John and Edward would have to be aged around fifty before having children, if they were the fathers in the two families I listed above. 

So clearly, despite the occurrence of the "right" names and occupations, the entries are unlikely to fit together in such a straightforward way as it initially might appear - which is why this is an "ongoing" search!

Next steps:

• Extract more of the parish register entries into my spreadsheet, widening the search to other parishes beyond my initial selection.
• Obtain copies of the relevant Wills, transcribe them, and confirm the relationships between the  individuals mentioned, as well as look for any further identifying features.
• Check out the tithe records relating to land and properties owned, and occupied, by the ALLENs to establish exactly who was living where.
• Explore, in more detail, the entries in the various archives' catalogues relating to land and property ownership.

The following is just a screenshot of a quick map, drawn in Google Maps and then opened in Google Earth, in order to show the relationships between the various places mentioned above.  The linear pattern is interesting, since I remember visiting an historic "Smithy" once, where it was mentioned that blacksmiths' workshops would often be along a main route. Had the family established themselves along a main route from London to Cambridge? [or is it just an artifact of how I produced the map! 😊]

* Additional information about sources:

1841 Lambeth census for Edward, Sophia and 4 children: HO107/1058/9/13/20/2387 (Piece/Book/Folio/Page/Schedule) Union Street, St Mary Lambeth, London.

1851 census for John Canfield ALLEN and his family: HO107/1705/570/1/3 (Piece/Folio/Page/Schedule) Plashes Farm, Standon, Ware, Hertfordshire, England

TNA Entry relating to the Court Roll: https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/2e9b8cb6-8ad3-48ac-98bc-c9b0d1636a79

Hertfordshire Archives and Local Studies entry about the Waggon and Horses: https://www.hertfordshirearchives.org.uk/collections/getrecord/GB46_CDESb_1_1_40_2

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!)

The family of George THOMAS and Rose Hannah HAYNES

We're now at the end of week 17 of the year and I am only just posting what should have been week 10 of my "52 ancestors and their descendants".  Stuff Happens! 🙂

I am glad I have attempted the "52 ancestors in 52 weeks" principle again, even if I wasn't sticking to the suggested topics.  But it is clear to me that I currently do not have the research documented well enough to try working to that schedule.  Hence I won't be including that as part of the title anymore and will remove the badge from the blog, as well.  From now on, I shall just be posting about my ancestors, and their descendants, as and when it suits the research carried out.

Anyway, on with my second set of paternal great grandparents, my Dad's maternal grandparents, George THOMAS and Rose Hannah HAYNES.

George and Rose were married on the 25th December 1895, in Bromyard parish Church.  Although Rose Hannah's names had been recorded as "Rose Hannah" at her birth, and "Rosannah" in the 1881 census, perhaps indicating that the family did make common use of her middle name, at her marriage only the name "Rose" is recorded:

The 1895 marriage certificate of George THOMAS & Rose HAYNES

Marriage dates like this always tend to stand out, when I come across them in the records.  Why marry on the 25th December - Christmas Day? It is probably not a date that many of us in the UK these days would consider getting married on.

But, in George and Rose Hannah's time, there weren't the 'holiday entitlements' that the majority of working folk enjoy now.  Most people worked six days a week and, if they didn't work, they didn't get paid.  So taking time off to get married was often not an option.  Weddings were therefore planned for the few public holidays that existed.

When George and Rose Hannah married, George was 24, working as a carter and living at Stoke Bliss, and Rose was 21, a domestic servant, resident in Bromyard.  The certified copy of the certificate that I have was hand written in 1980, so does not contain any of the genuine signatures, but it appears that both George and Rose, as well as their two witnesses, Henry JAMES and Lilly THOMAS (probably one of George's sisters) were able to sign for themselves.

George and Rose's first child, Edith, was born on the 30th October 1896.  At that time they were living at Brick Barns, Underley, Wolferlow, in Herefordshire.

In the 1891 census, there were three properties called "Underley" (Lower, Middle and Upper), as well as two cottages called "Underley Cottage"  The Brick Barns were enumerated in between Middle Underley and Upper Underley and two of George's sisters, Matilda and Annie, were working as servants at Upper Underley.  The two girls were living with the family of a Samuel JONES.  But a William BALDWIN lived at Lower Underley and I believe, from family stories, that various members of the THOMAS family have worked for the BALDWINs over the years.

Both Upper Underley and Lower Underley are listed buildings, the former a medieval hall house, the latter dating from the late eighteenth century.  A barn to the north west of Lower Underley, dating from the early nineteenth century, is also a listed building. Described as a "large red brick barn with twin gabled wing. Tile roof with gable ends," one wonders if this might have been where George and Rose were living when Edith was born.

