Len Fagan

[Anstey Nomad]

in the middle of the pub quiz on Thursday evening, and for no apparent reason, I wrote down a name I hadn't heard in 40 years, and now I'm trying to figure him out.

His name was Leonard Fagan. What connection he is, if any, I don't yet know, but my great aunt and her brother and sister in law used to talk about him a lot at family gatherings when I was a child.

I have a likely marriage to Doris Mary Sterland in Leicester in 1930. I have followed her family back to about ten minutes away from where I am sitting now and I don't think there is any connection through the Sterland line.

I have a likely birth of a Leonard Joseph Fagan in Leicester in 1904, but I can't find him on the 1911 census.

Would anyone else like to have a go?

[Merry]

He's down as Lagan in 1911. These are his parents:


Marriages Dec 1897

Fagan James Joseph Leicester 7a 582 <<<<<<<<<<<<<<
Goldsmith Alfred Leicester 7a 582
PRICE Elizabeth Leicester 7a 582
Simpson Mary Catherine Leicester 7a 582 <<<<<<<<<<<<

[Merry]

James Joseph is from Ireland but his wife is from Leicester.

[Anstey Nomad]

Brilliant - thanks. Simpson hmmm. If Simpson is the wife then that may be a connection.

[Merry]

lol She doesn't seem to exist before her marriage.

I wondered if it was a second marriage for her? As yet I haven't found a marriage between a Simpson and Mary Catherine (or Catherine Mary) X in the right area.

In 1901 they had a maiden aunt called Ann Smeeton (57 b Leicester) in their house. I would have thought she was the aunt of Catherine, not James Joseph. Ann Smeeton had a sister called Maria who died unmarried in 1872 (roughly lol) and I haven't yet found earler siblings. There doesn't seem to be a Smeeton to Simpson married that works though.

[Merry]

Oh, I missed this one:

1871:


Catherine Simpson father Samuel, mother Harriett b abt 1869 at St Mary, Leicestershire, living at Newarke, Leicestershire

[Merry]

That Catherine would be this one:

Catherine Simpson
Registration Year: 1868
Registration Quarter: Oct-Nov-Dec
Registration district: Leicester
County: Leicestershire
Volume: 7a
Page: 224

There was another birth in 1872 but that Catherine died.

Catherine doesn't seem to appear easily in 1881 or 1891 but that might be because she was being called Mary (I've not looked yet!)