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Hi Cathy

Have you had any luck with the Bond side yet then? I know Portland Rose stated that there were people who had William Bond in their trees - did you follow these up?

Lesley

Hi Cathy,

I was about the say the same as Ozi regarding the workhouse being used as a hospital.

Thanks for the update,

Rose

Hi mgnv and ozibird
Thankyou both for the additional info, I will certainly follow it and check further.
I have been given so much help and support, I can`t begin to thank you all.
I just felt it would be good to keep everyone up to date with any new or further developments.
regards
cathy x

Cathy, I have followed your story from the beginning and it's lovely to see the update.

Just a quick note. Even though workhouses continued they were used more as hospitals, & I've found this little snippet.

"In 1867, an additional 12-acre site was purchased adjacent to the workhouse and new hospital buildings were erected." So it is more than likely she was there just for the birth of Josephine.

Also: Tyne and Wear Archives Service - has records for Sunderland Royal Hospital
(Previous name(s)
Sunderland Workhouse and Poor Law Institution; Highfield Public Assistance Institution
Sunderland Municipal and General Hospital
Sunderland General Hospital; Sunderland District General Hospital)

including these for 'Clinical & Patients - 1866 - 1954' which may have some info for you. But it may be murky reading if it's mainly about their intellectually impaired patients.

Ozi.

Just to let you know you can search the GRO index images on FreeBMD at:
http://images.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/choose.pl
thru 1983-B, 1970-M, 1978-D.

I guess you've never done this or you'ld have found the 1948q2 marr entry:
1948M2-K-0236
Keegan Joseph Bond or Reynoldson Don Valley 2b 1077

I'll leave it up to you to work thru the deaths for Walter Bond. It's a bit of a pain to view images, so do a regular search for Bond deaths, and note any quarters that are missing or look incompletely transcribed, and check those out. [If the list stops at Thomas say, click on the spectacles to make sure Thomas isn't the last guy on the page, and the Walter page is not missing]

Note that the GRO isn't the only place you can buy certs - you can also get them from the local registery office, and some have their own indices (partially) online. A general list is at:
http://www.ukbmd.org.uk/index.php?form_action=local
Of particular interest are:
http://www.northeastbmd.org.uk/
http://www.yorkshirebmd.org.uk/index.html

Yorkshire Marriage indexes for the years: 1948
Surname Forename(s) Surname Forename(s) Church / Register Office Registers At Reference
KEEGAN Joseph BOND Lily J Don Valley Register Office Doncaster DV/4/206

You'ld already mentioned these details - if you prefer I remove them, pm me and I'll edit or delete the post.

Hi Lesley and Rose
I know its quite a while since you helped me so incredibly with my mum`s birth record etc, but I recently followed up a bit more on her address at time of birth...and ...well !! She was actually born in Sunderland workhouse!!!!.
and although the law changed in 1928/30 and abolished workhouses ( supposedly to transform them into hospitals/poor law) some, including this one carried on for many years in the same way as before. So Mum and Nanna must have been absolutely destitute and desperate. There is more to find out on this regarding grandad? where was he when they were having to endure so much...but I will keep going till I get a fuller picture.
I just felt I would keep you updated...I hope you find it
regards cathy

Hi Lesley
Thankyou so much for everything, the help was tremendous.
with love cathy x

Im absolutely made up for you Catherine - i hope it turns out Wonderful.

Lesley

Hi Rose
I will chase up those 2 with walter in their trees,thankyou again, you were such a great help.
cathy

Hi Cathy,

Thanks for the update. Sounds like your father must have known about Walter Bond. You now have the task of tracking down all the Bonds.

There are 2 people on this site who have Walter born 1918 on this site. Have you thought about contacting them?

Rose

Hi Lesley and Rose !!
I`m back !
Well I have Mam`s bith cert. now and it is so strange to see...the father is recorded as Walter Bond !!!!!!!!! so as you can imagine I have tried to see this from every angle, but really it`s as simple as the times were back then,as far as I can see.

