CLUES GALORE! Greatgrandmother Sarah E. WHITEHOUSE's 1858 Birth Certificate

I love receiving snail-mail. The clunk of the letterbox outside the front door as the mailman drops in something unknown and flops the metal flap back over it. The feel of envelopes, the stamps, the possibilities.

In late 2006, I received a large brown envelope from Dudley, County of Worcester, England, with FIVE certificates: 3 labelled "Certified Copy of an Entry of Birth", 2 labelled "Certified Copy of an Entry of Marriage." What wonderful treasure indeed for a genealogist! However, I was retiring at that time, going into hospital for surgery, and didn't really look at them beyond confirming the contents of that big brown envelope. As I later  wondered what next to work on in my family tree, I looked over each of those five documents, now scanned and filed. And in scanning, I looked in detail at each  record. At this point in time, they now are all scanned, labelled, and filed appropriately. My desk is almost totally clear of genealogy paperwork right now! Amazing.

Here is a copy of my paternal line Sarah Elizabeth WHITEHOUSE - Greatgrandmother's birth record - with  interesting information about her parents and her life.  (I made it X-large so that you could read more details.)  

When I teach Introduction to Genealogy classes for beginners, I always tease people by saying "There are at least 19 clues or questions to ask, on every document you find!"... because I've found that beginners only see two or three, and think they're done looking: "Yes, there's the parents and birthdate. Done."  I know I still have much research to do with these certificates in hand. And I will need to be ordering several more certificates as well - my list of "to order" items is growing. 

This birth registration document is very easy to read, with careful clear writing, birthdate of Seventh November 1858. We have her address (born at home) as Northfield Road, Netherton, Dudley, in the County of Worcester.  I had to look up more about the relationship of Netherton and Dudley to understand why there are two towns listed as if they were separate ones, in Worcestershire. More to learn.  The number in the first column "448"  is the number of the registration, not the house number, by the way.

There is her father's name Thomas Whitehouse. I do wish he had a more interesting name, like Linus or Beauregard, or something quite out of the ordinary. But my father's ancestor men were good solid folk with plain names: Thomas, George, William, John, James, Henry.

But then there is Sarah's mother's name, written as: Sarah Whitehouse late Shutt, formerly Price. Here we see that Sarah's maiden name is PRICE. And she was previously married, to a gentleman, surname of Shutt. I have a few clues to indicate his name was Thomas Shutt, and they were married only 1-2 years at most. However, I haven't been able to confirm this yet - I have a list of more records to order: another marriage certificate, his death record, plus more research still to do.

We have the father's occupation:  "Laborer at an Ironwork".  There is a reason this area was once termed the Black Midlands, due to the smoke/soot in the air which landed on the ground, trees, houses, people and - I am sure - on the laundry put outside to dry.  I'm trying to think how anyone kept clean when they worked such difficult dirty jobs as iron works jobs, or coal mining. I thought I might be able to discover which ironworks Thomas might have worked at. I assumed I'd find something quite specific about an Ironworks foundry near Netherton, or near Northfield Road. Perhaps. I was able to find the following on Wikipedia [scroll down on the page]:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Iron_Company :  

Netherton[edit]

The 'old ironworks' at Netherton (with two furnaces) were acquired from Attwood in 1825 as part of the Corngreaves transaction. The company remained in possession until c1852 when the works were sold to Noah Hingley & Sons. The company is also known to have worked coal mines here.

Brierley Hill, Dudley Wood and Netherton were all held under lease from the Dudley estate.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Back to those certificates up above:  were you able to read the Registration date?  and the informant?

Note that Sarah made her mark X  The Mark of Sarah Whitehouse  Mother, Northfield road, Netherton/Dudley, on the Fifteenth December 1858.  This registration date is about 5 weeks after the birth of their daughter, Sarah Elizabeth Whitehouse. And I'm making an assumption that my greatgrandmother went to the office to register the birth herself, as her husband, Thomas, had to work.

Sarah would need to bundle up the baby plus her 5 year old stepdaughter against the December cold and wet, and walk to the office where the birth needed to be registered.   Then back they would have to go home again. I would like to find out how she might have gotten to the Dudley Registration office. Surely someone would have given her a lift... was there a railroad? a cart? Perhaps they were close enough to walk there. I'm abysmally ignorant about transportation options in the 1850s in England villages! I also wonder if it mattered to her that she was not able to write her name on the birth registration form at the office in 1858. I know so little about her. On later census records she is listed as having the occupation of "Nailer" which was piece-work, adding to their income.

