ARC TBC - Can you help me unravel this knotty problem?
Posted: Sun Apr 17, 2011 3:02 pm
Since we started on this research, our family closet has resounded to the sound of the skeletons falling out. I watched a rerun of “Who Do You Think You Are†with Graham Norton recently where he found an ancestor who had several illegitimate children. The commentator stated that illegitimate pregnancies were relatively rare in the late 19c century, around 7%. All I can say is our family must have been trying to raise that statistic.
However being born "on the wrong side of the blanket" does not fully explain the puzzle relating to our ancestor Ellen (Nellie) Whiffin nee Newman. I knew Nellie when she was alive so although her daughter, Hilda, threw away all their family records, in an effort to shed her rural background, I still had enough data to start searching.
Ellen Newman (she herself told me that Newman was her maiden name) was born in Coulsden in Surrey in around 1880. She always said she was one of the younger of many sisters (8 or more) in a large extended family; of those who survived I know the names of Em, Maude, Alice, Sarah, and Tottie.
Ellen married Harry Whiffin of Warlingham in the early 1900s and they had four surviving children over the next twenty years: Les (Harry Leslie, born c1904), John (?), Hilda (born c 1918) and Arthur (born c1922). Harry senior had poor health and died in the early 1920s (not in WW1.) Ellen died in around 1978 at the age of around 92. Hilda Whiffin always said her mother came from a poor rural background and did not learn to read and write until she was an adult. Ellen didn't read as a matter of course, but none of her family did, but she could certainly write when I knew her.
Here is what we have found out, after a tremendous effort.
1881 Census: Nr Roke Farm, Coulsden, Sy. Henry Grant: Head, 49, married, Ag Lab, born Purley (not clear) Surrey. Ann, married, wife, 36, born Tatsfield, Kent. Parents to Ellen Kate Grant, then 5 months. Stepdaughters present were Sarah Newman, 13, Alice Newman, 10 and Mary cMaud Newman, 4.
1891 Census: 1 Rose Cottages, Coulsden, Sy. Fred.M Finch: Head, 49, Ostler Groom, married, born Redhill Surrey. Living with him (not described as wife), Annie (Finch) married, 45, Laundress. Also on census return are daughter Florence Finch, then 5 years old. And living with them, at same address Ellen Kate Newman, 10, scholar and Ethel Newman 9, scholar. No relationship of these 2 siblings to the adults described.
1901 Census: Selby Cottage, Godstone Road, Sy. Ellen Kate Newman, 20, domestic servant living with Grazier family. Head of Household Mrs Grazier (a young widow or deserted woman with a large family from 1 to 11,) a Laundress.
Also in the 1901 census; Florence Finch, 16 visiting Warlingham, Ann Newman 55, visiting Godstone (not visiting Ellen Kate) and Fred Finch, 59 living in Godstone with one of his family. We have not yet been able to track down either Ellen Kate's's birth certificate or her marriage certificate.
This sequence raises so many questions. Were Ellen Kate's older sisters illegitimate? in which case was Newman her mother's maiden name? I cannot find an Ann Newman in Tatsfield, in 1845-6 when she was born, but I can find an Ann Maria Drew, dau of John and Maria Drew. Is this her? Did she marry a Mr Newman - if so we cannot find him in the records. Or a marriage certificate. If she did, did he die, run away?
Ann Newman then seems to have married a Mr Grant, before Ellen Kate was born in 1881, or around the same time, but we cannot find their marriage certificate or Ellen Kate's birth certificate. Living with the family at this time are older sisters and Mr Grant's step daughters Sarah, Alice and May/Maud Newman.
By 1891 the older sisters have gone and Ellen Kate is living together with another sibling, Ethel, and calling themselves Newman. They are living with adults Fred and Annie Finch and a daughter Florence, 5. Is this their mother remarried, is Florence their half sister or is it someone else, some other relative perhaps? It is not clear if Fred and Annie Finch are married, it does not say Wife on the census. Why have Ellen and her younger sister changed their names back from Grant to Newman?
In 1901 Ellen Kate is working as a servant in Godstone, Sy. On Census day Florence Finch, now 16, is visiting in Warlingham, suggesting a family connection there. (Soon after this Ellen Kate married Harry Whiffin of Warlingham). Also in the 1901 census, Fred Finch, 59 is living with one of his family in Godstone and Ann Newman, 55 is visiting Godstone although it is not clear if it is Fred's household she is visiting. All these places are nearby each other in Surrey.
Finally there is the mystery of why Hilda insisted her mother was illiterate when she herself was growing up. Around the time Ellen Kate was born, the first Education Acts were passed and when she was growing up, schooling was compulsory. As a young child she lived with Fred Finch and family and was recorded as a scholar. Fred, the ostler, is recorded as being employed so there would have been money to pay for schooling.
