Genealogy Chat

I did ask the Records office whether the 'new' tenant of Anne's house in 1907 could have been my ancester in a (married??) name, but they said it was someone entirely different. Of course, she could have married and moved into her new husband's house. Then again, she might have just moved in with someone and changed her name without getting married. What a nest of vipers. Makes me determined that I should make it easy for my ancesters to find our about me in the future!!! Incidentally, can anyone tell me where I can get access to the post office directories for early 1900s? The ancester I'm looking for lived in Carew, Pembs, Wales - would I have to go to Wales to find them? ShirleyB

Gwyneth Same here - my 2 x GT Uncle 'never married' and was dead at 40, in 1900. I checked the Post Office Directory and in 1899, he is listed as living with his brother and his brother's wife. As he had no descendants, I put off getting his death cert. So I was utterly astonished to be contacted on here by one of his descendants! He married in 1899 (PO Directory obviously a few months behind itself), went to a Football match (Man U), caught a cold and died a week later of pneumonia, leaving a young widow who later gave birth to twins. No-one in my family knew anything about this, but spookily, my blah blah cousin, knew all about me and my family, from one of the twins, who only died in 1995! Olde Crone

My father had an aunt b. 1873 who 'never married'. My parents visited her and there was never a man around. It was a great surprise to find a marriage registration for her and I ordered the certificate to confirm that it WASN'T her. ( I'm helping with a one-name study so it would still be useful) It was her, alright,- at the same address as the family were found in census before and after her 1897 marriage...... I still don't know what she did with her husband after 1901, so that nobody knew of him.

Some women could vote in local elections - for instance, property owners - so they were listed on the electoral register but not allowed to vote in parliamentary elections. I was recently looking through an electoral register for 1912 and one for 1913 and I was surprised to see how many women's names were on it. I was also surprised that it was listed in alphabetical order of surname rather than by street! It had lists of different categories of voter in each ward, and each of these lists went in order of surname. (Unfortunately the person I was doing the lookup for had only given me the address, which made it tricky!) Kate.

Hi again! I agree the age at deaths for the 1918 and 1919 deaths don't fit exactly, though you could add on one more year to her post-1901 age if her birthday fell between March 31st and end of September (so she would be ''only'' three years adrift!). Age at death is pretty unreliable. My gran added four years when she turned 76, because she wanted to say, ''I'm 80'' and everyone else say, ''Never!! I wouldn't have believed it''............We were not supposed to notice this! Mind you, we still put the right age on her death cert, but others might have been duped - would depend on who registered the death. You said this lady never married.....maybe you could use this as a checking point? Most married ladies/widows would have ''wife of'' or ''widow of'' in the occupation box. Merry

Never rely on an age unless its from their birth certificate! The first ancestor I found was my Grandmother who had consistently lied about her age form her marriage onwards. Consequently her birth was 3 years earlier than I expected. I spent God knows how long in the FRC trying to find her birth (first visit as well) that I let out a whoop of joy when I found her. Of course, if I'd known then how elusive the rest of them would prove, I'd have given up this hobby (obsession) then and there!

I think maybe they were listed, Martin, because the Pembrokeshire record office said she was there in 1906, and she lived alone. They said that in 1907 it was someone else entirely. ShirleyB

Women did not start to get the vote until 1918 but I wonder if a women who was householder would be recorded anyway on the register but with no entitlement to vote? MB

Hi Shirley, The age on death certs is probably one of the most UNreliable. As the information is always given to the registrar by a third person - only the deceased really knows how old they were. If the person registering the death did not know her very well, or even not at all, the would have probably guessed! So try the ones that seem too old - you never know! I know just how frustrating this is! Have the same problem with one of ours. He was on the 1871 census, last child born 1872, and no sign of him after that. Wife's death cert shows her as a widow when she died in 1895. Daughter's marr cert claims father deceased in 1890 (but she lied about just everything!) Have never found his death entry. Been looking on and off for 3yrs!! Good luck Debbie