I went back to look again at the 1856 marriage record for Thomas WHITEHOUSE and Sarah Shutt, finding Sarah's father's name as John PRICE, Miner.  There were extensive coal mines in and around this area, so that is likely what John mined. Sarah's first husband was also a miner, named Thomas.

Thomas WHITEHOUSE and Sarah Shutt PRICE had 5 children: 1 daughter - Sarah Elizabeth (my ancestor) and 4 sons. Thomas' father was noted as Joseph WHITEHOUSE (Dead), occupation, Nailer. Netherton was known as THE place for nailmaking, from the 1600s onwards into the early-mid 1800s.  Also on the marriage record, Thomas is listed as a Widower, occupation "Furnace Man." I have begun to search for his first wife, whom I believe may have been also named Sarah, 5 years younger than him.

I first found the records of a Thomas marrying a Sarah, and a Sarah marrying a Thomas for both first and second marriagesfor this couple, an interesting symmetry.  Perhaps not so unusual, as those were quite common names in this time. It is said that there are so many Bunn and Whitehouse families in Netherton that if you had a stone for each one, you could build a home with them! Several of the Bunn and Whitehouse individuals in my tree were born in Windmill End and in Darby Hand (Darby End), both tiny neighbourhoods near to Netherton.

I have a few photos of my greatgrandmother, Sarah Elizabeth WHITEHOUSE... she married George BUNN in 1879, and they soon moved up to the north-east of England, to Barrow-in-Furness, where iron foundries and ship-building opportunities abounded. They had 9 children, one died as an infant. 

George BUNN died 10 Nov 1919 aged 62; Sarah Elizabeth WHITEHOUSE died 30 Sep 1928 at the age of 69 years. I can't help feel they were both "too young" to die at those ages.  

Any and all BUNN & WHITEHOUSE relatives - please get in touch and I'm happy to email you the copy of any of the Bunn and Whitehouse certificates I have received to date.  And if you have additional details I'd be thrilled to receive them!! (contact information, scroll below)

(This post is an updated version of my original post in 2010.)

My Great-Grandfather, George BUNN, 1857-1919, England

We have a story in our family, written up by several older members of my father's family, including my Grandmother Gillespie (née BUNN), some years ago. It states that George was orphaned when very young and raised by his neighbours, the Franz family. So sad, right? 

Wrong. Quite quite wrong. Nothing like a bit of research to clarify the facts, and also to understand how such a misunderstanding happened.

George was the only child born to William BUNN and widow Sarah (née SMITH) France. Ah, see the name of her first husband?  First clue to the Franz family myth.

Sarah was significantly older than William approximately 11 years. When her first husband, Thomas France, died in a coal mining accident in late 1851, along with her father, Thomas SMITH, Sarah had 7 children at home. Their ages ranged from Elizabeth (15) to Esther (less than 1 year). William was also a coal miner, and likely knew Thomas France from work, as well as close residence.

William BUNN lived nearby the family, in Darby Hand [Darby End], Parish Dudley, near Netherton. Their church was St Thomas in Dudley, Worcestershire. Below is a copy of their Marriage Register of St Thomas, Dudley/Netherton, with marriage date after Banns, of November 25, 1854:

You can see ages, occupation, residence, and father's names & occupations, as well as the information that Sarah's father is "dead". Neither William nor Sarah wrote their signatures, but made their mark in front of the 'Incumbent' [vicar].

George BUNN, their only living child, was born April 26, 1857, in Windmill End (also in same area in Dudley); this was just over 2 years from marriage. At that time, Sarah would have been 37 years of age, and George made her 8th living child; William was 26 years old. An interesting situation to my mind.  They usually fudged her age on Censuses after they married, or switched ages.

From the time of his birth, George would have been raised with the FRANCE children, including an illegitimate nephew only 2 years younger than himself:
   1.  Elizabeth, b. 1839 - had illegitimate son, Thomas France (3rd), in 1859
   2.  Emma, b. Oct 1840
   3.  Thomas, b. 1842   - Thomas (2nd)
   4.  Jeremiah, b. Aug 1844; m. Hannah Sherwin, 8 children [similar names]
   5.  Martha, b. 1847
   6.  Amelia "Emily", b. 1848
   7.  Esther, b. 1851

Most of the mixed BUNN/France family, with our George BUNN and including Sarah's illegitimate grandson, Thomas, can be seen on the 1861 Census for Dudley, below:

Sarah's second daughter, Emma, about 21, is likely working or married, and out of the home. Esther, youngest child, would be 10 - either she is visiting outside the home, or has died. I have not searched details of all the siblings. Yet. 

