Hello -
I'm fairly new to Rootschat, and am very encouraged by what I've been reading here. It seems like a very friendly, helpful and patient place! Just what I need. Sorry the following is so long - it's very hard to explain my messy family history in a few sentences.
I could use some help with finding a death record for my great grandfather Herbert William Chant. For years, my father has had a certificate that he thought was the right one, but now that I look at it, I don't think it's our Herbert.
Our Herbert was born in 1876 in Hull, Yorkshire, the eldest son of James Chant (a fishing smack owner) and Elizabeth Clappison. He married Ellen Wetherall McDermott (a widow) in in 1898 and had four children - Cyril (my grandfather), Winifred, James and Elfrida. The entire Chant family appears to have moved to Plymouth around the turn of the century - James and Elizabeth, all their younger children, and Herbert and his family. Ellen died in 1908 and Herbert married Florence Rowe in 1909. There was one son, Roy, from that marriage.
At some point. there was a big rift between Herbert and at least two of his children (Cyril and Elfrida) as they apparently left home very young and had nothing more to do with him or most of the Chant family. As a result, after Herbert's remarriage in 1909, we have no record whatsoever of what happened to him. My dad didn't grow up with his father, so he didn't get any information there. We do know that until 1909 at least, Herbert was involved in the family fishing business, and that the family was fairly well off. At some point, James and his second wife Eva moved to Paignton - however, James is buried in Plymouth, and as far as we can tell, the other children stayed there.
The death certificate my dad has is for a Herbert Chant who died at the age of 59 at the Town View hospital in Wincanton in 1935 (a doctor is the informant so no help there). He is listed as a general labourer. This certificate was given to my dad by a professional researcher some years ago. Dad wondered why and how Herbert had ended up in Somerset, but didn't really question it. Now that I look at it, I'm fairly sure that this is the wrong Herbert.
Can anyone help me with a possible place and date of death for Herbert? I've had no luck on freebmd, Ancestry etc. I can only definitely narrow it down to after Roy's birth in 1911, but he was likely still alive when James died in 1927 (based on what it says in the will). I can assume that he was dead by the late 40s when my dad was going down to Plymouth to visit his father after the war, but I can't be sure of that. Lots of secrets and falling outs in this family - he could have been living next door! It is possible that he died back in Yorkshire, as the family seems to have moved back and forth, but most likely it would be in the Plymouth, Paignton or Brixham area.
I'm in Canada, so all my research has to be online or by mail. Any thought or ideas are welcome.
Cheers,
Barbara
