ARC TBC - Brick wall - Stratton (later Usher) 1876

[gardener]

It does look as though there was local knowledge that William was still alive (or at least not known to be dead) and then that situation changed and Frances was able to marry.

With no birth certificates it is also possible that the two boys were registered as Usher.

Jesse is 5 in 1881 and 16 in 1891
Albert is 2 in 1881 and 14 in1891

Possible births

Mar qtr 1878 Biggleswade
Albert Usher

Jun qtr 1875 Biggleswade
male Usher


The IGI seems to have baptisms at Sandy 1813-1875 and 1884-1888 which is rather annoying.

Is it significant that Samuel and Eliza Usher named two sons Jesse? Could david be the father of all the children and William was missing for long enough that Frances could remarry?

[Guinney1971]

Hi Claire/Guinney

The 1881 census states that Frances Stratton is married, not that she is a widow. If you don't have a copy then feel free to send me a private message with your email and I'll send you a copy of the image.

Could you post the full details from the two marriage certs if you have them? ie father of bride and groom, and his occupation, occupation of the groom, and the names of the witnesses. maybe someone will have a bright idea

ah yes, apologies for that, her marriage certificate says she was a widow when she married David Usher.

Right, here's the info off the 2 marriage certs:

1871, no. 299, Parish Church in the Parish of Biggleswade.
October 31, William Stratton, full age, Bachelor, Labourer, residing in Sutton, father John Stratton, Labourer.
Fanny Ratford, full age, Spinster, no occupation, residing in Biggleswade, father not stated but described as a Labourer
It says underneath "Married in the Parish Church according to the rites and ceremonies of teh established church after Daicuss (?) by me Charles G Bouton (?) Vicar.
Witnessed by Edmund Stratton and Jane Anne Barrack (?)

1881, no 48, Parish Church in the Parish of Sandy.
May 7, David Usher, full age, Bachelor, Labourer, residing in Sandy, father Samuel Usher, Labourer
Frances Stratton, full age, Widow, no occupation, residing in Sandy, father Robert Ratford (deceased)
now it says underneath (but hard to read) "Married in the Parish Church according to the rites and ceremonies of the established church by Superintendent Registrar Certificate John Richardson" (?) and it was witnessed by Edith Jeffries and Reuben John Kemp (?)

Hope this helps,

Claire

[gardener]

Hi Claire

Could this be William then?

1881
Leeds
William Stratton lodger m 30 laborer coal pit Bedfordshire, Sutton

1871
Sutton
Fanny Stratton head wid 51 plaiter
William ditto son unm 20 ag lab Sutton
John ditto son 20 unm ditto ditto
Eliza ditto dau unm 18 plaiter Sutton
Edmund ditto 16 ag lab Sutton
Fanny ?l ditto 14 scholar ditto
James ditto son 12 ditto ditto
Frederick ditto son 10 ditto ditto

[Guinney1971]

well the 1871 info is deffo right, and the 1881..... very interesting!! It makes him roughly the right age, as he was born around 1848 going by the info I've got (christened in 1849), and I think in the older census's they rounded peoples ages either up or down from what I've read.

So, did he do a bunk?

the plot thickens! lol

thank you so much to everyone who is giving up their time to do some sleuthing for me - unfortunately at the moment I just cannot afford to suscribe to the various websites that want to charge a small fortune to access their records

Claire

[gardener]

Think I'm rambling now, he seems to be married in 1891! Just ignore me

[Guinney1971]

Think I'm rambling now, he seems to be married in 1891! Just ignore me

lol, he could have remarried! I've just been on the IGI site and found the census return that you are referring to for 1881, Sutton is a small place, so its a serious coincidence that someone with the same name, of the right age, is suddenly in Yorkshire digging up the black stuff.

Ah well, bed time! Thanks again,

Claire

[MarkCDodd]

He is an Ag Lab in 1871....

Possible reasons for the "unknown" state of his health are:

a) He was in a mining accident and the coroner is yet to declare the missing as deceased.

b) He was in the merhant navy or the military and has gone missing but yet to be declared deceased.

c) He was on death row, waiting for the final appeal process before taking the drop. No entry is made in the registry for executed people.

