Currently researching the family of a friend, but his grandmother is giving me problems. I can't find hide nor hair of her before her marriage and have tried every tip and trick I know to no avail. Hoping a fresh pair of eye might see something I haven't?
She's on the 1921 census under her married name, Florence Urwin, living in Chester le Street. Her age is given as 29 and her birthplace as Byker, Newcastle. By the time of the 1939 register her husband Thomas has died and she's at Chester Moor, employed as a housekeeper by a John Richardson. Three of her kids are with her. Her birthdate given there is 31 Mar 92. She married this John Richardson in 1941. Can't see an appropriate death entry in the indexes at the moment, there are about half a dozen possibles in County Durham alone, but I'm not concerned about this at present. It's going backwards that has me stumped.
Her marriage certificate in 1912 gives her age as 20, so this 1892 birthdate seems to be pretty consistant. She was married in the parish church of Benwell (not sure which church this is, there seems to be three of them in Benwell: St James, St Aidan and St John the Baptist), her address is given as 31 Elm Street (it looked like "Elan Street" at first, but finding no matches on Google with that name I thought the 'an' might be an ornate 'm') and her father, "John Gerrell (deceased)". I know Elm Street used to be on the right hand side of Elswick Road as you're heading west, roughly where Iceland is now.
I've searched the 1911 and 1901 censuses and can find no promising matches, not even something that looks like a maybe. The closest I can see is a family called "Gorrill" living in Jesmond in 1901 and Monkseaton in 1911. That Florence is slightly younger than she should be, not an obstacle. However she's also born in Morecambe, Lancashire and her father is Edward, not John. That pretty much puts a full stop on that avenue. There is nothing promising in the GRO birth index either. I've tried all sorts of spellings and wildcards, eventually reducing the search to "G?r*l". Nada.
If anyone has any ideas, I'd love to hear them.
