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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Lancashire => Topic started by: NNR on Thursday 26 January 12 14:12 GMT (UK)
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My Great Grandfather, John James Forsyth was born on Gordon Street off Netherfield Road, Everton in March 1890. He worked as a carter on the Docks, married in 1911, had a family of four, served in the War and died of leukaemia in 1921 aged just 31. As such, I know very little about him or, indeed have any inkling of what sort of man he was. I also lack any photographs of him.
What I do know is that he had two sisters – Ann Jane born in early 1888, and Florence Jessie Forsyth born in the Summer of 1892. The family – including parents Thomas William (also a carter) and Sarah Ann (nee Simon) - lived in and around Everton from around 1890 (although I have not been able to find them on the 1911 census).
Upon reaching adulthood, Ann appears to have married (John) Henry Rowlands in the Spring of 1906, and Florence seems to have married Henry Williams (a flour miller and son of a man of the same name and a mother named Mary Ann) in early 1911.
In 1911, Florence and Henry are living on Torr Street in a terrace named ‘Rock View’. There were no children listed in the 1911 census, but several do appear over the following years born to ‘Williams’ and ‘Forsyth’. I have not yet been able to ascertain if these are ‘my’ Williams and Forsyth children or not: Henry (Mar 1912), Mary A (Dec 1912), Florence (Mar 1914), Ann J (Jun 1916, died young), John J (Sep 1919), Esther (Mar 1922), Thomas (Jun 1925), George (Sep 1927). The dates of the births might intimate that Henry Williams fought in WWI. As yet, I have found no record of this.
As for Ann, although she is living on Bostock Street in the 1911 census with husband Henry, there are again no children shown by this time. Likewise, none appear in the BMD indexes.
What I’m looking for is some sort of idea of what happened to Ann and Florence and Florence’s children. My hope is that by tracing some surviving descendants that I’ll be able to get some idea of what Ann/Florence or even John were like.
So, do any of these names or locations ring a bell with anyone, or does anyone have any suggestions for finding on what happened to these relatives of mine...?
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I would first make sure that the two marriages do belong to your family.
According to www.lancashirebmd.org.uk Ann J Forsyth married John H Rowland at Liverpool St peter in 1905
Florence married Henry Williams at the same church in 1911.
If they are your family - their marriage certificate will give their fatehr's names, you could then look for baptisms of the the possible churches for the children.
You could also track the family through directories.
In 1901 the family appear to be at 9 court Islington
Thomas W Forsyth H M 37 teamsman carter
Sarah A wife 35
Annie 13
John J 11
Florence 8
all bn Liverpool
Gibel
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St Peter Liverpool,
19th of Feb 1911
Henry Williams aged 22,batchelor,of Bostock Street,father,Henry Williams Mariner,
Florence Forsyth,aged 22,spinster ,of Bostock Street,father Thomas a carter,
witness to marriage John Henry Rowlands and Ann Jane Rowlands,sister and brother in law perhaps,
as found by Gibel
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Wow. Thanks you two, that one marriage record seems to confirm what I had suspected! btw,I have the 1901 census (and every census for the family back to 1841), but 1911 still eludes me!
I've never had any joy with directories, though - the family are generally living in slums and doing the most menial of jobs. They never tend to appear.
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So did most of our ancestors
you can use a free search for the 1911 census and then pay for the details,
possibly your library has free access to Ancestry
or try family search org,
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Do you have his enlistment papers
these have his home address and dates of births for his children
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I don't, no. Would they be easily obtainable?
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There's an army service record on Ancestry for a John James Forsyth of 3 Cambridge Terrace Everton Liverpool. He married Sarah Ann Paxton on 3 Dec 1911 in Crosby. Ancestry is available free in all Liverpool libraries and probably available free in some other libraries outside Liverpool.
Blue
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He married Sarah Ann Paxton on 3 Dec 1911 in Crosby
Per Lancs BMD, they were married at St Luke's ( So was I - but many years later).
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I have John Forsyth's service record thanks, but I think the other poster was suggesting service records for Henry Williams and Henry Rowlands - both much more common names, sadly!
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I think Cambridge Terrace was either 13 or 15 Court in Robsart Street. I can't see any Forsyths there in the 1911 census.
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13 Court, I believe. The Forsyths lived at #3 in 13 court.
They weren't yet at the address in 1911. The soon to be Mrs. Forsyth was still Sarah Ann Paxton and working at a bottling factory. John Forsyth himself was presumably with Dad Thomas William and Mum Sarah Ann...somewhere! Never been able to find them, though...
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Re; Lost Forsyths, Hi, my name is Tracy Roberts I am currently over from New Zealand and at the request of family doing a spot of research on the family tree. Trying to find a branch of Liverpudlian Forsyths. I am following some work that has been done by an elder uncle so am unsure of how much is correct. However some of the names are similar to what you have, but not in the same order and such. My hope was to find the English connection and siblings to my Grandfather and his father. I will be in Liverpool from Monday I think, for a couple of days Would be interesting to touch base and see if the two stories are connected somehow.
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Lenadales, I replied to you via PM. I am the NNR who started the thread. Do get in touch!
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Lenadales needs to post more to use the pm as a new poster only 1 post so far.
Blue
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Ah, OK. Thanks. Lenadales please do get in touch! I'm the guy who started this thread...