Which of your ancestors have disappeared?

[sheena58]

Hello,
My most frustrating missing ancestor is my 3x great grandfather Samuel Cannom.
The only details I have found for him are:

married Ann Coote 24.9.1835 St Mary's parish church Maldon, Essex

children baptised in St Mary's Maldon
1. Sarah Ann          31.1.1836
2. Samuel               24.9.1837 (buried 30.1.1838)
3. Samuel Charles  25.8.1839 (my GG grandfather)
4. Elizabeth Mary    27.3.1842

Samuel appears on the 1841 census in his father-in-law's house:

Charles Coote     40 Baker
Samuel Cannom  25 Carpenter
Ann Cannom        20
Sarah Cannom     5
Charles Cannom  2

There are two other Cannom Households in Maldon

Samuel Cannom 74 Carpenter
Mary Cannom     67

Abraham Cannom   40 Carpenter
Sarah Ann Cannom 30
Lucy Cannom          14
Susan Cannom       12
Sarah Ann Cannom  3

All of these people are listed as born in county (Essex) although I know this is often wrong.

Ann remains at this property until she dies in 1892. Samuel is never seen again! Ann's marital status varies between married and widowed although it is not until the 1881 census that I can read with certainty that it is a 'W' not 'M' in the column.

Unfortunately the other Samuel, Mary and Abraham all died before the 1851 census so not able to establish a place of birth for any of them. I have found one or two other records relating to Abraham in nearby parishes (Cold Norton & Stow Maries) of a first marriage and baptisms for some children but no baptism for him.

I think there could be a link because the men were all carpenters.

I have tried the obvious Canham & Cannon to no avail. My only indication of a year of birth would be to losely base it on the 1841 census and his marriage date so somewhere around 1815. I had thought he was probably from the Maldon/Dengie peninsula area but that was just based on the few records I have found.

In the 1851 census Ann has a daughter Ellen aged 3. I have found no baptism for her, only a burial four years later but this suggests that Samuel was probably still alive up to 1846 at least. (Giving Ann the benefit of the doubt!)
There is a Samuel CannoN in the 1851 census who would be about the right age and is a carpenter lodging in a public house in Laindon Essex. He is recorded as being married and born in Faversham, Kent. This is the nearest to a possible find so far. Unfortunaltely there is not enough there to indicate whether this is him.
Any ideas? I'd love to be able to get back futher on this line as it was one of the fisrst I started on. I got back to Samuel within weeks of starting my research.... 20+ years down the line I'm still there!

Sheena

[sarahsean]

I am having problems with my 4 times great grandfather James Dowding. He was born who knows where probably around the 1770`s or so. He married again who knows where to Catherine (maiden name unknown). He moves to Cookham, Berkshire and has a child James in 1813. They have no other children and he dies again who knows where sometime before 1820 when Catherine remarries using the name of Dowding of course so no help in tracking her down!

 I know he was a servant but have no idea how i can track him down to his parish of origin. It goes without saying there are no other Dowdings in the village of Cookham.

I know this one will get to me for a long time to come!

Sarah

[Mark1973]

My Ggg Grandfather married his cousin Mary Nutt, she appears on the 1861 census with him, he remarried in 1863 and the certificate states him as a widower, but can't find a death record for Mary Nutt, but there is a Martha Nutt that died about the right time, the 1861 - 63 death records on ancestry are the typed ones now so they may have been mistranscribed from the original handwritten ones, so i may take a risk and order that certificate

[youngtug]

hi, just an update, marie ann wilson was found for me by another rootschatter;  ivanidea, to whom i am eternally gratefull. she also had with her  son, aged 9 in 1891, and he had left home before 1901 so i did not have him documented. all i knew of him was a mention in a will and vague family legends, so thanks to " ivanidea" and rootschat in general i have made a leap foreward, john.

[nameless]

I have an ancestor who not only disappeared but doesn't seem to have any parents.

Edward Thomas Elliott, (a mariner) only appears on 1851 Bristol census as Thomas, aged 33,  with surname mis-spelt as Elliot. On 1861 his wife is entered as a widow, although when his 4 children married later only one certificate says "father deceased."  The GRO tried to find a death cert, including overseas, but no luck.
 
When ETE married he said his father had the same name and was a wollen draper.  Can't find any trace of anyone like that.
 
There is a baptism in 1817 of an ET Elliot, father Edward Elliot a servant, mother Hester, but the only record of a  Hester Elliott burial in Bristol was in 1815 which makes his age wrong.

