William Stokes 1838-1926

William Stokes is in my tree.  His journey starts in 1838 in Caldecote, Cambridgeshire and ends in 1926 in Scotter, Lincolnshire.

Quite a few in the family tree ended up in Lincolnshire - and, at some point, I'll get to see the bigger picture of "who went to Lincolnshire first".  It might even have been William!

So, what do I know about William Stokes?  All information I gather is unsubstantiated by actual certificates.  This can lead to errors - how important errors are in your tree is a personal choice.  I am happy that all my family tree research is guesstimates, because it'd be prohibitive to buy all evidence and certificates for everybody that was on my tree!

Outline of what I've made of William Stokes' life:
1838: Christened, Caldecote
1851 Census, Caldecote (13)
1861 Census, Blyborough (21)

1868 married Lincolnshire
1871 Census Frodingham (29)
1881 Census Ashby (40)
1891 Census Bromby (49)
1901 Census Grayingham (66)


1911 Census Scotter (73)
1926 died possibly (90)

I keep a "brief outline" for people, so I can quickly scan/check if things look right or not.  In this instance, William seems to have aged 17 years in the 10 years between the 1891 and 1901 Census, so that's a reg flag that I might've gone a bit astray, but I am happy it's "probably the same guy" for now.

Where I've got this information from:

• 1838 baptism from FreeREG. There is a baptism at St Marys & All Angels, Caldecote on 23 September 1838.  Parents are given as John Stokes and Jane Stokes.  That was enough to toss him onto my tree!
• 1851 Census. William was aged 13 and living with his parents/siblings in Caldecote.
• 1861 Census. I believe William Stokes is at Blyborough, working as a waggoner and showing as aged 21.  The household he is in contains one other servant and a visitor - two adult males and one single female, a strange mix under one roof.  In the 1861 Census this William's birthplace is transcribed as Calker, Cambridgeshire - of course, there's no such place, BUT, with a Cambridge Ag Lab's accent and the strange/awkward pronunciation of Caldecote, I can fully understand why that's what somebody unfamiliar with the village might've written. This transcription of the placename exists on UKCensusonline and on the LDS site, so I will get the original image at some point to see what I make of it, but I'm convinced without checking that this IS William Stokes of Caldecote! Additionally, his brother Alfred Fineden Stokes and nephew are both just 1 mile away in Grayingham, so it makes perfect sense that the three might've either travelled together, or been hired at the same hiring fair by employers from the same district, or even employed initially by the same hirer!
• 1868 did he marry?  This was a little flakey at the start.  FreeBMD has a marriage in the Caxton Registration District, Cambridgeshire, to Ann Childerley - one might've thought this was William's marriage, but "our" William Stokes actually married Harriett Pogson in 1868 in Lincolnshire.  The Caxton Registration District includes the village of Caldecote, so this was a possible marriage, but would've been wrong.  FreeREG doesn't have the marriage listed. Findmypast has the marriage listed, but I've not got round to checking whether it's informative, or just the 1/4ly returns.
• 1871 Census. A William Stokes and Harriett Stokes are in Frodingham, Lincolnshire.  This William's birthplace is given as Caldicote, which is one of the common typos for the village name.  They are living with their first born child Lizzie.
• 1881 Census. William is living in Ashby, Lincolnshire, the Census says he was born Caldecot, Cambs. Living at Stone Hall Farm Cottages, which is a cottage next to the farm, William is with wife Harriet/34/NettlehamLincs along with two daughters MaryJane/12/NewFrodinghamLincs and Lizzie/10/NewFrodinghamLincs. 
• 1891 Census. William and Harriett Stokes are living in Bromby, Lincolnshire, with five children: Adah/14,Charles Willie/12, Alice/11, Fred/8, Grace/4.  So Mary Jane Stokes, aged ~22 and Lizzie Stokes ~20 have probably married by this point!  William is now a foreman on a farm and aged 49.
• 1901 Census. William and Harriet appear to be living in Grayingham, Lincolnshire.  They have with them a grandson - although there are no clues as to where he's appeared from!
• 1911 Census. The 1911 Census is more extensive than in previous years, so provides a little more chance to get a grip on people!  William is now aged 73 and was born Caldicot, Cambridge - there's that village name typo again.. William is a farm labourer/worker living with his wife Harriet/63 in 6 rooms. The address is just written as Scotter, Lincoln.  The 1911 Census tells me that they had 10 children, but only 8 are still alive. Time to check the tree!  How many did I have?  I've got 8, so have missed some somewhere.
• 1926 died?  I believe William Stokes died in 1926.  A local newspaper carried a short piece on 18 December. William Stokes, aged 90, of Scotter.  I am confident this is our man! I can find no probate records for him though.