On the 1871 Census for Dudley, we see William & Sarah, with son George BUNN 13 yrs, plus Elizabeth France's illegitimate son, Thomas France 3rd, 12, listed as Nephew [of William] - actually his step-grandson.  Note that George BUNN would actually be Thomas France's step-Uncle. I have not been able to find Elizabeth France in any other records, but BUNN is a common surname in this region, and Elizabeth is one of the most common forenames. More research needed.

By the 1881 Census, we see William & Sarah alone with no children, and Sarah's eldest son, Thomas 2nd, aged 38, and his family, next door. The other Thomas France 3rd, Elizabeth's son, is shown a little ways away but still in same parish, married with 10 mo. old daughter Alice.

And,  George?  Surprise! Married in 1876, on February 14th, George, aged 18, is married for the first time, to 18 year old Mary Detheridge in Dudley. She is seen to have died in the 4th Quarter (Oct-Dec) of the same year, 1876, likely in childbirth or a serious infection, but that is not known without finding a detailed death registration .  

On the Marriage registration certificate I ordered for George and Sarah WHITEHOUSE, I slid over the statement that George was a Widower before he married our direct ancestor, Sarah Elizabeth WHITEHOUSE in summer of 1879. Since he was 22 at the time, I had somehow held the assumption this was his first marriage. Assumptions. Obviously I ought to have searched for any marriages, and questioned how a 22 year old could be a widower. 

He and Sarah Elizabeth WHITEHOUSE were married August 18, 1879, at St. Thomas Church n Dudley Parish. Their first child, Harriett BUNN was born October 31, 1879 in Netherton, by Dudley. (Harriett was my Grandma GILLESPIE.) 

George & Sarah Elizabeth BUNN moved up to Barrow-in-Furness, Lancashire, several years after George's step-nephew, Thomas 3rd France had moved his family there. Shipbuilding was strong in Barrow, and many labourers were needed. Both Thomas and George were experienced after working in the foundries in Dudley, so they would have had little difficulty finding jobs. 

Here George and family are on the 1881 Census for Barrow F, living at 5 Cook Street: 

In 1891 on the Census for Dudley, George's parents, William & Sarah, are living by themselves. Sarah's children by her first husband were living nearby, however. 

George BUNN and his wife were living on 8 Byron Street in Barrow in Furness [Barrow F] in the next Census, 1901, and next door at 10 Byron Street in 1911. Their eldest daughter, Harriett, married in 1899 to William John "Jack" GILLESPIE, whose family (3 generations) had sailed from Northern Ireland to work in Barrow F as well. 

Children all born in Barrow F: 

  1.  Harriett, b. 31 Oct 1879 [my line], d. 1962 BC Canada; m. Jack
          GILLESPIE, 6 ch.

  2.  Emily "Emmy", b. 7 Mar 1882, d.15 Mar 1951 Barrow F; no
          marr, no ch

  3.  George Wm, b. 8 Feb 1884, d. 29 Mar 1936 BC Canada; m. Louisa
           Jones; 6 ch

  4.  Thomas, b. 12 Dec 1886, d. 8 Oct 1917 Belgium WW1; no marr.
           no ch

  5.  Sarah "Cissy", b. 10 Feb 1889, d. 20 Jul 1965 Barrow F; m. Wm.
           Caulfield, 2 ch

  6.  Beatrice, b. 1891, died first year.

  7.  Ethel May, b. 1 Jun 1893, d. 17 Jan 1981 Washington USA; m. Jm.
           Bullas, ch

  8.  Esther Matilda, b. 10 Aug 1895, d. 16 Dec 1946 Barrow F; m. Herbert
           Scobie, ch

  9.  Benjamin "Ben", b. 10 Dec 1898, d. 1 Nov 1982 BC Canada; m. Alice
           Bradshaw, no ch.

  

On June 2nd, 1911, George BUNN sailed on the Empress of Britain  from Liverpool to Québec, with his son-in-law, Jack GILLESPIE. Jack was following his younger brother Jim, who had emigrated in 1907, settling in Ontario. George's eldest son, George Wm. Bunn, had previously emigrated and landed in Vancouver BC in 1910. England's burst of economic growth was slowing down and work was hard to come by. There was quite a wave of English immigrants to Canada during this period 1900-1920. Jack GILLESPIE did not bring his family over at the same time... that's another story!

However, George became sick in Canada, and he returned to England shortly afterward, in the fall of 1911. Several other Bunn children emigrated from England to Canada, settling on the west coast.

And in December of 1919, George died in Barrow in Furness, aged 62 years.