The seamen's registers finish just before he disappeared.  His last child was born June 1860.

I've spent 4 years trying to find out about him, but think I never will.  He has lots of gt gt grandchildren but no-one else appears to be researching him.

He drives me mad.

[RichardK]

There are lots of uncertainties in this one - and I wouldn't rule out that 1817 baptism yet.

1. If Edward Thomas Elliott senior was a woollen draper when his son married (is it the 1845 Bristol district marriage?) that doesn't stop him having been a servant in 1817 - people do change profession.  Plus, 'servant' can be used for a whole variety of contexts; he may have been a 'servant' in the sense of assistant to a woollen draper.

2. Hester may not have been been buried in Bristol (have you also searched for Esthers - the names were used interchangeably).  Even if the 1815 burial is her, that doesn't necessarily rule out the 1817 baptism being the correct one if Edward Thomas Elliott junior was a couple of years old when baptised.  I have an example in my tree where I can show that at the time of a baptism one of the child's parents was deceased, but this isn't menioned on the baptismal record.

3. If your ETE junior was a mariner, he probably would have been familiar with several ports.  I have two mariner branches of the family: one flits regularly between the south coast ports of Plymouth, Dartmouth and Portsmouth, whilst the other branch alternated between South Shields and Weymouth!  If you search for ETE marriages, all those recorded before 1875 are in ports: Bristol 1845, Weymouth 1847, Bristol 1865 and Portsea (which covers Portsmouth) 1869.
Might be worth getting some of those marriage certificates to see if there's any connection.

Good luck!

[nameless]

Thank you very much for the advice.

The 1845 Bristol marriage is his (the mystery man)  the 1865 is one of his son's first marriage.  The man on the 1847 Weymouth marriage is not showing on 1851 census but is on 1861 which made me suspect they may be the same person.  I was in contact with someone descended from the Weymouth one and he was sure that I was wrong.  ETE signed on the 1845 marriage so I need to find out where the Portsea marriage took place to get a copy & check the signature.  ETE's wife came from Devon and I cannot definitely find her on 1841 (lots of women with same name). I wonder if they met in Devon and she followed him to Bristol?  Luckily I've been given her tree back to early 1600s.

Back to the woolen draper.  I can't see any woolen drapers in the 1830 Bristol directory.  There are also no other baptisms to Edward & Hester, so perhaps they were new to Bristol or passing through.

The trouble with the Elliotts is that they were everywhere and there are so many spelling variations.

Thanks again for the help.  I'll keep trying to find him.

[stonechat]

My gt grandmother Ann Lee's first husband William Aldous

They married Sept quarter 1866 Ashton dist
Son Fred Aldous was born Mar Quarter 1873 Glossop
Daughter Sarah Aldous was born Sep quarter 1877 Penistone
All are still around on the 1881 Census

By 1.3.1890 She was giving birth to my grandfather Harry Jackson with 2nd Husband Edward Jackson (except they were not married)
22.7.1892 she gave birth to Annie Jackson
She was finally made an honest woman on 30.5.1896 in Macclesfield

So what happend to William Aldous between 1881-1889

Bob

[Gaille]

Thomas Child died sometime between 25 July and 31 August 1727 in the Minchinhampton area of Gloucestershire. We've searched all the obvious parishes for his burial but have drawn a blank.

It's just so annoying. We've narrowed it down to such a short time, and he was the only generation in the family to not have made a will - I think he must have gone away from home for some reason and died very suddenly, perhaps in an accident.

Carole

Carole

I did a double take seeing your post - I have GAINED a 'Childs'................. shame its over a hundred years between you losing your Thomas Child & me gaining my Henry
I have a Henry Childs (My nanas father) who appears as a full grown adult in 1902............ no trace of him anywhere before this, no birth details, no cencus, nothing at all!


Gaille

Just to give you hope!

After 20 years of trying to figure out WHERE Henry came from last week we found him!
Thanks to the fantastic help of the rootschatters in the Chatterbox (Epsecially Rose & Bally)

We have followed the family thru the cencus's to 1901, and I am 99.9% certain I have the right family, everything adds up (Single mum, re-married & Henry is down under her 2nd husbands name in one cencus, then mums name is mispelt in the next one - which i think is why I could never find him!)

Not only that but on the 1871 cencus page I have Henry, His Mum, Grandparents AND Great Grandmother - plus several Aunts & Cousins!
4 generations on one page, takes me back to 1790's and ......... solves a few family mysteries too!

Gaille