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(Wife of William Ellis)
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| A light-hearted tale relating the trials and tribulations of the search process |
| MAKING A START |
There are a great number of guides offering methods for ‘Getting Started with your Family History’. The common advice from the guides is "Talk to your older relatives". In the past genealogy filtered down the generations through oral stories, always aware of facts which may have been modified at each re-telling to reflect the social niceties of the time. |
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I started my genealogy research after I retired from ‘proper work’. As many other people have found, this was much too late to talk with people who had contemporary knowledge. So it was with May (my mother-in-law) who died in 2001. But, I was lucky, she had left audio tapes and a written record narrating her memories of childhood and family. |
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The focus of this tale is May’s great grandmother. So I start with May’s father. I know the following from May's records, his name (John), date of birth (January 1874), names of his parents (William & Elizabeth) and also the names of some of his siblings (Ernest, Maria, Elizabeth and Bertha). |
| FIRST STEPS |
Research starting in September 2001 |
| 1881 census (searchable index on CD) |
1881 census shows John living in his family unit together with siblings and parents William & Ruth. The father and siblings match May's records but the mother’s name is different. However, this narrative has a focus and must not be diverted into other by-ways, however interesting, watch out for further documentation on the William – Ruth – Elizabeth research. |
| 1871 census (at FRC) |
1871 census picks up the family were living at the same address William & Ruth with children before John’s birth. |
| 1891 census (at FRC – not found) |
I could not find family on the 1891 census, had they moved house? Later after the 1891 census index was published the family entry, now located, showed this was definitely the right family, John’s middle name (Barker) was included on the census. |
| Marriage certificate |
Marriage certificate (1870) for William & Ruth shows William's father is also named William |
| 1851 census |
Tracing back in time, the 1851 census shows son William in family unit with parents William & Mary. Father William Head of House is a 'Chelsea Pensioner' born in Herefordshire. This looks interesting, a soldier in the family! |
| 1842 birth |
William the son of the soldier William, was born in 1842 and baptised at All Saints Church Wakefield. I have not yet traced the birth certificate. |
| PRO records |
Tracing back in time again, the PRO's Army records contain lots of information (books and books of it) about William and his service in the 39th Foot. Notable are enlistment papers, service records, details of posting, return to UK in 1839 and his later service in Army recruitment before, finally, being pensioned out as a 'Chelsea Pensioner' with a Pension of 'one shilling four pence ha'penny' a week. (See documentation covering William’s military career) |
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This genealogy is getting easy. |
| WHO IS MARY? |
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