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England (Counties as in 1851-1901) => England => Cornwall => Topic started by: jaybak on Friday 16 November 12 11:05 GMT (UK)
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I am looking for Eliza Jane WHITFORD born 1853 and baptised in Marazion, mother Frances (Fanny) WHITFORD, nee JENKINS and father James WHITFORD.
I have her in the 1861 census in Marazion with her grandmother and in the 1871 census working as a general servant in Lewisham. I cannot find her in any subsequent census and am working on the premise that she married.
There is a marriage between an Eliza Jane WHITFORD and James TREWRIN in Redruth in September quarter of 1872 (Vol 5c page 342). I then cannot find any trace of this couple in the 1881 or 1891 censuses.
I cannot find an online parish record of this marriage and was hoping someone might be able to point me in the right direction. I have searched the RootsChat board, LDS Family Search, Cornwall OPC, and the Phillimore registers on Internet Archive, all with no result.
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Jenny
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Cornwall OPC Database shows:
23rd September 1872 at Camborne
James Trevenen, age 27, Bachelor, Blacksmith of Tolcarne Street
Elizabeth Jane Whitford, age 26, spinster of Tolcarne Street
Her father: James Whitford, Miner
His father: George Trevenen, Blacksmith
Witnesses: James Whitford and Catherine Waters
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Oh wow - that was quick and thank you very much.
I think it might be her - so far correct name, age and father.
I guess the difference in the surname explains why I couldn't find them in the censuses - a transcription error - I was looking for Trewrin variations.
Thank you so much, off to search the censuses now.
Jenny
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Maybe they emigrated?
Lots of Cornish did around that time.
I looked for baptisms on the OPC site, but nothing came up?
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Whoops - not her as the age is wrong - she would have only been 19 not 26 and her father was deceased so he wouldn't have been her witness. So at least I can eliminate that one.
Thanks for looking.
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I have considered the possibility that she may have emigrated and I do think it quite likely - her mother remarried in 1869 and was living in London until she and her new family emigrated to Australia in 1877. Eliza is in the 1871 census living nearby her mother so I feel either she married or followed her mother to Australia (or died). Or married and then emigrated, making it harder to find on passenger lists.
I have looked at the passenger lists for NSW and Victoria and as her mother settled in NSW I have also searched the NSW birth deaths and marriages.
And of course, have found nothing.
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Did Fanny Whitford marry Charles Peat in Lewisham in 1869?
If so, this would be her death? --
Frances Peat
father Nichols
mother unknown
1897, St Peters district, NSW
and would Charles Nicholas Peat, son of Charles and Frances, who died in Rockdale district in1841 be their son? And possibly Charles Peat, aged 78, who died in St Peters in 1899 would be her husband.
1871 census in Camberwell shows Fanny born c1823 and Charles born c1821, so that would fit the 1899 age at death for Charles.
Anyhow, what I'm getting at is: Australian death certificates generally show considerable detail about a person's spouse and children. If you don't have Frances's death certificate, it could be worth getting, as it might show Eliza's name, depending on what the informant knew. (Since Australian certificates are so expensive, a transcription service can be a better option: google joy murrin transcription for one that many people recommend.)
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Thanks for your interest and yes you have the correct Fanny and Charles Peat.
I have both Charles and Fanny's death certificates and Charles' first marriage certificate
They were both widowed when they married in 1869 and subsequently had 4 children. Charles and his first wife had 7 children, 6 of whom emigrated to Australia separately between 1869 and 1877 and before Charles and Fanny arrived.
On both death certificates it states "particulars of first marriage unknown" - which I find difficult to believe as one of the sons, (a hairdresser like his father) had been operating a hairdressing business in the same inner city area as his father.
The informant on Fanny's is her eldest daughter Frances Jenkins Peat.
I have no idea why Fanny's father is reported as being Nichols Jenkin on the actual certificate as my research has found her parents to be James Jenkin and Frances Northey.
I would like to know about Eliza though - she would have been 16 when her mother married Charles and 2 years later in the 1871 census was in service nearby her mother. Between 1869 and 1877 most of Charles' children by his first marriage (now adults) emigrated to Australia (assisted). Eliza was about 24 when her mother migrated.
I will continue to look. :)
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Ain't it the way - the info is only as good as the memory of the person giving it ... or their attention to details.
There certainly just doesn't seem to be any trace of Eliza in English records, that's for sure. I poked around at every Eliza(beth) and/or J/Jane (I considered Jane because my gr-grmother Eliza Jane was known as Jane) of about the right age and place of origin I could find in records, and all of them were accounted for by independent existence in births or earlier censuses. Your Eliza disappeared. Emigration seems like a good guess -- I wonder whether she went somewhere other than Australia, maybe as a companion/household servant with an employer?
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There wouldn't have been enough room on the certificate to put all the information about the first marriages so it may have been a factor of expediency rather than ignorance. Both death certificates have different informants and are 2 years apart, but have exactly the same phrasing "particulars of 1st marriage unknown". They are both in the same handwriting having been filled out by the same registrar.
The informants appear to be ignorant of Charles' parents' details; that section is struck through with "unknown" and again "unknown" against Frances' mothers' maiden name.
Genealogy becomes even more interesting when it doesn't unfold smoothly. This family has proved to be so much more difficult than any of my other lines even though they were among the last to arrive in Australia and I could find them in every UK census since 1841!
I have also looked at every variation of Eliza, Elisa, Elizabeth/Jane and can only think that she had left England sometime before 1881. Your suggestion that she might have left England in employment is interesting - that could make her even less visible in the records. I would have thought Australia was the likely candidate but I may have to cast further to the USA, Canada and New Zealand....and remain optimistic ;)
thanks again,
Jenny
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I just wanted to rule out that 1872 marriage definitively, in case somebody else came back to it as I did. I'd noticed that in the 1871 census your Eliza Jane was Elizabeth Jane, and wondered whether she might have exaggerated her age in order to marry. And then I couldn't find a Trevenen couple in the censuses to match.
So to start, the name was indeed Trewren.
James, son of George, a smith, and Jane, was baptised in August 1845 in Tuckingmill, born in January 1845.
http://www.cornwall-opc-database.org/search-database/more-info/?t=baptisms&id=845757
There are apparently two births for that name in Redruth reg dist in 1845.
The family is in the 1851 census in Camborne - name mistranscribed at Ancestry as Trewsco and corrected to Trewren by an Ancestry user.
Eliza Jane Whitford #2 was probably born 1845 in Redruth (which covers Camborne), and is in the 1851 census in Veryan with parents James and Ann. It looks like she died aged 26, death reg March quarter 1873, Redruth.
I'd been hopeful there for a bit, but 'twas not to be.
Yes indeed, the mystery ones are the ones that make the whole endeavour entertaining! It's nice to find the odd one of them occasionally, though. ;)