Maternal Lines - Betsy Dernie

Betsy has given me some trouble in finding the right records. There is also an Eliza Dernie born around the same time, also from Gainsborough, and it was only when we added a DNA test to my tree that I was able to see that I'd crossed some wires. Having revisited some earlier censuses, I now have what I believe is the right information for Betsy.

I wrote about Mabel Florence Courts recently, and Betsy was her mother. Betsy is, therefore, my great-great grandmother. 

Betsy was born on the 8th January 1866 to Thomas Dernie Jr and Sarah Ann. She was a middle child, with two older siblings born before her, and three younger siblings including Eliza born after. 

In 1871 Betsy is living in Moorgate, Clarborough, with her parents and three siblings. Her father is a boot and shoe maker, and all the children are listed as scholars. 

In 1881 Betsy is living away from home, she's 16 years old and is working as a servant in Ordsall. The census return has her listed as Betty rather than Betsy, but I can easily imagine the head of a household getting that sort of thing confused, or maybe she went by Betty at this time. 

Two years later in the first quarter of1883 Betsy marries John David Courts in "East Retford" district. I do not know exactly when or where they got married, I have not been able to find a record. 

By 1891 when the next census return was due, they had moved to Swash's Yard off Silver Street, with her husband and children including Mabel Florence. Likewise in 1901 she can be found living in Chapel Yard with her husband and 8 children. 

in 1911 Betsy is 45 years old. She's still living at 9 Chapel Yard, and in this census return we can find out a little more about both the abode and the family. We learn that there are actually four rooms in this house, thus it is what is known as a "Two-up-two-down" and would be relatively spacious. They may have had a small back yard, though more likely there was a shared privvy at the end of the row, and a shared washing area. With seven of her children still living at home, four of whom were old enough to be working, this was probably a bustling house and quite cramped. The two eldest sons were working in related occupations to their father in boiler making. I do not know whether they were at one of the two big employers in the town at this time, Marshalls and Roses, but I can assume that they were indeed working for one of the two. The girls are working for a cycle dealership and as a general servant.

The next official record for Betsy is on the 1939 register. This was like a census when it was initially recorded, but it was also a living document which was updated for various uses including rationing and the NHS when it came into being. It's a wonderfully rich document. Here we find Betsy living at 9 Chapel Yard still, aged 73. It appears that she is living alone, though it may be the case that she has visiting grandchildren around some of the time - my mum tells me that she was known as Granny Courts. It doesn't surprise me that she has no occupation listed, and as there was no pension at the time she probably had to rely on her children and siblings for anything she needed. 

Betsy lived another ten years, until June 1949. It is incredible to think of the amount of change that she saw in her lifetime from the telephone to manned flight. She saw her children and grandchildren fight in world wars, she would have heard the explosion when the town was bombed during the second world war. 

Maternal Lines - Mabel Florence Courts

Tracking down any family members can be tricky, and even more so when you're travelling up the maternal line in a family, as identifying the maiden name of the women in question can be difficult. 

My maternal Grandmother was Jessie Cobb. She was the youngest of 9 surviving children to Alfred Cobb and Mabel Florence Courts. My great grandparents. 

Mabel Florence went by Florence I think. My theory is that the eldest girl, named Florence Winnifred, went by Winn, so her mother probably was Florence or Florrie. She was born in 1884 in Gainsborough. At that time it was a bustling port and market town. The first census where we can find Mabel Florence is in 1891 (Census returns in the UK occur every 10 years starting in 1841). In 1891 she can be found living on Swash's Yard off Silver Street with her parents and three of her siblings. Her father, John David, is an engine fitter's labourer, her mother does not have an occupation listed, but with four children under 6 she was probably kept busy! 

Silver street still exists in Gainsborough, it's one of the main shopping streets in the town populated with banks and shops. Back in the late 1800's it was close to the port, with many yards leading off the back of Silver Street in the warren of little streets that led down to the river. Sadly the yard in question no longer exists. 

