This year's challenge by Amy Crow is another weekly blog, but based on Themes. Last week, it was LOVE. This No. 8 week's theme is GOOD DEEDS. Well that was a bust - I couldn't think of, or find a story involving good deeds. Sigh. I'll just pick someone and move on, writing about my somewhat challenging ancestors!
I have been digging through the collateral relationships of my BUNN & WHITEHOUSE ancestors, hoping for nuggets. My father's mother was a BUNN, and her mother was a WHITEHOUSE. An English acquaintance snorted on finding they lived in Dudley region: "If you throw a rock in that area you'll hit a Bunn, and if you throw three rocks you'll hit a Whitehouse". Hmmm. Sounds challenging to find my particular ancestors, doesn't it?!
Let's look at Thomas WHITEHOUSE, my 2nd great-grandfather. As far as I can be certain, he was born 10 Jul 1829 in Rowley Regis, Staffordshire, but moved to Dudley (which was very near!) as a young man. Although we know from his marriage and birth records that he had a father Joseph, and a mother Mary, I am not at all sure of his parents and siblings. Too many similar names in the same parish and region.
Thomas married for the first time in approximately 1851 to a Sarah (unknown). I have not requested this marriage certificate as yet. Unfortunately she appears to have died within 2 years, perhaps by illness or through childbirth complications.
In Dudley Worcester on 31 Aug 1856, Thomas married a young widow with a daughter, Sarah PRICE, (previously married to Thomas Shutt). I have the Marriage Certificate for the couple, plus the birth record for their 2nd child, Sarah Elizabeth, my ancestor. It was rather disconcerting to realize that Thomas married two women named Sarah, and Sarah married two men named Thomas.
Thomas WHITEHOUSE, b. 10 July 1829, Rowley Regis, Staffordshire, married 31 Aug 1856 to his 2nd wife, Sarah PRICE, (previously married to Thomas Shutt), b. abt 1827. They had the following children (Sarah's daughter Nancy "Ann" used the surname Whitehouse in Censuses):
1. Nancy "Ann" (Shutt), b. Jun 1853 Netherton; m. "?Homer" (no records found to date)
2. Sarah Elizabeth, [ancestor], b. 7 Nov 1858 Dudley, d. 30 Sep 1928, Barrow; m. 18 Aug 1879 to George BUNN; 9 children
3. Thomas jr., b. Dec 1860 Dudley; d. as infant
4. Benjamin "Ben", b. Mar 1867; m. 1890 to Margaret "Maggie" (?Milray); 1 son known (William)
5. Henry, b. 1869; m. 1889 in Barrow to Martha (unknown); 1 daughter known (Blanche)
6. William "Billy", b. 1871; m. 3rd Q 1889, Florence "Florrie" Milray; 4 boys
7. Enoch, b. 1875; no other information added as yet.
I've only just realized while typing this list that there are about 6 years between #3 and #4 child, and I'm wondering if there was another child born in that time. Sometimes one needs to look with fresh eyes at the known details to see the unknown details!
Thomas worked in iron foundries most of his working life as a "Furnace Man," as can be found on Censuses, in the "Black Midlands" - first in Dudley area, then up north in Barrow. The family moved from Dudley/Netherton area in Worcester up to Barrow-in-Furness, at some point after 1881. Thomas, Sarah, Ben & new wife Margaret, William and Enoch are seen on the 1891 Census living at 39 Byron Street. Nancy and Sarah Elizabeth were out of the home at this, married.
At about the same time, just before 1881, my GILLESPIE family moved to Barrow from Northern Ireland, so clearly there was good work prospects in Barrow at this time.
I don't have full death dates for either Thomas & Sarah WHITEHOUSE, although I can see Sarah died in Barrow in the 4th Q 1895. On the 1901 Census in Barrow, Thomas is found, widowed, living with his middle son, Ben & wife Margaret, with their only son William.
Thomas died in the 3rd Q 1909, aged 80 years. I'm assuming he's buried in Barrow, but some of the headstones are missing, and I haven't found records of his burial to date.
With more digging in Parish Registers and other records, I may yet get more specific details on Thomas, the Whitehouse children, and also manage to specify Thomas' parents and siblings.
If you have more information to share please do not hesitate to contact me via calewis at telus dot net, or in the comments below. NOTE: my blog is not allowing me to do replies to comments at the moment. Thank you so much for visiting! \
Showing posts with label Sarah Price. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sarah Price. Show all posts
Wednesday, February 25, 2015
Thursday, November 15, 2012
CLUES GALORE! Greatgrandmother's 1858 Birth Record
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.
