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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Surrey => Topic started by: kellsnz on Friday 09 March 12 03:17 GMT (UK)

Title: William May m 1856 to Elizabeth Winter, Wandsworth
Post by: kellsnz on Friday 09 March 12 03:17 GMT (UK)
They married in All Saints Church June 8th. William was 25 and a blacksmith and Elizabeth 21. George MAY and John WINTER were written to be the fathers, I cannot read their occupations.
But this is all I have. The census, familysearch, ancesrty, google has been no help.
I have no idea where to go from here, can anyone shead any light or help?

Huge thanks
Kelly
Title: Re: William May m 1856 to Elizabeth Winter, Wandsworth
Post by: Jane Masri on Friday 09 March 12 18:13 GMT (UK)
Kelly, I've just looked at the public trees on Ancestry & there are 2 trees that seem to have your William May &  Elizabeth.  They appear to have gone to New Zealand shortly after their marriage as their first child is born in Nelson, NZ in 1858.  William appears to have died 24 May 1873 in Nelson NZ.  Maybe this is why you can't find him on the census?

Jane
Title: Re: William May m 1856 to Elizabeth Winter, Wandsworth
Post by: lizdb on Friday 09 March 12 18:17 GMT (UK)
Why not put a snippet of the marriage cert on the Deciphering Baord, to see if anyone has any ideas about the occupations?

That might help you to find them in earlier censuses.
Title: Re: William May m 1856 to Elizabeth Winter, Wandsworth
Post by: richard g on Thursday 10 May 12 03:34 BST (UK)
Is this the Elizabeth Winter the son of John Winter who went to Melbourne/New Zealand about 1857.
Born in Berwick on Tweed circa 1837. John Winter was a Mason married to Ann Durie. Both died in Melbourne. Many of the girls ended up in NZ. For example Margaret circa 1830 married Charles Sandilands the Baker in Hokitika
Title: Re: William May m 1856 to Elizabeth Winter, Wandsworth
Post by: kellsnz on Thursday 10 May 12 04:35 BST (UK)
YES!!! wow thank you!   I Would love to know more if you have it???
Title: Re: William May m 1856 to Elizabeth Winter, Wandsworth
Post by: peterd500 on Saturday 13 June 15 11:20 BST (UK)

My cousin here in New Zealand is apparently descended from William MAY & Elizabeth Jane WINTERS via a daughter Amelia MAY, Amelia being my cousin's great-grandmother.

Amelia MAY married John Thompson CRAWFORD in New Zealand in 1879.

https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/
NZ Marriages
1879/1968 Amelia MAY, John Thompson CRAWFORD

She was John's second wife, his first wife being Rosetta OAKLEY whom he married at Tuapeka down south in 1864.  Rosetta died in tragic and mysterious circumstances in 1879, being found drowned on a beach, the verdict at the inquest leaving the cause of death open.  John was a pianist and violinist who made his living wherever he went from his musical abilities and side line as a piano tuner.  It appears that Rosetta sang and also played the piano. John and Rosetta lived at Greymouth then Westport in the South Island from at least 1869.  John & Amelia by 1880 for a short while were living in Nelson and soon after that until at least 1886 were living at Gisborne in the North Island.  John died in Auckland 1891 age 54, described as being late of Glasgow, Lanarkshire in his death notice, which makes him born about 1837.  Plenty of information can be found about John at Papers Past in the West Coast (of the South Island) newspapers, Nelson newspapers, and the Poverty Bay (Gisborne) newspaper, but there is a big gap between 1887 and 1891 which is strange considering John's previous musical exploits in entertainments well reported in the newspapers. 

John was in charge of music at Westport's Theatre Royal.  The Theatre Royal and Commercial Hotel burnt down just a few hours after Rosetta unaccountably went missing in 1879, which set a few tongues wagging.  Her body wasn't found for some days until it turned up on the beach. 

I haven't traced the WINTER/MAY lines in detail because they are not actually my lines.  I was briefly looking at the ancestry of my cousin's father a couple of days ago after I realised I knew little of him, and my cousin didn't know much about his forbears either (my cousin had asked a question about his mother's ancestry, which is where our connection lies).  I wasn't looking to go back far but a number of researchers have left good clues on the web regarding a number of my cousin's paternal lines, and of course the usual NZ online resources are helpful, especially the fabulous and ever informative Papers Past website in the case of John CRAWFORD.

Peter

peter
Title: Re: William May m 1856 to Elizabeth Winter, Wandsworth
Post by: sarah on Monday 15 June 15 11:37 BST (UK)
Hi Peter,

I am very sorry but your reply to Kelly has bounced back to us :'(  It looks like Kelly has changed her email address and we do not know what the new one is.

I have tried to search for an alternative way of contacting Kelly but sadly nothing came up on my searches.

Regards

Sarah