We can find Mabel Florence on the 1901 census for Gainsborough also. There are now 8 children, Mabel Florence is the eldest and is 16 at the time of the census. She's working as a washerwoman. Her father is still working as an engine fitter's labourer, and two of her siblings are working also. The residence is now 9 Chapel Yard, which was near Bridge Street. Again the original buildings in this area are gone. I believe that the buildings in this area would have been what are known as "back to backs" where houses from one street quite literally backed onto the houses in the next street. There would probably have been one main downstairs room where activities such as cooking and eating would take place, and one upstairs room for sleeping. With two adults and 8 children this would have been cramped at best. 

On January 10th 1903 Mabel Florence married Alfred Cobb in the Parish Church in Southwell. The witnesses were Mabel Florence's sister in law, Annie Cobb (nee Shepherd) and John Charles Something - the writing is difficult to read and I don't have any John Charles in my tree! Perhaps they will appear in due course. At the time of the marriage, both Mabel Florence and Alfred are living in Southwell, a small village 30 miles south of Gainsborough. Mabel Florence's father John is described as a mechanic on the wedding register. Alfred's father is deceased but was previously a sweep. 

From 1903 Mabel and Alfred began having children, and by the next census in 1911 they had four children. The family is living at 45 Waterworks Street in Gainsborough now. They are boarders in the house with another family whom were perhaps the homeowners. Alfred works drilling iron boilers. Interestingly two of the children were born in Derbyshire which suggests that the family were moving between cities, possibly for work, between their marriage and the date of the census. 

Mabel Florence and Alfred had six more children, five of whom would survive. The sixth, George, was born and died in 1913. 

What's in a name?

As far as I know, I'm the first person in my family to be called by my name. I've looked a reasonably long way back, and found no others - though I still may! My daughter also does not have a family name, though she does share a middle name with some of her ancestors.

The same can't be said for a lot of my ancestors. Some names are very popular indeed!

In the tree that I have constructed for my husband's family and my family together, there are 1463 individuals who have first names recorded. There are 255 unique names, though I have grouped names where they are known abbreviations or nicknames (such as Eliza, Elizabeth, Beth, etc)

14 names make up 50% of the people in my tree, with the top two names accounting for around an eighth of all the people!

The distribution of the names in the top 10 is pretty even between the sexes, with four names each being male and female, and two being "unisex" names.

The two most common names in my tree are Mary / Maria and John / Jonathan (with the usual spelling variations that come with these) - both occurring 93 times across the two families. Sticking with either church figures or royalty, the top ten is as follows:

1. Mary / Maria (93)
- John / Jonathan (93)
3. William (85)
4. Elizabeth / Beth / Betsy (70)
5. George / Georgina (60)
6. Sarah (51)
7. Anne and variations (50)
8. Charles / Charlotte (41)
9. Joe / Joel / Joseph (40)
10. Thomas (39)

There are 123 names which occur only once,

If I look at my pedigree, rather than the wider family, I have 110 names in my direct line at this time. The top 3 names, unsurprisingly, are the same, though William comes top. In fact, the top 10 is the same 10 names, and with the exception of William, Mary, John, is in the same order also.

If there was a popular name in my tree that wasn't also a popular name in general then I would find this helpful in my research, but according to this article in the Express John and Mary are the most common names in the UK over the past 500 years. In fact, those lists look a lot like the list from my tree.

I have found some lovely names along the way, though. I'm fond of Lettice (said Let-tish-ah), though I'm not sure I'd name a child of mine Lettice (or Leticia). Lucetta is another lovely one. Ezra, Fidora, and Gervis only occur one time each but I love them too! It seems that creativity with girls' names was a bit more common than with the boys.

I find family naming patterns quite interesting, and even beyond the naming firstborn sons after the father (which is quite common) I also see quite a lot of naming after aunts and uncles. Perhaps one day I'll find the fabled "aunt Jessie" that my Nanna was meant to be named after.

A tale of two criminals

Joel Coldron

Joel Coldron (or possibly Cawthorn), my 3x great grandfather, was born in about 1821 in South Hykeham. His mother, Rebecca Coldron, was not married at the time of his birth, and as a result I do not (currently) have information about his father.

