Avica the mysterious woman

[LouiseB31]

The William Wilson I have in Harbury in 1851 is

HO 107 2077 folio 102
William Wilson Head Married 25 Rail Labourer Harbury
Caroline Wilson Wife 25 Harbury
Daniel Wilson Son 6 Harbury
Mary A. Wilson Daughter 4 Harbury
Elizabeth Wilson Daughter 1 Harbury

Regards
Valda

This is indeed my GGGGrandfather with his wife and family, including Daniel Wilson my GGGrandfather, who features elsewhere, in the thread "The Wilsons of Allesley".

I am also interested in starting another thread in the fullness of time about railway labouring and which railways William might have been labouring on during the 1840s in south Warwickshire...

[LouiseB31]

Now that you have given me the option of looking for the spelling Avice too, I have found on the IGI

Avice Wilson, christened 19th October 1803 in Balderton, Newark, Notts to parents William Wilson and Mary.

Both extremely common names, but if they were her parents, it might explain why she named her son William and changed her own name to Mary, if she did.

That is a big "if" of course - but I am coming to think she did, otherwise someone kidnapped her entire family and spirited them away whilst simultaneously replacing them with another family with all the same names and dates of birth - twilight zone anyone?

I am sure the parish register for Coventry St Michael will tell me more, I have a friend who might be able to look at it for me quite soon.

Regards

Louise

[JAP]

Hello Louise,

That is good that the 1841 Harbury census is on the Warwickshire site.  But the story remains puzzling.  The 1841 census does not include relationships - so it does not help with William.

IF Mary and 'Avica' are the same person (which seems very likely), why is the name shown as Mary in the 1841 census on 6 Jun 1841 (presumably before Eliza's birth as she is not shown in the census) but as Abitha in Eliza's christening record on 26 Dec 1841.

There is a birth for Eliza on FreeBMD:
Eli_a FINCH Sep qtr 1841 Southam Vol 16 Page 423

I guess it would be worth getting Eliza's birth certificate to see  how the mother's forename and maiden name are recorded.
Hannah's birth does not seem to be on FreeBMD - I wonder whether there is a birth registration for her?  That certificate too could be interesting.

Also the film of the Harbury OPR to see whether there is any clue.  And the film of the Coventry OPR for the marriage of John FINCH and Avies WILSON in 1832 in case there is any clue there.

A strange and interesting puzzle.

JAP
PS: Something else to keep in mind is that in 1851 and all the later censuses, Mary's birthplace is given as Fifield Oxfordshire.

[Valda]

Burford Oxfordshire is two parishes away from Fifield (bear in mind the IGI does not have brilliant coverage of Oxfordshire as a whole)

From the IGI
MARY ANN WILLISON 
Christening:  18 DEC 1801   Burford, Oxford, England
Father:  RICHARD WILLISON 

No other Wilson baptisms in Burford (coverage to 1812) and no other Richard Wilson children's baptisms in Oxfordshire. Burford and Fifield are on the county boundary with Gloucestershire, but without a mother's name it makes it difficult to follow Richard Wilsons too far, as the surname is so common.

You need to search Fifield and surrounding parishes for a potential baptism for Avica, but when doing so it might be worth checking the actual Burford register for this Mary Ann Willson. Has the IGI transcriber had difficulty in reading the second name, and made a stab at the name presuming incorrectly that it was probably the more usual Mary Ann, with the Ann part badly written?
I'm not saying that this is not just an ordinary Mary Ann Willson correctly transcribed on the IGI and baptised at the right time in the near vicinity of where you hope to find 'Avica'. But a baptism entry something like this would help explain the name change to Mary from Avica. Not a complete name change at all, just that your ancestor chose to use her first name instead of her second (or vice versa) at a later date. Having checked IGI entries at source, the actual registers themselves, I am also aware there are mistranscription errors in the IGI.

