Back to work

It's been a quiet ten months on here but I am now ready to return. I have just finished the penultimate year of my degree, hence the lack of activity, but I now have a free four months with which I hope to make some more in roads.

Summer 2013 To-Do List:

1. Upload all the info I have to WikiTree.
   I like the fact it is free but also easy to manipulate. I do not want to just upload a GEDCOM; I want to make sure it is done correctly which will take some time but I think it will be worth it. Also hopefully I will meet some other distant relatives.
2. Put together a document with all the Elders research I have.
   My Grandad's brother is not very well, so I would like to put something together to take and show him.
3. Cowton name study.
   I would still like to take a look at this, and recording all the names will be quite relaxing and require less thoughts than my research!
4. Investigate the Whittaker side.
   It would interest my Gran so I'd like to take a look.

This year has been hard due to losing my Grandad last October. Whilst the loss of my first Grandad kick-started my family history research, the loss of my second has given me a drive to do more within my community and 'give back'. This summer is the last summer I will have before I graduate so I need to work out what I want to do with my life. Hopefully some of my ancestors can help point me in the right direction!

Sorting Saturday - Indexing my parish record information

I first went to the North Yorkshire County Record Office last July, and to put it bluntly, I went mental. I flicked through the books and microfilm and wrote down any one with the surname Elders, whether I knew the link to my family or not!

Now I am much more careful with my research; I have learnt to verify facts! I am also spotting links I had never seen before. One was in the 1841 census, where a young William Elders is listed. I noticed the lines on the census and found that they denote people belonging to a separate household. I believe he is the grandchild of the head of the household, nephew of Matthew Elders, my ancestor.

I flicked through my notepad of names and dates and discovered a William Elders born 1835 to Joseph Elders, likely to be the son of William and Ann.

After this discovery I decided I needed to create a database of the details I have found, which is where my favourite program - Excel - comes into its own.

I have created a spreadsheet with three tabs, one of baptisms, one for marriages, and one for burials. I have input all the data found in the parish registers; names, dates, details of parents, residence and occupations. Using the filter tool in Excel, I can then find any children of, for example, William and Ann, and then enter them quickly into FTM2012.

This is especially handy when I find new people as I can cross reference the names with my spreadsheet. Matthew Elders lived with his sister Ann in 1871 for the census. Because of this I knew she married William Legg(e), but after looking back through my parish records, it turns out they were married in Egton in 1864 before their move to Hull.

Just proves that it is worth re checking everything. Something you dismissed 6 months ago might now have meaning due to extra knowledge.

Amanuensis Monday - Will of Matthew Elders (1849-1921)

I transcribed this will some time ago, but it is always good to revisit documents. My comments will follow each paragraph in italics. Let me know if you think there's something I've missed!

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THIS IS THE LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT of me MATTHEW ELDERS of Bridlington in the County of York, Retired Engine Driver. I appoint my dear wife Jane Ann Elders and my Son-in-Law Arthur James Sigsworth of Bridlington aforesaid Decorator (hereinafter called my Trustees) to be the EXECUTORS and TRUSTEES of this my will. 

This gave me the name of Arthur James Sigsworth.

I give to my said wife absolutely all monies standing to the credit of my account, whether solely or jointly at any Bank, and all sums and bonuses payable on my death by virtue of any Policies of Assurance effected on my life. 

Jane Ann gets the money :)

I give my piano to my grandchild Alice Carr. 

A new name. Matthew had three daughters; Hannah Jane., Anne and Alice. So one married Arthur Sigsworth, and another married a man with the surname Carr. Turns out Alice is the daughter of Hannah Jane.

I give all my household furniture, linen, plate and plated goods, china, pictures, books, and all other articles of domestic use or ornament to my trustees, in trust to permit my wife to have the sole use and enjoyment thereof during her life and from and after her death. 

