Alfred William Blow 1896-1917

Alfred William Blow is one of the men on my family tree that died in WW1.  Looking at the reasons I started this blog and gave it the name is has, he's a descendent of the Finding family.  He would appear to be the great-great-grandson of Thomas and Mary Finding.

Alfred William Blow as born in 1896 at Nocton Heath, Lincolnshire.  He was the son of Robert Blow and Lydia Elizabeth Blow.  Robert & Lydia Elizabeth (nee Stokes) moved about a little bit after their marriage.  Between 1894 and 1905 they had produced 7 living children.  Alfred was named after his grandfather, Alfred Stokes. As for his middle name of William, that's fairly common in the family tree - and his mother had a brother called William who died aged 11 weeks, then another brother named Willie.  So he was most likely named after Willie, his uncle.

Some time between 1896 and 1898 they moved to Quadring Fen, which is where they were for the 1901 Census.  In 1902 they were living in Beesley, Lincolnshire, then they moved again, some time between 1903-1906, to Northamptonshire.

By the time Alfred was 10 he'd certainly had many addresses!  His father was a farm cattleman, so was probably working year-to-year on jobs gained from Hiring Fairs, which is how a lot of Agricultural Workers were hired.

Alfred was a Private in the 2nd Battalion of the Lincolnshire Regiment.  His service number appears as two variations (I won't pretend to understand war records!)  4024 and 40211 are the numbers I've found from various websites.  I think 40211 is the "proper number".

Alfred died on 31 July 1917, aged just 21 and is commemorated at Ypres on the Menin Gate Memorial. Websites that mention Alfred include:

• The Nottinghamshire website gives his parents address at East Kirkby at that time: "He was the son of Robert and Lydia Elizabeth Blow of 77 Prospect Street East Kirkby Nottinghamshire." http://www.nottinghamshire.gov.uk/rollofhonour/People/Details/29106
• The Commonwealth War Graves Commission gives Alfred's age as 21 and his service number as 40211.  http://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/ casualty/928248/ 
• The local Lincolnshire LincsToThePast website also gives Alfred a mention: Killed in Action. Service number 40211.  "Notes: Plaque in St. Georges Memorial Church, Ypres; born 1896, Nocton". http://www.lincstothepast.com/ PersonDetails.aspx?objectid=1539700 

While we're used to seeing War Memorials - it appears that Alfred is not commemorated on any local war memorials.  I have tried to find his medal cards etc and his attestation papers, showing the addresses he might've been using, but he must be one of those soldiers whose papers were burnt.  Poor Alfred.

There really is little evidence Alfred existed.  I do hope his siblings' relatives search for him one day and have some photos.  He deserves more/better and to be remembered more fittingly.  Somebody out there will have Alfred's Death Penny :(

What is Alfred's relationship to me?  That's a tough one .... so here we go:

Alfred is my Great-great-great-grandmother's, brother's, grandson. :)
Or, Alfred and I share the same great-great-great-great-grandparents.
There'll be a name for that.  We are 2nd cousins 3 times removed.

At the time of his death his grandparents had died, so one might think that my part of the family never got to hear the news, but there were other cousins etc in the area too, so there's a small chance our branch did know.  I'll have to sit and work out the likelihood of that one day!  Certainly my great-great-grandmother's brothers were in the area too.

2nd Lincolnshire Battalion War Diary
Lincolnshire Archives have the war diary of the 2nd Battalion, Lincolnshire Regiment.  But there are other sources out there for those motivated enough to want to read more.  Whether somebody's mentioned in a diary will depend on a lot of factors, such as their ranking within the battalion and how many died that day.  If, say, 100 were killed, then they'd not be named... but, if they were the only death in an otherwise fairly mundane day, then a full description might be furnished, so War Diaries are hit and miss affairs for details.

The War Diary of the 2nd Lincolnshire Regiment is also available to read at the National Archives in London (for free), or via a downloadable file online, for a cost of £3.45, the file is over 83MB in size. http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C7352498

Understanding the War, battalions, battles and movements is quite a major undertaking, it's not as simple as looking up a name in a search box.  I am not currently up to the challenge of discovering Alfred's journey through the war to his final resting place.

A quick look indicates to me that Alfred might've died on the first day of the Battle of Pilckem Ridge, which the 2nd Battalion seem to have fought from 31 July to 2 August. If I am reading it correctly, the whole of D Company died, so he might've been one of those!

As ever: E&OE

Finding WW1 Soldiers in Your Family Tree

When I started out, I didn't think there were any WW1 soldiers in my family tree. Certainly there were no stories or tales of anybody having fought in WW1 as I was growing up.

