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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: daisydaisy on Thursday 09 October 08 13:01 BST (UK)
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I've come across a bit of a mystery here. When I began searching my family tree, all I had was my father's parents names - that's about all I had to go on. I have since found my Grandfathers parents, and their children, including DOB's and even marriages for some of them. I was really please with myself, but when I presented the tree to my Aunt, she said.."How come my Aunt Florrie isn't on here?" Now, I have census records showing all the children, but there is no Florence on anything, that I can see. And accoring to my Aunt, this lady never married or had children. Can anyone give me any ideas of how I can find out who she was and what happened to her? All I really know is that her name was Florence Easton, daughter of John and Fanny, and she lived in Wimborne, but was probably born in either Lambeth or Wandsworth. I don't even know the year.
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If Florry was the Aunty of your Aunt- could she have been her mother's sister -and so not have the Easton name???
Suz
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Suz,
According to my aunt, she was her father's older sister. I did have a look at her mum's family just in case, but no joy there either. The only sister I could find on his side was called Alice, but I have her birth cert and she has no middle name.
Daisy x
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Was John Easton b Bucks and Fanny b Wilts ??
Just checking I have the correct family?
Suz
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Yeah, that's right Suz. They married in London when Fanny ditched her then husband and ran away with John, who was the farmhand! They had 6 children with them, namely William, George, John, James, Alice, and Bertie. And possibly Flo!!?
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Hi Daisy & Suz
Was Fanny's first husband Thomas Sheppard, a shepherd? Just checking I've got the right lot as well :)
If so, there were older sisters Hannah and Bertha as well as Alice. 1881 RG11 Piece 2038 Folio 83 Page 4.
Kind regards
Gaie
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Do you have John/fanny marriage reg??
Florence may not have been reg in Easton name
You say you have Alice's birth cert - was she reg in Easton name ? - I cannot find a birth reg in Wilts for Alice Easton abt correct time???
Did fanny's 1st husamd die?
Divorce at that time would have been very expensive and unusual among the working class.
As there is a big age gap between Alice and John -were george and Alice children of fanny'ds first marriage??
Suz
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Hi Giae,
Many thanks, yes, you're right, she did have other children form her first marriage, still no Florrie though. From what I can see, when she left Thomas, she left all her children except for Alice and George, who ended up in London with her. Some of the children were not hers thoug, it looks like Thomas was married before, as he is much older than Fanny.
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Suz,
John and Fanny married in 1888, ref V/1d, P/804. Have not yet got the cert though.
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So Thomas had (some with Fanny):
Charles SHEPPARD b 1867
Hannah b 1869
William b 1871
John b 1872
Frank b 1873
Bertha b 1875
George b 1877
Alice b 1878
Sidney b 1880 all Wiltshire
Fanny & John then had:
John EASTON b 1888
William b 1890
James b 1891 all born Battersea, Surrey
Phew!!! Is that right? No wonder she had died before the 1901 census!!
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marriage Thomas Shepherd
Fanny Wilmott
1876 marlboro
??????
so probably George , Alice and Sidney were Fanny's children??
Did Thomas die???
Suz
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Ah -I see now -Thomas didn't die
1891
Box Adjoining Wilts
Thomas Sheppard Head W Shepherd Easton Royal
Frank son 17 Avebury Wilts
bertha daughter Avebury
Sidney son 11 Easton Royal
RG12 1592 43 4
so Fanny's marriage to john Easton was possibly bigamous???
Suz
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Could well have been! The 2 marriages are definately recorded, so that's a possibility! There was Bertie too, born in 1894, but I haven't really looked at him yet. I'm wondering though, if Alice could have been our Flo? It's possible she could have used another name right? My Aunt said that this Flo, whoever she was, looked after the children (including my grandfather) when Fanny died.
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Well, there's a Thomas Sheppard b 1835 Morden(Marden) Wilts, shepherd on a farm, in the 1901 Census with wife Agusta (it does say that on the image!) and son Sydney aged 21: RG13 Piece 1917 Folio 52 Page 12.
So Fanny took Alice and George, but left baby Sy(i)dney behind? :-\
1891 RG12 Piece 1592 Folio 43 Page 4, Thomas is calling himself a widower:
Blue Vein, Box, Chippenham, Wiltshire
Thomas SHEPPARD Widr 57 Shepherd b Wilts Easton Royal
Frank Son 17 Farm labourer b Avebury
Bertha Dau 14 Housekeeper b Avebury
Sidney Son 11 Scholar b Easton Royal
Bertha appears to be registered as Bertha Ann SHEPPARD: Jun Qtr 1875 Marlborough Vol 5a Page 90; not Florence, unfortunately.
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and thomas married Augusta greenman in 1898????
Suz
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Other possibilities
Florence could have been John Easton's housekeeper /lady friend -who the children just called Auntie?
Florence could have been sister in law of John who was widowed young ???
All kinds of possibilities???
Suz
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Wow, he would have been in his 60's then! Must have had some stamina!! Teehee!
