Morris/Hayward/ Goodacre - not quite as bad as the Bodycotes

[Anstey Nomad]

I found my notes this afternoon and am looking again at one of my twigs.

In the DQ of 1933, my paternal grandfather John Rowbotham married Mary Ann Goodacre in Leicester. They both died within a month of each other at the end of 1949. Her death entry suggests Mary Ann was born about 1881.

The marriage split the family. My Dad and his brother didn't like this substitute for their mother, who had died as recently as 1930. My uncle got married and my Dad left home and went to live in digs as soon as he could. They are both now dead.

Mary Ann was a widow and had no children of her own, but brought her niece into the family to become my much loved 'Auntie'. I'm not giving her name because I am not sure whether she might still be alive, although she would be coming up for 95.

I've been playing with this for a while on and off and I'm stuck.

I can see that Auntie's parents would have been George A Morris and Mabel A Hayward, who married in Leicester in MQ 1914. I was always told that they had both died, which is why she lived with her Aunt. There is a death entry for Mabel A Morris in 1919, but I can't see one for George, so I'm now wondering if he just cleared off after the death of his wife and handed the baby over to either his sister or his sister in law.

That's another thing, I cannot work out whether Mary Ann was originally a Morris or a Hayward and I'm starting to go round in circles.

If anybody's really bored this weekend and fancies having a look at this to see if there is anything obvious that I have missed, I would appreciate it.

AN

[Olde Crone]

Just an observation - in 1919 it would have been extremely unusual, not to say unheard of, for a widower to bring up a child on his own and I am sure that social pressure would have been brought to bear from all sides, for him to hand the baby/child over to a female relative.

OC

[Jackie H]

Another avenue to explore - is it possible George was killed in WW1 given the date range?

[Kit]

George may have been known as A but married as George as that was his real name.

[Merry]

Marriages Jun 1902
Burton Sarah Emma Leicester 7a 456
Cooper Samuel Martin Leicester 7a 456 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Hayward Mary Ann Leicester 7a 456 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Tunnicliffe Scott Leicester 7a 456



Marriages Sep 1918
Chapman Arthur H Stanton Leicester 7a 565
Cooper Mary A Goodacre Leicester 7a 565 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Davis Ernest Robinson Leicester 7a 565
Goodacre John Cooper Leicester 7a 565 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Robinson Lily M Davis Leicester 7a 565

[Merry]

Do you have Ancestry?

Charles and Mary Ann Hayward with their dau Mary Ann Cooper in 1911:

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec?htx=View&r=5538&dbid=2352&iid=RG14_19156_0005_03&fn=Mary+Ann&ln=Cooper&st=r&ssrc=&pid=23760858

and the same couple in 1901 with their dau Mabel A Hayward:

http://search.ancestry.co.uk/iexec?htx=view&r=5538&dbid=7814&iid=LEIRG13_2952_2953-0595&fn=Mabel+A&ln=Hayward&st=d&ssrc=&pid=17168033

[Jackie H]

I was just getting to the same conclusion as Merry. It looks as though Samuel Martin Cooper died in Blaby in 1914

[Merry]

Births Dec 1879
Cooper Samuel Martin Meriden 6d 454

Deaths Mar 1914
Cooper Samuel M 34 Blaby 7a 58

[Merry]

Births Jun 1882
Hayward Mary Ann Sheppey 2a 888

Births Dec 1890
Hayward Mabel Alice Sheppey 2a 825

The registrations for Charles Cooper above are guesses, but I'm pretty certain the above two are correct for Mary Ann and Mabel.

[Merry]

Best fit:

Name: John Goodacre
Birth Date: abt 1868
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1930
Age at Death: 62
Registration district: Leicester
Inferred County: Leicestershire
Volume: 7a
Page: 244

[kiterunner]

There is a George A Morris, Sgt in the Machine Gun Corps, no 29383, who died 12 Nov 1918, age 38, listed as G A Morris on CWGC, born Evesham, Worcestershire.

But I can't find service papers for him, apart from the medal index card, so no idea whether it's the right person.

[Merry]

In 1911 Samuel Cooper is listed with his full name in the household of his parents, Alfred and Mary Cooper, in Shustoke, Warwickshire

COOPER, Samuel Martin Son Married M 31 1880 Railway Signal Man b Warwick Nether Whitacre

[Merry]

There is a George A Morris, Sgt in the Machine Gun Corps, no 29383, who died 12 Nov 1918, age 38, listed as G A Morris on CWGC, born Evesham, Worcestershire.

But I can't find service papers for him, apart from the medal index card, so no idea whether it's the right person.

Pity the middle names don't get included everywhere!

Births Jun 1880
MORRIS George Algernon Evesham 6c 366

[Merry]

It would seem your auntie may have had a brother, b Q3 1914.