Jane Ann is well looked after

In trust in equal shares for my daughters Anna Jane Whiting and Alice Sigsworth upon the like trusts as are hereinafter declared concerning their shares of my residuary estate. And I declare that my trustees shall be under no obligation to make an inventory of, or to see to the preservation or insurance of the said furniture and effects, and shall not be answerable for any loss or damage occasioned thereto in the lifetime of my said wife. 

Hannah Jane appears to be mis-spelt here (perhaps she shortened her name as she got older, but it does seem odd to not have her legal name in a legal document). It also suggests that after marrying a Carr she married a Whiting. Alice is the wife of Arthur.  

I give, devise and bequeath all the residue of my estate, real and personal whatsoever and wheresoever to my trustees, in trust to sell, call in and convert the same into money, with power to postpone such conversion indefinitely, without being responsible for loss, and out of the moneys produced by such sale and conversion to pay my just debts, funeral and testamentary expenses, and to stand possessed of the residue in trust to invest the same in any investments allowed by law. 

Money stuff. Matthew was a shareholder in Elders Walker Ltd. - a paint and glass manufacturer based in Gateshead. My ancestor, John, was the clerk before his death. The company did very nicely, which explains why he was so wealthy.

In the case of trust funds with power to vary the same at discretion and to stand possessed of such investments, including any part of my residuary estate for the time being unconverted (hereinafter called my Trust Estate), in trust to pay the income there from both before and after such sale and investment as aforesaid to my said wife Jane Ann Elders.

Again, Jane is looked after.

During her life and from and after her decease I direct my Trustees shall hold the capital and income of my trust estate in trust in equal shares for all or any my children, or child living at my death and for all or any the issue living at my death who attain the age of Twenty one years, or being female marry under that age. 

Suggests a daughter that married under 21 would receive her share before her 21st birthday. 

Of any child of mine who may have died in my lifetime leaving issue to take through all degrees according to their stocks in equal shares the share or shares their parent would have taken if living at my death and so that no issue shall take whose parent is living at my death and so capable of taking, provided always that in the event of my daughter Alice Sigsworth dying in my lifetime without leaving any such issue, then my trustees shall hold the share that she would have taken under any of the trusts hereinbefore declared had she survived me, in trust for her husband, the said Arthur James Sigsworth absolutely. 

My great great grandfather John Elders had died in 1904, so his share would be split between his three children. This paragraph suggests Matthew was close to Arthur James Sigsworth as it ensures he would receive Alice's share had Alice died before her father.

IN WITNESS whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 24th day of November One thousand nine hundred and nineteen – M. ELDERS – SIGNED and declared by the said Matthew Elders as and for his last Will and Testament in the presence of us both present at the same time who at his request in his presence and in the presence of each other have hereunto subscribed our names as witnesses – ALFRED W. WEST Solicitor Bridlington – J. F. Yates Clerk to Messrs West & Son Solicitors Bridlington.

ON the 6th day of May 1921 Probate of this Will was granted to Jane Ann Elders and Arthur James Sigsworth the executors.

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The net value of Matthew's estate was just over £2172. Using an online inflation conversion tool, that equates to £78,000 in 2010. Split between the 5 children, that's £15,600, then split again between John's three children, that is £5,200 in today's money (£144 then) that my great granddad John Redvers should have received - a pretty decent amount of money!

Death

As a genealogist you begin to view death in the same light at birth, marriage, or even a census return. It's a piece of information to enable you to build up a picture of an ancestor.

I have ordered one death certificate so far in my research. It was for my great great grandfather John Elders who died in 1904 of pneumonia aged just 31. He left a wife and three children, one not even a month old.

In my life I have been fortunate to have not been too affected by death. The first person I remember losing was my Granny's oldest sister, Auntie Hilda, but at the age of 10 I wasn't really too aware of what was happening. Two years ago I lost my first grandparent, the slightly bonkers Bernard Elders. But at the age of 79 and after suffering from dementia it was expected.

