View Full Version : Vanished into thin air?
Can anyone spot this couple after 1818?
William Day was an accountant / clerk / foreman in the Docks (date and place of birth unknown). He married Elizabeth Mills 15 Oct 1809 at St George in the East, Stepney. 1810-1818 they baptised 5 children and buried 2 at St George in the East.
And then...they vanish.
I can't find any more baptisms, likely burials, entries in the land tax for the area they were living, or a Will.
Of the 3 surviving children, Henry married at All Saints Poplar 8 July 1833; Sarah Ann married at St Alphage Greenwich 1 Jan 1838; Emma married Q4 1838 in Poplar, and on this William is shown as deceased (I haven't seen this for myself as it doesn't seem to be on Ancestry). As two of the children married in Poplar it seems likely their parents still lived there (if they were alive), especially as that's where William worked.
Is there anything else I could look at to find out what happened to them?
kiterunner
09-09-13, 22:22
There are loads of possible William Day burials on ancestry. Trouble is we don't know where he was buried! Is he listed in any street directories?
Lindsay, do you know if there was an occupation listed, as well as dec'd, for William on Emma's marriage cert in late 1838? Do you know the names of the witnesses and have you checked out the address(es) Emma and her husband were married from?
Looking at the marriage between William and Elizabeth, there is some wording I can't make out. May be a clue.
http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/1623/31280_199071-00151/4240536?backurl=http%253a%252f%252fsearch.ancestry .co.uk%252fcgi-bin%252fsse.dll%253fdb%253dlmamarriages%2526h%253d 4240536%2526ti%253d5538%2526indiv%253dtry%2526gss% 253dpt%2526ssrc%253dpt_t11724000_p1684651615_kpidz 0q3d1684651615z0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid&ssrc=pt_t11724000_p1684651615_kpidz0q3d1684651615z 0q26pgz0q3d32768z0q26pgplz0q3dpid&backlabel=ReturnRecord
There are five witnesses to the marriage - Wm Mills, Louisa Peterson, Martha Weatherby, Ann Mills and Sarah Rook. More clues?
Looking at the public trees on Ancestry, William's place of birth is listed as Co Mayo, London or Middlesex. Not sourced, though.
William and Elizabeth lived in Nelson Street, Cannon Street Road, and Berner Street. Looking to see if I can find them in street directories. No luck yet.
Shona I think it says, by consent of Wm Mills the lawful father of ... ... Can't make out the last two/three words but I would expect it to say of Elizabeth Mills/of the bride.
kiterunner
10-09-13, 19:18
Looking at the marriage between William and Elizabeth, there is some wording I can't make out. May be a clue.
William Day of this Parish a Bachelor and Elizabeth Mills of the same Parish, spinster & Minor by consent of Wm Mills the lawful father of the said Minor were Married in this Church by Licence this fifteenth Day of October 1809
Sorry for the delay in replying - busy day.
I've never found William in any street directories. Last sighting of him is in Dog Row, Bethnal Green in March 1818 for Emma's baptism, but he's not there in the 1820 Land Tax Assessment.
I haven't bought Emma's marriage cert as she's not my direct line, and for some reason the marriage isn't on Ancestry LMA records. All I know is that William is deceased - which I got from a contact several years ago, before I realised the importance of witnesses and addresses...
On son Henry's marriage he's just 'of this parish' (All Saints Poplar) and witnesses are John Sharratt and Jane Crookshanks.
Daughter Sarah's address is the same as the groom in Greenwich, witnesses are George William Shyring and Sarah Senior Shyring. None of these witnesses ring a bell.
Re. the witnesses on William and Elizabeth's marriage, William and Ann Mills are Elizabeth's parents. I tried to find Louisa Peterson, Martha Weatherby and Sarah Rook and found some possibles who were a similar age to Elizabeth - perhaps friends. I never managed to find a relationship.
I've discounted the various public Ancestry trees for William's birth, as none of them are sourced.
Looking at the public trees on Ancestry, William's place of birth is listed as Co Mayo, London or Middlesex. Not sourced, though.
And there's a tree which has William's birth and death in America (I think the death was in Minnesota, but I've forgotten the birth state now!) but the birth of Elizabeth is recorded as East London. :D
Yes, William really got around if you believe those trees :d
You may be living in the same area, but not able to afford to rent quite such expensive houses.
Perhaps you might find him in the workhouse?
kiterunner
10-09-13, 22:02
I haven't bought Emma's marriage cert as she's not my direct line, and for some reason the marriage isn't on Ancestry LMA records.
Maybe she got married at the register office?
Daughter Sarah's address is the same as the groom in Greenwich, witnesses are George William Shyring and Sarah Senior Shyring. None of these witnesses ring a bell.
I think they are George William Skyring (aka William George Skyring) and Sarah Lewin Skyring nee Stoneham.
One of the other couples on the same page of the marriage index as Emma Day (Duncan Finlayson and Isobel Graham Simpson) are recorded on various online sites to have married on 10th November 1838 at Bromley by Bow, but no one makes it 100% clear which building they were married in, even though some mention who the witnesses were! Wherever they married it will be the same place as Emma.
The only thing I've been able to establish is that they don't seem to have married at St Mary Bow which is the C of E church in Bromley, otherwise known as Bromley by Bow or Stratford-le-Bow, as that one is on the LMA records (listed as St Mary Stratford Bow on Ancestry), but (as has already been said) Emma Day's marriage isn't listed and I checked the other names from the same page and none of those are listed either.
Registry office marriages are usually, with Non Con marriages, the highest numbers of the quarter in the district. I can't remember what you click to find how high the numbers go but will have a look when I'm home.
Poplar marriages Dec qtr 1838 run from about pages 277 to 303 so it's quite middling. I'd have expected to be a CofE church but I don't know what churches were in the district at the time.
Thanks for the detective work, everyone!
I've had a look and I think it might be Bromley (St Leonard and St Mary) where Emma married - that comes under Poplar according to FreeBMD, and if you check Ancestry their records jumps from 1837 to 1839. I vaguely remember emailing Ancestry about it some time ago and got the usual non-answer.
Well, I've just received Emma's marriage cert (couldn't stand the frustration any more!) but unfortunately it doesn't throw any light.
John Stanton, full age, bachelor, sawyer, address Bromley, father William a labourer, and
Emma Day, full age, spinster, address Bromley, father's name 'deceased', no occupation.
John signed, Emma signed X.
Witnesses Daniel Rutley (probably a serial witness as he's the parish clerk) and Caroline Clarke.
I'm coming round to Phoenix's idea that the family might have gone down in the world - perhaps if one or both parents died? The fact that Emma signed X is odd and doesn't fit with what I know of the rest of the family (it's definitely the right person, as she's mentioned under her married name in her brother's Will)
On the other hand, her brother Henry had a good job in the docks, the kind of thing I imagine he would have got through his father's contacts.
I can see I'm going to have to leave this one on the back burner for another 10 years...
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