Genealogy Chat

Complicated, so please see below:

On the 1871 census my GGFx2, James William Hanson aged 39, cabinet carver (master) is shown living at Newington St Mary, London. I think it was a bad day for both the 1871 transcriber and the ancestry transcriber, his place of birth is transcribed on ancestry as Thadwete. Of course, Thadwete does not exist and I spent ages looking at this on the image and with a friend decided it must say Shadwell. I have now received the birth cert of second son (my GGF), James Robert which shows he was born at Shoreditch. Could a kind soul have another look at the image and see if it says the dad was born at Shoreditch or Shadwell please. There are a number of mistakes on this one. Phoebe, the "housekeeper" is shown as 2 years old (she was in fact 29) and born Bethural Green. In later censuses she is shown as the wife and I believe the 2 younger kids, Daniel and Phoebe are hers. But what I would really like to find out is that James is shown as married - where is the wife? On James jnrs birth cert his mother is shown as Mary Ann Hanson, formerly Wyles and his place of birth is 22 Curtain Street, Shoreditch. I have hunted high and low for this Mary Ann Hanson or Wyles or for a marriage with no luck. Any ideas please?

IM LOOKING I CANT MAKE IT OUT ??WILL HAVE ANOTHER LOOK TRACY

For the places of birth,It looks to me like it says James the father was born in Shadwell ,then the eldest 2 boys Shoreditch. It does look like the last letters on the dads place of birth could be th rather than LL,but the place of birth of some the family above,which looks like Camberwell,that too looks like it ends in th Anna:-)

The third letter is def an A - I'd go for Shadwell too -- if it was Shoreditch then he would have used ditto marks for the first son. Agree it is dreadful writing! Anne

So you reckon dad was Shadwell and the two boys Shoreditch yes? Thanks. Grateful for any further ideas on the missing wife please.

I assume you have looked for her death? If Phoebe the housekeeper was there in 1871 and the mother of the younger 2 then would it be safe to assume she was no longer around? Maybe the father should have been added as "widower"? (You have probably been along this route!) Anne

I dont know if these are the birth refs for Phoebe and Daniel? Hanson Phoebe Sarah march q 1865 Newington 1d 212 Hanson Daniel march q 1867 Newington 1d 221 Anna

Many thanks - yes Anna that must be the two younger kids, I see she registered them as Hanson yet she is shown as Housekeeper on the 1871 so I dont think they were married. I have tried looking for the marriage - no luck. Have tried for the marriage of James and Mary Ann Wyles. Ditto. Cant find a death of Mary Ann Hanson or Wyles - the youngest son that belongs to her, James was born 9 April 1860, and she was the informant for the birth. Assuming she did die, then Phoebe got her feet under the table fairly quickly - didnt she? She would have been pregnant in 1864. Not sure where I can go from here.

Is Holborn near the area??? Deaths Mar 1864 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hanson Mary Ann Holborn 1b 484 There is also this...but I guess she was too old to be yours. Deaths Sep 1875 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Hanson Mary Ann 51 Shoreditch 1c 75

Many thanks, I did see this one in my trawling but I found she was married to another Hanson I believe. Its all getting misty now! I shall have to look at her again as it would be a good date for her death - even if it meant he was shacked up with his girlfriend within months! BTW how old was she at death please? As you say, the other one, Shoreditch, right place as the boys were born there, but a bit too long in the tooth.

No death ages in index until 1866.

Thanks Geoff.