However, based on the enumeration order, since "Middle Underley" was further north than the listed barn (which is within the same group of buildings as Lower Underley), it seems more likely that the relevant "Brick Barns" was closer to Upper Underley.

George and Rose's second child, Ernest, was born on the 2nd May 1899.  The address this time is just given as Underley, Wolferlow, so it is impossible to identify which of the Underley properties the family were living in.

But when their third child, Hilda Mary, is born on the 13th November 1900, their address is again listed as Brick Barns, Underley, so it seems plausible they had been living there all the time.

By the time of the 1901 census, the family had moved to Coombs Wood, Collington - still in Herefordshire.  I suspect this was somewhere in the region identified as "Cwm Wood" on contemporary maps.

It was here that my grandmother, Elsie May, was born on the 3rd April 1902.  George, who had been described as a "general laborer" for their first three children's births, was this time described as a "Farmer".

However, when their fifth child, Ada Annie, was born on the 20th April 1904, his occupation was once again "General Laborer".  George was the informant for each of these births so one wonders why the variation.  Perhaps, as I have found with other ancestors, George was engaged in some small scale farming for himself, whilst also labouring on behalf of an employer, so both occupations were correct.

Matilda Jane was the next child, born on the 17th May 1906, followed by Emily, on the 25th April 1908. Emily's is the first birth registered by their mother, Rose.  One suspects registration had initially been forgotten, as the birth isn't registered until the 11th June 1908, five days over the 42 day time limit.  They might have been fined for this late registration, but perhaps there was some leeway as to when fines were applied.  Since the Registrar was the same one who had registered all of their previous children, he would be in a position to identify that they were not generally a family who were 'non-compliant', so I hope he was able to waive the fine.  (I wonder if the Registrars kept records of fines?)

On the 30th April 1910, the eighth child and second son, George John, was born.

The 1911 census shows the family at "Coombs Wood in Whitbourne, Worcester" - I suspect this is yet another case where the family haven't moved but the county boundary (at least, administratively for the census) has!  Present are George, Rose, Ernest, Hilda, Elsie, Ada, Matilda, Emily and George.

The oldest daughter, Edith, aged 14, is working as a general domestic servant at Butterley Mill Bromyard.  Although it is often difficult to identify individuals working as servants away from their families, I think the fact that Edith's birth place is recorded as "Barn House Woffellow", I can be quite confident about this entry.🙂

In the years following the census, two further children were born, both girls, Olive, on the 5th December 1912, and finally, Dorothy Rose, on the 1st June 1915.

From my point of view, there is a benefit from this number of children being in the family - it has led to there being many descendants, which increases the chances of some of them deciding to take a DNA test.

George and Rose had twenty nine grandchildren (that I know of) and I am aware of at least fifty two other great grandchildren.  Since these great grandchildren are all within the range of 'siblings to second cousins' to me, any of them that take a DNA test should show up as matching me.

Already, I have a cluster of "shared matches" as a result, and any new matches that also match people in this cluster can therefore be identified as connected to my THOMAS/HAYNES ancestral lines in some way, even if I don't know the exact link.

It is wonderful to be able to confirm my genealogy through the use of DNA like this.


References
Christmas Day weddings - https://www.findmypast.co.uk/blog/discoveries/christmas-day-weddings

Historic England Listings for Underley, Herefordshire:
https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/results/?searchType=NHLE+Simple&search=underley%2C+herefordshire

Census 
1891: (Matilda and Annie THOMAS) Class RG12; Piece: 2071; Folio: 12; Page: 2
1901: Class: RG13; Piece: 2491; Folio: 8; Page: 7
1911: Class: RG14; Piece: 15795; Schedule Number: 20
1911 (Edith): Class: RG14; Piece: 15787; Schedule Number: 50  

Ancestry DNA matches - passing 200 "4th cousins or closer"

I was planning to post an update to my Ancestry DNA match numbers when I reached 200 4th cousins or closer.

But clearly someone, somewhere, has a sense of humour!

Having been slowly creeping up towards 200 over the last few weeks....

....yesterday when I checked, the total had jumped from the previous day's 198, up by three to 201, thus missing out 200! 😀

An increase like this is what one might expect, when a group of family members all decide to test at the same time.  The closest match is a predicted third cousin to me and then the other two are both predicted 4th cousins.

I think it's the first time I've received such a batch of close matches, all on the same day.

Initially. all three matches showed with unlinked trees - but at least they were trees that featured, not just one of my surnames, ALLEN, but also the similar use of a particular middle name.   The trees have since been linked to the matches, so I can now identify the relationships between the three of them.

