RootsChat.Com
Research in Other Countries => Canada => Topic started by: janjim on Saturday 18 October 25 02:30 BST (UK)
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Hi,
I wonder if someone could assist me please. We cannot find any further of her after 1954 . My distant relation Elsie Annie Rufey was born in 1914 at Wokingham, Berkshire England, the daughter of William Arthur Rufey and Emily Brooker. Her mother died in 1924 when she was aged 9 years and Elsie continued to live with her father at Hare Hatch, Berkshire up until around 1947 when aged 33 years. She then had met her Fiance, Gregory Gordon Gerald Le Heinsworth during WWII it would appear. We have found her migrating to Canada, via New York on board the "Queen Elizabeth" and made her life with her partner at Hamilton Ontario, Canada.
We don't know if she married Gregory, but a daughter Annette Geraldine Le Heinsworth was born in 1950 at Hamilton and she died in 2009. Gregory died in Hamilton on the 24th November, 1954.
From this date onwards we cannot find any records.
We believe that Gregory may have been married three times, as we have found a marriage to Alice Carter in Nova Scotia in 1931. Also around 1928 have found him with forgery charges in New Zealand, and Default Maintenance probably to his first marriage, where he had an Alias name of "Gerald Allan Ainsworth"
If anyone could advise if she remarried after Gregory's passing, or maybe she returned to UK, as we have found that her daughter Annette died in Reading, Berkshire England.
I have been unable to find any shipping records for a return to UK for herself or any member of her family.
Looking forward to any assistance given please.
Thank you. Jan
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Was she at Annette’s wedding? Also in Berkshire 1979
Also…I can see on freebmd there were two children born to Annette.
Have you tried to make contact with them?
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I have no idea, cannot find any records to such effect of Elsie being at Annette's wedding in UK.
As I said previously have found no records since her partner's death.
Yes, I've tried to make contact with one of two children, via Ancestry and still no reply.
Jan
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The couple actually married in Nova Scotia
https://archives.novascotia.ca/vital-statistics/marriage/?ID=288557
Mrs E Le Heinsworth was still in Hamilton in 1955
https://archive.org/details/1955VernonsHamiltonCityDirectory/page/954/mode/2up?q=heinsworth
She seems to disappear from Hamilton directories after that. Perhaps remarried - marriage records for that period are not available publically.
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I really feel that she may have returned to the UK by then. Are you able to give me an idea of the two children's names please, one Annette, and the other Michelle or Michele, not sure whether male or female.
Jan
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GGG l-H in 1941
Aldershot News, 28 Nov 1941
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Thank you for that, at least now that confirms he was a Soldier. The plaque on his grave, indicated that he was a Corporal.
Found a marriage certificate dated 17.7.1947 for his marriage to Elsie Annie Rufey at Halifax in Canada, a Divorcee, aged 49 years, his occupation then being Constable Special Police.
Jan
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Had you seen the New Zealand marriage?
1925/222 Grace Bilby Gerald Allen Ainsworth (you can order that as a printout which will,be emailed from https://www.bdmhistoricalrecords.dia.govt.nz/Search/Search?Path=querySubmit.m%3fReportName%3dMarriageSearch%26recordsPP%3d30#SearchResults
She files for divorce in 1928 . desertion
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Oh wow, that is so interesting. The changes of names !
Thank you
Jan
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Photograph
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZPG19270907.2.13.2.1?items_per_page=10&query=Gerald+ainsworth&snippet=true
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This notice says Ainsworth is his correct name, G G G Le H is the assumed one
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZPG19280801.2.4?items_per_page=10&query=Gerald+ainsworth&snippet=true
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Thank you, wow what a life this man has had. Le Heinsworth an assumed name.
Jan
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The maintenance of his daughter Joan Helen is to the education dept, so feel she is not the daughter of Grace But cannot see a birth
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/periodicals/NZPG19260908.2.2?items_per_page=10&page=2&query=Gerald+ainsworth&snippet=true
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Thank you, wow what a life this man has had. Le Heinsworth an assumed name.