Being pregnant be another man, Nan(Lily ) would have been thrown out or have left of her own accord....even though she would have had to leave her children behind,and the youngest was only 2yrs old. and as she would have nowhere to go,she must have gone back to her family in Sunderland....where she gave birth to Mam.She obviously put Walters name on the cert. for reasons of `respectability` or perhaps her family did not know the full story and she did it for their sake?

Whatever the ins and outs she and Joseph Keegan would have been shunned by both families up in the north east, and within the mining community where they then lived ie Doncaster,Yorks.....bearing in mind Walter Bond was also a miner in this same area by now....mining communities were tight and thay would not have been accepted readily nor would they have had a very easy time of it from others in the community!

Now on to Walter Bond (jnr)the death record you found for me !.......This man I met!! and he was the delivery driver of a bread van that used to come to our local shop just at the same time as we( my brothers and sisters and I ) were waiting at the bus stop opposit to go to school each day. We were the envy of all the other children because he used to have cakes etc for us each day and we got to choose what we wanted from the trays in the delivery van....it was wonderful...and we were told he was uncle walter, but as we had an uncle eric who we knew wasn`t our uncle but a very good friend of mam and dad, so we thought the same thing about Walter !!!

My eldest sister and I were really sad to know this was him because after the revelations last week we thought we might be able to see him again. However I am going to try to follow up on the Bonds., although I will not be including any of this in Dads book, there is no purpose in doing so...because of his alzeihmers .

It is all going on the full history though. It`s important to know how life was for our ancestors,and yes even their skeletons!!

I feel like I`ve been on a rollercoaster all week, and my sister and I have read through all the records and notes and looked at so many photos it`s been crazy!! but very, very interesting.

Thankyou both very much for all you found and all the help and insights.....you are great !!
god bless, cathy x

Hi Rose
thankyou for the birth ref. for lilian !!
I am going to see the only living relative we have now from grandads family ( and incidentally our line of the Keegans) so maybe there will be some information she can/will share with me.
I will be back in touch as soon as I get more info.
thankyou once again
cathy

Here's another sibling:

Births Dec 1925
Bond Lilian K Reynoldson Sunderland 10a 1118

Rose

Lesley this gets more intriguing !
I was told grandad did `the walk` of many other young men from the durham coalfields to south yourkshire where new pits were opening at a time when there was very little work in durham...and he came with his brother and a cousin. This must have been when he and Nan `got together` so to speak.
All of them settled in the yorkshire areas of the mines but there was obviously more to the story....
yes I am glad I asked and have just ordered the birth certificates..I just need to see it!! and have a record
thanks cathy

Cathy

Can I say one more thing I've noticed.

For some reason she had Ethel born 1928 in ..............Doncaster..........and then Josephine was born 1930 in Sunderland!!!!!

So Lily was in Doncaster round about the time Josephine was conceived lol......

Bet your glad you asked!!!

Lesley

Hi Rose yes he was irish catholic !!! so your reasoning seems sound to me, and although it answers some questions it`s opened up a whole lot more.........!!!!
and yes lesley you have to be right on this one, and I will most definately keep you both updated...ooh.. just thought about dad!
watch this space.
cathy

If they are the spit of each other then you have to entertain the fact that Lily was having an affair with Joseph and Josephine was the result!!!

I'm so keeping in touch with this one.....

Lesley

Was Joseph Irish by any chance? The last 3 names are common Irish names so Joseph could be the father. The earlier children could be Walters. The girl's names are more fashionable names for that era - Hilda, Violet, Ethel.

Josephine was probably named after her father.

Rose

Rose and Lesley
thankyou for all this help,and so much to take in.
I will be back in touch tomorrow when I find out any more on the circumstances of mums birth etc. I just looked at her photo and grandads (joseph Keegan ) and they are the absolute spit of each other.
cathy

I know this is one year out but you can never trust the birth dates but here is a Walter who died in Doncaster.

England & Wales, Death Index: 1984-2005
about Walter Ernest Bond
Name: Walter Ernest Bond
Birth Date: 1 Dec 1918
Death Registration Month/Year: Jul 1992
Age at death (estimated): 73
Registration district: Doncaster
Inferred County: Nottinghamshire, Yorkshire
Volume: 3
Page: 379

Lesley