I don’t know much about Joel’s early life, though I suspect that it was difficult. In 1827 his mother married Edward Simpson. I do not think that Edward was Joel’s father. In 1841 Rebecca and Edward are living in the parish of St Peter at Gowts with their four children. Joel is not living with them – though he would be around 20 at this time. I haven’t been able to find Joel in 1841 on the census.

In 1847 Joel Cawthorne married Elizabeth Ann Chambers in Lincoln. I’m reasonably sure that this is the right marriage because the details all look right for Elizabeth and it ties in with the birth of their first child, Thomas George, in 1849.

By 1851 they’re living in the parish of St Martin in Lincoln, in 1861 Joel's profession is "Higgler" and in 1871 he's living in the pub "The White Horse". Sadly the original building is no longer there, but there is still a pub on the site in Lincoln.

As far as I’ve been able to discover, Joel had the occasional brush with the law. In 1857 he was caught receiving stolen brass, and was convicted and sentenced to one year imprisonment. As a "higgler" I'm sure Joel often received goods which had a dubious past. He probably turned a blind eye to any misdoings if he could make some money from it, as with 7 children he would have needed every penny!
Later on, there is a newspaper report of another brush with the local constabulary. In 1868 it is reported that Joel and his son Charles were convicted of assaulting a police officer and sentenced to two months' hard labour each. I haven't found the court records for that yet. The report in the newspaper suggests that the policeman may have had a drink or two, and some of the witnesses said that the policeman was lying. I have no evidence, but I suspect that Joel was probably well known in the community as a publican, and it sounds like he may have been a fairly sturdy fellow. Perhaps the policeman had a grudge against him, or perhaps there really was a fracas. I'll never know the exact details, so I choose to believe that he was perhaps quick tempered, but was generally trying to make ends meet and stand up for his family.

George Chambers

Joel’s wife, Elizabeth, was no stranger to criminality. Her father, George Chambers (my 4x great grandfather) was born in about 1797 in Wragby. He married his wife, Sophia Espin, in 1822.

George’s first brush with the law came in 1835, when he was acquitted of larceny.

Things must have been difficult for the family, as in 1841 we do not find them living together. Elizabeth appears to be living with an uncle, or possibly other relative, I haven't tracked down George yet. Sophia is living in, and gives birth to their second-youngest son Uriah, in the house of correction in Kirton Lindsey. She was found guilty of receiving stolen goods and sentenced to 6 months imprisonment.

On 7^th April 1843 George Chambers is found guilty of larceny and is sentenced to 7 years transportation. On the 9^th May he is sent to the Fortitude, a prison hulk which was moored in Chatham. The books from that ship state that he was guilty of stealing ducks and fowl. It tells me that he can read and write, and that his occupation is brick-maker. It describes him as having bad habits, since he was charged with a felony before! It then says that he was moved to the York Hulk.
The following year, on the 19^th April 1844, hi was moved to the York, another hulk moored at Gosport. Once again it describes his "habits and practices" as bad. The notes attached to his case suggest that he was due to be sent "per Thames Bermuda" to serve what remained of his 7 years. I gather that the "Thames" was another ship, this time moored in Bermuda.
I don't know what happened to him there (I need to take a trip to Kew to the Archives there to see the Bermuda Convict books), but I do know that he was back in the UK and having another son in 1850. Since there was no recognised way of bringing people home, I have no idea how he got back from Bermuda - perhaps I will find that out if I go to the Archives.

By Illustrated London News - National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, Public Domain, Link

Notes about the prison hulks.
Fortitude was originally HMS Cumberland, it was renamed in 1833. Before conversion it had 74 guns and two gun decks.
HMS York was similarly a third-rate gunship, and after conversion housed around 500 criminals.
HMS Thames was a smaller ship, housing only 46 guns.
Details from Wikipedia's article on Prison Hulks.

Nottingham Archive and the elusive Mary...

This week I took a trip to the Nottingham Archive. We were actually taking a spa-break for my husband's birthday and there's a spa hotel in Nottingham; it was too good an opportunity to miss!

Gainsborough, the town I am from, is on the connecting point of three counties; Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, and Nottinghamshire. Although my ancestors haven't moved around a lot (except that one lot who went to Wales and back) their records are stored in distinctly different places because of the county borders. A lot of parish records have been put onto microfiche, but have not yet been indexed or digitised, so the only way to really see them is to go to the archives and physically view the records.