I can see, online, that the Stokes family had strong connections with Scotter.  William and Harriet would've been the founding members of this family in the area.  I suspect they also encouraged other families in my family tree to head this way!

Family Tree Maths!

Taking a quick look down the timeline, I started off having William baptised in 1838.  Of course, a baptism doesn't mean it's a birth, he could've been aged 0-2 when baptised. An age of 90 when he died in 1926 would indicate a year of birth of 1836.  In January 1836 William's parents had another sibling baptised, so maybe they couldn't afford two in one year, or maybe they simply didn't get round to it!
Across the various Census ages the age changes, but it always looks like the same person due to age and where born. I'm confident this is probably all correct.

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!

Family In Lincolnshire

When you start doing your family tree you think you know where you came from - and can be surprised to discover that you're really only au-fait with what the last 2-3 generations have done and if you come from one area you might think they've lived there forever!

Having found an ancestor, you'll naturally want to then fill in the gaps of their siblings. Who were their brothers? Who where their sisters?  Then, "Where did they go then?"  If you just trace a single line upwards then your job is made harder because you've no clues, no "reason" why they do some things, or where they go to.

If you simultaneously track, trace and stalk all their siblings and families, you start to get a better overall family picture.

I've found that at least two of my GG-grandmother's brothers took their families off to Lincolnshire.  When you cross a border, you then have to "start from scratch" in compiling your list of sources and resources for that county as every county's different.  Maybe they'll have better records, maybe not!  It's a whole new challenge.

I found the 50th wedding anniversary of one of my GG-gm's brothers was reported in the local newspapers.  They'd sent out a journalist and a photographer, so I've now got a great article that gives a bit more information about their lives.  You get details you'd have not gained by any other method, which is great, except it's just opened up a new query for me as the wife said that "two brothers married two sisters" - and, as the records in that county aren't as accessible in the home county, I'm struggling to find out who this second couple are.

While I've certainly got two brothers also in the county, with wives, I can't tie those wives back to the 50th anniversary woman!  Also, I can't be sure if she was talking of herself, or maybe the other two!  I'll solve it one day.

James Stokes and Mary Stokes Removal Godmanchester to Conington

There are many removal orders in various record sets.  In the Huntingdonshire Archives there is a Removal Order for James Stokes and Mary Stokes being removed from Godmanchester to Conington in 1775.

The reference number for this is HP34/13/3/5 and are part of the record set for the parish of Godmanchester St Mary's Church. No children are mentioned in this archives index, just James and Mary.

I wonder what their story was. I can imagine them bumping their way home on a little cart .... the distance from Godmanchester to Conington is about 8 miles.

James and Mary Stokes aren't in my family tree, but my eyes are drawn to the Stokes name in the Huntingdonshire area.

I noticed that a James and Mary had quite a few children baptised at St Mary's church Conington.  I wondered if it's the same couple!  FreeREG shows baptisms of Mary in 1778, but then a burial of a Mary, wife of James, in November 1778.  Then, in 1779 there is a burial of Mary, daughter of James.  However, in 1783 there was another baptism of a Mary, daughter of James/Mary.  This sort of confusion is often found in parish records.  You wonder, then if James went and got himself another wife called Mary, or if there were two James Stokes' and various Marys in the village!  There are further baptisms for James/Mary in Conington in the coming years.