I have no photographs of George BUNN, but perhaps a cousin somewhere has one to share-? And I also don't know what his hobbies were, whether he like to read, sketch, play cribbage, fish, go for long walks, did he like dogs, telling stories-? Some details do not come down to us, after several generations.

In summary: He was never orphaned and adopted by a FRANZ family. On the contrary, both his BUNN parents were alive and well into the 20th Century, living in Dudley region of Worcestershire, England. His father, William BUNN, may be the same-named person who died in the 3rd Quarter (July-Sep) of 1902; his mother, Sarah, in 1918. 

But it was an interesting story, wasn't it?  And all those FRANCE family members - they're also all step-cousins of George BUNN's descendants. I've added all of them to the Lost Cousins website and hopefully one will contact me at some point in time.

The direct line of George BUNN has these first generation surnames:
 BUNN, BELL, OLIVER, OSBORNE, PLUMRIDGE  (((waving to all my cousins))) 

If you know anything more about any of the above BUNN individuals, I would be so pleased for more details. And if you wish more information on them, I'm also happy to share. Contact me at my address at the bottom of the page calewis at telus dot net or, in the Comments section.

My Blogger account seems not to allow me to "reply" to your comments. Do know that I value your comments immensely.  You make my day! Thanks for stopping by to read my personal genealogy posts.

Cousins of all sorts are very welcome to request copies of certificates etc. that I have in my possession.  Email address at the bottom of the page.

I might request a cup of coffee as payment, however!

SURNAME SATURDAY: Joseph WHITEHOUSE 1793-1844

Joseph WHITEHOUSE, my 3rd great-grandfather, was born in the Rowley Regis area, Staffordshire, England.  He was apparently born about 1793, according to various Census records, but no parish register has yet been found for his birth. Joseph's parents are unknown at this time.

A marriage has been tentatively used for him, but has not yet been accepted as proven.  For the purposes of future research, his first child Samuel was christened in St. Thomas church in Dudley, Staffordshire; his mother was listed as Mary.  He apparently married 17 March 1822 to Mary GROVES, in Dudley, where the family apparently settled.  Dudley was a large area, and inhabitants often stated Dudley on forms when they actually lived in Rowley Regis and other small hamlets in the surrounding area.

Joseph worked first as a Nailer (nail-maker) and later as a Miner.  This occupation information shows up on baptism records of his first sons, then on the marriage registration of my direct ancestor Thomas WHITEHOUSE, the 4th son of Joseph and Mary, seen above. You will notice his son's marriage register records Joseph as "Dead" at the time, 1856.

The Black Midlands had many mines, iron foundaries, and steel mills in the region, as it was very rich in coal and iron.  The men and older boys experienced amazingly hard unhealthy work here in the mines and in the nail-making industry (the latter often done as a home based job, and others in the family would also help, in order to supplement the family income).

He and his wife, Mary, had 7 boys for whom I have found christening records (all at St. Thomas Church):  ** indicates my direct ancestor
  - Samuel  b. 23 Oct 1822    m. Johana, at least 2 boys
  - Benjamin  b. 11 Aug 1824   no marr. found to date
  - Henry  b. 5 Jul 1827     m. Jane Price, 3 boys, 1 girl
  - **Thomas  b. 10 Jul 1829   m. twice; Sarah PRICE Shutt (wid), 5 boys, 1 girl
  - Eli   b. 18 Mar 1832    m. Mary Ann Homer,  4 boys, 4 girls
  - John  b. 18 Jun 1834   no marr. found to date
  - Enoch  b. 9 Jul 1836  m. Esther Carter,  4 boys, 1 girl

I have not yet been able to find Joseph WHITEHOUSE on the 1841 UK Census for either Staffordshire or Worcestershire.  So far I've checked with all 7 of the children, and there are several possibilities and more ways of searching of course.  Perhaps I'll find him mistranscribed after I go through more Censuses page by page.

Joseph died 16 Mar 1844 in Dudley, Staffordshire, and was buried 21 Mar 1844 through St. Thomas Church (burial record with death date).  Note that St. Thomas Church is in the parish of Worcestershire due to historical decisions.  His wife Mary is shown with various groupings of the younger boys in the following Censuses, living later with her married sons, Eli and then Enoch, after they were married.

My goal for this year is to continue searching in the WHITEHOUSE line.  My research log has many possible records still to check online, as well as possible correspondence to write for additional details.   Maybe I'll find a snippet or two here and there to fill out our history.  25 grandchildren - that I know of - lived to continue Joseph's heritage in Canada, Washington State, and England.

And if you have any information on any of these people, please do not hesitate to contact me by either leaving a comment below, or emailing me at calewis at telus dot net.  Thanks for dropping by.