One of my grandfathers died 8 years before I was born and his wife, my grandma, was living offshore, so I probably only met her 1-2x, with the last time being when I was about 5 years old. I had a local pair of grandparents, born in 1905 and 1908 though, so both too young to have been in WW1. I did hear a whisper that my (step) granddad had been in WW2 and was injured in some way, although I've no idea how. He died when I was 10.

So that was my lot! It's been a complete revelation to me, therefore, to have discovered some WW1 soldiers in the family tree.

The closest relative was my grandfather's brother, he died of illness. Many soldiers died of illnesses during the War, they weren't all shot in the trenches at all. There were many other reasons, illness was one and dying from wounds was another. Some died of wounds within days/weeks, and some died a few years later of those wounds.

I'll be creating a page with a list of all the soldiers in the tree I do find though, as I go along. Each will have their own post here, with a link back to the list of them all.

It's all quite sad as you think about the fact they never went home. Most didn't "choose" to fight, it was what you had to do. You were either shamed into it, bullied by locals, or conscripted in. Just sent off to die, with their poor mothers simply receiving a letter. It's all very sad really.

I've found about five WW1 soldiers to date. While some have been commemorated on their local war memorial, I've found one who seems to have been overlooked. I've yet to work out why, exactly. I think it's because the family moved around a little bit, so they weren't part of the furniture, so to speak. One who was probably aged 8-16, then moved 200 miles away (back to his home county, but not his originating village) and was then killed in the war - so I doubt the locals knew him - and the lads he'd grown up with never knew he'd died.

Most don't have a grave at all, they're simply commemorated on a wall abroad. So tragic for their families that they didn't even have the knowledge that their son/brother/husband's body had been given any dignity with a proper burial.

Alfred Fineden Stokes 1836-1906

Alfred Fineden Stokes was born in 1836 and baptised on 31 January 1836 at Caldecote, Cambridgeshire. Son of John Stokes and Jane Stokes.  This is on LDS Film Number 1040424.

I am not sure where his middle name comes from, but my first guess is that they tried to use his mother's maiden name of Finding in his name and it's just been either misheard or mistranscribed.

As a quick overview, I believe he was in the following locations so far:

1836: Christened, Caldecote
1841 Caldecote (5)
1851 Childerley (15)?
1861 Census Grayingham, Lincs? (25)

1863: Married, Jane Wilson
1865: _dau Lydia Elizabeth born
1867: _son John born
1869: _son William born/died
1871: _dau Mary Jane born
1871 Census Dry Drayton (35)
1881 Census missing
1891 Census missing
1892 _dau Lydia married?
1901 Census Dalby Lincs? (65)

1906 Died Thrapston?

He certainly seems to have moved about a bit, but not far afield overall.  These were very changeable times, with the village of Caldecote almost emptying as people emigrated and left for other counties and towns to look for work.  Alfred found work fairly locally, this might have been through wishing to stay close to his roots, or no desire to go dragging a family across the country!

1851 Census: In 1851 he seems to be just a mile up the road from home, working on a farm.
1861 Census: In 1861 he appears to be all the way over in Grayingham, Lincolnshire.  Quite a few family members have been to Lincolnshire in the past, maybe he's the first?  He'd have probably been hired as an Agricultural Labourer at a Hiring Fair.  His brother William is in Grayingham in 1901, so the family kept returning to the area. In 1861 Alfred was a boarder in the house of Mary Sleightholme.  Alfred was a shepherd and foreman. He was 25 and from Caldecote, Cambridgeshire. Mary Sleightholme was a 57 year old farmer of 250 acres employing two staff. Looking into this a little more, it appears the address would've been Grayingham Grange and she also employed John Wilmott from Dry Drayton in 1861, so it looks at first glance as if Alfred and his local chum John would've gone East together to work on this farm - but when you dig deeper you discover that John Wilmott is the son of Alfred's sister Susannah and also that Alfred's brother William was 1 mile up the road.  So this is two uncles and a nephew working together in Lincolnshire:  William aged 21, Alfred aged 25 and John aged 16 (although the census says 14)

1863: Alfred appears to have married a Jane Wilson.  Jane Wilson is quite a common name, indeed, Alfred's own niece BECAME a Jane Wilson in 1866.  Common names can lead to confusion as there did seem to be a name shortage back in the 1700-1800s!  This marriage was on 15 November 1863 at St Mary & All Angels, Caldecote, Cambridge.  This information is from the LDS website, Film Number 1040424.  Alfred is listed as a bachelor of Caldecote, son of John Stokes.  He married Jane Wilson, spinster, daughter of Jeremiah Wilson.
1871 Census: Alfred and family have settled in Dry Drayton.  By this date they have daughter Lydia Elizabeth Stokes, aged 6; John Stokes, aged 4; Mary Jane Stokes, a new born. They had also had a son, William, who was born and died in 1869, so wouldn't show up in the Census.
1881 Census: I still haven't found him!
1891 Census: Still missing! I've a feeling he might've been in Lincolnshire though, possibly close to Spilsby as there's a possibility his daughter married in 1892 in Spilsby, but I've yet to see enough evidence to prove this.

