Eastville Workhouse Bristol

[nashua]

Some of the Eastville Workhouse records are held at Bristol Record Office. I will check for a birth next time I go there, possibly on Tuesday.

Nashua

[adelphi]

Hi Nashua,
                Many Thanks for your offer but I have already obtained a Birth Certificate for Minnie Mabel after tracing her through the National Register of Births. I found out from the Certificate that the place of Birth was Eastville Workhouse which I must say really upset me. There was no Father listed on the Certificate so I will never know if my Grandfather was the Father or not, which is quite sad.
I would like to find the place of her death to see if she died in the Workhouse or not. She is listed as dying in the first quarter of 1900 which would only make her about 3-4 Months old.
My Grandmother named her Daughter ,wth my Grandfather, Lucy Minnie Mabel which makes me think that the death must have affected her.


                                            Linda (Sheffield)

[nashua]

Hi Linda

I checked the death register for Eastville Workhouse for the death of Minnie Mabel, but couldn't find it, so I think she did not die in the workhouse. Maybe her mother just went to the workhouse hospital to give birth and was not actually an inmate.
Hope this helps

Nashua

[adelphi]

Thankyou for your time & trouble. I was hoping that she didn't die in the Workhouse.From the photograph it looked such a dark & depressing place.


                     Linda

[yesterlady]

I always was a late arrival - only just found your conversation(s) and wondered if this fills a void for me my grandmother was stated on her birth certificate as being born 29 December 1895 Victoria House, Napier Road, Eastville - might this be the workhouse? or is that too big a leap of faith?   Her mother is stated as "no occupation" and no father details, so I have been stuck for a long time with this one.   She is on the census 1901 (aged 5) and living with a family in Bristol I always thought belonged to her but she did not take their surname until she married in 1919, if she was born in the workhouse how do I find out who she actually was.  She alluded to a "family secret" and being a foundling shortly before she died.  I am visiting Bristol in a couple of days and hope to find out something but a starting point would help no end.

[Arranroots]

Hi Yesterlady

Welcome to Rootschat! 

The workhouse doesn't appear to have been in Napier Road: the address in the above link is Frenchay Road.  I had a look at Napier Road in 1901 and they seem to be private houses, in Stapleton.  What surname was your grandmother born with - have you located her mother in 1901?

Kind regards, Arranroots 

[yesterlady]

Whoops, looks like it was a big leap of faith.  Her mother is given on birth certificate as Annie Smith - unoccupied - she then appears on 1901c (still named Smith) but living with Bartlett family at 2 Stracey Street, Ashton Gate, Bristol. (wife of the head of the family (coincidence or not) was Annie M. Smith - who may have been step-daughter of Richard Bartlett whose first wife (Anna Maria Smith - nee Styles died in childbirth.   If she was the daughter of Annie M. Smith then I can go back 3/4 generations, if not, I am up a gum tree.  She did not take the Bartlett name until 1919 when she married.  Shortly before she died she referred to herself as a "foundling" and there being a family secret.  I am coming to Bristol next week but where to start?

[Arranroots]

Whoooa there!  I'm confused! 

Who was born in 1895?  Is her name Ada SMITH? (from 1901 census that you mention)

Is this your Richard?  The Annie in 1901 is too young to be the same woman as this marriage.

Marriage

Dec q 1885

BARTLETT Richard Henry
SMITH Annie Maria

Chard 5c 738


How do you know Annie M SMITH was nee STYLES? 

What was Ada's mother's maiden name or was she unmarried - from the birth certificate?  Who was Mr SMITH?

Ada is down as "dau" on the 1901, not step-daughter.

Help!!

[yesterlady]

Yes, I know it is confusing, and I have only got this far by x-referencing all the facts but other than grandmother I think they stack up.  So, Richard Bartlett's first marriage was to Annie Maria Smith (widow of Edward Smith and mother of Annie Maria) got marriage certificate and also birth cert of Annie Maria (daughter).  Edward Smith was killed in Portland Prison in 1881 where he was a prison officer (backed up by death cert. and post mortem result).  Anna Maria Smith (his widow) then marries Richard Bartlett in 1885 (his first marriage, her 2nd) and Annie Maria would be Richard's step-daughter then aged 10.  I haven't found a record of the marriage of Richard to his step-daughter (following her mother's death in childbirth in 1890 (I have searched and searched) but have all the certificates of the children of that issue.  Now whether Annie Maria then gives birth to my grandmother, Ada Smith - gives her her maiden name or perhaps she was not married to Richard at that time, or perhaps it was not her child anyway, just coincidental surname Smith in 1895. 

To complicate matters still further it seems possible that Richard Bartlett had a second marriage to an Elizabeth Lewis (both in 1892 living at The Albert, Marlborough Street) when he was 28 and a widower and Elizabeth Lewis was a widow - his father, Theophilus was a witness together with Richard's brother, so it all ties in but where did wife no. 2  go and did she (go)? perhaps Richard was not free to marry his step-daughter, who knows?  It seems I have proof of everything other than who exactly was my grandmother's father.

Hope you are enjoying this !!!!!!  I think it is nearly as good as WDYTYA !!!