Jennis/Gennis family

[Valda]

Hi

The 1884 Reform Act extended male suffrage with 40% of all males over the age of 21 still without the right to vote.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reform_Act_1884

Not all men who had the right to vote chose to do so.

Without a death certificate a body could not be buried. In the early days of civil registration that might not always be so, as might also the local registrars returns to the GRO and GRO index always being 100% always be accurate.

Home ownership by a large proportion of the population is more a post First and Second World War trend. If families owned property they would be more likely to leave wills but even then that is not certain.

Emma Maria's death certificate would give the information whether she was a widow or not.

Regards

Valda

[Edrubava]

Thanks again Valda.

 I've also just recently found Jemima Gennis on the electoral roll for Finsbury from 1892 through to her death 1898.  This also puzzled me but looking into it I see that unmarried women (she was actually married) were included in these lists that were for local elections.

Men and women without a parliamentary vote were included according to A.......y. 

All very interesting - I was not interested in politics before I started this research!

Does this mean that Jemima could have her say in local elections? 

[Valda]

Hi

Unmarried women who were householders (paid rates) had the right to vote in local elections from 1869. This right was extended to married women in 1894.

http://www.historyofwomen.org/suffragelocal.html


Regards

Valda

[Edrubava]

Many thanks again Valda

[Edrubava]

Further developments - Emma Maria's death certificate shows that she was the 'wife of William Gennis' - death reported by daughter Louisa.  Her address also gave me her whereabouts on the '91 census as a widow under her previous name of Wright, certainly not living with William.  I looked at any possible deaths again knowing now that William was alive  in Nov 91.

Although 'William Gennis d. West Ham 1893 aged 68' didn't tie up with either of my Williams, I sent for the certificate and discovered that it was almost certainly William senior (described as master bootmaker), albeit 16 years out in the age.  Death reported by daughter Elizabeth Abraams.  I had a missing daughter Elizabeth so off I went again.

Elizabeth Jennings married Peter Abraams in 1857.  I traced her through and found her with William Jennis (Jennie), relative aged 60 bootmaker on the '91 - William not previously found on that census. The age and the fact that it just says relative don't match, but together with the fact that William dies 2 years later and daughter Elizabeth Abraams reports the death and has been in attendance seems to point in the right direction.

I ordered a birth certificate for one of Elizabeth's children hoping to find the maiden name of Gennis/Jennis - but big disappointement when it arrived showing Jennings. So I sent for another thinking that it might be just a glitch - but no, the second one showed the same name.

Further to this, I hadn't been able to find John Gennis (Elizabeth's brother) in '81 - now looking at Elizabeth's life I find him with her in '81 - as a 'boarder', clicker and shoemaker, transcribed as Germin - but to my eyes definitely Gennis.  It fits in with everything else.

Two other points - Fanny Wright (sister to John and Elizabeth) is a witness to Robert Abraams's (Elizabeth's son) marriage in 1876, and John Gennis is a witness to Elizabeth Abraams's (Elizabeth's daughter) marriage in 1889.

I think without these two witness details I wouldn't be as convinced that I have found the right family members - but with them it all seems to fall into place.

I would welcome any comments as I wonder if I am seeing what I want to see rather than the facts. 

[Valda]

Hi

It shows how much the information on certificates and censuses is very reliant on the accuracy of the information given as far as age, spellings and names etc are concerned and that flexibility is needed when searches are made and then cross checking against other records..


Regards

Valda

[Edrubava]

Thanks Valda - I've certainly learnt a lot from my paternal line.  You have to think laterally, use very broad brush strokes and not believe a word anyone says!  It makes brilliant detective work for me though - which I love! 

Thanks again for your help. 

[DKA]

Hi, I am very new to searching my family history. I don't know whether this helps but here goes. I am related to William and Jane Jennis through their oldest daughter Elizabeth (Betsy) born 1832 in Ireland. She married a Dutch mariner in 1857 whose name was Pieter Abrams (I have found it spelled about 4 different ways. But on their daughter's Elizabeth's marriage in 1889 (to my great grandfather) on the certificate it was spelled Abramsz.   Now I will get back to the point - on the 1891 census for Elizabeth Abrams nee Jennis she states she was born in Dublin. She also has a William Jennis living with her (shoemaker) born in Dublin too with a rough age of 60. Could this be her brother who was born around 1835?  Could William and Jane originally come from Dublin.  Queenstown (where they said they were from) was a large port from which the Irish escaped in their hundreds of thousands? So perhaps they lived there for a while before the could get a ship out. Just a thought!

[Edrubava]

Hello DKA 

I can't tell you how excited I was to see your post!  I haven't traced any of Elizabeth's children forward just yet as I was still waiting to confirm that she was Jennis and not the Jennings on her marriage cert to Peter.  From your information then she was definitely Elizabeth/Betsy - that's great.

I will send a personal message with my email address and would be happy to share any of my findings, and maybe I can learn something of your history.

As to the William in the '91 - I am sure it is William the elder (Elizabeth's father) as I already have her brother William living with his wife Emily in that census.  The age is way out of course, as it is on William's death cert - but it clearly states that the death was reported by his daughter - Elizabeth Abrams.

Again - great to hear from you    Oh and welcome to Rootschat