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Where There’s A Will
Many thanks for Alan Crosby’s column in the April issue about the value of wills in family history. It reminded me how the will of my maternal 4x great grandfather, John Paul the Elder, helped me solve two brick walls in my research.
John Paul the Elder and sons were carpenters and he owned a business in Burbage. He died on 10 April 1859 in Hinckley, Leicestershire, and his will (found in the Leicestershire probate collection on Findmypast; findmypast.co.uk) was proved on 19 January 1860. The will was four pages long and in it he named his sons Joseph Paul, John Paul, Thomas Paul, and his daughters, Sarah wife of Gabriel Sleath, Ann wife of Robert Simms, and Mary Warner named as a widow.
My brick walls were that I had not been able to find death records for two more of his children, Eliza and James.
I had found a marriage for Eliza Paul to a William IIiffe in 1836 in Hinckley and the baptism of their first child Eliza born 1837, but then they vanished from the records.
The will solved the mystery. It stated the words: “Daughter Eliza, the wife of William IIiffe supposed to be in America.”
Ah! That’s why I couldn’t find them! I looked at the passenger lists for New York arrivals. William Iiffe arrived in 1838 and worked as a shoemaker, his wife Eliza and daughter Eliza followed him to New York in 1845, and the couple went on to have more children.
My next problem was, what had happened to James Paul? I had found his baptism record but again no death record. I thought it strange that he wasn’t mentioned in the will, so thought he must be deceased.
John Paul the Elder had left some money in his will for his grandson Matthew Paul; I hadn’t heard this name before so decided to do more research. James Paul married Prudence Bingham in 1827 at St Mary’s Church, Hinckley, Leicestershire. Their son Matthew was born the following year and then James Paul vanished from the records, so I decided to look in the newspapers.
I found an article on the Leicestershire quarter sessions, stating that James Paul, aged 20, was charged with stealing oats. He was sentenced to seven years in 1831 and was transported to Tasmania (Van Diemen’s Land) in Australia on 20 December 1832. James survived the seven years, but sadly became ill and died in hospital a free man on 17 October 1839. Back in Leicestershire,
Prudence Paul married again to Thomas Finney in June 1843. I found the will fascinating to read with so much attention to detail and it solved both of my brick walls!
Editor replies: Wow Audrey, what rich pickings you’ve had from just one will. Maybe your prize DNA test kit courtesy of Ancestry will help you to break down even more brick walls. Has anyone else had such success with an ancestor’s will?
Overcoming A Name-Change Challenge
This is a bit of a mystery related to the 1921 census and the whole business of name changing – both topics in your March issue – which might be of interest to readers as a follow-up.
I’m attaching a 1921 census return in the name of Edith Taylor with her family. However, there is very little in this return that is true (except first names and some of their ages), so it took me some time to find it.
Her actual name was Edith Golding (née Bose) born on 28 August 1880. So she was 40 years 10 months old when the out. I have not been able to find Leslie elsewhere, but I have found Albert. Although he was indeed “Soldiering”, it was not with the “Glos Regiment” as stated. He was actually a sapper in the Royal Engineers in an army camp in Droitwich. He is using his real name Albert William Golding but is shown as married with no children.
The really interesting question is, why were they all calling themselves Taylor? There is no connection with the name Taylor anywhere in the extended family that I can find, and they never used the name before or afterwards as far as I know – all census was taken, rather than 41 years 10 months (a simple error of arithmetic?).
Edith’s first four children were born before her marriage, and all had the surname Bose on their birth certificates. The last two were born after her marriage to Albert William Golding, and had the name Golding on their birth certificates. However, on the 1921 census they all have the surname Taylor. Although most of the ages are slightly out, I’m positive this is the right family.
Both Albert William and son Leslie Henry (born Bose on 22 May 1902) have been crossed previous and subsequent records show Bose or Golding.
One possible reason comes to mind. Albert had been in trouble with the police when he was younger and had served a few months here and there in prison, but since around 1914 he seems to have been ‘clean’ – he went into the Army in 1915 and had a good record. However, he had several brothers who were in and out of prison most of their lives. At the time of the census, one brother was actually in prison awaiting trial for robbery. Maybe Edith was unwilling to be associated with the name Golding (although none of the brothers lived in the immediate vicinity), and she just lied about her name. It’s interesting that it doesn’t seem to have been questioned, although the family must have been well known in the area.
