Free Weekend: Ancestry.co.uk August 2015

There's a free weekend of access to Ancestry.co.uk for the full 3-day August bank holiday weekend.  No voucher codes required.  This is great for people who haven't made any bank holiday weekend plans.  It's time to dust off that list of ancestors to research and hit it!

I am keen to try to find out more about Charles Gotobed and Mary Ann Gotobed, who spent some of their time in Cambridge and some of their time in Chesterton.  So that's what I'll be checking out this weekend!  I think I've worked out the family locations and story, so now I am at the stage of finalising that and deciding I've got it right ...(hopefully), or it needs more work (hopefully not).

Gotobed can be a tricky name to research because there are so many of them in Ely, up the road; the local coroner has the name too - and local solicitor.  So, other prominent people clutter up the results I've had in the past.  Gotobed is also often mistranscribed.  Alternative spellings include Gatabed, Gatebed, Getebed, Gobobed, Golobed, Golsbed, Gotober, Gotsbod, Gottebedde ... in fact it's endless!

I'm also missing my great-grandparents.  I know where they - and the entire family for generations up and wide - so, having just got married two years before, and having had/lost a baby the year before, where were they in 1901?  I've not found them in the indexes so far.  When you can't find people in the censuses, but are sure they must be around, the only way to try to find them is to look at every census return for the whole road/village/area yourself - in case you spot them mistranscribed or just listed as initials.

So, that's my weekend taken care of, who are you looking for?

I'll write something if I manage to find these tricky individuals!

Betsy Williams, Oldest Resident of Chesterton, -1910

My eye is always drawn to statements of "the oldest resident of" pieces in old newspapers, so Betsy Williams of Chesterton caught my eye this morning.

In 1910 Betsy Williams of Chesterton died and the newspapers announced her death, along with the fact that she was the oldest resident.  I love it when the newspapers give a long obituary/biography - so handy for today's family history researchers. So I had to look her up!

The Cambridge Independent Press reported the occasion as

Death.— The death occurred Tuesday morning of one the oldest inhabitants of Chesterton. Mrs Betsy Grove Williams, widow of the late Mr Benjamin Williams. The deceased lady, who was 90 years of age, was well known and much respected in Chesterton.

Her husband, who was formerly in the employ of Mr Philip Beale, Cambridge, died twenty two years ago, but there are nine children surviving. One served for twenty seven years in the Scotch Royal Rifles, going through the Zulu War. Another, who in twenty one years in the Army Service Corps, saw service in Zululand and in Egypt, and the husband of her eldest daughter served for twenty-two years in the Royal Navy. 

There are about sixty grand-children, while the great grand-children number even more. The funeral takes place to-day, Friday, Old Chesterton.  

Looking at FreeBMD, the death was registered with an age of 89 years.

Betsy was buried on 14 October at St Andrew's Church, Chesterton.  Benjamin Williams had died, aged 69, in 1888 and was buried 6 September at St Andrew's Church, Chesterton.

A quick look through the IGI showed that, from Censuses, Betsy had been born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk.  The 1881 Census had Betsy and husband Benjamin living at 10 Albert Street, Chesterton, with two of their children: Albert L Williams aged 19, born in Bury, Suffolk; and Mary L Williams aged 16, born in Cambridge.  Benjamin was listed as an ironmonger's porter and had been born in Lambeth, Surrey, so they were both "incomers" to the village.

I love thinking about the fact that my great-grandmother might have known of Betsy - although she had been living in the St Luke's area of Chesterton, which is about a mile from Old Chesterton where my great-grandmother was bringing up her own family.  She'll have heard the news of Betsy's death and, who knows, maybe watched the funeral from the cemetery wall.  The news will certainly have been the talk of the week.

The social history surrounding ancestors really helps to build up a good local picture of what life was like, people they might've known, events they might've attended - and more!  After a while you even begin to feel you "know" these people!

Sources: FindMyPast, FreeBMD, FamilySearch

Image: FreeBMD

Centenarian Peter Pentury - or was he? 1796-1897

One thing you will learn if you start to track down your ancestors is that their names are spelt, or presented, differently at every opportunity!  My own G-grandmother dropped her first name, got married, then on her gravestone her middle name had been used, along with a "new/invented" middle initial!

Even the press don't get things right.  I was browsing through some random old newspapers earlier and found an announcement of a Peter Pentury, in Norfolk, who had reached the age of 100 in 1896  I do like those - I always check to see how old they did get to before they died.

The newspaper said: "There is now living in Grassenhall workhouse, Norfolk, a pauper named Peter Pentury, who has attained the age of 100 years.  The register of Mattishall parish church, in the same county, certifies that he was baptized thereon June 28 1796.  He has been an inmate of the Grassenhall workhouse seven years, and is at the present time in the enjoyment of good health."