Sorry Merry, missed the first part of your message. I checked the death for Ann John in Swansea in 1918 (3 1136) but it wasn't her. The two deaths you gave me in 1918 and 1919 give the age as 80 and 81 whereas my Anne would have been 76 and 77 respectively (some 4 years younger). Could the ages be registered wrongly? I thought they would be pretty accurate. Regards ShirleyB

She may have moved house, thats true, Merry. But I have searched the death indices several times and can't find any record of her death anywhere up until she would have been 103 years old (in both Wales and England). I have checked areas in Wales where she might have been likely to move to, ie Swansea where her son lived and everywhere else in Wales, but nothing. I have checked the indices of people with similarly spelt names too. I can't imagine that she would have left the house she lived in for 50-60 years for no reason. I have checked the parish records and visited the local cemetary. Nothing. Its so bewildering. I wish that I didn't have to wait til 2011 for the next census, but it looks like I have met a dead end for the moment. Thanks to everyone for your replies and help. ShirleyB

Have you tried the 1918 and 1919 ones?? I know she vanished from an address in (um, whenever you said....1906??)....but that doesn't mean she died.....she might have moved house! Merry

I checked the Ann John who died in Llanelli but it wasn't her. Good try, but no cigar. Any other suggestions please? ShirleyB

I've forgotten now, the circumstances under which women appeared on the electoral roll in those days????? Can anyone else enlighten me? Merry

Maybe when she vanished from the electoral roll, she just moved house (maybe to live with a rellie?), rather than dying? Merry

I hadn't applied for the Ann John in Llanelli in 1906 - I thought it was too early for her. But then again if the data for the 1906 electoral roll was taken in October 1905, then it could fit if she died between October 1905 and October 1906. I don't know why she should be living in Llanelli, but then again I checked Swansea, Cardiff, Pontypridd, Bridgend etc etc etc, so you never know. Maybe, as it was suggested, she was in a hospital or home there. Thanks to you all for your brilliant suggestions. SRB

It's possible that she died in a different registration district, if she had gone to a hospital, or to be cared for by a friend/relative. I think you could try asking the Pembroke Records office to check the burial register for 1906/7 to see if she is buried. If they can find a record of her burial, then she is definitely dead! Norfolk records office checked a burial for my great-grandfather and told me that he'd died in Finchley, although he was buried in a Norfolk village. I couldn't understand why I couldn't find his death registered in a Norfolk reg district. nell

Thanks for the replies. The Pembrokeshire records office had a list of who was living at the house in 1906 and they said that she was there (she lived alone). But it was an entirely different name in 1907. They said that the returns for each year were completed in the October of the previous year, so it looks like she wasn't there in October 1906. Isn't it frustrating that we can't get the next census until 1911! In 1906 she would have been 65 years old. I have tried the possibility that the numbers were transposed - one death entry showed an Anne John as being 68 when my Anne would have been 86, but no luck. She had a son , Walter James John who, in 1906, was living in Swansea. I have checked the Swansea death entries for the period until the 1930s in case she went to live with his family, but none of them are her. On a geographical note, Carew, Pembs is in south west Wales. Llanelli is just to the West of Swansea, but Bridgend is to the east . I have been stumbling about on this for over a year - its so frustrating. I am grateful for all your suggestions. SRB

shirley, i will add this because the name/age and vol numbers match what you are searching for; JOHN ANN 66 LLanelly jan/feb/mar 1906 vol 11a page 649 ...MOE!

These are from Family Relatives..... Surname Forename AAD District Page No Event Quarter Year 1 John Ann 44 Pembroke.11a 647 Death 2 1907 2 John Ann 80 Pembroke.11a 2125 Death 4 1918 3 John Anne 81 Pembroke.11a 1308 Death 4 1919 4 John Annie Pembroke.11a 1333 Death 4 1916 Numbers 2 and 3 look possible......59 in 1901 would be late 70's in 1918/1919, but both are Q4, so might include one extra birthday..........My gran added 4 years once she approached 80.....! Merry (PS No 4 would be aged 0)