A Family Mystery (part 4)

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Family history, Ferrier, Genealogy, Greenhill, Marshall, McDonald, Mystery, Reid, Sibling of Direct Line, Stott, Thomson

I’ve previously written about the family mystery I have (see A Family Mystery, A Family Mystery (part 2), and A Family Mystery (part 3) for the story so far), but I’ve realised that in my searches so far, I’ve not looked far enough afield in the search for how Linda may connect to the family.

True, she may have been truly adopted and not related to the family at all, but she may have also have been a niece or even a cousin of her adoptive parents, and as such, I need to be looking into the siblings of George and Helen, as well as

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Mary Ann Tongue – where were you born?

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Ancestors, Clemons, Devon, Direct Line Ancestor, England, Family history, Genealogy, Mystery, Tiverton, Tongue

Mary Ann Tongue was my Great-great-great-grandmother, and although I know about her married life, I know very little if anything about her birth and parentage. Dying in June 1869 in Tiverton Devon, Mary Ann is recorded as having an age of 62 years, putting her birth sometime around 1807.

So, what do I know about her?

• March 1831 – Tiverton, Devon – marries John Clemmons (surname also spelt Clemons)
• 1832 – Devon – birth of daughter Mary Ann
• August 1835 – Tiverton, Devon – birth of son John Nicholas
• December 1837 – Tiverton, Devon – birth of daughter Sarah Ellen
• Jan-Mar 1840 – Tiverton, Devon – birth of son Charles (died Oct-Dec 1850)
• June 1841 – English Census – living at “Rackfield, Tiverton, Devon”. Mary Ann’s age is recorded as being 30, and her birth place is recorded as “N”, indicating she was not born within the county.
• Oct-Dec 1841 – Tiverton, Devon – birth of daughter Jane
• Oct 1845 – Tiverton, Devon – birth of son George Henry
• Oct-Dec 1846 – Tiverton, Devon – birth of son Frederick William
• Oct-Dec 1848 – Tiverton, Devon – birth of birth of Thomas Francis
• Feb/Mar 1851 – Tiverton, Devon – birth of daughter Emily Emma
• March 1851 – English Census – living at “Rackfield, Tiverton, Devon”. Mary Ann’s age is recorded as being 40, and her birth place is recorded as being Chelmsford Essex.
• December 1852 – Tiverton, Devon – birth of daughter Fanny (my great great grandmother)
• April 1861 – English Census – living at “Rackfield, Tiverton, Devon”. Mary Ann’s age is recorded as being 50, and her birth place is recorded as Chelmsford Essex.
• December 1868 – Tiverton, Devon – husband John Clemons dies aged 66.
• June 1869 – Tiverton, Devon – Mary Ann Clemons dies, and her age at death is recorded as being 62.

Age at death in 1869 is 62… that puts her birth as c1807. Yet each census that she appears on, her age is consistent in progression, and consistent with a birth year of 1811. Why the sudden jump in age? Her cause of death is listed as “Sinectus et Imbecillitas”, which translated from the Latin, apparently means “Age and Weakness”. Ok, so cause of death – pretty much old age, nothing unusual there, perhaps her age was mis-recalled when her death was registered 3 days later. 62, or 60 in 2 years – it’s a theory.

There are still two problems though, both to do with her declared birthplace of Chelmsford, Essex. I have been through the parish registers for Chelmsford’s Cathedral, St Mary the Virgin St Peter & St Cedd, and in the time period of 1805-1816, I have not seen any surname that could be considered to be Tongue or a variant of it. I considered that she may have been baptised at another church in the city or even another parish just outside of Chelmsford, so while I was able to, I checked the registers for a dozen other parishes close by, mainly for baptisms within the years of 1805-1812. Again, no surname that could be considered to be Tongue or a variant of it.

The second problem with her census declared birthplace is that through checking a lot of census records and following up and cross-referencing and checking other household members, it can be determined that her father, or at least the man who she called her father, that his name was John Tongue. John Tongue was born in Manchester, Lancashire around 1780 and was an Innkeeper. Sometime before 1819, John Tongue makes his way down from Manchester and ends up in Tiverton, where in Feb 1819, he marries a lass named Hannah Hewitt who had been born about 1792 in Bradnich, about 12km south of Tiverton. I have considered that Mary Ann was the daughter of Hannah Hewitt, but I did not see any Hewitt (or variant) surnames when looking through the parish registers of Chelmsford Essex and surrounds.