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Could be....but the next chapter of the story is this:
After Fanny's death, there appears one Amelia Ellis, with her 2 daughters living in thier house!!
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So was Alice:
Alice Martha SHEPPARD
Alice SHEPPARD
or Alice Maude SHEPPARD?
No Florence as a middle name for any of them.
Both marriages would appear to be bigamous, but as you said, Suz, only the rich could afford divorce; the rest didn't bother with the formalities... ;D
Added: Ah, so "Aunty Florrie" might not have been a blood relative after all!!!
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Hmm, my theory is that she was Alice....I don't think anything else makes sense. I think Alice was simply Alice, no middle name but not sure. I have no documents or anything for her yet. I think she is birth ref V/5a, P/179, seems to match up.
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Sorry, I thought you said in your second post that you had Alice's bc :-\. The ref you have quoted goes with Alice, no middle name, Mar Qtr 1878.
Where did you find Amelia Ellis and her two daughters? They're not there in 1901.
Gaie
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I found them on the 1901, she is listed as his wife.
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Sorry, I thought you said in your second post that you had Alice's bc :-\. .
Gaie
Sorry, you're right I do...Loosing the plot!!
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Have you got even more muddled???
There is 1901
3 morley St battersea
Amelia Ellis wife 35 Watminster
Amelia m daughter 13 S labeth
Amy daughter 9 brixton
RG13 445 144 33
now this entry looks like she is wife of head of family (Thomas bulgar? - but she isnt)
Thomas bulgar? lives at no 2 with wife and family and he is described as head
Amelia ellis is at no 3 and just described as "wife2 -there is no head of house -probably her husband was working away on census night
or is there another amelia ellis we havn't spotted in 1901??
Suz
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Suz,
That is weird, I have here in my hands a printout of the 1901 census which shows that very family in John's house!
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Suz,
That is weird, I have here in my hands a printout of the 1901 census which shows that very family in John's house!
Can you link us to the page daisydaisy please,as I cant find it either,and Im totally confused now,lol
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Oh glee, I can't see it now either! The printout I have is from some time ago, and I'm not sure which site I found it on! ???
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Ok, the image I've taken as your John and family is this one:
RG13 Piece 445 Folio 122 Page 34
102 Wadhurst Road, Battersea, London (Surrey at the time) No it wasn't!!!!
John EASTON Head Wid 44 platelayer b Bucks
John Son 14 b Battersea
William Son 11 b Battersea
James Son 9 b Battersea
Bertie Son 7 b Battersea (you mentioned him in an earlier posting, b1894)
There is a separate household in the house headed up by a Charles Lewson or Curzon, and family. A lot of the houses in Battersea were purpose-built as flats - I have ancestors who were living in the area at the time.
Kind regards
Gaie
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Have you got a death certificate for Alice? My aunts used to talk about an uncle, and try as I might I couldn't find anyone by that name in the family. When I searched the death indexes I found two entries on the same page, one for the name my aunts mentioned and another for the name of a brother of my great grandmother, they were both in the same district and both had the same volume and page numbers. I sent off for both certificates and got a refund from GRO because there was only one certificate which had both names on, something like 'John otherwise Peter Smith'. He'd just decided he didn't like the name his parents gave him and decided to call himself something else! It might be worth looking for 'Alice otherwise Florrie'.
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Hi Aniseed,
I have searched for deaths under both Alice and Florence (and as many variations as I can think of!), but no joy. She didn't marry, I've a feeling she may have worked in service at some point in her life, but don't know where (possibly Dorset). Other than her birth, I can find nothing concrete. Just her census record when she lived at home (age 13).
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I have searched for deaths under both Alice and Florence (and as many variations as I can think of!), but no joy. She didn't marry.
If she didn't marry and she didn't die, I wonder what happened to her. Perhaps she emigrated? Rather a mysterious lady all told, I'd say.
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Hi,
I realise that this reply is a little while after your posts, but I've also been researching my family tree, and have the same Thomas Sheppard that you are discussing in my tree. John Easton is my 2nd great grandfather.
I have Thomas Sheppard firstly marrying Maria Plank in 1860, (d 1876). I assume that her children are: Emma, Sidney (b1864) , Charles, Hannah, William, John, Frank, Bertha, and Martha (due to birth dates)
Thomas then marries Fanny Wilmot in 1876 . Fanny then has children George, Alice, Sidney- the second! (b1880)
Fanny then 'marries' John Easton in 1888 and then moves to London, taking George and Alice with her. She has, and baptises children John (known as Jack in family) Easton, William, James, Bertie and Florence Annie - could she be the 'Florence' that you are after? The baptism date at St. Andrew's battersea is: 18 may 1894, birth 27 April 1894. It seems that John and Fanny baptised all of their children on the same day - John, William, James, Bertie and Florence. John's dob is listed as 21st July 1887 - so out of (bigamous) wedlock.
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and Florence Annie.
Do I see a Florence? :D
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I wonder if she is the one that you are after. My Grandmother (Grand daughter of John and Fanny) was also called Florence, so it was obviously a well thought of name in the family. If the original poster is reading this, could we be distant relatives?