Editor repliess: I’m impressed that you managed to find this family Patricia. Edith was clearly trying to hide something!
Donna Wilkinson Josefowski enjoyed an article about workhouse infirmaries: tinyurl.com/wdytya-work-inf The workhouses are fascinating to me. My great great grandfather died in one. I suspect he was ill and went there for medical care, because he wasn’t there long.
Air Force Success
Readers may be encouraged by my experience ordering my father-in-law’s Second World War RAF records online. I was expecting the same long wait that people are experiencing with ordering army records. However, it took less than a month. I even had two phone calls to clear up a few queries; my brother-in-law had given a wrong birthdate on the death certificate and my father-in-law’s first name had been recorded slightly differently. I should mention that I was able to supply the service number.
Editor replies: Good to hear RAF records at least are easy and quick to order.
1921 Census Tip
An excellent aid is the electoral rolls for 1921 on Findmypast (findmypast.co.uk). Following the extension of the franchise in 1918 most men and women over 30 are listed. I was seeking all the households in a particular street and the rolls gave me the names of all of the adults, crucially with their surnames spelled correctly. Then I did the basic search on the addresses on the 1921 census to find the children’s names and ages of everyone, and so constructed most households. There were transcription errors on the census, but starting from the electoral rolls got round that.
Editor replies: Those registers are a great resource but are still only partially transcribed, so you won’t be able to find people in 1921 for all areas yet.
Grateful For Google
Sometimes it is the simple things that we forget to use. I was asked to research my husband’s maternal line, the Rimmingtons. I found some really interesting ancestors – forensic scientist, mustard manufacturer, orchardist. It really got me hooked on finding out more.
Then one day I searched for “William Rimmington” on Google and up popped a reference to The Genealogist no. 36 (above). It was compiled in 1920 and included an article written by William Henry Rimmington, my husband’s first cousin 3x removed. I bought a copy after finding it for sale online, and inside there was a 12-page article tracing the family pedigree from the 1500s up to 1920.
It also contained fascinating articles about marriage settlements/licences as well as information on other families. It is an absolute treasure. So sometimes the easy thing really does produce results!
Editor replies: The Genealogist is a great publication and most volumes can be accessed for free via the Internet Archive (archive.org), including no. 36.
Still Posting
The April issue had so many articles to help me with my family research. However, the most relevant article for me was Caroline Roope’s feature on picture postcards. Sorry to disagree with Caroline, but in our family the use of the postcard has never diminished! My mother collected cards from everyone – uncles and aunts, siblings, nephews and nieces, distant cousins, neighbours and finally her children – until she died in 2013. She presented them in several volumes of scrapbooks with her witty comments, a true deltiologist. The cards included coronations, images of the First World War, songbooks, birthdays and every holiday that we went on because she would send us on our way with a “Don’t forget to send me a postcard!”
It is the ones that represent love that have inspired me to create a book with over 100 years of her collection. One card (above) sent to my then single grandmother Hetty Baker seems to have resulted in my Aunt Phyllis being born in 1911! Today we might send a text or use social media, but I prefer postcards.
Editor replies: I agree with you Jane – it’s much more exciting to receive a postcard than a text!
Wrong Plane
The picture from the April issue that purports to show a Lancaster bomber actually shows a Lancastrian civil aircraft. There are no gun turrets in evidence.
Editor replies: Sorry Keith. The image was wrongly labelled by the picture library, but we should have spotted the error!
Divorce Update
March’s ‘Record Masterclass’ contains a common mistake. The J 77 records (‘Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes, later Supreme Court of Judicature: Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Files’) were originally closed for 100 years then reduced to 75 years and now to 30 years, although there are few records after 1932. When the closure dates were changed the labels on the records were not changed. Unfortunately, a lot of access information was lost when the Discovery catalogue was updated. There are some very recent documents that are closed for more than 30 years, I presume because they contain details about arrangements for the children after divorce.
Editor replies: Thanks David. It’s good to know that more divorce records are open to the public than it might seem.
We asked our followers what they call(ed) their grandparents after sharing news of a survey (tiny url.com/wdytya-grand). @MaryEllen74 replied: Nanny on both sides (Irish and English). Paternal grandfather was Grandpa (English) and maternal grandfather Papa (French/Swiss). 
YOUR LETTER IN PRINT
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