1901 Census: Alfred and his wife pop up again in Lincolnshire, in Dalby, Lincolnshire.  There's been some mistranscrition on the LDS site as it shows a birthplace of Daldcot and a wife of Jenne from Bourne (the Bourn in Cambridgeshire has no "e", but enumerators in Lincolnshire will have been used to the Bourne, Lincolnshire spelling with an "e" at the end) - but it's surely him.  Aged 65, Alfred Stokes is an engine driver on a farm, living at Dalby Road, Dalby.

1906 Dies?: I believe Alfred Finden Stokes died in 1906, with his name being spelt Alfred Finding Stokes - that middle name being a nod back to his mother's maiden name.  The death recorded a long way from Lincolnshire though, Thrapston, Northamptonshire.  Aged 70, the age matches.  The name is too much of a coincidence to be ignored.... but I've yet to actually 'prove' it's the same chap.  A copy of the death certificate would nail it, for about £10, but Alfred is a "minor" leaf on my tree, so the expense isn't warranted.
I suspect he and his wife moved in with one of their children at some point.

I believe his wife Jane was in the 1911 Census, at  Woodford, Northamptonshire and died there in 1915.

Harriett Pogson 1846-1929

Harriett Pogson appeared on my tree when she married William Stokes in 1868.  I've no idea who she was, so did a bit of research to try to work out Harriett's story.  With a family tree it gets so large, so quickly, it's difficult to 100% ascertain you've put the right parts together.  Over the years, though, you do get the chance to improve and prove aspects.  But you have to start somewhere.  So, below is what I THINK might be Harriett's journey:

I can't find where she was born.  Censuses indicate some options.  The 1891 Census says she was born in Nettleham, Norfolk. The LDS website has a baptism at Nettleham on 23 April 1846, with parents  Prestwood Pogson and Elizabeth Pogson.  That would match.  I make no excuses for my "lack of proof" as the family tree is huge and nobody's got the budget to double check everybody on them!  In my case, Harriett would be the wife of my GG-grandmother's younger brother!  That tree has, currently, 820 people on it!  And I have 2-3 spin off trees too.

FreeREG contains no relevant records for a Harriett Pogson in Cambridgeshire or Lincolnshire.
FreeBMD has a marriage of a Harriett Pogson in the Caxton District of Cambridgeshire, which is the registration district where her husband was from, so what was she doing over there in Cambridgeshire?  There could be 101 reasons!  Maybe her whole family moved, or maybe William and Harriett eloped.  In fact, this is a red herring and it's somebody with the same name!  For now, though, I'm content that the William and Harriett from the 1891 Census have their birthplaces matched back to baptisms on FreeREG and the LDS website.

In 1851 Harriet Pogson is still in the Nettleham district - with her mother and six siblings.  She is aged just 5.  Her mother, Elizabeth Pogson, is showing in the Census as married and receiving parish relief, there is no sign of her father on the Census, but this individual isn't a priority for me, so I've pushed no further into that tree.  It's possible there's a typo in the baptism transcription and I have the wrong name for him.  A quick check of FreeBMD shows that a Prestwood Pogson married in 1838 in Lincoln Registration District, so that indicates to me that this unusual name does exist at least. A quick search of Censuses, without going into detail, doesn't show him until 1881, when he's again/still in Nettleham.

In 1861 Harriett is aged 14 and an unmarried domestic servant/employee in the household of  William Roe, a farmer with 22 acres at  North Hykeham, Lincolnshire in the Nettleham district. They have a 10 month old son, so maybe she's been brought in to help with childminding and general household chores as well as a little light farmwork.

At some point Harriett married William Stokes of Caldecote.  This would appear to occur in the Gainsborough Registration District in the 3rd quarter of 1868.

After this Harriet appears to have had a long life in Lincolnshire with William Stokes, having children and finally dying in 1929 in Scotter, Lincolnshire.

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.