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I am in the process of tracing my family tree using the ancestry website. I am having trouble trying to find any details of my paternal g.grandmother. the only information I have is an approximate year of birth, birthplace and christian name. I have rough information about surname but nothing is definite. She was born in the East End of London, but appears to have lived in Lincolnshire at some point and moved to Croydon in Surrey where she died. My grandmother (her daughter) was born in Skirbeck Quarter Alms House in Boston, Lincolnshire and the only information we have about my g.grandfather is that his name was XXXXX XXXXXe and he worked as a docker. Anyone that could provide further information is now deceased so I really don't know where to go next. Do you have any ideas
Already Tried: many genealogy websites, asking family members
Hi, Welcome and thanks for your question.
Congratulations on beginning your family tree. Ancestry can be a very effective tool and sometimes the information is there but you just have to know how to use it in effective ways in order to find what you are looking for.
If I had her name and her husbands date of birth and any dates when they lived in the various parts of England that you mentioned I could more readily give you an answer.
Do you have any additional information that will help? Are there any additional questions after this that you would like answered?All the best,
Jim
Hi Jim
Thanks for your response. Any information I have is very sketchy but I will list below all that I know.
We think she was born abt 23 April 1872 but it could have been 1871! On her death certificate it states that she was born in Canning Town London but does not state any maiden name. On my Grandmothers birth certificate she listed her surname as 'Thurloe' but my Aunt believes it was actually 'Thurle' or some derivation of this. Although we don't know if this was a true maiden name, made up or a previous married name. We know that between the years of 1915-1922 she was living in Lincolnshire as she had three children born in that time XXXXX XXXXXe b.1915 in Spalding, Doreen Clarke b. 1919 in Spalding and my Grandmother Joan Irene Clarke b. 1922 in Boston. My Grandmother was born in the Skirbeck Quarter Almshouse in Boston. Our only information about her husband was that he was called XXXXX XXXXXe and worked as a docker and that he died sometime between 1922 and 1940, however we have no idea where. Around 1940-45 we know Maud moved to Croydon and lived at 124 Waddon New Road which is where she died on 01/03/1972. We have heard rumours over the years that she may have been married 3 times and had other children, my Aunt seems to remember that she told her two of them were called Linda and Rita but again we have no idea of any surname at this point. My Aunt (who was very close to her) also says that Maud told her she had been married 3 times and had 13 children in total including a set of twins. However we don't know how true this is as in later life she did suffer with some dementia. I have wondered whether it would have even been possible for her to be my grandmothers mother as she was 52 when my Grandmother was born. For a time she lived in Bath in Somerset with her daughter who was then called Phyllis March but I'm not sure of the dates. It would have been sometime in her later years as my g.Aunt Phyllis ran her own nursing home from her property, I am only assuming this may have been sometime in the 1960's. She then returned to the address in Croydon where she died. We believe she rented this property with her daughter Doreen Gwennie Clarke. I'm sorry that my information is so sketchy but it is all I have to go on and you imagine how difficult it has been for an amateur like me to find out anything more. Any advice you might be able to give me would be so helpful and I would be extremely grateful. Regards, Sue
Dear Sue,
You have done fine work thus far. You have a great deal more than many and it is a very good start.
Her full name (by the way you still haven't told me her first name) will be on the birth records of her daughters born in Spalding also but likely registered in the district office there. You maybe able to find church records for them as well but the birth records will be registered and you can compare last names for her.
Look for Census records for her in 1881, 1891, 1901, and 1911 beginning with London area and then perhaps Lincolnshire. Her birth location should remain the same throughout but not always as boundaries changed. If the informant on her death certificate was well informed and not under a lot of stress at the time then trust the death certificate info on her birth location. So far it is the best you have. Search also for her birth record in England by the quarter of the year she was born in.
Her marriage(s) should also be recorded, start the search for the first one using her maiden name and where she is listed around 24 and a Spinster, then each new one using her previously married name.
I just looked at the birth indexes for Phylis and Doreen (she was born in 1917 not 1919) and their mother's maiden name is XXXXX XXXXX XXXXXXX and Thurlow.
I found a marriage record for William XXXXX XXXXXe in 3Q 1909 and the two women listed on the same page (sorry but it doesn't exactly identify the spouse in the index) were Betsy Ann Cardell and Hilda Morton Seymour. Since you didn't give me her first name it is tough to know if these are either of the right ones. It is most likely that she first married closer to 1891 so these would be her previously married name in this case so no listing for Thurloe.
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I'm sorry I forgot to mention. Her Christian name was maud but I know from other family searches that real names were not always used!! The only surnames is have for her are the ones I have already given you and I'm not even sure if these were maiden names as it was not shown on her death certificate. Would the records for the alms house still exist? As all the information I have is so elusive I'm beginning to wonder if this will be a dead end
Maud is a nickname for Matilda and also a real name very popular during this time period due to Alfred Lord Tennyson's poem entitled Maud.
I am sorry you are seeming to give up on the work you have started. Don't give up, just keep going as best you can and collect each piece as you go putting the puzzle together as best you can. Pieces will fall into place.
Here's a potential piece, this 1911 Census. If she did indeed have 13 children they would be born in her first years of marriage. If Henry died in 1922 as you say then this may be their family. They were married for 17 years at this time so that would mean they married in 1894 and she would be about 22. I recommend you search for a marriage record around that time period for her in Derby since their first child was born there.
Experience: President of The Family History Research Group