What happened to these John Gosdens?

[Merry]

BK6 updated from this thread

I have two John Gosdens who vanished and every few years I go back for another look in case more online records show them up. I've not looked for a year or two so thought it's time for another go!

John Gosden b Buckinghamshire (maybe at Maids Moreton?) about 1832/35

He married Mary Elizabeth Leslie in 1856 and after this they lived in Hounslow, Middlesex for years, running a printers business. They had one son:

John Leslie Gosden b 1857 in Hounslow

Up until 1881 everything is straightforward. In April 1881 John Leslie Gosden married my g-grandmother, Sarah Jane Wells. They had one daughter, Gertrude Leslie Gosden in 1882. The last we see of John Leslie Gosden is on the baptism record of his daughter in March 1882 at St Stephen's Hounslow.

In 1891 Sarah Jane Wells/Gosden was living as a housekeeper in the home of my g-grandfather and said she was married. A year later she married my g-grandfather and said she was a widow. I don't think she was widowed as the family rumour was that her husband had gone to Australia. When John and Sarah's daughter married in 1924 she said her father, John Leslie Gosden, was dec'd, but I doubt she knew this for certain.

In May 1890 John Leslie G's mother died in Whitton Road, Hounslow and the following year her husband, John Gosden was still in that area. He then vanishes too. I can't find him on the 1901 or 1911 census and I can't find a death that looks likely. I did wonder if he had gone to Australia as well, but that seems a bit unlikely!

I have to go out now, so apologies if you have any questions! :)

[Merry]

BTW this death is unconnected:

Deaths Jun 1891
Gosden John 36 Kingston 2a 263

[ElizabethHerts]

Merry, there is a John Gosden on the 1891 census:

GOSDEN, John Patient Married M 36 1855 Bricklayers Labourer
born Handsworth Middlesex

RG number: RG12 Piece: 34 Folio: 169 Page: 6

It's Brompton Hospital
Hospital for Consumption and Diseases of the Chest
Kensington, London

Perhaps he is the one who died in Kingston.

[kiterunner]

Haven't managed to find anything on either of them so far!

[Merry]

Elizabeth, you are right - the one who died is the one in hospital and I've got the death cert and traced him back and proved he is a different person :(.

[Merry]

Kate, really it's the older one who is bothering me more, though he has less connection with my family - it just seems more mysterious for him to vanish - I wonder what happened to his business?

[Mary from Italy]

A John Gosden aged 71 died in Broken Hill, NSW, in 1929. The age is a pretty good fit for John Leslie. The death cert should contain his birthplace and parents' names if they were known to the informant; however, the parents' names aren't in the index as they should be.

http://www.bdm.nsw.gov.au/cgi-bin/Index/IndexingOrder.cgi/search?event=births

[Mary from Italy]

That John Gosden left a will, apparently:

http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/16595232?searchTerm=%22john%20gosden%22

[Mary from Italy]

Just realised I gave you that death on an old thread, although I hadn't found the will then.

[Merry]

I have that death cert and the informant said he was born in Austria, which I would imagine might have meant Australia. I didn't know abou the will though.

[Merry]

Reading that the will was from 1911 reminded me that the death cert said how long he had been in Oz (I think) which makes it less likely he was born there, so maybe this one was born in Austria? I must get the cert out and have another look at it.

How does one obtain a copy of an Aussie will?

[Mary from Italy]

I don't think you can get NSW wills by post - they have something called probate packages deposited at the NSW archives in Sydney. You may have to ask if any of our Aussie members are visiting the archives.

[Mary from Italy]

There is a probate packet in Sydney:

http://investigator.records.nsw.gov.au/Entity.aspx?Path=\Item\183542

[Merry]

I'll have a look at that a bit later, Mary - I have my mum here at the mo........

[Merry]

Thanks for that link Mary - it al looks a bit complicated! I must dig out the death cert to remind myself of what I thought when I got it and take it from there.

Thanks again....

[Mary from Italy]

Not sure if it's worth pursuing, but the IGI has a submitted birth, marriage and death for a Jean Gosden in Broken Hill.

[Merry]

That's interesting, though there is a marriage of a Sam Gosden to Olive M Pengelley in Broken Hill in 1917.

I suppose it money was no object I would get the will, but at the moment I don't have enough conviction it's the right person to fork out. Having said that, I still haven't got the death cert out!

[Merry]

Can anyone find a death for John Gosden senr?

[kiterunner]

Jun 1913 W Ham age 79?

[Merry]

That's the only one I could find, but I was put off because a matching person didn't say Buckingham or Buckinghamshire for place of birth in 1911. That and the feeling I had that JG had died before 1901!!

Also there's a John Gisden (ancestry's spelling) aged 68 in 1901 living in West Ham who says he was born in Newport I of W. I've just tried that for the 1911 chap and he says Isle of Wight too.

[Merry]

Oh that probably is him then as all his younger siblings were b in Newport and the family were living there in 1851. I hadn't traced him back before.

So, that's one of two mysteries solved.