Palmer Archives - Geneageek

A Grave Mistake

man in deerstalker hat laying on the ground One of my favourite things about genealogy is feeling like a detective, and today gave me another opportunity to don my deerstalker and grab my pipe.

I noticed that Find A Grave had an ‘extra’ child linked on the page of my great grandparents, George Wright Wreford Palmer and Margaret Palmer (nee Glaister). The ‘memorial’ was for an infant, William Tracey Palmer, born and died in 1911, which included the note: ‘Accidentally killed after his sleeping mother rolled over on him in bed.’ A tragic event, but I was a bit befuddled.

The problem was, George and Margaret were married in 1913, and although I’m no stranger to discovering ‘early’ children, I had never come across this one before. So of course, I needed to either prove or disprove the connection.

a dilapidated grave — Block 3 Plot 105 via Dunedin City Council

The gravesite is pretty dilapidated and only the faint outline of the name ‘Palmer’ can be seen on a marker – so no help there.

Grave marker with faint outline of the name PALMER — Block 3 Plot 105 via Dunedin City Council

I could find no birth or death record for an infant named William Tracey Palmer. There was a death record but this was for a 77-year-old man. The name Wreford Henry Palmer jumped out at me, due to my family connections with the name Wreford, but this was the child of Thomas Henry Palmer (George’s brother) and his wife Kate Palmer (nee Gilchrist).

I turned to the Dunedin City Council site which has a very helpful grave location search but there was no William Tracey Palmer buried at Anderson’s Bay cemetery between the years 1910 and 1919. So where the heck was this grave info coming from?

Considering possible spelling variants may have been at play, I searched only for the surname ‘Palmer’ in that time period and got three results – none being William Tracey Palmer. The first I knew to be my great great grandfather (George’s father), the other two being children of the above mentioned couple Thomas and Kate. The only 1911 burial was for ‘W Henry Palmer’ but aged 16 years. I thought it was another dead end but lo and behold, the record page gave me the information I needed.

Block 3, Plot 105; died 22 Nov 1911 – the same burial plot and death date given on the Find A Grave site. This was the burial record of the aforementioned Wreford Henry Palmer. Despite giving an age of ’16 years’, the notes section stated the ‘occupation’ of INFANT, so likely meant ’16 days’ – the burial register entry showed this to be the case.

Screenshot of burial entry record — Burial entry of Wreford Henry Palmer in Andersons Bay Cemetery records

So poor little Wreford Henry must have been linked accidentally as a child of his uncle when added to Find A Grave (his parents are also on the site) but I have no idea where the name ‘William Tracey’ came from. Unfortunately, at least 5 other people have since added ‘William Tracey’ as a child of my great grandparents (on Ancestry), so let this tale serve as a reminder to always CHECK YOUR SOURCES.

Book ’em Once More, Danno

I wrote in a previous post about pinpointing Thomas PALMER’s premises using a newspaper report of his being robbed. Living by a police station didn’t seem to give the security you’d think it would, as Palmer was robbed again in 1869:

Portsmouth Times and Naval Gazette 27 November 1869, p5 c5

A certain Henry Baker stole two books from him at the value of 4 shillings, as well as a pot of cold cream from a nearby chemist, Charles Mumby. Funnily enough a little research shows this chemist was actually the founder of Mumby’s Mineral Waters. (Read a little more about him here.) He also stole a letter stamp from a Mr Loveder but for some reason this wasn’t investigated.

Portsmouth Times and Naval Gazette 11 December 1869, p3 c3

As the ‘well-known character‘ had been convicted of a felony twice before this incident, Henry Baker was sentenced to twelve months hard labour. Out of curiosity, I found his record of conviction for his crime against Thomas Palmer in the Southampton Assizes records.

Henry Baker’s conviction at the Southampton Assizes 1869

I’m curious as to what Thomas’ ‘private mark’ looked like. Was his private mark different to his store mark? Did it look anything like this…?

(Previous Post in Series: Book ’em Again, Danno | First Post in Series: Book ’em, Danno)

Book ’em Again, Danno

In my last post, I was trying to find a more exact address for Thomas Palmer, bookseller of Gosport. I had narrowed him down to ‘Upper South Street’ but not being a local, still had no idea where exactly upon the street he lived. The breakthrough came when I found a newspaper article reporting a robbery at his premises:

Portsmouth Times and Naval Gazette 22 November 1862, p8 c3

John Daly, a Royal Artilleryman, was charged with attempting to break into the dwelling house of Thomas Palmer, almost opposite the Police Station, on the previous night. The prisoner was heard at the shutter by a policeman who was going to bed, and he gave information to a brother constable on duty, upon which he went outside the station gate and there saw the prisoner, without a jacket, standing by the window of the house, the shutters being open and partially broken. On seeing the policeman he ran away and was afterwards taken by P.C. Gibbs in a passage in North-street. Mr. Palmer, the occupier of the house, proved fastening up the house about 9 o’clock the previous night. Prisoner was committed for trial.