A dozen years ago or so, 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 mail indeed! However, I was retiring at the time, going into hospital for surgery, and didn't really look at them beyond confirming the contents of that big brown envelope. Today as I wondered what next to work on in my family tree, I finally scanned each of those five documents. And in scanning, I looked in detail at the records. 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 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." Of course, I know I still have much research to do with these certificates in hand.
This document is very easy to read, with careful calligraphic writing. 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 ancestor men were good solid folk with plain names: Thomas, George, William, John, James, Henry.
But then there is her 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, and such. I thought I would be able to see 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. I was able to find the following on Wikipedia [scroll down on the page]:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Iron_Company :
Back to those certificates above: Were you able to read the Registration date? and the informant?
Sarah made her mark X The Mark of Sarah Whitehouse Mother, Northfield road, Netherton/Dudley, on the Fifteenth December 1858. This 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? 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. I know so little about her.
I went back to look again at the 1856 marriage record for Thomas Whitehouse and Sarah Shutt, finding her father's name as John Price, Miner. There were extensive coal mines in and around this area, so that is likely what he did. 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 was 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 marriages an interesting symmetry. Perhaps not so unusual, as those were quite common names in this time. Eventually I believe I found the most likely pair: Thomas WHITEHOUSE marrying Elizabeth [no surname listed].
I have a few photos of my greatgrandmother, Sarah Elizabeth WHITEHOUSE... she married a George BUNN, and they soon moved up to Barrow-in-Furness where iron foundries and ship-building opportunities abounded. 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.
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)
A dozen years ago or so, 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 mail indeed! However, I was retiring at the time, going into hospital for surgery, and didn't really look at them beyond confirming the contents of that big brown envelope. Today as I wondered what next to work on in my family tree, I finally scanned each of those five documents. And in scanning, I looked in detail at the records. 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 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." Of course, I know I still have much research to do with these certificates in hand.
This document is very easy to read, with careful calligraphic writing. 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 ancestor men were good solid folk with plain names: Thomas, George, William, John, James, Henry.
But then there is her 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, and such. I thought I would be able to see 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. 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.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Sarah made her mark X The Mark of Sarah Whitehouse Mother, Northfield road, Netherton/Dudley, on the Fifteenth December 1858. This 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? 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. I know so little about her.
I went back to look again at the 1856 marriage record for Thomas Whitehouse and Sarah Shutt, finding her father's name as John Price, Miner. There were extensive coal mines in and around this area, so that is likely what he did. 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 was 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 marriages an interesting symmetry. Perhaps not so unusual, as those were quite common names in this time. Eventually I believe I found the most likely pair: Thomas WHITEHOUSE marrying Elizabeth [no surname listed].
I have a few photos of my greatgrandmother, Sarah Elizabeth WHITEHOUSE... she married a George BUNN, and they soon moved up to Barrow-in-Furness where iron foundries and ship-building opportunities abounded. 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.
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)
Saturday, November 3, 2012
SATURDAY NIGHT FUN - Sarah SMITH France BUNN
Ohhhh, Randy Seaver, - you do love to give us reasons to go digging into our ancestors' lives!!
Here's Randy's "rules"":
1) What year was one of your great-grandmothers born? Divide this number by 90 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."
2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an "ahnentafel" - your software will create this - use the "Ahnentafel List" option, or similar). Who is that person, and what are his/her vital information?
3) Tell us three facts about that person in your ancestral name list with the "roulette number."
4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook status or a Google Stream post, or as a comment on this blog post.
1. My greatgrandmother, Amelia Ann "Millie" PETTYGROVE was born in Oregon Territories in 1844, giving me a number of "20" for my Ahnentafel list of ancestors. I'd love to write more about her - but another time, perhaps.
2. #20 on my Ahnentafel list - thank you RootsMagic5 for making this so easy - was Sarah SMITH France BUNN. That is, her maiden surname was SMITH, she 1st married a France, then married 2nd to a BUNN.
Her Vital information:
Born: 25 Nov 1820, Netherton, Worcestershire, England; to parents Thomas SMITH and Elizabeth (unknown). Thomas SMITH was listed as a coal miner, deceased, on her marriage registration with William
Married: 1st: Thomas France, 4th Quarter 1837, Dudley, Worcestershire, England; Thomas died about Dec 1851; the couple had 7 children. 2nd marriage: 20 Nov 1854, Dudley, Worcestershire, England, to William BUNN (his 2nd marriage as well - 1st wife died within one year of marriage): 1 child, a boy (my greatgrandfather).
