Mystery of Great Grandfather Mc Laven

[Ragna]

Josephine

Yes, they were all his sons.

Thank you so much

Ragna 

[Josephine]

Ragna,

Oh, rats.   

I was hoping the last two were from a secret, other wife and that their birth records would reveal her name and miraculously allow us to find her and Frederick George Sydney in 1901!  (That shows you what kind of family background I come from.)   

Regards,
Josephine

[Ragna]

Josephine...

Just think he didnt want to conform, and unless he has been badly miscribed which is possible as I had a TERREY under a PERRY. Perhaps I need to now accept that I wont find his birth 

I have tried to find a list of employees at Claridges but whatever I put in it says no results...Not sure what im doing wrong ? (on the 1901 census)

Ragna 

[Josephine]

Ragna,

Claridges might not have been indexed as such in the 1901 census.  (If that's where you're searching.)

I was wondering if maybe he was in hospital the night the 1901 census was taken.

This website has a listing of institutions that were listed separately in the 1901 census:

http://homepage.ntlworld.com/jeffery.knaggs/Instuts.html

I was looking through one set and noticed that most people were listed only by their initials.  What a drag.

I received a copy of my grandfather's military record a few years ago.  What a shocker!  Dear old grandpa was treated for gonorrhea twice while in the military... and from one report, it's clear he didn't get it from his wife.  Well, he's long gone from this earth, so I don't have to worry about looking him in the eye.   

Regards,
Josephine

[Ragna]

Josephine

Thank you I was unaware that only initals were used so I guess there was a good chance he was in some form of institution.
I have found nothing on Claridges although there are other hotels on there ? Yet i know it was there as I have checked on its history. (only a guess where he worked anywhere could have been anywhere)

However...correct me if I am wrong but if I put in his name in the search it would come up whever he was wouldnt it ?

Oooops at your Grandad !! and the young think they invented it lol lol lol .....have a lot to learn from our Victorian ancestors I think !!

Noticed you in Ontario...beautiful place...visted it many moons ago when i was 15
Ragna 

[carol8353]

Ragna

Claridges Hotel starts around RG13/82 folio 150 page 36

It's address is 49 Brook Street.

Have only just found this out so haven't looked through all the names yet.

You can do that while you get the baby to sleep 

Nite

Carol x

[Josephine]

Ragna,

My grandfather served in the Second World War as a young married man so he was closer to our times.  I had to provide a copy of his death certificate to prove he had been dead 20 years (or whatever the requirement is here in Canada; I can't remember).  But now I'm afraid to order my other grandfather's records from the Second World War, LOL! 

If Sydney was enumerated by his name (and it was spelled and then transcribed correctly), then it should come up, no matter where he was.

One day you might end up going through the Battersea census page by page the way I've done for some American and Canadian cities and towns.  If you do, record your notes in a notebook, so you never lose them.

If he was born about 1867, he should have been enumerated somewhere in 1871, 1881, 1891 & 1901.  The fact that we haven't been able to find him in even one of these makes me wonder if, as you said, he changed his name, or his name has been totally mistranscribed each time, or he was in institutions his whole life and was always listed by his initials.  But I tried searching on S G F and none of the surnames seemed to fit.  But that's assuming they would have used all three initials.  Even if he moved to England the day before his wedding, he should be somewhere nearby in 1901, since he and his wife continued to have children together.  And he was using the surname McLaven by then.  I wouldn't expect a hotel clerk to have to travel for his work.

I'm in Toronto.  Maybe Sydney George Frederick has decided to haunt me because the Ontario McLavens aren't responding to his nudges.   

Regards,
Josephine

[Ragna]

Hi there 

Firstly thank you Carol for the Census link (and baby was actually asleep by 9pm shockingly last night !!!) but when I put that into Ancestry it wont let the page come up even if I used Brook Street as keywords...What am I doing wrong ? I tried the same on the 1901 census website on the reference search but it kept coming up with no results !! I know its me doing something wrong..(again lol)

Josephine, what you have said makes perfect sense this is why I am feeling so frustrated because i know that he must be there somewhere. Perhaps I am totally wrong about what hotel he worked at and like you say should look closer to home...Will have a look today at what hotels were nearer. I know that he was working there up until the December before he went to the asylum (1903) as it said so in the medical notes.



Thanking you both again.

Ragna

[Josephine]

Ragna,

I'm trying to go around this sideways to see if we can get any hints anywhere but it's not coming easily.

FreeBMD has a marriage for a John Patterson McLaven in July - September 1862 in Oakham Registration District.  I thought I'd try to track him in the census to see how he was enumerated and transcribed but he's proving elusive, too.

I wonder how that surname was pronounced and "sounded out" for spelling by a Scotsman!   

In the 1871 census of Wales, there's a John Paterson Leman, married, born about 1839 in Rosshire, Scotland.  He's a seaman on board a ship.  But I can't find any little Lemans in Wales in 1871 and I can't find the guy in 1881.  So much for that idea!   


Regards,
Josephine