[Merry]

Best fit:

Name: John Goodacre
Birth Date: abt 1868
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1930
Age at Death: 62
Registration district: Leicester
Inferred County: Leicestershire
Volume: 7a
Page: 244

Probate was granted for the above John Goodacre to widow Mary Ann Goodacre, so probably the right man.

[Anstey Nomad]

Thank you so much for your help with this. It would be so much easier if people in my family would speak to each other!

That John Goodacre will be the right one. His address in Beatrice Road in Leicester is literally yards away from where my grandparents lived in Alma Street. He obviously left Mary Ann comfortable. That could explain why, after they married, they moved from rented property to a brand new, owner occupied house, across the other side of the main road.

I had not been aware that my grandad was Mary Ann's third husband, that she had a child, or that my Auntie had a brother. However, I am now getting flashbacks to a family wedding we attended in September 1960 and I think I may have met either her brother or her cousin.

I think I probably need to be hypnotised now to get the best of this.

Thanks again

AN

[Merry]

I think I probably need to be hypnotised now to get the best of this.


Oooh yes! We could watch and take notes :D

[Anstey Nomad]

Mary Ann's Will arrived this morning. Her son was Charles Alfred Samuel Cooper, last known address, in 1947, 38 Exeter Street, Lyttleton, New Zealand.

The Will is quite interesting in that she appointed an executor and then removed her and her legacy by Codicil, and also she left money to Auntie Madge, who she describes as her adopted daughter, and to Auntie's daughter from her first marriage, but nothing to her daughter from her second marriage.

I start to wonder whether there are as many secrets on this side of the family as on the other.

[Anstey Nomad]

Next question:

Can anyone locate in the Index to the 1921 Census:

Mary Ann Goodacre (born 1882 Sheppey)

Marjorie Morris (born Nov 1916 Leicester, but registered in MQ 1917)

For some reason I am drawing a complete blank.

Thanks

[kiterunner]

I need to reread the thread carefully but I did find this household in Leicester (Leonard G Morris birth registered Jul-Sep 1914 Leicester with MMN Hayward):

Ada Morris 1868 Leicester Head
George Arthur Morris 1891 Leicester Son (widowed)
Blanche Emma Morris 1901 Leicester Daughter
Leonard George Morris 1914 Leicester Grandson (mother dead)

[kiterunner]

If you pay to view that Leicester household entry, it should show how many living children George had - if it was filled in, and if filled in correctly. Did you ever get your aunt's birth certificate to confirm that George and Mabel were her parents?

[kiterunner]

There is a male J G, married, age 51, in Leicester, who could possibly be John Goodacre. I am having no luck with the people you are actually looking for though!

[Anstey Nomad]

Oooh. Thanks.

That kind of suggests they may have split the children up, with Uncle Len staying with his Dad and Auntie going with her aunt (her mother's sister).

No, I didn't get the certificate. I've only just come back to this. Auntie was the only person on my Dad's side that I met until 1994 and I was a teenager before I discovered that she was not actually my Dad's sister, but ahd come into the family because her aunt had married my Grandad!

[Anstey Nomad]

I need to reread the thread carefully but I did find this household in Leicester (Leonard G Morris birth registered Jul-Sep 1914 Leicester with MMN Hayward):

Ada Morris 1868 Leicester Head
George Arthur Morris 1891 Leicester Son (widowed)
Blanche Emma Morris 1901 Leicester Daughter
Leonard George Morris 1914 Leicester Grandson (mother dead)

This looks good, especially for the combination of George Arthur and Leonard George.

However, it does throw up a problem in that this George does not appear to have conveniently died on the timescale I was expecting, but to have gone off and married someone else and survived until 1949! At least according to Ancestry.

[Anstey Nomad]

Marjorie Morris has been located in the 1921 Census at 27 Beatrice Road, Leicester with her Aunt Mary Ann Goodacre and her husband John.

She is recorded as 'Niece' and that her mother is dead.

The indexing is so bad that she comes up as Maryann and Goodacre has been indexed as Goodman.

[Mary from Italy]

If you pay to view that Leicester household entry, it should show how many living children George had - if it was filled in, and if filled in correctly.

George is shown as having 2 children, age last birthday: 4 and 6.

[Anstey Nomad]

Marjorie was 4 last birthday ...

[Mary from Italy]

Exactly!

[Anstey Nomad]

I still think that household is looking good, but the 4 trees on Ancestry that mention George Arthur Morris only reference the marriage to Ethel Louise Brown in 1930.

I'm now messaging a tree holder who I realise I haven't seen for 52 years! Will report back.

[Anstey Nomad]

Apparently George didn't want to bring up a girl, so he kept his son and let his daughter go to his sister in law.

Having said that though, he was living with his mother. Perhaps she didn't feel she could cope with two children.