Adding to your ever growing collection of Finches, here are some potential step Finches to go with their later half siblings

From the IGI
ANN FINCH 
Christening:  20 DEC 1818   Harbury, Warwick
Father:  JOHN FINCH 
Mother:  HANNAH 

MARY FINCH 
Christening:  28 APR 1822   Harbury, Warwick
Father:  JOHN FINCH 
Mother:  HANNAH

SAMUEL FINCH 
Christening:  11 JUN 1822   Harbury, Warwick
Father:  JOHN FINCH
Mother:  HANNAH 

WILLIAM FINCH 
Christening:  21 SEP 1826   Harbury, Warwick
Death:  24 SEP 1826   
Father:  JOHN FINCH
Mother:  HANNAH 

And the marriage
JOHN FINCH 
Spouse:  HANNAH JEACOCK 
Marriage:  21 AUG 1818   Harbury, Warwick

From the National burial index

16th January 1829 Hannah Finch 29 Harbury All Saints
24th September 1826 William Finch 1 day Harbury All Saints

and to complete the list, the other Finch burial in Harbury on the National index.
17th April 1844 Eliza Finch 2 Harbury All Saints

Regards
Valda

[JAP]

<snip>
From the National burial index

16th January 1829 Hannah Finch 29 Harbury All Saints...

Valda, that is a good find.
Incidentally, what did you make of the two 1822 christenings?

When I mentioned the John FINCH/Hannah JEACOCK marriage and the John FINCH/Hannah family earlier (this thread is getting very complex) I did wonder whether John and 'Avica'/Mary might be a second marriage for John.  But then thought that, if John's age (50) was correct in the 1851 entry you provided, he would have been young (17/18) for an 1819 marriage - but still eminently possible.  I've just checked back to other information.  1841 is no help (as ages were rounded down to the nearest 5) but 1861 (62), 1871 (72), 1881 (82) and what is no doubt his death entry - Mar qtr 1890, Southam, age 92 - do fit in well.

And, as it happens, I've come across quite a few cases where a re-married widower and his second wife name the first daughter of a second marriage after the late wife.  This would fit with John and 'Avica'/Mary naming their first daughter Hannah (though it may be coincidence or for another reason).   

Incidentally, here is what must be Samuel, son of John and Hannah, in 1861:
RG9/4441, Folio 135, Page 8
Royal Navy, Cadiz Bay, Vessel "St. Jeand'acre" (that's how it's written)
Saml FINCH, Sergt. R.M. (transcribed as Serg E.R.M.), Married, 39, b Southam, Warwick

...  17th April 1844 Eliza Finch 2 Harbury All Saints  ...

I don't think I mentioned the entry from FreeBMD for Eliza's death (only the birth) - it's Jun qtr 1844, Southam, Vol 16, page 324.

Louise, if 'Avica' was Mary's middle name, let's just hope that her full 'Sunday' name was recorded in Hannah's or Eliza's birth certificates.

This is like one of those weekend newspaper puzzles - when you have to wait on tenterhooks until the following weekend for the solution.

JAP

[LouiseB31]

JAP, you are on tenterhooks and you only met her last week. Now imagine how it is for me, having been searching all over Warwickshire for over 20 years for the mysterious Avica (in the days before the internet when you had to go to Warwick castle to the archives in person).

The work you have done is amazing.

I guess it is all very different now that we have so many electronic registers and indexes and databases - although I dont have so many of those myself, only what I can find through Google.

These days you can pop in the name and approximate date of birth into a search and find out all possible census matches. I am used to pouring over reels in libraries looking for entries and getting a headache from the terrible writing and poor lighting.

I have to tell you, your way is better!

(By the way, I am only 39, I just realised I sound about 100 going on about the olden days.)

I have sent off for Eliza's birth certificate so now we have to wait to see what it says. I have also asked a friend of mine who occasionally visits the archives, to have a look at the Coventry St Michaels marriage for Avica and John - wont it be great if it says he is a widow!

I am thrilled with the Finches and have put them all on my family tree database at home. I felt a bit sorry for Emma, she had six daughters before she had a son, and I bet her husband thought it was her fault.

