All family historians run into brick walls that prevent research from moving forward or backwards. It can take years until they locate concrete information about a certain individual. During that time, every possible scenario is played out in the researcher's mind. Every spelling variation and geographical location is considered. The various problems are advertised everywhere--at family history society meetings, in genealogical journals and magazines, on cyberspace bulletin boards. Sometimes, we just can't break through.
Here, then, is my 'ten most wanted' list.
Margaret AUSTEN
The first wife of George CULMER, Margaret gave birth to at least seven children and probably more; she died in 1680. I (along with other descendants) am hoping to prove that she was born in Goodnestone around 1612 to William AUSTEN and his wife. I am interested in corresponding with anyone researching the earlier CULMER families of Thanet and east Kent.
John BRIGDEN
In 1812 my maternal 4x great grandfather married German-born Caroline LEONHARDT at Brighton, Sussex. The couple raised a family whilst managing affairs at The King's Head on West Street. John died before appearing on any census record so his birthplace is unknown. His burial record would suggest that he was born around 1789. The only suitable baptism in Sussex is at Lindfield, withe parents Ann nee PENFOLD and John BRIGDEN. Am I on the right track?
Robert CUNNINGHAM
My 3x great grandfather served as a driver with the Royal Artillery at the Battle of Waterloo. His military papers give his year of birth around 1780 and the place as Glasgow. Since CUNNINGHAM is not an uncommon Scottish surname I don't know where to begin looking for this man. His wife was Elizabeth UPSALL (or variant UPSTALL, UPDELL) and they had nine children, the first of whom was born in 1817 Eltham. After completing his military service, Robert settled his family in west Sussex and collected a pension to supplement his earnings as a publican. Has anyone lost a young, Scottish lad (a weaver by trade) at the beginning of the nineteenth century?
Robert FINNIS
Robert FINNIS was my maternal 6x great grandfather. He married Ann SPICER later in 1750 at Dover in Kent; he outlived her. Robert's 1799 will mentions daughter Ann (my ancestor Mrs. William Wood), sons and executors Robert and George (a third son, John, is not named), and brother Daniel FINNIS. One Robert FINNIS served as Dover's mayor in 1796 - is he my ancestor?
Joseph FLETCHER
Joseph FLETCHER was my mother's 5x great grandfather. He married Jane TURNER in 1735 Dearham, Cumberland, and they had seven children and hundreds of descendants! Joseph died in 1760 and was born around 1710. It's believed that his father was John, as was his grandfather. But who was his mother or paternal grandmother?
Emma HADLOW
My 2x great grandmother married a Dover-born builder, William Henry PEPPER, at St Margaret's church in Lee, Kent in 1862. Emma named, as her father, stone mason Samuel BARNES. Emma was a spinster, so was Samuel was her stepfather or her biological father? I've located a probable baptism for Emma, in 1839 Ewell. I would love to find her, as a Barnes or a Hadlow, on the 1841 and/or 1851 census to confirm her parentage; in 1861 she was in service and 'living in'.
David HARDIE
My 4x great grandfather married Elizabeth CHE(E)THAM in 1804 Manchester, Lancashire. A son was born in 1809 London; it's probable an older daughter, Harriet, was born (perhaps in Manchester). David is believed to have been still living in 1846; no death certificate or will has been located thus far. Without a sighting of David on the 1841 census, I've no idea of his age
or birthplace (in fact, the same applies for his wife). Family lore has it that David was Scottish.
Wilhelm MOTAN
We're looking for information on my late mother-in-law's MOTAN family. Her grandfather Wilhelm married Maria Ann WREKOWSKA in Krakow, Poland in 1885 but the couple seems to have lived in Vienna, Austria most of their lives. Wilhelm's 1934 burial record gives his date of birth as 1857 in Zerotin, Bohemia - now the Czech Republic. Can anyone lay claim to this family?
Sarah SPARKS
My paternal great great grandmother was Sarah SPARKS, born in Ireland (either Dublin or County Tyrone, according to census records) around 1858. She married James BOYDEN in Mauritius in February 1876. He was a soldier and she was, reputedly, a children's nurse to a colonial family. Their first child was born in South Africa, after which the family returned to England where James joined the Metropolitan Police force. No one knows much more about Sarah than that. DNA testing suggests that Sarah connects to the SPARKS family who settled in Canada in the early 19th century.
Sarah Ellen/Ellen Sarah TAYLOR
My great grandmother Nell TAYLOR married Frederick Charles POPE in 1895 at St Peter's church, Brighton, Sussex. All documentation located to date gives her birthplace as Brighton and her year of birth as 1874 (with 23 December as a likely date). No registration of her birth, under the names Ellen, Eleanor, Sarah or Nell(ie) TAYLOR, has been found. She appears not to have been christened in any Brighton churches, either (I've searched two years either side of 1874). At her marriage, Nell gave her father's name as Henry TAYLOR and his occupation as that of a dyer. The 1901 census lists Nell's mother as a widow, Ellen TAYLOR, born in America. It is probable that Nell was illegitimate; her parents may have married after her birth. The family has no knowledge of any siblings. Neither Nell or her parents has been identified on the 1881 census for England, Scotland and Wales - or 1871 or 1891. Nell was 'on the stage' in the years before her marriage, which fact rather jars with the fact that the 1901 census shows her a matron of a girls' home!
If you have further details to fill out the above pen sketches, I would be pleased to hear from you.
Only a genealogist regards a step backwards as progress
Please contact the site owner with comments or questions:
Lesley Gent, Ontario, Canada
email: lmgmay1955atgmaildotcom
Copyright ©2000, Lesley Gent
Page last modified -- Friday, 5 January 2024
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