Another good thing was that, out of the nine other DNA matches shared between myself and the closest new match, I have already identified a common ALLEN ancestor with seven of them, and another one connects to the ALLEN surname, although we've not proved who the shared ancestor is yet.  The ninth match has two other shared matches, creating an isolated group that I hadn’t been able to link into an ancestral line, so perhaps these new matches might lead to the opportunity to do so.

One would think that, with all this information, the connection to the new matches should be obvious, but I didn't recognise the oldest ALLEN ancestor in their line. 

However, following some research today, I have now written to the match.  Potentially, if there is any doubt about the connection between their oldest two generations, then I might just have the answer. 🙂

2020 52anc. Wk 9: Rose Hannah HAYNES (1874-1958)

Rose Hannah HAYNES, one of my paternal great grandmothers, was born on the 20th December 1874, the daughter of George HAYNES and Caroline HARRIS.  At the time, the family were living at 16 Henry Street, St Mary, Cardiff, Glamorganshire.

By the time of the 1881 census, the family were living in Bromyard, Herefordshire - which is where both of Rose Hannah's parents had been born.  What they were doing in Cardiff at the time of her birth is currently unknown and mobility is always an interesting subject, so I'll try researching that when I consider her parents as a couple.

These are the 1881 census details:
[Class: RG11; Piece: 2601; Folio: 30; Page: 11;]
Bromyard, Herefordshire
Brick Clamp

Geo. Haynes, Head, Mar, 25, Ag Labourer, Herefordshire Bromyard

Caroline Haynes, Wife, Mar, 27, Herefordshire Bromyard

Rosannah Haynes, Daur, 6, Scholar, Cardiff

Albert Haynes, Son, 4, Herefordshire Bromyard

George Haynes, Son, 3, Herefordshire Bromyard

Emma Haynes, Daur, 1, Herefordshire Bromyard

So it is clear the family moved back to Bromyard relatively soon after Rose Hannah's birth and a baptism entry for "Rosanna Haynes", with the parents George and Caroline, took place in Bromyard on the 8 Nov 1875, so it is possibly safe to assume they had moved back by then.

Further siblings arrived in the years before the next census and I imagine Rose Hannah helped around the house and with her younger siblings. However, by 1891 she is out at work, as a domestic servant:

1891 census
[Class: RG12; Piece: 2070; Folio: 30; Page: 4; ]
Much Cowarne, Herefordshire, England
Leighton Court
(The DENT family, a farmer, with his wife and six children aged between 13 - 19)
Rose HAYNES, Serv, S, 19, General Servant Domestic, Wales Cardiff

I haven't just assumed that this is the correct entry, especially given the couple of years discrepancy on her age.  However, whilst searching on Ancestry for Ros* Haynes, +/-5 years of her birth year, and no birth place specified, does produce a number of results, none of them look likely to be an entry for "my" Rose Hannah in 1891, nor is there any person in the other years', or database, results, who could be this one in 1891.  So, at the moment, my conclusion is that either she had added a few years to her age, or there was just a mistake in recording it.  There are some other age variations across the various records for the family, which I shall look into in the future.

Her parents and siblings are still living at Brick Clamp in Bromyard in 1891:

[Class: RG12; Piece: 2069; Folio: 26; Page: 9;]
Brick Clamp, Bromyard
George Haynes, Head, M, 35, General Labourer, Herefordshire, Bromyard
Caroline Haynes, Wife, M, 38, Machinist, Herefordshire, Bromyard
Albert Haynes, Son, S, 16, Agricultural Labourer, Herefordshire, Bromyard
George Haynes, Son, 14, Agricultural Labourer, Herefordshire, Bromyard
Emily Haynes, Daur, 13, Scholar, Herefordshire, Bromyard
Henry Haynes, Son, 8,  Scholar, Herefordshire, Bromyard
Ann Haynes, Daur, 5, Herefordshire, Bromyard
Jane Haynes, Daur, 3, Herefordshire, Bromyard
Ernest Haynes, Son, 2, Herefordshire, Bromyard
Florence Haynes, Daur, 7mo, Herefordshire, Bromyard

Rose Hannah HAYNES married George THOMAS in the Bromyard parish church, on the 25th December 1895.  Their married life, and descendants, will be the topic for my next post.

2020 52anc. Wk 8: George THOMAS (1871-1955)

I'm now starting the entries for my second set of paternal great grandparents, George THOMAS and Rose Hannah HAYNES

George THOMAS was born on the 14th April 1871, at Little Kyre, Worcestershire,  the second child of at least seven born to John THOMAS and Priscilla, formerly ROBINSON.