Jan
To date I've turned up Le Hainsworth, Le Hainesworth, Hainsworth, Heinsworth, Le Heinsworth, Heinworth- and in 2 instances the "Le" becomes "De".
Have been checking the Ontario papers on line - without success.
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This site has them in their pedigrees. https://www.thelockedjournal.com/webs/pedigrees/1385.html
But I cannot verify the two older children at all other than we know from the maintenance order Joan Helen existed.
And there was a child Marion BILBY born to a Grace on 23 Feb 1923 but no father named on the index. So probably not on the record at all.
And Donald was born on 20 July 1929. Considering she filed for desertion October 1928 and did not name Gerald on the birth it seems to me Donald could well not be Gerald’s
In addition to what is in tree Grace’s second marriage ended in divorce too 1976.
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I see his 1954 grave is military. So shouldn’t he be here?
https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Result?DataSource=Genealogy%7CMilitary%7CPfFww&LastName=Ainsworth%2520&DataSourceSel=Genealogy&SEARCH_TYPE=SEARCH_ADVANCED_HELP&
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Another thread
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=894439.new#new
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Thanks for this, certainly a very odd person. Running from the law in NZ, for marriage problems, then changes his name.
Jan
I see his 1954 grave is military. So shouldn’t he be here?
https://recherche-collection-search.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/Home/Result?DataSource=Genealogy%7CMilitary%7CPfFww&LastName=Ainsworth%2520&DataSourceSel=Genealogy&SEARCH_TYPE=SEARCH_ADVANCED_HELP&
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he was operating with both names in New Zealand well before the divorce
You can see that on paperspast.
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/FRTIM19260728.2.10?items_per_page=10&query=Le+heinsworth&snippet=true
That one is after the marriage as Ainsworth
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mckha489,
Wow sure was a mystery man, one wonders what his birth name was then. So one wonders also was he really involved in WWII at all, written beside his name on the grave, says "Corporal".
Anyway, but it looks like we've come to the end of the road in regard to Elsie Annie Rufey (Le Heinsworth), no further information seems to be available after 1955. I thought maybe that after her husband's death, she may have returned to live with family in Reading, Berkshire, as her children were quite young, but can find no information at all.
I'm still waiting for her Grand-daughter to answer on Ancestry, unfortunately messages just don't seem to be answered much these days. Guess it depends on whether they pay their fees.
Jan
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I see a tree (possibly a grand-daughter's)* has her with a spouse McKinnon
there is this burial on findagrave
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01u2j/
Have you followed that one up?
* I see her tree concentrates on WEAL, and not only that she hasn't logged in for over a year.
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Hi again,
Yes that's the one that I saw, Weal and did happen to notice McKinnon in that tree. If we could find a new marriage this would solve the mystery. So if this is our Elsie, that means the children would have had to have migrated to England to be with family, as Annette married at Reading in 1979 to Michael Weal. If the owner of that tree would answer that would be great.
Jan
quote author=mckha489 link=topic=894478.msg7688842#msg7688842 date=1760829190]
I see a tree (possibly a grand-daughter's)* has her with a spouse McKinnon
there is this burial on findagrave
http://www.rootschat.com/links/01u2j/
Have you followed that one up?
* I see her tree concentrates on WEAL, and not only that she hasn't logged in for over a year.
[/quote]
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I don’t think you will find the marriage due to Canadian privacy laws. But I would be taking out a short sub to newspapers.com (you can have a 7 day trial for free if you haven’t had one before) and look for the obituaries for 1954 & 1956.
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Hi again,
I've checked, only records I've got is of Le Heinsworth's death, gives more details on his life though.
He was a long time resident of Winipeg, lived at Hamilton for 6 years, belonged to the Church of Ascension.
Interesting one, he served in the Australian Army in WWI and then served in WWII with the Royal Canadian Engineers.