None of it seems to add up. Anyone able to add anything or throw any light on anything?
Sorry for the essay-..
However being born "on the wrong side of the blanket" does not fully explain the puzzle relating to our ancestor Ellen (Nellie) Whiffin nee Newman. I knew Nellie when she was alive so although her daughter, Hilda, threw away all their family records, in an effort to shed her rural background, I still had enough data to start searching.
Ellen Newman (she herself told me that Newman was her maiden name) was born in Coulsden in Surrey in around 1880. She always said she was one of the younger of many sisters (8 or more) in a large extended family; of those who survived I know the names of Em, Maude, Alice, Sarah, and Tottie.
Ellen married Harry Whiffin of Warlingham in the early 1900s and they had four surviving children over the next twenty years: Les (Harry Leslie, born c1904), John (?), Hilda (born c 1918) and Arthur (born c1922). Harry senior had poor health and died in the early 1920s (not in WW1.) Ellen died in around 1978 at the age of around 92. Hilda Whiffin always said her mother came from a poor rural background and did not learn to read and write until she was an adult. Ellen didn't read as a matter of course, but none of her family did, but she could certainly write when I knew her.
Here is what we have found out, after a tremendous effort.
1881 Census: Nr Roke Farm, Coulsden, Sy. Henry Grant: Head, 49, married, Ag Lab, born Purley (not clear) Surrey. Ann, married, wife, 36, born Tatsfield, Kent. Parents to Ellen Kate Grant, then 5 months. Stepdaughters present were Sarah Newman, 13, Alice Newman, 10 and Mary cMaud Newman, 4.
1891 Census: 1 Rose Cottages, Coulsden, Sy. Fred.M Finch: Head, 49, Ostler Groom, married, born Redhill Surrey. Living with him (not described as wife), Annie (Finch) married, 45, Laundress. Also on census return are daughter Florence Finch, then 5 years old. And living with them, at same address Ellen Kate Newman, 10, scholar and Ethel Newman 9, scholar. No relationship of these 2 siblings to the adults described.
1901 Census: Selby Cottage, Godstone Road, Sy. Ellen Kate Newman, 20, domestic servant living with Grazier family. Head of Household Mrs Grazier (a young widow or deserted woman with a large family from 1 to 11,) a Laundress.
Also in the 1901 census; Florence Finch, 16 visiting Warlingham, Ann Newman 55, visiting Godstone (not visiting Ellen Kate) and Fred Finch, 59 living in Godstone with one of his family. We have not yet been able to track down either Ellen Kate's's birth certificate or her marriage certificate.
This sequence raises so many questions. Were Ellen Kate's older sisters illegitimate? in which case was Newman her mother's maiden name? I cannot find an Ann Newman in Tatsfield, in 1845-6 when she was born, but I can find an Ann Maria Drew, dau of John and Maria Drew. Is this her? Did she marry a Mr Newman - if so we cannot find him in the records. Or a marriage certificate. If she did, did he die, run away?
Ann Newman then seems to have married a Mr Grant, before Ellen Kate was born in 1881, or around the same time, but we cannot find their marriage certificate or Ellen Kate's birth certificate. Living with the family at this time are older sisters and Mr Grant's step daughters Sarah, Alice and May/Maud Newman.
By 1891 the older sisters have gone and Ellen Kate is living together with another sibling, Ethel, and calling themselves Newman. They are living with adults Fred and Annie Finch and a daughter Florence, 5. Is this their mother remarried, is Florence their half sister or is it someone else, some other relative perhaps? It is not clear if Fred and Annie Finch are married, it does not say Wife on the census. Why have Ellen and her younger sister changed their names back from Grant to Newman?
In 1901 Ellen Kate is working as a servant in Godstone, Sy. On Census day Florence Finch, now 16, is visiting in Warlingham, suggesting a family connection there. (Soon after this Ellen Kate married Harry Whiffin of Warlingham). Also in the 1901 census, Fred Finch, 59 is living with one of his family in Godstone and Ann Newman, 55 is visiting Godstone although it is not clear if it is Fred's household she is visiting. All these places are nearby each other in Surrey.
Finally there is the mystery of why Hilda insisted her mother was illiterate when she herself was growing up. Around the time Ellen Kate was born, the first Education Acts were passed and when she was growing up, schooling was compulsory. As a young child she lived with Fred Finch and family and was recorded as a scholar. Fred, the ostler, is recorded as being employed so there would have been money to pay for schooling.
None of it seems to add up. Anyone able to add anything or throw any light on anything?
Sorry for the essay-..