So I went to try to find him.  I tried FreeBMD, then FreeREG - no sign!  So I then assumed that the newspaper had spelt his name incorrectly and bingo, I found Peter Pentury, with a variety of different names/spellings, the correct spelling appears to be Peter Pentney, as that's the spelling most often used.  Pentney is a very common surname in the area, so only proper investigation of the primary data sources would prove/disprove anything, but, without that detailed information, the following might be guessed at his timeline:

• ~1796 born, according to the newspaper and censuses.
• 1851 Census: Peter Pentney was aged 50 and living as a boarder in Mattishall.
• 1856 Marriage?  There is a marriage in December 1856 that might be Peter.  FreeBMD also shows a Frances Girling who was married; it's therefore feasible that this would be Peter's marriage (although he'd be 60!).  It could be a coincidence.  If this are the couple, they've most likely been married before.  A search of the parish registers for Mitford would help.  
• 1871 Census: Peter Pantney was aged 77 and a married Agricultural Labourer living in Mattishall, Norfolk with his wife, Frances Pantney, aged 80, born in Winburgh.
• 1881 Census: Peter Pentney was an 85 year old widower living at 16 Welgate Mattishall. His birth year was given as 1796 and birthplace as Mattishall.  
• 1891 Census: Peter Pentney was aged 95 and living in Grassenhall Workhouse. 
• 1897 Death: FreeBMD had a death registration in the 3rd quarter of 1897, with Peter Pentney, registered in the Mitford district of Norfolk, aged 101.

I can find no baptism in Mattishall for Peter Pentney, nor variations, on FreeREG, but that would require research into which other churches are in the village and checking all records for all churches.  Some of this is online, but not everything is - Norfolk FHS would have copies and transcripts of those for somebody who wanted/needed to know the answer.  I am simply a casual browser.  I did find transcripts online for Mattishall, but 1796 was 'missing'.  That's always annoying too, it had 1795 and 1797, just not 1796.

The Census indicates that Frances, his wife, died between 1871 and 1881.  There's no death registered on FreeBMD between these dates, but there is a Frances Pentney death registered in 1869, aged 85.

Online newspapers, from the National Newspaper Archive, did manage to spell his name correctly when they announced his death.  There are a few, brief, reports of his passing in 1897 where, in September, it was told that he'd worked until he was 96 years old as a navvy and had been "hale and hearty" and never ill until two years previously.  The newspapers also reported a death, aged 98, of Robert Pentney in 1863 - I'd probably lay money on that being his father, although there were gaps in the records I could see of baptisms at Mattishall, the Pentney children either side of 1796 were to parents Robert and Hannah!  More poking around to be done for any family members that discovered that.

For anybody serious in pursuing the actual timeline, this is where things start to require a more serious approach and attention to detail, along with proof/evidence paperwork (aka: spending money!).  Although there are probably some online trees containing this couple, you have to also question how dedicated they are in getting the facts.  A grandchild, for example, might have 'bothered'; a 4th cousin 3x removed will have simply chucked it into their tree!

So, my interest in this centenarian is at an end - I got distracted by this (it happens all the time!).  So many intriguing stories.  It's surprising how far you can go, relying purely on free parish records online and family history resources.


Image Daily Mail & Empire, 15 August 1896

Violet Speed, Chesterton; Violet Culley, Nottinghamshire. 1872-1918

This is one of my "random finds" posts.  I have an interest in the Chesterton, Cambridgeshire area and noticed an ex resident being returned to be buried in 1918, so I figured that was worth noting.  When you're researching family history, anybody that wanders away from home is called a stray - many family history sites keep lists of strays to help people track down where people have ended up, but it's an ad hoc thing and there's no central database.

St Andrew's Church,
Chesterton, Cambridgeshire

So here it is, along with a little more research/background information:

Funeral.—

The funeral took place at St. Andrew's. Old Chesterton, July 18th, of Mrs. Violet Culley, who died at her home at Nottingham at the age of 46.  Mrs. Culley was the fourth daughter of the late Mr. and Mrs. Charles Speed, of 19, Waterside, Old Chesterton. She leaves a husband and six children to mourn their loss. Two of the sons serving their country, one in Egypt and one in France.

1872	Violet Speed was baptised in Chesterton, Cambridgeshire, on 22 September 1872, daughter of Charles Speed from Barton and Emma Speed from Stow cum Quy. 1
1881	Census. Waterside, Chesterton, daughter, aged 8. With parents/siblings: Charles/Emma and George, Elizabeth Emily, Lilly, Adelaide, James Harry.  1
1891	Census. Chesterton, daughter, aged 18 1
1895	Marries William Culley, from Old Basford, Nottinghamshire, at Chesterton, Cambridgeshire (FreeBMD). CAMDEX Ref 331/RO/CHEST/09/141.
1895	Possible William C Culley born, Cambridge. Camdex. FreeBMD has it listed as William Charles S Culley. 4th qtr
1897	Possible Ivy E Culley born, Cambridge. Camdex. FreeBMD has it listed as Iva Emma EH, 2nd qtr
1899	Possible Bertram T Culley born, Cambridge. Camdex. FreeBMD has it listed as Bertram Tom. 2nd qtr.
1901	Census, St Andrew the Less, Cambridge. With husband and three children: Wm Chas S, Ivy EEH, Bertram T
1911	Census,  With husband and children: William Charles, Ivy, Tom. Will be others, need to see original census as children born in different places 1
1915	Archibald CM Culley born, Nottingham (FreeBMD)
1918	Dies in Nottingham, buried in Chesterton, 18 July. St Andrew's Church, Chesterton.

