Genealogy Chat

Top tip - using the Genes Reunited community

Welcome to the Genes Reunited community boards!

  • The Genes Reunited community is made up of millions of people with similar interests. Discover your family history and make life long friends along the way.
  • You will find a close knit but welcoming group of keen genealogists all prepared to offer advice and help to new members.
  • And it's not all serious business. The boards are often a place to relax and be entertained by all kinds of subjects.
  • The Genes community will go out of their way to help you, so don’t be shy about asking for help.

Quick Search

Single word search

Icons

  • New posts
  • No new posts
  • Thread closed
  • Stickied, new posts
  • Stickied, no new posts

Missing Ancestor help please!

ProfilePosted byOptionsPost Date

faerykingdom

faerykingdom Report 26 Feb 2008 23:09

Hi have this ancestor in 1881 (the surname should be PLATTS):

1881 England Census
about William Platte
Name: William Platte
Age: 29
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1852
Relation: Head
Spouse's Name: Emma
Gender: Male
Where born: Northamptonshire, England

Civil Parish: Leicester St Margaret
County/Island: Leicestershire
Country: England

Street address: No 7 Court B Belgrave Gate
Condition as to marriage: Married
Education:

Employment status: View Image
Occupation: Shoe Riviter

Registration district: Leicester
Sub-registration district: East Leicester
ED, institution, or vessel: 95
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members: Name Age
Emma Platte 23 (Platts)
William Platte 29 (Platts)
William Platte (Platts)

William and Emma go on to have 2 more children. Florence in 1882 and Emma in 1886 who died at 1month.

Florence is living with her grandparents, Thomas and Elizabeth Jakins in 1891 and her future mother in law in 1901.

William (son of William and Emma) is a visitor in 1891 in London and living with grandparents in 1901.

William (husband of Emma) goes missing after 1881.

Emma is living in London in 1891 under the name of Emma Curry with a "husband", William Curry and a son who was born in Leicester in 1889 called John Curry.

I can not find a death for William Platts or a marriage for Emma and a William Curry. On Florence Platts marriage cert in 1902 it says her father is deceased. Also I have obtained John Curry's birth cert and it says his mother was Emma Curry formally Jakins (her maiden name).

Can anybody give me some help or advice on where to go to from here?

Thanks for you help,

Vicky X


Jill 2011 (aka Warrior Princess of Cilla!)

Jill 2011 (aka Warrior Princess of Cilla!) Report 26 Feb 2008 23:22

How old is William Curry?

Could he be William Platts with a different surname?

faerykingdom

faerykingdom Report 26 Feb 2008 23:28

Hi Jill,

He is 7 years younger than William Platts and he was born in Wolverhampton. I think I have found him in 1881.

Thanks anyway,

Vicky X

Ivy

Ivy Report 27 Feb 2008 07:23

Hi Vicky,

He is still young and odds are against a death. I see that his mother was born in the East Indies, so he may have been alert to opportunities overseas. Have you tried tracing him elsewhere? Ancestry identifies a handful in the USA, but I don't have a sub to look at those.

(I see that the other William Platts in Leics in 1891 and 1901 was born in Tamworth and is a distinct individual in 1881; also that the death of John William Platts in Huddersfield relates to a distinct individual living in Huddersfield in 1881).

faerykingdom

faerykingdom Report 27 Feb 2008 20:50

Thanks for your help Ivy,

I don't really know where to start looking abroad. Maybe I should try the army/navy etc although a little strange that on Florence's marriage cert he is deceased. Equally strange that there is only a 3 yr gap between their last child being born and dying and his wife shacking up with somebody else and moving to London!

I do get the feeling that he was still alive because his wife didn't remarry.

Thanks again,

Vicky X

Ivy

Ivy Report 1 Mar 2008 11:50

Hi Vicky,

(Just trying to think of anything else you could do) - there is, as you say, the three years between Emma Platts' birth and death in 1886 and John Curry's birth in 1889.

Is it possible that Emma's death was a prompt for the family to move to London, although Emma Curry returned to her mother's house for the birth of John? Or is it possible to place William Curry in Leicester before 1889?

Going back to Jill's suggestion, perhaps briefly check that William Curry from 1881 cannot be matched with any death between 1881 and 1891 or another individual on the 1891 census?

If the family remained in Leicester until William Platts died there (iff!) between 1886 and 1889, I wonder if an early death might be findable on Ancestry, or in the newspapers?

(I wondered about electoral rolls - but I see that the people with the vote were as follows: [summarised from National Archives web page http://tinyurl.com/zt9nq ]
to 1832: 3% of population
1832-1867: 1 in 7 (about 14%) adult males, being occupiers of property with rateable value of £10 pa
1867-1884: 2 in 5 (about 40%) men
1884- : all house owners also allowed to vote

So electoral rolls are a possibility, if he owned his house or was one of the 2 in 5 occupiers with the vote. That might narrow the time frame you are looking at for any changes in the household?)

faerykingdom

faerykingdom Report 2 Mar 2008 12:42

Thanks Ivy,

I am going to the records office in the next couple of weeks so I will definitely look at the electoral rolls.

Thanks again for your help,

Vicky X