Died: after 1891, in Barrow in Furness, Lancashire, England (still to determine final death date, burial).
3. Three facts about Sarah:
* Sarah was born in Windmill End/Netherton, Worcestershire, England; no other siblings are known to date
* Sarah's eldest daughter, Elizabeth France (b. 1839) had an illegitimate son, Thomas France, b. 1859, who was raised by Sarah and her 2nd husband William alongside their only Bunn child, George BUNN, b. 1857. (George's grandchildren mistakenly thought he had been adopted by the France/Franz family, and wrote it up as facts about George Bunn and his unknown ancestors!)
* Sarah apparently moved up to Barrow in Furness around 1891 or so, to live with her son George BUNN and his family; her grandson and his family, Thomas France, also had moved up to Barrow.
I have so much still to find out about Sarah.
When did she move up to Barrow? With, or without her husband William? Did she live with her grandson's or her son's family? Her son George BUNN came to Canada with my grandfather in June 1911, but became sick and returned to Barrow, dying a few years later. How did she know William BUNN? - he was several years younger than her, had no children, and when he married her, she had 7! A very challenging family to take on, I must say.
Life must have been very hard for her - and I haven't been able to find any relatives in my searches, who might have supported her. Thomas, like her father, was a coal miner, and likely died from a coal mining accident of which there were several around the time that Thomas died in 1851.
Thanks Randy - once again, I find myself with more questions - or was that your intention!?
Here's Randy's "rules"":
1) What year was one of your great-grandmothers born? Divide this number by 90 and round the number off to a whole number. This is your "roulette number."
2) Use your pedigree charts or your family tree genealogy software program to find the person with that number in your ancestral name list (some people call it an "ahnentafel" - your software will create this - use the "Ahnentafel List" option, or similar). Who is that person, and what are his/her vital information?
3) Tell us three facts about that person in your ancestral name list with the "roulette number."
4) Write about it in a blog post on your own blog, in a Facebook status or a Google Stream post, or as a comment on this blog post.
1. My greatgrandmother, Amelia Ann "Millie" PETTYGROVE was born in Oregon Territories in 1844, giving me a number of "20" for my Ahnentafel list of ancestors. I'd love to write more about her - but another time, perhaps.
2. #20 on my Ahnentafel list - thank you RootsMagic5 for making this so easy - was Sarah SMITH France BUNN. That is, her maiden surname was SMITH, she 1st married a France, then married 2nd to a BUNN.
Her Vital information:
Born: 25 Nov 1820, Netherton, Worcestershire, England; to parents Thomas SMITH and Elizabeth (unknown). Thomas SMITH was listed as a coal miner, deceased, on her marriage registration with William
Married: 1st: Thomas France, 4th Quarter 1837, Dudley, Worcestershire, England; Thomas died about Dec 1851; the couple had 7 children. 2nd marriage: 20 Nov 1854, Dudley, Worcestershire, England, to William BUNN (his 2nd marriage as well - 1st wife died within one year of marriage): 1 child, a boy (my greatgrandfather).
Died: after 1891, in Barrow in Furness, Lancashire, England (still to determine final death date, burial).
3. Three facts about Sarah:
* Sarah was born in Windmill End/Netherton, Worcestershire, England; no other siblings are known to date
* Sarah's eldest daughter, Elizabeth France (b. 1839) had an illegitimate son, Thomas France, b. 1859, who was raised by Sarah and her 2nd husband William alongside their only Bunn child, George BUNN, b. 1857. (George's grandchildren mistakenly thought he had been adopted by the France/Franz family, and wrote it up as facts about George Bunn and his unknown ancestors!)
* Sarah apparently moved up to Barrow in Furness around 1891 or so, to live with her son George BUNN and his family; her grandson and his family, Thomas France, also had moved up to Barrow.
I have so much still to find out about Sarah.
When did she move up to Barrow? With, or without her husband William? Did she live with her grandson's or her son's family? Her son George BUNN came to Canada with my grandfather in June 1911, but became sick and returned to Barrow, dying a few years later. How did she know William BUNN? - he was several years younger than her, had no children, and when he married her, she had 7! A very challenging family to take on, I must say.
Life must have been very hard for her - and I haven't been able to find any relatives in my searches, who might have supported her. Thomas, like her father, was a coal miner, and likely died from a coal mining accident of which there were several around the time that Thomas died in 1851.
Thanks Randy - once again, I find myself with more questions - or was that your intention!?
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