Medals Found Corp Myles NX80730

[jimmy39]

Good news week
John rang me To say he was in touch with Kevin Wilson
Queensland Branch of the Naval Association who is holding the medals
PS I think Kevin and I joined the Navy around the same time
and met him in Queanbeyan Anzac Day 2010

[Vacey]

OK folks.  I just spoke to a very fine bloke named Kevin Wilson, Secretary of the Qld branch of the Naval Association of Australia.  Hiis wife found my grandfather's service medals amongst some donations to the Lifeline shop at Nundah and he's been searching for the family ever since.

My sincerest thanks to Kevin and his wife, to Jimmy and to the others on this site for thinterest and assistance.

Haven't been particularly interested in family history to date (I most of the history of the Lumb and Myles families in Australia), but majm's contribution did highlight the fact that I know very little of either of my grandmothers (Annie Turvey and Alice Williams).  I have some vague memory that the Turveys were blacksmiths in the Hunter Valley.... (just joking folks).

Thanks again for everything

John

[Ruskie]

What a wonderful story! 

How long ago did Kevin's wife find the medals?

John, this may just be the thing that ignites your interest in family history. It is a very addictive and sometimes challenging pastime. It makes no difference if your ancestors were agricultural labourers or royalty - each has a fascinating story to tell. I will make a sweeping statement here - once you begin to research your family, it will capture your imagination and you will be addicted - you never ever finish the search. And the job is such a lot easier today with access to so many online records. 

[Ruskie]

I have PM'ed John with this information as it's off topic, but have decided to go ahead and post it here in case anyone is interested:

This looks promising:
I have found a birth registration which may be your grandfather Robert:

Births September 1/4 1889
Miles Robert Henry
district: Wigton (this covers Aspatria where he said he was born)
volume:10a
page: 603

Possible sister?:
Births Sept 1/4 1902
Miles Mary Annie
Wigton
10b 630

I got a bit carried away and started digging a bit more ....
John, I believe this may be your grandfather with his parents in the 1901 census:
1901
Main Street
Aspatria
Cumberland
Robert Miles, head, mar, 29, Van man Co-operative Stores, born Cumberland Plumbland
Esther, wife, 30, b Cumberland Oughterside
Robert H, son, age 1, b Aspatria
RG13/4876/132/36

There is also a John Miles, b Plumbland, and family also living in Aspatria who are likely to be related.

Using details from the 1901 census I have found the same family in the 1911 census. The 1911 census is pay to view the full details but the basics using the free search are:
Cockermouth district
Robert Wilkinson Miles b 1872 age 39
Esther b 1871 age 40
Robert Henry b 1900 age 11
Mary Annie b 1902 age 9 (this ties in with the above birth registration 


Freebmd has this marriage:
Dec 1897
HOLLIDAY  Esther    Cockermouth  10b 995   
Miles  Robert Wilkinson     Cockermouth  10b 995   
Miller  Mary Rebecca     Cockermouth  10b 995   
WATSON  Jonathan     Cockermouth  10b 995
(Cockermouth covers Oughterside which is Esther's place of birth on the 1901 census)

And this fits in name and date wise:
Births Dec 1871 
Miles  Robert Wilkinson     
Cockermouth  10b 519
(Plumbland is in Cockermouth district)

There are three possible Esther Holliday births registered around the right area at the right time, so without other clues I can't narrow her down as yet. 

[Ruskie]

On the 1891 census it looks like Robert Myles is a 19 year old farm servant b Plumbland, living at Baggrow Low Farm with a Nixon family. RG12/4297/6/5

1881
Plumbland
Rachael Miles head wid 44 ag labourer born Scotland 
John Miles son unmar 20 coalminer b Cumberland Plumbland (this may be the John from the 1901 census)
Robert Miles son 9 scholar b Plumbland
Margaret A daur 7 scholar b Plumbland
RG11/5179/44/18
So Rachael may be your gggrandmother. 

And 1871:
Plumbland

Henry Miles head mar 44 coal miner b Scotland
Rachel wife 34(? difficult to read) b Scotland
John son 10 b Plumbland
Henry son 9 b Plumbland
Sarah J daur 1 b Plumbland
RG10/5244/49/23
(Henry and Rachel may be your gggrandparents)

1861
Arkleby
Plumbland
Henry Miles head mar 34 ag lab b Scotland
Rachel wife 24 b Scotland
John son 5mths b Plumbland
RG9/3940/43/9

In 1851 Henry is a 21 year old unmarried farm servant b Scotland, living in Cumberland with a Baxter family. HO107/2428/274/38

[Vacey]

Crikey Ruskie, you have been busy!  Coalminer, Ag labourer, Ag Labourer, Van man(?) - looks like I can't expect to step into that vacant House of Lords seat from THAT side of the family.

 I'm away from home at the moment and only accessing the internet opportunistically (or however one spells that word...).  I can tell you that I think you have accurately picked up my ggrandfather and family.  I have some vague memory of the names Wilkinson and Mary Annie. 

