Genealogy Chat

see below, cheers

Hi everyone, I ordered the death cert for my g g g grandma, Caroline Connelly. I know that she died between 1864 and 1871 because she had a son in 1864 and cannot be found on the 1871 census, and the head of the house is the eldest son. (she had been widowed in 1867) I found what I thought was her in a neighbouring district, St Olave Southwark (usually in Hackney) and the age in the index was correct, 42. However, I have now got the cert and it looks as if it says the age is 47, and the witness is someone from the hospital so the writing under occupation is 'Unknown to the informat). So, even though the name is spelt wrong (conolly instead of connelly, and the age is wrong on the GRO cert, but was right in the index, do you think that she is my person? I have looked through all of the GRO indexes but was not able to find even another remote possibility. thanks, tom.

Is a difficult one tom, five years is quite a bit to be out. Having said that I am having problems with my gg grans death, the only possibily puts her at five years older than she should be!! So I am sorry not to be of much help, all I would say that is in my experience the age on the census is nearly always out by a year or so and I have found them to be five years out......

Firstly, I wouldn't worry about the spelling of the surname, especially if the informant didn't know her very well. As for her age, perhaps it really does say 42? Or was copied out wrong onto the certificate? Anyway, again, if the informant didn't know her very well, he / she could have got her age wrong too. One thing you could try is looking for another Caroline Connelly (or whatever spelling) on the 1861 census to see if there another one who it could be, and if you find any possibles look for them in 1871 too, because if they are still alive in 1871 then it can't be them on the death cert, if you see what I mean. If it was somewhere other than London, I would say try looking for her burial, but it is not so easy doing that for London unfortunately. Kate.

Tom can you post the info on her from the 1861 census for reference. Georgina.

that's what i'm thinking - it must have been copied out wrong because it is in the index as 42. I have looked and there are about 10 different churches that she oculd have burried in, so I'm going to check those, because as I know the date of death her burial should be a couple of days afterwards. Thanks for your thoughts. tom

sorry georgina, here is 1861: View Record Caroline Connelly abt 1829 Middlesex, England Wife Bethnal Green Middlesex View Record Edward Connelly abt 1855 Middlesex, England Son Bethnal Green Middlesex View Record Martha Connelly abt 1860 Middlesex, England Daughter Bethnal Green Middlesex View Record Thos Connelly abt 1827 Middlesex, England Head Bethnal Green Middlesex View Record Thos Connelly abt 1853 Middlesex, England Son Bethnal Green Middlesex View Record Wm Connelly abt 1857 Middlesex, England Son Bethnal Green Middlesex and this is the children in 1861: View Record Edward Comcely abt 1855 Bethnal Green Head Hackney London View Record Frederce Comcely abt 1863 Bethnal Green Brother Hackney London View Record William Comcely abt 1857 Bethnal Green Brother Hackney London View Record Blanch Inaesslock abt 1850 St Pancras Friend Hackney London

Tom, as I was saying before, London burials are not so easy to find, but it is not very likely she would have been buried in a church graveyard. According to the website about 'Victorian London Cemeteries', ' By 1850 most London churchyards were so overcrowded that they posed a severe health risk to those people working or living nearby. Thousands of bodies were buried in shallow pits beneath the floorboards of chapels and schools. Congregations and pupils had to beathe the foul-smelling air which resulted. A pressure group, the National Society for the Abolition of Burial in Towns, was established in 1845 and two years later the Cemeteries Clauses Act enacted general powers to establish commercial cemeteries. The Act failed in its purpose and was followed by the Burial Act of 1852, which remained the principal piece of legislation on the subject until largely repealed in 1972. The 1852 Act required the General Board of Health to establish cemeteries to deal with the problem and an immense number of parochial burial-grounds, some open to all, others set apart for the use of special denominations, were opened in various suburban districts all round London.' So she would probably have been buried in a cemetery rather than a churchyard. Kate.

well that puts and end to that lol. - but there are still burial records aren;t there? it may be a long job, but I could make a start - I've booked a trip to the LMA next week, so if I get everything else done I could make a start, but after what youv'e said Kate, I'm not very hopefull!

Oh, well if you are going to the LMA then I bet they will have burial records for the cemeteries there, so hopefully you will find something. Good luck! Kate.

The age in the index will have been copied from place to place more times than the age on the cert (and is therefore subject to being wrong more than the age on the cert), but even so......it is very possible it is still your ancestor as the informant obviously didn't know her..... There don't seem to be any other candidates on the 1861 census. Merry

Having read through your posts, I can't help but wonder how a woman who was living in Bethnal Green/Hackney area came to die in St Olave Southwark - they are on opposite sides of the River Thames and not at all neighbouring. Unless, of course, she had some illness that the St Olave Hospital specialised in and was transported over there...other than that, did she have any family from Southwark that you are aware of?

Just had another thought...what if after her husband died she married or lived with another man and took his surname? In that case, she may have been registered as a different surname (very difficult if she wasn't legally wed as you won't know what name to search on). Anyway, that's just a thought....

Athena - she was in Guys Hospital with cancer of the ovaries. I did a gogle na dfrom Hackney to hospital was only about 4 miles. Have done a search but cannot find a marriage for her, and I doubt she would have left the children all alone.