Tag: marriage

Bombay Love Story Continued…

Obituary Notice for Drusilla WILLS (nee WREFORD) (Auckland Star, Volume LXV, Issue 140, 15 June 1934, p3)

This obituary for Drusilla WILLS (nee WREFORD) featured in my previous post stated that:

Mrs. Wills is survived by two children. Mr James Wills and Mrs. D. Evans, and 15 grandchildren, and 20 great-grandchildren.

My searches of the NZ BDM showed me that Thomas & Drusilla had 3 children:

Richard Henry, Drusilla Howard and James Howard WILLS birth registrations

So you may presume (as I did) that:

a) their son Richard Henry died prior to 1934; and

b) the Mrs D Evans referred to is their daughter, Drusilla Howard.

However a search of Wills/Evans marriages from 1865 only came up with 2:

WILLS/EVANS marriage registration

This means that one of the surviving children was actually ANOTHER daughter called Charlotte (and the D being her husband’s initial).  However, there was no birth record of a Charlotte WILLS.  So, IS this Charlotte a daughter of Thomas & Drusilla?

I was able to find the marriage of Drusilla Howard WILLS (spelt Drucilla – one of the 3 births listed) to a William SHORT in 1899.

I checked the WREFORD pedigree compiled in 1908 (more on that another time) which notes Drusilla and Thomas had SIX children.  With only 3 of those listed in the online BDMs – is it possible to find these other children OR was the compiler mistaken?

Wreford Pedigree

Next Steps:

  • Check birth notices in newspapers (Papers Past)
  • Check BDM for WILLS deaths prior to 1934
  • Scour newspapers for any other references to the family

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Arthur and Martha… I mean, Mary

I mentioned in my previous post that I’d like to know more about Arthur BUCHAN’s next marriage as their children are mentioned in Roy Buchan’s book ‘From Peterhead to Passchendaele’.  He had married his first wife, Christian BUCHAN in 1857 who had died by the 1861 census.
Marriage of Arthur BUCHAN and Christian BUCHAN 1857

I located Arthur and his sons on the 1871 census who were now living with Arthur’s new wife, Mary and their new half siblings – Andrew, Mary and Elspet.

Arthur & sons with new family on 1871 census

A search of the IGI located a marriage between Arthur and Mary BRUCE in 1864 which I then downloaded.  Strangely, Mary’s parents are not listed.

Marriage of Arthur BUCHAN and Mary BRUCE 1864

I would say there’s a whole new story there.A further search of the IGI uncovered the births of their children, Isabella and Peter.  This Peter is ‘Uncle Peter’ who Roy refers to as “a shadowy figure who followed the family to New Zealand, arriving in about 1910”. Auntie Isa was also mentioned in letters written by Roy’s father and uncles during World War I. “a rotter who deserted his wife and children” (Buchan, R., From Peterhead to Passchendaele, 2003, p145).

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I’m still reading Roy Buchan’s fabulous ‘From Peterhead to Passchendaele’ which has thrown up some more avenues of research but have been wondering about Jessie’s husband who was also a BUCHAN.   John’s parents, Arthur and Christian BUCHAN sounded familiar but the same names do keep cropping up in these fishing villages.  How closely related were they?

The first step was to download their marriage certificate to prove the parents of John.

Marriage of John BUCHAN and Jessie BUCHAN (8 Nov 1883 – 4 Port Henry Lane, Peterhead (bride’s home))

Then I located the family on the 1861 census. Christian was deceased and 2 of her sisters were living with Arthur – most likely helping with the 2 young children.

Arthur BUCHAN and his young sons, John and Arthur on the 1861 census at 21 West Row, St Combs

I suspected she died during childbirth but she actually died shortly before the census was taken of consumption and pneumonia.

Death of Christian BUCHAN  –  2 Mar 1861

I then looked to the transcribed 1851 census.  Christian and her sisters were there and again appeared in 1841 with their other siblings. Which I will soon look closer at as a study of the village of St Combs.

Roy lists other children of Arthur and Christian but mentions that he believes some are half brothers and sisters and therefore children of another union after Christian died.  Before I look further into the BUCHAN – BUCHAN connection, I’d like to find out more about this second union.

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Grace Brock

I’ve had a lot of trouble finding a marriage between John STILING and Grace FREED and thought it was due to the lack of  Devon records on the IGI.  Thanks to the selection of Devon Parish records on findmypast, I find it’s possibly because it was mistranscribed or that Grace FREED is actually Grace BROCK:

I can imagine how Brock and Freed could look similar in faded, pre-regency period handwriting. This was one of three John STILINGs that came up in the search but the only one with a Grace for a bride. Their oldest child was born in 1811 so the dates also fit.

Oh, how I wish I could see the original record right now.

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Will or Testament?

I noticed this morning that the Scotlands People website has changed a bit (at least cosmetically) which in turn led me to notice the free wills and testaments search in the left bar.  So I started plugging away at some of my Scottish ancestors and came across a possible record for William MURRAY, dated 1839:

William MURRAY was the father of Margaret MURRAY (who married William GLAISTER in 1843).  It seems I had been unable to locate Margaret or her family in the 1841 census NOR find a record of the marriage of her parents when last researching the line and so left the family there for the time being.  Today, after consulting the new Family Search BETA and 1841 census transcriptions on a site called Graham Maxwell Ancestry, I was able to discover the marriage of William MURRAY to Janet BELL in the Kelso parish registers, 1817:

 

William Murray, Stocking-maker here & Janet Bell, Daughter of Alexr. Bell, Stocking-maker in Melrose, after the publication of the banns of marriage in the Church of Kelso, were married, at Melrose, on the eighth day of Decr. 1817 by the Revd. Mr. Thomson, Minister of Melrose, in presence of these witnesses Lieut. Lachlan Burn of the R.N. – Kelso & George Hart – Melrose

As the marriage obviously took place in Melrose, I decided to see if the Melrose records held any more information.  It’s quite amusing how little they actually held compared to the Kelso registers:

[1817, Nov 30] William Murray residing in the parish of Kelso and Janet Bell residing in this parish.

I’m pretty sure this is the family on the 1841 census:

The names and ages of the children are all correct (as found on the IGI) – only Margaret is missing (possibly working elsewhere). The only other concern is that William, who was recorded as a stocking maker at marriage is now a barber.  Not impossible by any means but a concern nonetheless.

So, back to the testaments – is this my guy?  Is the testament dated in 1839 because that William MURRAY had died OR was it drawn up before death?   If the 1839 date indicates the date of death, it is not my guy because he appears to be alive on the 1841 census.  I’m a tad confused.

UPDATE: The will bequeaths all to this man’s niece, Anne P. Murray or Montgomerie as the sole beneficiary so apparently NOT my William MURRAY. However, he was residing in Kelso at time of death so I feel he must be related somehow, even if distantly.

Next Steps:

  • Determine how this William Murray & Anne Murray/Montgomerie fit in my tree (if at all)

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