Abandonement does not allow the title of "Widow" to be used.

He could have been missing from 1876 onwards if he fathered those two children in the 1881 census.

Both children will be Stratton, not Usher.

The unamed child I pointed out before will be Jesse. Most census, including the 1911, point to the 1875 birth.

This will be Albert. All census after 1881 and his death all point to a 1877-1878 birth.

Civil Registration event: Birth
Name: STRATTON, Albert
Registration District: Luton
County: Bedfordshire
Year of Registration: 1877
Month of Quarter: Apr-May-Jun
Mother's Maiden Name: Not available before 1911 Q3
Volume No: 3B
Page No: 471


Can you have a close look at the marriage cert again.

"Daicuss"????


Cohabitation was quite common in Australia as it could take a long time to confirm a missing husbands death or abandonment.

[Guinney1971]

Can you have a close look at the marriage cert again.

"Daicuss"????


Cohabitation was quite common in Australia as it could take a long time to confirm a missing husbands death or abandonment.

well, thats what the word looks like on the marriage cert - heres some photos of it and put it on here, see if anyone can decipher it. Thanks for the info!





Here's some other stuff I found when I looked things up in 2005:

Q1 1879, Death of George Stratton, 0 years, Biggleswade (3b 215)
Q1 1916, Death of Frances Usher, 67 years, Biggleswade (3b 424)

I only knew about Albert, Jesse's brother from the Census of 1881 - and Jesse's name on his marriage cert (1898) states that he was Arthur Jesse Usher - but he was always known as Jesse in the family. He moved to Stevenage in the late 1890's from what I can make out, married Mary Watson from Wymondley, and he became a railway porter - I have a photo of him at Stevenage station in a book about the town. The photo was taken in the 1920's/1930's, and he died in 1946 at the age of 70 (according to his death certificate) - is it possilbe he didnt really know exactly how old he was?

Cheers,

Claire

[Northern Lass]

Looks like the word Banns

after Banns

[MarkCDodd]

Definately Banns.

[gardener]

Abandonement does not allow the title of "Widow" to be used.

He could have been missing from 1876 onwards if he fathered those two children in the 1881 census.

Both children will be Stratton, not Usher.

The unamed child I pointed out before will be Jesse. Most census, including the 1911, point to the 1875 birth.

This will be Albert. All census after 1881 and his death all point to a 1877-1878 birth.

Civil Registration event: Birth
Name: STRATTON, Albert
Registration District: Luton
County: Bedfordshire
Year of Registration: 1877
Month of Quarter: Apr-May-Jun
Mother's Maiden Name: Not available before 1911 Q3
Volume No: 3B
Page No: 471

I think this Albert Stratton is the one aged 4 in 1881 census, born Luton, parents Arthur and Sarah Stratton. I don't think it is the son of Frances.

Abandonment does not allow the title of widow to be used - I agree with that, but it doesn't prevent it either and nothing stops an abandoned wife calling herself a widow. Except, of course if the truth is known.

And that is the problem here, I admit. The 1881 census enumerator was, I think, Reuben J Kemp and he is down as Parish Clerk. In 1891 he is also called parish clerk and "church" has been added afterwards. So he would seemingly have been around for the 1881 marriage and in fact is one of the witnesses.

I can only see two options:

1) Between the 1881 census and the 1881 marriage, proof of William Stratton's death was provided.

2) Between the 1881 census and the 1881 marriage it was accepted that William Stratton had been absent for so long, with no contact with any of the people he might be expected to contact, and he was presumed dead.

It says here http://www.jstor.org/pss/751797 "The Rule of English Law - in England the general law as to preumption of death is thus stated in Stephen's Digest of the Law of Evidence: A person shown not to have been heard of for seven years by those (if any) who if he had been alive would naturally have heard from him is presumed to be dead unless the circumstances of the case are such as to account for his not being heard of without assuming his death".

It then goes on, I think, to say that if the wife remarries and he subsequently shows up then the second marriage is invalid, any children illegitimate, but the wife n ot guilty of bigamy.

