Genealogy Chat

When the 1851 census came on line, I discovered that my 3xgrt grandfather had had a son, who I hadn’t found a reference to before. Unfortunately, the enumerator only recorded him by his initial and this was illegible. However, it showed him to be 21 and a lieutenant in the army. I had a rummage around but, without a regiment or a first name, I couldn’t find anything. Yesterday, I was looking for somebody completely different on Google, when they suggested that I look for them in Google Books. I had a go and found nothing so, decided to try all the names I could think of. I typed in my 3xgrt grandfather’s name, Robinson Ayton, and up popped the ‘Annual Register, 1858 – Deaths in India’ November 1857 29. Of wounds received in Lucknow, Lieut. H.A.W. Ayton, Eighty-fourth Regt., only son of Robinson Ayton, esq., late Surgeon Thirty-fourth Regt. This gallant young officer was in all actions of General Havelock with the rebels, and had a horse shot under him at Bithoor on Aug. 16, 1857. I think it must have been the surprise because I wasn’t actively looking for him and also because it’s a sad story, but I sat in front of my screen and blubbed. OH now knows,for sure, that I’m potty and a lost cause! Helenxx

It probably happens quite often when they decide to hide on census night! Lol But here is the story that made me cry yesterday...