So one wonders how he met up with Elsie Annie Rufey in Hare Hatch, Berkshire???
The death notice shows four sons, Gordon, Courtney, Ronnie and Kenneth, then Mrs. J. Bingham and three children, Rose Marie, Nichele (maybe should be Michele)and Annette.
Some more checking to do now.
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Well if he was in the Australian Army, it was with another name.
You can search Australian ww1 records here. I tried various searches including just putting Canada 1897, Canada 1898, & finally Canada 1899 but the results didn’t look helpful
The one guy who had Gerald in his name was older, and shorter than the NZ police description of 5ft 9in
https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/SearchScreens/BasicSearch.aspx
Added, found another gazette entry says he was 5ft 8in.
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Does that death notice give a province for his birth?
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Only thing the notice said was a Native and long term residence of Winnipeg.
Does that death notice give a province for his birth?
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Hi there, one wonders about this fellow hey ! Maybe Elsie also had another surname after living with him for those few years, for her return to England.
The fact is her daughter Annette married back in Reading, Berkshire, so unless she was brought home by some other family member, we will never know the whole situation.
Just waiting for a reply from this person on Ancestry.
Jan
Well if he was in the Australian Army, it was with another name.
You can search Australian ww1 records here. I tried various searches including just putting Canada 1897, Canada 1898, & finally Canada 1899 but the results didn’t look helpful
The one guy who had Gerald in his name was older, and shorter than the NZ police description of 5ft 9in
https://recordsearch.naa.gov.au/SearchNRetrieve/Interface/SearchScreens/BasicSearch.aspx
Added, found another gazette entry says he was 5ft 8in.
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Haven't read thru the thread but came across this article which may or may not be of interest.
The Hamilton Spectator
Hamilton, Ontario, Canada
Thu, 29 Jul 1948
Page 7
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-hamilton-spectator/183275863/
Sandra
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Elsie Annie McKinnon - passed 1956
The Toronto Star
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Sat, 22 Sept 1956
Page 37
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star/183276098/
Daughter Annette - 1986 (with photograph)
Reading Evening Post
Reading, Berkshire.
Tue, 15 Apr 1986
Page 5
https://www.newspapers.com/article/reading-evening-post/183277308/
Sandra
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Suspect this is the Gordon B (Beattie) McKinnon mentioned in above obit.
The Toronto Star
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Tue, 16 Apr 1968
Page 22
https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-toronto-star/183276159/
FIND A GRAVE
https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/111604207/gordon-b-mckinnon
Sandra
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Excellent Sandra. The names of those two girls is correct. It must be the right Elsie,
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Thank you Sandra and everyone else who has assisted me through this process.
Amazing find, and now can only assume that the property in Hare Hatch, Berkshire must have transferred over to the daughter Annette, as family had still been living there up until recently.
Great sleuthing. So happy
Jan
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Great stuff Sandra, you've found the piece of the puzzle that confirms what happened to Elsie.
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Yes, but what a sad story though for poor Elsie Rufey and her two daughters. She was only 42 years of age, her husband who it would appear must have deceived her considerably, one would imagine with his Alias name and these apparent military records. He passed away when the children were only just prior to school age, and then after his death, she found happiness again when marrying Gordon McKinnon.
I think of her two daughters, who most likely returned to Hare Hatch in Berkshire to live with their grandfather William Arthur Rufey.
Thank you all once again for your assistance.
Jan
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Annette was back in the UK by 1968, her engagement to Michael Weal was announced in the Reading Evening Post 28 August 1968. It was a long engagement as they didn't marry until 1979.
Maybe she returned to the UK after the death of her step father, Gordon McKinnon. As Sandra posted, he died in Canada on 15 April 1968, or she could of course have returned years earlier.
I assume Mrs. Rufey the grandmother mentioned is her grandfather's second wife, Jessie Winifred (Griffin) Rufey. Both of her grandparents had died by then.
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Thanks Jool, more to add to the story. Sad both Annette and Michael now passed away.
Jan