Monday 2 November 2015

Who Was Hannah Stokes?

Your family tree will become dotted with people that you've put onto the chart, but you've really no idea who they are or where they fit in.  I've got a couple of dozen of them!  People who just appear in one Census, or who are baptised and just "disappear".  They sit there on the chart as a mystery.

One of mine is Hannah Stokes, born in 1826.  She's present in the 1841 Census for Caldecote, but not even in the household of Jane Stokes and John Stokes.  Instead, she is living in the house next door to John and Jane, aged 15-19.  The 1841 Census never provided any relationship information though - and, as she was aged 15-19 at that point, she really could've been anybody. But, as the only Stokes in the village, it seems likely, to me, that she might be related to John/Jane in some way.  So, I've put her on the family tree as a daughter of John/Jane, simply because I can't leave her "floating in mid air", but I've marked her as a different colour, and marked as "unproved daughter of John/Jane".  She could even be, say, John's sister, his mother appears to have died 4 years before this date, so it'd make sense.

So far I can just add Hannah to the family tree, with the following known information:


  • 1841 Census, Caldecote in the household of the Males family
  • This house is next door to John Stokes and Jane Stokes.
  • Aged 15-19, so a birthdate of ~1822-1826.

The 1841 Census didn't give whole ages, just an age range.

I also suspect she can't be a daughter of John & Jane because they had all their children baptised, but Hannah isn't showing up as baptised.  So my money's on Hannah turning out to be John's sister - which I'll discover at some future point when I am in possession of the correct set of parish registers!

Although I've checked some sources to try to find Hannah's baptism, as yet I've nothing, new records do appear at future points though, so it's important to go back (annually at least?) and double-check all these loose ends.  So far I've checked:
  • FreeREG, Hannah Stokes, born 1820-1827, whole of Cambridgeshire and the whole of Huntingdonshire - this gave 0 results
  • Findmypast Hannah Stokes, born 1823 +/-5 years, whole of Cambridgeshire, births - this gave 1 result that showed promise. 
  • Findmypast Hannah Stokes, born 1823 +/-5 years, whole of Huntingdonshire, births - this gave 0 results. 
  • FreeBMD for marriages in Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire - 0 results
  • FreeBMD for deaths in Cambridgeshire and Huntingdonshire - 0 results of relevance.  There were just 4 in the entire database, none of whom matched for age/location/relevance.
  • Camdex marriages, 1851 +/-5 years - 0 results. 
  • Camdex deaths, 1851 +/-5 years - 0 results.  
  • Cambs Family History, the site was down for searching. This often happens.
The baptism of Hannah Stokes in 1819 turned out to be one in St Botolph's parish, Cambridge, to a Richard & Hannah.  So not where I was hoping it'd be.

So, there she sits .... unknown for now. And at her age, she's most likely to have been married by the time the next Census rolls round, so it's possible it could be many months, even years, before I nail it!

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