The 1871 census was taken on the 2 April 1871 so, unfortunately, he doesn't appear in a census until he is almost 10 years old.

In the 1881 census, George is with his parents and three younger siblings in Little Kyre, Worcestershire:

[1881: Class: RG11; Piece: 2907; Folio: 20; Page: 3; ]
Bank Street
John Thomas, Head, Mar, 38, Mason Bricklayer, Herefordsh Linton
Priscilla Thomas, Wife, Mar, 35, Wife, Worcestershire, Knightwick
George Thomas, Son, Unm, 10, Scholar, Worcestershire, Little Kyre
Matilda Thomas, Daur, Unm, 5, Scholar, Worcestershire, Little Kyre
Anne Thomas,  Daur, Unm, 3, Scholar, Worcestershire, Little Kyre
Lilia Thomas,  Daur, Unm, 1, Worcestershire, Little Kyre

In 1891, George is working for a DORRELL family, in Stoke Bliss, as a general farm servant.  This time, his birthplace is given as Stoke Bliss, Herefordshire:

[1891: Class: RG12; Piece: 2319; Folio: 135; Page: 7]
Barrett's Bank
(DORRELL family of 3, and a Housekeeper)
George Thomas, Serv. S, 19, General Farm Servant, Herefordshire, Stoke Bliss

It's no wonder researchers become confused, when details vary like this - not just a different parish but also a different county!

"Is it the right person?" has to be a consideration and the evidence examined carefully, to try to ensure the conclusion, ie that this is him in 1891, is reliable.

In a case like this, my first act these days is usually to look up the places online, using a search engine - either for a map where I can check the distance between the locations, or for something like a topographical dictionary.  Here, I soon found the British History online entry which tells me that:

KYRE, LITTLE, a hamlet, in the parish of Stokebliss, union of Tenbury, Upper division of the hundred of Doddingtree, Tenbury and W. divisions of the county of Worcester, 5 miles (S. E. by S.) from Tenbury; containing 144 inhabitants. It is surrounded on three sides by the county of Hereford, and intersected from north to south by the road from Tenbury to Bromyard......

So clearly, Little Kyre, where the family lives, is actually a smaller area within the larger parish of Stoke Bliss.

But what of the different county?

Once again, British History online provides an answer:

Stoke Bliss was formerly chiefly in the Herefordshire Hundred of Broxash, the hamlet of Kyre Parva only being in Doddingtree Hundred. The whole parish was transferred to Worcestershire in 1897....

So, the larger unit, Stoke Bliss, was a parish which straddled the county boundaries and was predominently classed as Herefordshire at the time of the census.  So, when the parish was used for  George's birthplace. the county also changed.

Another way to find out more about the relevant areas is often to look at the first page of the census enumerator's book, which, in this case has a detailed description of the "remaining part of the parish of Stoke Bliss......In Hereford", as well as a description of the properties in Little Kyre.  (Unfortunately, not all enumerators completed this page in such detail.)

Having sorted out the geography, I'd still then search for other entries for the name "George THOMAS" and compare the possibilities in the census to other records - were there others born about the same time, in the same area, that might account for this census entry?  Or are there other census entries that could potentially be "my" George?

Without other family members present in the census entry to help to confirm relationships, it is important to consider these sorts of questions.

As it happens, there were three born in Worcestershire in the 1870 - 1871 range, but only "mine" in the Tenbury District.  Another three were born in Herefordshire (seven if I include those with a middle name).  There are also some birth entries where 'George' is the middle name, rather than the first name - but potentially their middle name could become the preferred name in later years.

So clearly there are likely to be others in the census, with the same name, living within the general county area. Some of these are easily identified but some census entries couldn't be easily discounted just from the index - for example, a George Thomas, of the right age, a servant living in Eardisley, with no birthplace shown in the index.

That would have been a possible contender if it wasn't for the fact that, on checking the original sheet, it is obvious that the transcribed index has failed to include any of the birthplaces from the page and I can happily ignore this one, as he was born in Radnorshire.

So, having looked carefully at the entries, I am happy to conclude that the 1891 entry in Stoke Bliss is the correct one.

Later censuses, which I shall consider when dealing with George's own family, give his birthplace as Little Kyre, Worcestershire - I suspect the 1891 details might have been given to the enumerator by the head of the family, rather than by George, although, if asked what parish he was born in, perhaps he would have answered "Stoke Bliss" anyway.

George married Rose Hannah HAYNES on 25 December 1895 in the parish church at Bromyard and I'll write about their later lives in a separate post.





British History Online
Little Kyre: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/topographical-dict/england/pp711-713
Stoke Bliss: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/worcs/vol4/pp349-354