What happened today however, was not expected. A superb bloke by the name of Adrian died today at work of a heart attack aged just 40 years old. We worked together on the same team, and as part of that team we went out for a meal not even 24 hours before he died. I am still in a state of shock, but I had to write something down, and here seemed as good a place as any.

Death has so many more repercussions than a birth or marriage, and I think it's important to think about how the death of an ancestor would affect both the family, but also friends and acquaintances. Especially a sudden death.

RIP Adrian. You will be missed x

Family Tree Maker 2012: Citing a UK Census

I want to be in control of my sources and citations, and to do this I have decided I will hand write all citations using the templates available in FTM 2012. I Googled in an effort to see how other people were doing it and found a few examples from the US Census, but none from a UK census, so I thought I'd publish what I did in an effort to help others (and as a reference to remind myself what I did!).

I'm going to add the 1881 census record for Matthew Elders and family.

To begin, go to the sources tab at the top, and then click 'Add', the first of the four buttons in the top right of the screen. This launches the 'Add Source Citation' window.

From here, click 'New...' for the source title which launches the 'Add Source' window. FTM 2012 uses the blank template when creating its sources, giving the opportunity to fill in the name, location and date of the publication, as well as its repository. Personally, I feel this amount of information is unnecessary for a census record as they are so readily available.

I chose to select 'more' to see what templates were available and found the source group 'Census Records'. The records I am viewing are on Ancestry.co.uk, making them digital copies, which leads me to the only template for UK census returns; 'Online Archive - United Kingdom and Wales' (for this moment we'll skip over the the fact that United Kingdom already includes Wales..!).

Your selection should look like the window above. Now you're ready to fill in some data!

I filled in my form as the above. Now to pre-empt a few questions. Why Yorkshire? I get pretty confused by Yorkshire, and I've lived there all my life! Is Hull East Riding? East Yorkshire? North Yorkshire? A quick search of GENUKI has it in Hullshire! So to save myself the brain ache, anything that says Yorkshire on any census will be filed under Yorkshire, so I know it was in the County of Yorkshire at that time.

The second question is likely to be 'What have you written in the comments box?' Closely followed by 'Why?' This is something I have taken from the citation created by FTM 2012 when you download an Ancestry record, and I have decided to keep it. The full text says 'Census Returns of England and Wales, 1881, Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives of the UK (TNA): Public Record Office (PRO), 1881.' Whilst Ancestry and various other websites hold copies of each census, the originals are still found at The National Archives in Kew. This doesn't show up in the reference, but it's a useful piece of information to keep around (the text for each year can be found at the bottom of each individual census return on the Ancestry website).

Upon clicking OK you are taken back to the 'Edit Source Citation' window. The point of a citation is so other people can trace your research and find where you got your evidence from. Therefore I cite the class, piece, folio and page of the record. I also list the name of the people on the record, as listed on that census. Finally I state the date I accessed the image and that it was found in an online source.

The text from this citation detail is:
Class: RG11; Piece: 4751; Folio: 115; Page: 20; GSU roll: 1342147; Matthew Elders, Jane Ann Elders, John Elders, Hannah J. Elders, Anne Elders, Alice Elders; Accessed 3 March 2012; Online Source.


In the citation text box I transcribe the record. This means I have a written copy of everything, as well as forcing me to go through each record carefully, looking at the spelling and figuring out the words. This way you are much less likely to miss an important fact.

The information gleaned from this census return is:

Civil Parish of Newington; Parliamentary Borough of Hull; Urban Sanitary District of Newington; Ecclesiastical Parish or District of St John the Baptist, Newington.
Schedule No. 95; 6 Western Villas.
1) Matthew Elders, Head, Married, age 31, Railway Enginer Driver, born in Yorkshire, Egton.
2) Jane Ann Elders, Wife, Married, age 29, born in Yorkshire, Lealholm.
3) John Elders, son, age 8, Scholar, born in Yorkshire, Hull.
4) Hannah J. Elders, Daughter, age 7, Scholar, born in Yorkshire, Hull.
5) Anne Elders, Daughter, age 4, born in Yorkshire, Hull.
6) Alice Elders, Daughter, age 1, born in Yorkshire, Hull.
(I have transcribed all the information at the top of the page, followed by the schedule number and address. Finally I number each member of the household and transcribe all of their information.)

