Ling family Middlesex 1890 to 1900s

[Kylajane]

Hello All. I am new to this so here goes. Researching Ling family, particularly Gertrude (Ada?) Ling d.o.b 1891. They lived around the Willesden & Kilburn areas in London. Her parents were Richard Ling (originally from Haslingford, Cambs d.1900?) & Ada Caroline (nee Yates) (originally from Dumbleton, Glouc). Her sister was Edith Avery Ling (b 1893 d 1983). Gertrude was "Adopted" in 1901 i.e. we have a letter of agreement between her mother and Raymond & Florence Martin (7 Kilburn Sq, Willesden) and a photo postcard from Florence to Edith. I can find Edith & Gertrude aged 7 & 9 together in a household on 1901 census & I can see Florence & Raymond Martin, but can't find anything on Gertrude or the Martins in the 1911 census. My other worry is that the Martin's changed her name (possibly to May, as the postcard from Florence to Edith says 'May' is in need of....) They may have emigrated? But I can't find anything definite on that score. In her later years Edith tried to find what happened to her sister & went to the local church (? St Mary's) and was told by the vicar that she may have gone to New Zealand or Australia. This is all I know I though more about this Ling family if anyone is interested  I am so stuck & hope someone out there can help please?

[avm228]

Raymond is a bit of a mystery isn't he?  That 1901 census in Willesden shows him as aged 41 b St Pancras, but I can see no suitable birth, nor a marriage to Florence, nor any other census entry for him matching those details.

I wonder whether he was in fact Raymond Richard Martin born I think in Cornwall in 1862, who married in Poplar in 1886 to Rosa Jane Wilchman.  By 1901 Rosa "widowed" and her children are in Cornwall with her mother.  If she in fact had been abandoned by her husband for Florence, that might have been a reason for the new couple, and their "adopted" child, to make a fresh start overseas.

(Edit: I think I have debunked my own theory.  Raymond Richard Martin (a mariner) appears to have died at sea in 1893, aged 31).

What details do you have of the postcard as to e.g. when it was sent, and from where?

[avm228]

Gertrude (Ada?) Ling d.o.b 1891.

Have you found her birth to pin down her full name and birthdate?

Could she be Laura Gertrude M Ling birth reg Sep qtr 1891 Marylebone (same reg district as Edith)?

If so I wonder whether M was short for May?

Exact birthdates are important and useful for cross-referencing the 1939 Register and 1969-onwards death registrations, in case she stayed in this country.

[avm228]

I see that Richard Ling and Ada were together by November 1889, when they baptised their short-lived son Richard in Paddington (he was registered and baptised as Ling) although they did not in fact marry until Jun qtr 1891 in Kensington district.

[avm228]

Hmmm... an interesting baptism!

30 October 1901, St Augustine, Paddington

May LING, daughter of Richard (labourer, deceased) and Ada Caroline, of 7 Kilburn Square.

May's birthdate in the margin looks like Aug/94, but that is not necessarily reliable.

Was she baptised at around the time she was "adopted"?  What is the date of the "adoption" documents?

[rosie99]

Just tying up a loose end for anyone looking.
The 1901 is not that clear as I don't think the households have been separated but Edith & Gertrude are with an Aunt (Mary Hopkins) who was related to Ada Caroline. 

Ada Caroline Yates & Mary Hopkins appear together in 1871  RG10/2658 f58 p16

[Kylajane]

Sadly don't have a birth certificate for Gertrude, going by dates working back from the census and from Edith's recollections when she was alive. Yes it is very interesting about the 1871 census, where Ada Caroline Yates ,aged 6, appears to be the daughter of Daniel Francis Hopkins & Elizabeth Hopkins? Have I read this correctly? But on Ada Caroline & Richard Ling's marriage certificate in 1890 it gives her father as William Yates. Also the Mary Hopkins, dressmaker, unmarried is given aged 30 yrs, but when she turns up on the 1901 census with Edith & Gertrude, she is given as age 56, when surely she would be 60?

I have found 2 other family trees online with this part of the Ling family mentioned, one is the Franklin family - I think in Australia. The other is the Wallis/Thurgood family They have Ada Caroline Yates's parents as Daniel Francis Hopkins & Elizabeth Hopkins (Yates), but all the related people, including Edith have the right dates. But also Ada Caroline Yates's Baptism 30th April 1865, Eldersfield, Gloucestershire, has the father's name as William Yates and & mother as Caroline ?, which would seem more likely to be right. Unless we are dealing with two different families. Gosh, my brain hurts and I am confused.

[rosie99]

Yes it is very interesting about the 1871 census, where Ada Caroline Yates ,aged 6, appears to be the daughter of Daniel Francis Hopkins & Elizabeth Hopkins?

Grand daughter of Maria Hopkins who is head of house 

[avm228]

Honestly I would not place any reliance on a stranger's tree.  Many of them contain more fiction than fact.

In 1871 she's enumerated as granddaughter of Maria Hopkins, the head of household.  That does not tell you which of Maria's children was her parent (contrary to what one of those tree owners appears to have assumed, possibly as the result of incorrect indexing).

Transcribed sources show the baptism for Ada Caroline Yates on 30 Apr 1865 at Eldersfield, daughter of William & Caroline.