As with most things legal it is so vague that you would need a lawyer to argue your case! But it seems to me that if William went AWOL then he might have been presumed dead and then she could remarry in local church as a widow. Stephen's Digest was published in 1877 and I don't think this 7 year thing actually had any legal status in England but it might have been used to justify a marriage when the couple had been "living in sin" for several years.

There is a fairly recent example posted here http://www.rootschat.com/forum/index.ph ... 06116.html

"He left my grandmother and my father in 1931, having reluctantly struggled through a 10 year rocky marriage. He was last seen one day in 1934/1935.
Some years later, my grandmother wished to re-marry but had no idea where to find her estranged husband. She was advised by her solicitor to post notices in the newspaper enquiring of his whereabouts. This would have been in London, anywhere between 1937-1941. There was no response. She did re-marry, in March 1941, and on her marriage cert she is given the status of "widow".
I have found no record of her first husband's death.
So perhaps grandma got divorced? Having spoken to the Divorce Registry, I was told that a divorce would not have been granted as it was not known if estranged husband was still living or deceased (no death cert had been found). However, I have not yet had a divorce records searched (expensive as I would have to cover years 1937 to 1941, at least).
After lengthy discussion with various departments of the GRO, I was told there would be no death cert issued because there was no body. No body means no death cert or death registration. As they rightly pointed out, if he had gone missing, he could turn up at any time and then really die, and then what do they do , record his death twice??
But somewhere along the line, my grandmother was ABLE to re-marry because after converting to the Catholic faith she married her Irish beau in 1941 and they lived happily ever after."

But, I'm the first to admit I am being very speculative

I'm not suggesting buying any certificates.
You could try asking Bedfordshire archives about the baptisms post 1813 (the ones up to 1812 seem to have been transcribed but I'm not sure about the later ones) and then try and find someone to do a free lookup.
Given Reuben Kemp's comment on the 1881 census I think it likley that he wrote something somewhere on the occasion of the marriage (since he was Parish Clerk and a witness)but I don't know if that would be in the church register or elsewhere. Tis interesting though

[Guinney1971]

interesting? this is the stuff of Hollywood!!!

Great research, thanks so much

Claire

[Guinney1971]

BINGO!!!

reckon I've found our elusive William Stratton on the 1981 Census

Stratton, William, Head, Married age 41, b1850, Blinder Blanket Mill, born Sutton Bedfordshire
Stratton Elizabeth, Wife, Married, age 37, b1854, no occupation, born Bluntisham Huntingdonshire
Stratton Lillian, Daughter, Single, age 16, b1875, no occupation, born Hunslet Yorkshire
Living at 8 Buxton Yard, Hunslet, Leeds, West Riding of Yorkshire (which ties in, as he was a lodger in Leeds in the 1881 Census)

Now, it looks like our William has remarried, and I would suggest that Lillian is not Williams daughter, but stepdaughter.

Interestingly, he's not on the 1901 Census, so I had a dig around the Death Index, and I have found:

William Stratton, age 48, death registered Q3 1900 in Hitchin Hertfordshire - now you may think this is a bit far from Yorkshire, which it is, BUT by this point, his son (my gt grandfather) Arthur Jesse Usher was married and living in Stevenage, which came under Hitchin register office.

I think what I'll do is try and order the death certificate for this particular William Stratton, and see who the informant was and where he was living - I know Jesse's address at that time (long gone and now a flyover )

Thanks everyone for your help and input, you've been a massive help

[gardener]

Hold on a minute!!!!

He is down as Straton in 1901 so still alive - and Lilian's age is a bit different if I recall corectly (was looking at it yesterday). It would be great to get the 1911 and see what it says there....

[gardener]

Here you go

1901
15 Dial Terrace Leeds
William Straton head m 51 Warehouseman Blankets Beds Sutton
Elizabeth ditto wife m 47 Hunts Bluntisham
Lilian ditto dau s 11 Yorks Leeds
Fanny ditto dau 7 ditto

http://www.yorkshirebmd.org.uk/
William Stratton married Elizabeth Ellis at St Mary the Virgin, Hunslet in 1889

Lilian Stratton born Hunslet 1889
Fanny Stratton born Hunslet 1891

? Not sure about that earlier Lilian. perhaps she was 16 months?