My great-great-grandmother, my maternal grandmother's paternal grandmother, was called Elizabeth Ullyatt. She married my great-great-grandfather William Cobb. Before my visit to the archive I thought I knew her siblings and her parents, but when I looked at the Southwell Parish registers (she was baptised there, I knew) there were TWO Elizabeth Ullyatts (Ullyatt being her maiden name) born within three months of one another, both in Westgate, Southwell, both with mothers called Mary. The only distinction between them was that their fathers were called William and John.

This threw my planned research (find the marriage of Elizabeth's mother and father to try to find Mary's maiden name) into disarray, because I now needed to confirm that I had the correct Elizabeth.

I noted down all the other siblings for both Elizabeth b 1839 and Elizabeth b 1840, and then tried to find Elizabeth and William Cobb's marriage. I was pretty sure that this should be in Southwell too, and that it happened in 1862. I couldn't find the marriage in Southwell, nor in any of the Newark churches (which was my second thought). With hindsight, I should have looked for the baptisms of some of their children...

Since then, I've returned home, and Ancestry have had one of their free weekends. I've been able to prove that "my" Elizabeth is the 1839 one, with William being her father.
I know that Elizabeth married William Cobb in 1862. On the 1871 census the other Elizabeth Ullyatt is still living with her father, John, under her maiden name of Ullyatt. Elizabeth Cobb is living with her husband William. So, since the other Elizabeth is John's daughter, "my" Elizabeth's father must be William.

Elizabeth Ullyatt was baptised on 20th December 1839 in Southwell. She was the youngest of six children born to William and Mary. In 1841 Elizabeth is only one year old when the census is taken, and her mother Mary describes her birthplace as "At Sea".
I don't know when William Ullyatt married Mary, though the first child I've been able to find was John, born in 1828. Mary's age in 1841 is listed as 40 (though that census rounded to the nearest 5 years for adults) so she was probably about 27 when he was born.

I haven't so far been able to find a marriage for Mary to William Ullyatt - so I don't know her maiden name. I don't even know whether they got married in Southwell where their children were born!

For now, this is a mystery which will remain unsolved, but at least I've been able to confirm which of the two Ullyatt families I'm looking at! It's possible that John Ullyatt is a sibling of William, so that's something I might look at in future.

Goals for 2017

I often find myself with time to research, but at a loss as to what I should concentrate on.

I've therefore created a short list of what I want to try to find out over the coming year, some of which will no doubt feed into future posts. All of these are on my tree, the Coldron side, not on my husband's family. Perhaps I'll concentrate on them in 2018!

1. George William Coldron b. 1882 d. 1937 - he was 54 when he died. How did he die? 
2. George William Coldron had two children die in 1918-1919 - was there an epidemic, or were they just unlucky? What happened?
3. George Coldron b. 1861 d. 1890 - he was only 29 when he died. I believe there is a newspaper article about this in the Stamford Mercury. Find the article and find out what happened.
4. Harry Hill b. 1892 d. 1976 - what did he do during the war?
5. Isabella Bassham - keep looking for anything about her
6. Alfred Cobb - find out more about the Sherwood Foresters and his time in the Regiment.
7. Alfred Cobb's son George died in infancy - what happened?
8. Elizabeth Ulyatt's mother Mary - who was she, and was she born in Ireland or at sea? Or somewhere else? Who was Elizabeth's father?
9. Richard Coldron was a POW in WW1, I'd love to find out more
10. All the people in my tree who were of fighting age in WW1 and WW2 - did they fight? If not, what were they doing?
11. Lucetta Coldron, Louisa Coldron, and their half brother Stephen Setchell all died within a year of one another as adults. Call me suspicious, but I wonder if they were connected?
12. Joel Coldron was illegitimate - is there a bastardy record for him?

New Beginnings

I plan to use this blog to write about what I discover during my family history research.

I do not intend to write about people who are still alive, so my posts will be about my grandparents and beyond.

I aim to write a post every month, following prompts either from the 52 ancestors challenge, or from Brandy Heineman's post about writing family history. I may invent some of my own as well.