Family gossip is that the spelling of the family name changed from "Miles" to "Myles" as a result of a misspelling by the immigration/customs officer on arrival in Australia. 

The only other thing I can tell you from here is that the coroner who signed off on the death certificate of one or the other of the Cumbria (is that right?) Miles mob was a Dr Lumb, which was a touch ironic given marriages several generations down the track

I'm very impressed....  I'll contact you (via PM) with any more info when I get back. 

Thanks again

John

[Ruskie]

Hi John,

I'm pleased that some of those names ring a bell and it looks like I am on the right track.  I get the impression that you already know some of this as you mention the death certificate of an ancestor in Cumbria?

I'm not having much luck tracing your Scottish gggrandparents as yet. At some point, if you wish to continue with this, it would be advisable to purchase a few certificates to get a few father's names so we can get back even further, and of course to confirm that these findings are correct.

The further back you go the more interchangable Miles and Myles would be. Your explanation about the surname being misspelled on arrival in Australia may well be true. According to this: http://gbnames.publicprofiler.org/ Miles is an English surname and Myles is Scottish. The map shows the distribution of the surname in Scotland which is quite interesting.

Yes Cumbria is the 'new' name for Cumberland.

Don't worry about the lowly occupations - there's still plenty of opportunity to stumble upon a link to wealth or royalty somewhere in your tree. 

[Ruskie]

I've done a bit of research on your Ggrandmother Esther's family.

As I mentioned there are birth registrations for three possible Esther Holliday's which fit  time and place wise.

As your Esther specifies that she is born in Oughterside in the 1901 census, looking at the 1881 census, the other Esthers give different places of birth, so I think this might be your Esther with her widowed mother:

1881
Adams Ghyll
Plumbland
Mary Holliday wid 52 farmer of 3 acres b Cumberland Dean
Jonathan Jackson son unmar 27 coal miner b Jallentire(?) [so Mary has a son from a previous marriage  ]
Martha Holliday daur 12 scholar b Oughterside
Esther daur 10 b Oughterside
Sarah A daur 8 b Plumbland.
RG11/5179/45/20

Estimating Esther's year of birth as 1871, I wondered if she made it onto the 1871 census. Sure enough, she did - just.  She is with both parents and a complicated 'blended' family (as I believe they are called now  ).

1871
Oughtertides,
Oughterside
Dannial [sic] Holliday head mar 42 coal miner b Aspatria
Mary wife 42 b Dean
Jonathan Jackson stepson 17 coal miner b Tallintin (?)
Robert Monkhouse stepson 13 coal miner b Gilcruse(?)
Joseph Holliday son 12 coal miner b Wigton
Jane Holliday daur scholar b Hayton
Mary Monkhouse stepdaur 9 b Willeruse(?)
Jonathan Holiday son 6 b Aspatria
Martha Holiday daur 3 b Aspatria
Esther Holiday 3 months b Aspatria
RG10/5245/13/22

This looks fairly complicated to unravel. It looks like Mary may have been married twice before she married Daniel. The most important thing for you to know is that Esther's parents are Daniel and Mary, and they are your gggrandparents.

Here is their marriage:
Mar 1/4 1867
Holliday Daniel
Mounkhouse [sic] Mary
Cockermouth 10b 644

Mary's previous marriage:
Sept 1/4 1857
Jackson Mary
Monkhouse Thomas
Cockermouth 10b 577

At this stage I don't know if Jonathan Jackson was illegitimate and Jackson was Mary's maiden name. Though looking at her birth estimate of 1829, she would have been 27 when she had Jonathan in 1854, so until we have further proof, we can assume that she was married to Mr Jackson, but we don't know what her maiden name is. There are quite a lot of Jacksons marrying girls named Mary in a likely timeframe and area prior to 1854 (Jonathan's birth) so the only way to find out for sure is to purchase Jonathan's birth certificate. Unfortuanately there are a couple of options - one in 1853 and one in 1854. But as Mary is your gggrandmother you may wish to do this at some stage, in order to trace her family further back.

I will let you know if I find anything else. 

[Ruskie]

Well it appears that Jonathan Jackson is illegitimate. I found Mary (Jackson) in the 1851 census in Dean. She is a visitor with the Steel family, unmarried, age 21, a seamstress, b Dean
HO107/2435/302/3

A bit disappointing that she is not with her parents. Her estimated year of birth is slightly different too.

I have also found her in the 1841 census, but this time I think she may be with grandparents:

1841
Village of Dean
Jonathan Jackson 65 land owner born inCumberland
Mary 60
Dinah 20
Martha 15
Mary 10
Joan 5
Ann 2
HO107/156/5/5

Relationships to head of household are not given in the 1841 census so we can't be sure, but looking at ages, the children are likely to be grandchildren of Jonathan and Mary. Note the name Jonathan which Mary gave to her own son.