How to try and locate 7 missing deceased children

[BlueSavannah]

Hi,

My great x 3 grandparents Eli & Elizabeth Irons (formerly Fletcher nee Berrisford) on the 1911 census claim they had 14 children born alive of which 6 were still alive and 8 deceased. I have so far only been able to locate 7 children and 2 of those were Elizabeth's to her first husband. The children I know of are:

* 1867 - Henry Fletcher born in Heanor, Derbyshire
* 1870 - Maria Fletcher born in Heanor, Derbyshire
* 1872 - William Edward Fletcher born in Heanor, Derbyshire (this is Eli's son born before his parents married)
* 1874 - Neri Irons born in Dronfield, Derbyshire
* 1875 - Elizabeth Irons born in Dronfield, Derbyshire
* 1877 - Agnes Irons born 1877 in Hartshay (Ripley), Derbyshire
* 1890 - Arthur Irons born in Mosborough near Sheffield, Derbyshire

Arthur Irons died in 1891 so that would suggest the other 6 are the 6 children still alive in 1911; however, if that is the case, then were is Maria Fletcher after the 1871 census? I have found no trace of her after this census when she was with her widowed mother and her sibling Henry in Heanor. I have all the other 5 on the 1911 census so I know they are alive.

But if the 14 children included Henry & Maria Fletcher, who were the 7 children they had and had died and would it be possible to actually locate them?

In 1881, the family were in Selston, Nottinghamshire. Neri, Elizabeth, Agnes and William Fletcher were all there but Henry & Maria were not. I've not located Henry on this census but I do have him in 1891 onwards.

In 1891, Eli and William Fletcher were boarding in Newbold & Dunston, Derbyshire. Elizabeth and the other children were in Treflis, Breconshire, Wales.

Arthur died late 1891 and is registered in the Chesterfield district. The family lived in Mosborough at this time and remained their until Eli & Elizabeth died.

I guess trying to find the missing children is going to be a needle in a haystack but would anyone know of any suggestions on where to start?

Many thanks

[Lindsay]

The Lost Cousins newsletter had a bit about how to approach this a while ago (scroll down):

http://www.lostcousins.com/newslette...ejan14news.htm

You've reminded me that I meant to look for my grandfather's 3 missing siblings - but the name is common and they moved round the East End of London so I'm not optimistic!

[BlueSavannah]

Many thanks for the link Lindsay, I will have a read of that. I am not optimistic either of finding the missing 7 children with them moving around Derbyshire and briefly in to Wales. There is clearly a big gap between Agnes and Arthur so some of the children must be in the gap there.

Mind you, I do take with a pinch of salt what they say about how many children they have had. On a newspaper article in 1889 regarding the son Neri, Eli claims at that point (when he was only 34) that he had raised 16 children???!

Best of luck to you with the search for your grandfather's 3 siblings

[kiterunner]

I would start by looking for children who died very young between 1878 and 1881 in Derbyshire or Nottinghamshire, as there may be one or two born in that gap and they would presumably have died before the 1881 census. FreeBMD has these:

Jul-Sep 1879 Richard 0, Belper 7b 283
Jul-Sep 1880 John 0, Basford 7b 67
Jul-Sep 1880 Samuel 0, Shardlow 7b 291.

Now to see if we can rule any of those out...

[kiterunner]

Claire, is Neri the same person as the Eli who is age 6 on the 1881 census?

[BlueSavannah]

Yes Kite, Neri is written as Eli on the 81 census.

I hadn't realised that Selston also came under the Basford district so the John in 1880 is a likely candidate.

[kiterunner]

I didn't manage to rule any of those three out, though of course it is very unlikely that John and Samuel both belong to the same family. The gap between 1881 and 1891 is much harder though.

[BlueSavannah]

There doesn't appear to be much in the way of online records covering Derbyshire to try and track down where exactly they were and when to try and fill in the gaps. I am not sure how long exactly they were in Treflis, Wales for. Arthur Irons died aged 1 late 1891 but is on the 1891 census with his mother and the birth place is given as Mosborough, Derbyshire so it suggests they were only there for a very short period of time. On this census, Eli and William Fletcher were actually still in Derbyshire bording.

[kiterunner]

If you think they stayed in the Derbyshire area most of the time, it should be a bit easier. There are a few possible deaths in or close to Derbyshire between 1881 and 1891:


Jul-Sep 1881 Ernest 0 Basford 7b 61
Apr-Jun 1882 Elizabeth Kate W 0 Basford 7b 85
Apr-Jun 1883 John 0 Shardlow 7b 286
Oct-Dec 1883 Cornelius Alfred 0 Shardlow 7b 282
Jul-Sep 1886 Leah 0 Chesterfield 7b 389
Jul-Sep 1886 Richard 1 Chesterfield 7b 389
Jan-Mar 1887 Walter Henry 2 Shardlow 7b 267
Jul-Sep 1888 Frederick 0 Rotherham 9c 321


The Shardlow ones are less likely to be yours but the Basford, Chesterfield, Rotherham ones could be, don't you think? Again we need to see if we can definitely rule any of these out.

[kiterunner]

We can rule out Elizabeth Kate W as there is a baptism for her on FreeREG and her parents were John and Ellen.