At the time of her burial, her father was already deceased - he, too, was buried in St Andrew's Chesterton, in 1908.

Violet was living at 27a Kirke White Street, Nottingham when she died, aged 46.²

Violet Culley was buried in St Andrews, Chesterton, on 18 July 1918.

Sources:
<sup>1 Familysearch.org
2 Burials list for church


Image: Robert Edwards</sup>

St Andrew's Street Baptist Church Parish Records

Baptist churches don't have one central register for their parish records.  Each church was set up by the local people, for the local people, so what records they kept and how they disposed of them was something for them to decide.  For this reason it's worth looking at Baptists if your ancestors seem to "appear from nowhere" or disappear.

I've a relative who was baptised and married, but I can't find the rest of her family at present.  Then I got a lead that a whole family by the name were in the baptist records for St Andrew's Street Baptist Church.  So I started looking into this.

When looking at online genealogy and family history websites you should remember that there are records that are not present - and, when appropriate, find those gaps and fill them.  Sometimes it's not worth your while to spend the time pursuing every detail, but sometimes you simply hit a brickwall and the only way to solve these appearances/disappearances is to look at other churches.  If one ancestor's a baptist, or other religion, then it's likely you'll suddenly discover whole families and generations that, before, simply didn't come up in your searches.

The St Andrew's Street Baptist Church still exists today and is one of a few Baptist churches in Cambridge.  Another is the Eden Baptist Church, on the corner of Fitzroy Street and Burleigh Street. There's also the Zion Baptist church on East Road, which opened in 1837.

St Andrew's Street Baptist Church is the one that is now on my radar - it's location is at 43 St Andrew's Street, Cambridge, CB2 3AR. And, luckily, they have transcribed and published their parish records in a book:

• English Baptist Records book 2: St Andrew’s Street Baptist Church Cambridge.  This covers the years 1720-1832.  ISBN numbers 0903166143 and  978-0903166140 .  This was published in 1991 by the Baptist Historical Society. It's available on Amazon.co.uk for about £11.

The book contains 196 pages of baptisms, marriages and deaths.

Which Parish is St Andrew's Baptist Church in?

When comparing baptist churches to the churches you usually get in parish records, St Andrew's Baptist Church is physically in the area defined as the parish of Holy Trinity, Cambridge.  The family I am looking for used Holy Trinity, so at some point it is quite reasonable that they could've changed churches and started with the baptists. When we refer to parishes, those are defined by the Church of England, so other denominations, churches and chapels will exist within those parish boundaries.

Burials at St Andrew's, Cambridge,  1818-1859

The National Archives holds a list of burials at St Andrew's Baptist Church, for the years 1818-1859.  Unfortunately at the time of writing they haven't digitized it, so it's not available for download.  You can view the files for free at the National Archives in London, or request a quote for them to digitise it or to print it and post it to you. I think I'll wait awhile, it's not a high priority for me. I also think that the families might not be the ones I'm after, but just a family with the same surname.

Image: Geograph

Missing Records on FreeBMD

If you're trying to track down ancestors for your family tree you might spend quite a bit of time on FreeBMD.  FreeBMD is a great free website for family history - often being a starting point for where an ancestor might have lived. got married or died.  But, there are a lot of missing records on FreeBMD.

The FreeBMD project transcribes the records they have available - and are doing a sterling job, having already managed to input records well into the 1970s/1980s already.  But, you should bear in mind that there are gaps.

The trouble with records is that if you can find a record, you know it exists; if you can't find a record then you don't know if you're doing something wrong, or have the wrong information, so sometimes it can seem like you're treading through treacle.

It's not just regular people who have been missed off FreeBMD.  I often look for people who died in, say, national disasters - and find they are missing!  You'd have thought, say, that a record as recent as 1960, in a small/national disaster,would have existed.  I've just tried to find five deaths in one such large disaster and found none of them listed on FreeBMD.

So, use the tool that exists and accept that, sometimes, the record was simply not available to the transcribers.

FreeBMD Tips:

• Sometimes the full name isn't known - and only partial names, or just initials are input.  Search for these too.
• Don't assume you know the area an ancestor is to be found in, check other areas too.
• Tick the soundex box, which will give you names that sound the same/similar.
• Remember that people sometimes started using a different name, maybe their middle name, or a baptism of John always being referred to as Jack.  My own G-grandmother's registered death name omits her birth first name, she's still using her middle name but has invented her own first name - and she got married.

Image: FreeBMD