Name?

[ReeseG]

Hi JJ.  I believe that you are correct with Caton.  I found what I believe to be James’ birth record and the mother is listed as Caton.  It seems to correspond to the death records and to the boys admission dates to Whitechapel Workhouse.

[J.J.]

But as you'll note... there is no record of a corresponding Caton/FitzJohn marriage. I suppose it could also have been an out of wedlock birth with a claim to a father. Nothing solid there, in any case.  Plus other things seem to be missing, such as the sister Annie Louisa.
   Do you have any BHC records from the British side?

[ReeseG]

I found a marriage between James Fitzjohn and Mary Ann Katon on April 25, 1864.  I think it's probably correct.

[J.J.]

Good find...    James Fitzjohn - Mary Ann Katen  may turn out to be the father for young James
   Marriage  25 April 1864 Whitechapel, Middlesex, Eng
   https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6ZLN-M5WS

   There is a death Sep 1870  Fitzjohn  James  37 Whitechapel  1c  263
But all still hard to prove without more information to make the link...

Adding: Also found these deaths!
Fitzjohn Mary  40 /  Fitzjohn  Mary 0   Whitechapel Dist. vol. 1c  p.305
 

[J.J.]

Note* Forgive me for saying earlier that Annie Louisa was a potential sister. I must have put something in wrong on the database, as looked again & her mother was surname Mason.
  The last 2 finds look as though the boys may have lost both parents & are orphaned...
However, back then, I'd only looked up to 1871 when the lads were put into the home...But now see there is a marriage Sept Quarter 1872  for a James  Fitzjohn Whitechapel district...
So it may turn out that they could have been abandoned by a parent. (as, sadly most BHC actually were)   We may not be able to solve the mystery of parents.
   What information did you or other members of your family get from the Mile End institution that James & William a.k.a. John were in???

[Mabel Bagshawe]

The 1872 marriage is of a bachelor aged 23, father John. So think it's a different person.

[J.J.]

Thanks for that Mabel Bagshawe...We are looking for a British Home child - brother to ReeseG's GRGrandfather, both of whom were shipped to Canada as young boys.
https://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.php?topic=885554.msg7595186

[polarbear]

The James Fitzjohn-Mary Katen/Caton couple look like a good prospect for parents of the two boys given their marriage location and apparent deaths in Whitechapel. The birth cert for James and death certs for James and Mary would hopefully connect the dots to the little boys in the Workhouse in the 1871 census.

I wonder if when John married Matilda he may have named invented parents? He appears to marry a second time in 1932 and parents are down as not remembered in this record.

PB

[ReeseG]

Hi PB, I wondered if he made up his parents names as well. But I found Mary's death cert and the boys dropoff to the workhouse and they both reference the same address.  1 and 2 Cross Street, Whitechapel, so I am hopeful that I am on the right track.