Genealogy Chat

I have a relative, Sarah Bidwell (nee Linton) who is giving me some trouble.
Although i know she died around 1955 aged about 94, there doesn't seem to be a death entry in the BMD records. does anyone know why this might be?

Look forward to hearing from anyone who might be able to help!!
Laura x

Have you searched a few years either side? Have you considered that her death might have been registered in a different registration district that you might be expecting?

Sam x

I've looked from 1945 up intil 1965.. and i havent found a single Sarah Bidwell living anywhere that is the right sort of age! that's why i'm so confused.. I was certain a death would be registered, as it is essential to have a death certifcate in order to hold a funeral. unless they buried her under the patio! but i dont think they would have :)
any ideas?
Laura x

Could she have remarried?

i did consider that, but nope, her husband didnt die until she was about 80. and my nan (who remembers her) said that she didn't remarry. difficult isnt it? i tried all sorts of spellings for her surname, Bedwell, Bidewell, Biddwell, with no success.

Laura x

Apologies if this is a daft question but you are looking at the full index aren't you, and not just on FreeBMD which doesn't cover those years?

Where about in the country did she die?

Sam x

yes i am looking on ancestry, going quarter by quarter, bit of a nightmare! I assume that she died in Brixton/Lambeth area of London, but I cant be sure as my nan was only young when she died.Sarah was my nan's great grandmother! she has proved troublesome the whole time i have been researching her. no Birth entry is listed, only one census entry for her and her mother has been found in 1871, none either side of that until she is listed with her husband William Bidwell in 1891. on Hannah's death certificate her husband is named as Frederick Linton but on Sarah's marriage cert he is Henry Linton.. just one big mystery. it's almost as if she didnt exist, but of course we know she did.
Laura x

Does anyone know why it might seem that there are no records for this woman? i know that she worked for some time at the Woolwich Arsenal along with her mother, and her father supposedly worked there too, are there any records of past employees available online?
Thanks, Laura.

As you haven't found her death registered, I would look for a possible remarriage......Unlikely perhaps, but I have found that an 'unmarried' aunt did in fact marry, so I would check that your Nan's memory was correct.


Gwyn

Ok then I will check through the marriages, that sounds like a plan!
Thanks for the reply, Laura x

laura, is your sarah Linton married to a willliam Bidwell (c1858) who's parents were William and alice/Jane bidwell and brother Walter. If so I'm related by marriage through Walter. What a small world. I don't have more info on Sarah (sorry)

I know this sound silly but in those twenty years of looking on the BMD qtrs did all the quarters come up? Because sometimes it misses a quarter and I have found who I have been looking for in that quarter . How I have brought that quarter up is by putting another similar name in.
Ancestry is not infalliable.
The other possibilty is was her real name Sarah?
It could be her middle name? My grandmother was always known as Mary to everyone but that was her middle name. If I had recorded her death I would have registered it as Mary, not Kathleen Mary.
A death entry is as only as good as who registers it, although now they ask for a birth record or birth cert.
The other scenario is these lists are complied by people before computers. of all registers coming into the GRO.
It is possible just possible that she has been missed off.
If you sometimes look at copies of microfiche there are people who have been written on at the bottom in handwriting. These people have been found on the ORIGINALs and added on.
If you know the area of which you think she died, go to the local register office and ask if you can see the ORIGINAL registers of that area for the death for about 2 years either side..
You may have to search yourself otherwise it may cost you.
Memory can deceive you when you are young and a year in a young child can be a long long time.
Maybe your Nan has got it wrong.
If you send me some details Ill have a look for you.

.

Can't add any new ideas for her death but could she have been born after the 1861 census? Perhaps she was registered in her mothers maiden name.

Could her mother have married a Linton after her birth. A name she adopted and then dropped at a later date but ressurrected for her marriage?

Could the woman your gran remembers be a second wife of Mr Bidwell? I knew my nans husband as grandad but he wasn't my grandad.

At such an old age perhaps she was in a home/hospital when she died. This could have been miles from home

I think I've found her birth - Greenwich is correct area

Sarah Anna Lenton
Year of Registration: 1857
Quarter of Registration: Apr-May-Jun
District: Greenwich
County: Greater London, Kent, London
Volume: 1d
Page: 588

On 1871 census she has H as middle initial (Hannah/Anna)
Sarah H Linton
Age: 13
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1858
Relation: Daughter
Mother's Name: Hannah
Gender: Female
Where born: Woolwich, Kent, England
Civil Parish: Waltham Holy Cross
Ecclesiastical parish: St Lawrence
Town: Waltham Abbey
County/Island: Essex
Country: England

Disability: View Image
Registration district: Edmonton
Sub-registration district: Waltham Abbey
ED, institution, or vessel: 2
Household schedule number: 262
Household Members: Name Age
Hannah Linton 40
Sarah H Linton 13
Thomas Love 39

Source Citation: Class: RG10; Piece: 1346; Folio: 61; Page: 51; GSU roll: 828288.


1861 census

Hannah Lenton
Age: 30
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1831
Relation: Servant
Gender: Female
Where born: Enfield, Middlesex, England

Civil Parish: St Pancras
Ecclesiastical parish: Pancras
County/Island: Middlesex
Country: England

Registration district: Pancras
Sub-registration district: Camden Town
ED, institution, or vessel: 10
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 340
Household Members: Name Age
Alice Cullen 66
Ann E Eastwood 56
Hannah Lenton 30 widow
Harriet F Timms 45
Thomas Timms 83

Source Citation: Class: RG9; Piece: 117; Folio: 33; Page: 59; GSU roll: 542576.


Sarah A Lenton
Age: 3
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1858
Relation: Granddaughter
Gender: Female
Where born: London, England

Civil Parish: Waltham Holy Cross
Town: Waltham Abbey
County/Island: Essex
Country: England

Registration district: Edmonton
Sub-registration district: Waltham Abbey
ED, institution, or vessel: 1
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 243
Household Members: Name Age
Charles Arber 72
Edward Arber 9
Priscilla Arber 71
Sarah A Lenton 3

Source Citation: Class: RG9; Piece: 801; Folio: 24; Page: 41; GSU roll: 542703.

In 1881 Sarah is already married and with her husband.

This would make Sarah 94 in 1951.

Andy