The final step is to move to the Media tab within the 'Edit Source Citation' window and attach an image of the census for future reference.

And voila! You have selected a UK census! Your workspace should look something like this:

You'll notice my Reference Note in the bottom right of the screen is quite short. This is because I have un-ticked the 'Include in ref.note' box next to Citation text. When I go to generate a report, all the important information should have been linked to a fact, rendering a second copy of the text irrelevant. However if you prefer to have all the information then leave that box ticked.

Good news!

John met his son!

Norman was born April 10th, John died April 25th after 5 days of illness, so they'll have at least been able to spend a few days together.

I had to share the news now I have stopped crying happy tears! :D

In other news, I now have a website that I'm in the process of setting up which will keep me occupied for the rest of today!!

Certificates and confusion

In the past month I've received four new certificates, with each one being intriguing.

First John Redvers' birth certificate gave me no new information, but it's nice to know his birthday!

However Teresa's certificate had no father listed! Very interesting!

After these certificates I ordered the marriage certificate of Teresa's parents Richard and Catherine (Richard from the marriage certificate and Catherine from the 1911 census). They were married in a church popular with Irish immigrant workers, so maybe there is some truth in the Irish ancestry! It also gave me the names of their fathers, another Richard Wiseman and James Briggs.

I am trying to trace these families but it is proving difficult! Richard seems to have dodged all the census' he could have been in, and there are no records of his death prior to 1911. I have found a Briggs family with the correct name in Middlesex in the 1871 census, but then I can't track them further. Also the 1911 census states Catherine's birthplace as Middlesbrough (but her name is also down as Katherine so I'm not sure I believe it..!).

The final certificate I now own is of John Redvers' father, also a John, who died aged 31 of pneumonia when his son was 4 years old.

The next certificate on order is for Norman Sanderson, son of John, who was possibly born after his father died. I had to order the certificate to know for sure if baby Norman met his dad.

I am currently writing up my findings in a more formal way which is focusing my research and getting me to check and verify everything I have done previously. Best get back to it!!

Trip to a cemetery

Last weekend me and the parents went up into the North York Moors, specifically Egton, to try and find physical proof of the Elders side of the family. I've found generations of the family in the village, and a trip to the cemetery enabled me to see the graves of other families from the village, but no members of the Elders clan.

I wonder if perhaps they were buried on their farm, but I doubt that was the case. More likely, they didn't have the money to pay for a gravestone, or like their descendants, were too cheap to pay for one!

Nevertheless, it was a disappointment to not find them, and leaves me at a loss as to where to go next with my research. I'm waiting for the arrival of my next two certificates, and then hopefully I can look into the Wiseman side of the family, as I believe the Elders side to be exhausted, at least for now anyways.

Confused!

I got my first marriage certificate sent through the post yesterday, but it's thrown up a few questions.

My great-grandmother Teresa Wiseman has been a problem from the start. I've been told she worked in Edinburgh at one point, and possibly has Irish roots, but I had discovered a Teresa Wiseman in Middlesbrough with parents John and Catherine, however the marriage certificate for Teresa and my great-grandfather John Redvers lists her father as Dick Wiseman (deceased). I can't find a Richard Wiseman in the right area and the right age that has died, so I'm very confused!

John Redvers' father John is listed as a Commercial Traveller, and also deceased. I had his death as 1904, so that I agree with, but I believed his occupation to be a secretary to a company, as listed in the 1901 census.

To try and clarify both of these problems I have ordered the birth certificates for both people. This will give me their parents names and give me a better place to continue my research. I'd hate for all my research that I've done so far to have gone to waste!!