The old police station in South Street, Gosport – 1949

So now I knew that he lived “…almost opposite the Police Station…”.

Unfortunately, the police station no longer exists on South Street after being destroyed by enemy action in 1941. I found a photograph of the building in 1949 on the Gosport Heritage site but it gave me no other details. Luckily however I found a c.1896 map which marked the location of the police station which made the description, ‘almost opposite’ make sense.

Location of Thomas Palmer’s book store in 1862 (map c. 1896)

Interestingly, there is also a photo on the Gosport Heritage site captioned; ‘Portland Place; south side of South Street, running north-south almost opposite to the OLD police station.’ I’m pretty sure Palmer’s old book shop is just out of shot on the far left of this image (behind the first building).

Portland Place, Gosport 1941 via Gosport Heritage

That’s probably as close as I’m going to get but since the buildings on that block are long gone now, I still feel strangely accomplished.

(Previous post in series: Book ’em, Danno | Next post in series: Book ’em Once More, Danno)

Book ’em, Danno

Thomas PALMER was a book seller and book binder. I know this because of census entries, parish records and marriage certificates.

Thomas was listed as a ‘Bookseller’ on his son’s marriage certificate (1848)

The first indication of his profession was his son George Wright PALMER’s marriage certificate, where Thomas’ profession was listed as ‘Bookseller’. George had given his place of birth as Portsea, Hampshire on the 1861 census which allowed me to locate his father Thomas in Hampshire on the 1851 and 1861 censuses despite George not being in the home (more about the 1841 later). Like any keen family historian, I wanted to know exactly where this family lived.

Thomas was listed as ‘Bookseller’ on South Street, Gosport (1851 census)

Thomas was listed as ‘Bookseller & Binder’ on South Street (1861 census)

The censuses gave me South Street (no.53) as an address but where on South Street? House numbering has not been consistent over time and I knew from comparing historical and modern maps that South Street, Gosport is a lot longer today than in the 1800s. I turned to trade directories to assist me.

Kelly’s Directory of Hampshire 1867, p538

Thomas didn’t appear on the 1871 census but he DID appear in the 1867 ‘Kelly’s Directory of Hampshire’ as a secondhand bookseller in Upper South street, Gosport. This would’ve narrowed it down a bit except I had no idea which end of the street was upper?

Post Office Directory of Hampshire, Wiltshire & Dorsetshire, 1855, p58

The 1855 ‘Post Office Directory of Hampshire, Wiltshire & Dorsetshire’ specified number 53 Upper South Street (as did the 1861 census) but I recall the street numbers of the past may not necessarily be in the same location as street numbers today.

Directory of Hampshire & the Isle of Wight, 1859, p351

However, the 1859 ‘Directory of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight’ listed Thomas at 61 South street.

There were no other appropriate directories on the Historical Directories site for me to search. Thomas does not appear in the 1828 or 1844 Pigot’s directories of Hampshire, nor have I found him yet in the 1841 census.

So, the address list compiled so far is as follows:

1851 – South street
1855 – 53 Upper South street
1859 – 61 South street
1861 – 53 South street
1867 – Upper South street

(Next post in series: Book ’em Again, Danno)

Next Steps:

~~view parish marriage record for Thomas & Ruth~~
find Thomas on the 1841 census
~~order Thomas’ death certificate~~

The ALLEN Key

William Henry ALLEN, son of Henry & Susanna ALLEN, was born around 1790 in Faversham, Kent.
I can state this for sure because of Bishop’s Transcripts. Before this discovery, I only knew that William Henry ALLEN was a carpenter and the father of Mary Ann Allen since he appears on his daughter’s marriage certificate in 1848 (also seen in this post).

Marriage Certificate of George Wright PALMER & Mary Ann ALLEN

This information backs up the 1851 census record I had for the family (although the names of the visiting grandchildren made me pretty confident anyway):

So I now know that the family lived on Chatham Hill, Chatham between 1848 and 1851 (at least) and that Henry was a carpenter born in Faversham, Kent around 1790. (I also know the names of a few more children but I’m focusing on William for now). Next stop, parish records…
Unfortunately, the Medway Ancestors project doesn’t seem to have the parish registers for Faversham online but I recently did a search on Find My Past and it came up with the Bishop’s Transcript record. Bishop’s Transcripts were a copy of the parish records, often summarised, that each church sent to the Bishop. Information can vary from the register and the transcript so it’s always worthwhile to check out both if you can.

Canterbury Baptisms – Bishop’s Transcripts (St Mary’s of Charity, Faversham)

…William Henry Allen, son of Henry & Susanna Allen [May 30, 1790]…

Yay! I now know the name of William Henry’s parents and have unlocked a few more avenues of research for this family.

Next steps:

~~Find out more about William Cassans (unknown grandchild)~~
View the actual St Mary’s of Charity parish records
Find out more about the Allen’s residences