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General => The Common Room => Topic started by: Wilmit on Friday 19 March 10 10:52 GMT (UK)
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Is there anyone out there who could help me in my search?
I know that one should bury our ancestors to be sure they existed but what can be done when that seems to be impossible?
I have a dilemma in that I cannot prove which of two men was my great grandfather as I seem uinable to bury either of them
I have a feeling that they are one and the same person using different names because when I can find one on the census returns I cannot find the other but how can I prove it? :'(
Is there anyone who could help me to resolve this huge problem which I have been trying to solve for years?
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Welcome to RootsChat.
Can you post some information on what you know to enable others to assist - eg names, dates and places of birth and marriages....?
Nigel
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It all started in March in Cambridgeshire. In June 1855 John W Wilkinson (Wilkerson) b 1833 a widower married Sarah Towch (Touch) b about 1833. They had 2 children - Harry b 1858 and Ann b 1860. Census 1861 - John not to be found but Sarah is in Forest Gate Essex with Charles Mitcham (Mitchem) b 1825 - 1833, Harry and Ann. Census 1871 - John not found, Sarah still with Charles but in Mile End, no Harry nor Ann but 5 more children one of which was my grandfather. 1877 Sarah died in Mile End - informant E Fleming (can't find a connection but wasn't the doctor) and is described on the death cert as 'The wife of John Wilkinson'. Census 1881- 3 of Sarah's children living with John Wilkinson and 'wife' Julia in Mile End in a different house. The boys had taken Mitcham as their middle names and become Wilkinsons. I cannot find deaths for Charles Mitcham nor John Wilkinsom
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What do the children's birth certificates say for their fathers name? Is it given as John Wilkinson consistently or does Charles Mitcham appear on the certificates at all?
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Harry and Ann were both registered as Wilkinson - born in March Cambs - Father John Wilkinson but were named Mitcham on the 1861 census in Forest Gate
Mary Ann, Charles Henry (my Grandfather), James and Sarah Jane registered as Mitcham and born in West Ham. Annie registered as Mitcham and born in Mile End. All with father Charles Mitcham
!861 and 1871 Census show Charles Mitcham, the father as being born in Cambridgeshire but I haven't found the link.
John Wilkinson's mother's maiden name was Mitcham/Mitchell but I cannot prove a link from there either.
Charles Henry Mitcham (my grandfather) became Charles Mitcham Wilkinson for the 1881 census and on his marriage cert in 1885 where he named his own father as - not Charles Mitcham nor John Wilkinson but Charles Wilkinson! He was also Charles Mitcham Wilkinson on the birth cert for his 1st born in 1886. Thereafter on the births and marriages of his children he was either named as just Charles Wilkinson or Charles Henry Wilkinson. :'(
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Do you have the birth certificates for the children?
If yes, what is shown as the maiden name of Sarah on the certificates for Harry and Ann? What is the maiden name shown on the certificates for the later children?
Who is named as the father of John Wilkerson (Wilkinson) in the marriage certificate?
Nigel
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All birth certs except one but I have the reference.
Sarah nee Touch on all of them, including Harry and Ann.
John Wilkinson's (Wilkerson) father was James Wilkinson and his mother was Ann nee Mitchell/Mitcham
James and Ann had three Johns over 14 years, the first two died young.
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hi,
Interesting problem you have.
My instinct is that it is the same man.
In my research I could not find the parents of two prominent English artists, their surname was quite distictive and their children were also renowned artists, mathematicians and engineers knighted etc. Very well documented. I had birth dates and places so it should have been easy!!!
It proved not to be easy, I got absolutely nowhere. Eventually another closer related researcher uncocered the fact that their surname was not their birth names.
What had happened was that their father had been pressganged into the army and absconded; and to prevent his discovery the family had adopted his his nickname as their surname!!!. With the true surname as Cox I was able to find the births of the two brothers and then of course their siblings!!!.
The ruse worked because the father remained free until his death (registered under his assumed name) so from 1817 to 1840 they had the surname Cox and then it was changed. They married in in the 1850's under their assumed names. The assumed name has been mistranscribed on most cenuses so they are really hard to find.
I feel you have a bit of a mystery to uncover so keep working at it!!
regards
Robyn
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Obvious question, but have you got Charles Mitcham in the 1881 census?
And what birthplace/s are given for John Wilkinson and Charles Mitcham in the various census returns?
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I do not have Charles Mitcham in the 1881 census as by then, Sarah was deceased and the children were with John Wilkinson, a couple of streets away. As I said 'If I have John Wilkinson in a census then I do NOT have Charles Mitcham'.
John and Charles both claim to have been born in Cambridgeshire.
Whenever I have found a Charles Mitcham in a census after 1871, that could be a match he is always said to have been born wherever he happened to be living at the time but I have never been able to find birth records to confirm it.
Further to that - all the children fathered by Charles Mitcham and born in Essex or Mile End were said to have been born in Cambridgeshire once they were living with John Wilkinson in 1881
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It sounds like a case of trying to cover up any scandal .
Sarah left John Wilkinson to live with Charles Mitcham somewhere they would not be known.
Sarah took her Wilkinson children with her and called them Mitcham.
The other children including you Grandfather were Mitcham by birth.
When Sarah died all the children went to live with John Wilkinson and "his wife" Julia adding Wilkinson to their names. The differing places of birth were again probably part of the cover up.
As to your Grandfather's marriage cert I would say he knew his father to be Charles Mitcham but as it would be obvious to most people that although living with John and Julia they were were not his parents so he compromised and named his father as Charle Wilkinson.
Thats my theory anyway.
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Thanks Those were all my thoughts too but it isn't funny growing up thinking you are a Wilkinson then in 'advanced age' finding that you are not - if you see what I mean. Also - if only there was a way of proving that theory or the one that there was some sort of scandal so John took Sarah and their children down South and took his mother's maiden name and maybe her father's or a cousin's name but in law was still John Wilkinson. How else could Sarah have been identified as 'the wife of John Wilkinson' on her death certificate, by an informant who was not identified or recognised as a family member? Somebody must have known.
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Some one will always know.
Have you searched newspapers from the time? A really good resource that we often over look.
Was there an inheritance that may have required a name change?
We are all too familiar with witness protection identity changes today but that is another possibility that they were hiding from someone they gave incriminating evidence about.
Of course don't overlook the fact that it could have been the WIFE who needed a changed name. (she may well have helped unwed prgnant girls out of their problems which was quite scandalous and earned a heavy legal penalty in those years)
regards
Robyn