I will let you know as soon as I hear back from any of the researches currently underway. I shant rush off to look at  Burford or anywhere else until we know more about what we are dealing with, but will keep these notes well to hand.

Best wishes

Louise

[JAP]

Hello again Louise,

Re your comments ...

I'm not about to admit my age in public - 39 sounds an excellent age though let's just say that I've not yet quite reached the century though I am a retired person. And yes, I have done more than my fair share of winding through reels of films and poring over fiche in nasty crowded rooms than I wish to remember.  And virtually all of this with the added difficulty of doing so in the Antipodes - apart from a very very few hours at Kew, at Westminster (think that's right), and at the PO Archives at Mt Pleasant; definitely a total of less than three half days researching in London.  Also a half day in Edinburgh - all of which was spent following a total red herring which, I am glad to say, I have expunged from my memory thanks to the wonderful online ScotlandsPeople.

But, if I may say so, your subject line was brilliant.  I have read genealogical 'tips' which express the view that a subject line in a genie query is like an advertisement - you need to catch the reader's eye.  And that's just what yours did for me - added to which it's on the Warwickshire board which I tend to notice because I have DALTONs going back for yonks in Church Lawford.  But, even so, I nearly didn't read your post!  Of course, once I did I was hooked - and then, once I saw Evica, Abitha and Avies in the IGI, there was no holding me

It's amazing how one post from a RootsChatter can bring all sorts of people and information out - all of which enables everyone to add pieces and to produce a lovely picture from the initial, and added, jigsaw pieces.

You are very prudent indeed to wait until you get Eliza's certificate, and any info from Coventry, before going further.

I must admit I am rather taken with Royal Marine Samuel - I wonder what happened to him...

Waiting for the next instalment,

JAP

[Willow 4873]

IF Mary and 'Avica' are the same person (which seems very likely), why is the name shown as Mary in the 1841 census on 6 Jun 1841 (presumably before Eliza's birth as she is not shown in the census) but as Abitha in Eliza's christening record on 26 Dec 1841.

Easily done JAP if the christening was done in the church where the pastor had known her for quite a while by her original name

Willow x

[LouiseB31]

Adding to your ever growing collection of Finches, here are some potential step Finches to go with their later half siblings

(snip)

Regards
Valda

Valda, thanks for all your help and detail. I am very pleased with the Finches, although I could not say why exactly. I think it is because it is a new line and I have not had a new line in several years now.

Dear Everyone Else

I read up on the history of Harbury again last night to remind me of the place and the people. It was a little old village that didn't quite make it agriculturally, the land just wasn't good enough, so the people only ever struggled to get by. It was known as Hungry Harbury.

Then in the 1840s the railway came and the digging of the cutting in Harbury, the deepest in the world at that time, saw an increase in fortunes and a swelling in numbers as navvies (navigators) who dug up the land and laid the tracks, moved in. I think it was the Great Western Railway from memory.

My GGGrandfather William Wilson, Avica's illegitimate son, worked on this railway as a labourer - not quite as important as a navvie.

The navvies drank a lot and there was concern in the village about binge-drinking and men staggering round the streets at night (it was ever thus) so the Primitive Methodists, including our Henry Thomas Finch I assume, worked hard on their temperance campaigns.

The same Prims (that is what they are known as in my family, us being regular methodists) also set up a Co-op store in Harbury and worked with the CofE vicar in setting up the first trade union for farmers in the area, so there were some quite far-sighted people around.

These days Harbury, like most villages everywhere, is more of a commuter town where people go elsewhere to work and come home at night. It is not self-sufficient any more, but nor is it hungry.

So now you have a bit of a context to place Avica in.

JAP - a friend of mine with a passion for research has Daltons in his family, married to Masters, in Knowle I think from memory. Do you want to be put in touch? PM me if you do.

Perhaps we can get Liverpool Annie to find out about the ship that Samuel was on in Cadiz, she seems rather good at shipping.

Regards and thanks again

Louise