Findmypast has one James Stokes married in 1774 in Huntingdonshire, but without a current subscription I can't even guess if it's this one.

If the Stokes family of Conington are in your family tree, that's quite a lot of sorting out that'd need to be done there!

And, if that weren't enough confusion, there are actually two Coningtons in the Cambridgeshire areas:

• One Conington is adjacent to Swavesey, Cambridgeshire
• The other Conington, Huntingdonshire is 15 miles North West of Conington Cambs.  

Baptisms and marriages have been extracted onto the IGI/Familysearch website.

Sources: CALM, Cambs Archives Catalog; FreeREG.

Finding People Who Were in WW1: Absent Voters Lists, Cambridgeshire

If you don't know IF somebody fought in WW1, then that's often an annoyance, but there are ways you can try to find out.  One way of finding people who were in WW1 is to look at the Absent Voters Lists, 1918-1921.

The Absent Voters Lists have over 20,000 records of people who were serving with the auxiliary forces, merchant seamen, diplomats and others working in war effort occupations.  They are lists of eligible voters who were absent from their homes.  The names of absent voters were sent to the War Office who arranged for voting cards to be sent to people serving in the UK and they sent ballot papers to those in France.

The Absent Voters Lists were completed by August 1918 and published in October 1918. This delay means that the lists might include people who were killed, missing or had been taken prisoner between the dates of compilation and publication.

These Absent Voters Lists can reveal an ancestor's name, a description of the work they were doing for the war effort - and their qualifying premises, which is their permanent home address.

Of course, a record set of 20,000 compared to the "millions who died" that we're told about, means that you might start off thinking "I'll never find him in that" - but if you don't look, you'll never know!

Using Findmypast and filtering down to the county of Cambridgeshire there are 132 images - and when I typed in the surname of my Great-grandfather, the list reduced to 61 (still too many), so then I put in his first name and it gave 0 results.  This is what I expected as I've never heard any clue that my great-grandfather did anything in the War.... he'd have been 34 when it started, which isn't too old.  So I need to find out what he DID do.  I suspect it was a protected occupation probably.  Another avenue to chase up!

Links to Cambridgeshire Records

I've compiled the list below of links to Cambridgeshire Records to help myself quickly go directly to the sections of the family history websites I regularly use.  This saves me from forgetting they exist, and saves me some annoying selections I'd have had to make to get to those parts of the website.

FindMyPast: 

Once the page has loaded, just click EDIT on the left to add relevant names:

• Cambridgeshire Absent Voters List, 1918-1921 - 132 images/results (October 2015)

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Cambridgeshire Electoral Registers 1832-1932

Findmypast have released the Electoral Registers of 1832-1932, which includes the Cambridgeshire Electoral Registers and the Huntingdonshire Electoral Registers.

From 1832 if you were eligible to vote then your name was on the list.  Being eligible changed over the years, women didn't get the vote at all until 1918.  In the early days, to be eligible, you pretty much had to be male and a resident or house owner.  The electoral registers were compiled every year, although not all will have survived, of course.

If you are trying to find family before the 1840 Census, then this might be your best chance.  I've several people in my family tree who died between 1832-1840, so I'll be looking for them in the Electoral Registers.

The Electoral Registers 1832-1932 comprise of 5.4 million images, containing 220 million names.  With a good wind and some luck you might find your lost people in there!

I've people to find in the Huntingdonshire Electoral Registers and the Cambridgeshire Electoral Registers, so this is a short post!

Having had a quick look, one of the families I was after isn't found earlier than 1885, which is annoying - but I have to be grateful that the records are online at all :)  Don't look a gift horse in the mouth.... I have to remember to be grateful at what IS there and not annoyed by what is NOT there!