So, as far as my research so far can tell, neither John Tongue, nor Hannah Hewitt, had reason or cause to be in Chelmsford Essex between 1807 and 1811, and therefore can not account for this birthplace being recorded. Yes it is possible that Mary Ann was born in Chelmsford while her parents were enroute from a previous location (Manchester?) to the next one (Tiverton?), but with her father’s occupation of Innkeeper, I would have expected to find him somewhere along the line if that was the case.

Mary Ann Tongue – where were you born, and when? Was your father John Tongue, and if so, who was your mother? Or was your mother Hannah Hewitt, and if she was, then who was your father? Whoever your birth parents were, John Tongue and Hannah Hewitt were the parents you knew for the 12 years prior to your own marriage, and they would have been the grandparents your children knew.

Mary Ann Tongue, later Clemons – born between 1807 & 1811, died Tiverton Devon 1869

A Family Mystery (part 3)

Tags

Family history, MacDonald, McDonald, McEwan, Mystery, Sibling of Direct Line

I previously written about the mystery I have (See A family mystery and A family mystery (part 2) for back story), and in my quest to find Linda I have discovered a few things that almost do not make sense.

Facts as I know them?

• Name: Linda McDonald
• Birth date: 21 May 1899
• Birth location: Brisbane, Queensland.

How do I know these?

• School record gives date of birth
• Marriage & Death gives place of birth
• Spelling of name is consistent across each

It is fortunate that with the recent changes to Queensland’s Family History search engine, that I can actually search by a specific date, and do not need to specify a surname, or even a given name. As long as I have information in one of four different name fields (surname, given name, father’s name, or mother’s name) and specify either a date or a date range, then I will get results (if there are results to get).

However….

• Queensland Registry has NO record for ANY Linda born in Queensland during the month of May 1899, not just on 21 May 1899
• Only 13 girls with Linda in the name were registered in Queensland in 1899.
• Of those 13 girls, 2 died as infants, 8 married, one never married but died in later life – all within Queensland
• The remaining two, one was born in January, the other in July of 1899, but as yet been unable to be traced through Queensland marriage or death records

I did find that there were 33 children registered in Queensland as being born on 21 May 1899, and that 16 of these were female. Only 2 of these girls were recorded as being born within the boundary of the Brisbane Metropolitan area as it was defined at the time, however, the definition of the Brisbane Metropolitan area has changed quite a lot over the years.  [1]

I am yet to trace via marriage or death these 16 girls, and that will be my next step.

I have considered the possibility that Linda was born in New South Wales, and so I have searched their records, but unlike the Queensland search engine, although I can search by just surname or given name, I can not search by a specific date but by year only. Thus my search for births in 1899 for children named Linda, results in 81 children but gives no way to narrow down even which month any of these children were born in.I will also have to try and track these 81 Linda’s through marriage and death records as well, but if Linda had been born in Brisbane, why would her birth be registered in New South Wales?

I also have to consider a couple of other possibilities.

1. That she was born in Brisbane on that day, but her birth wasn’t registered
2. That her birth was registered, but that the registration has been lost or hidden
3. That the date and place of birth have been “assigned” to an infant child left at an orphanage with no details. Her name of Linda could have been similarly given to her at that time.
4. That Linda was born elsewhere in Australia or overseas, and that her location of birth, and possibly even her date of birth, is simply – Wrong.

Time will tell, but I hope that I find the answer one day.

———————————–
Footnote:
If you believe that you are a descendant of Linda McEwan nee McDonald, please contact me. I aware aware that Linda and her husband Alexander had three children Flora, Phyllis & Alexander, and that at least Flora & Alexander had at least one child each. From Linda’s son Alexander’s funeral notice, I am aware that at that time, there were descendants of Linda still alive. I would very much like to make contact with you.

———————————–
Sources:
[1] Family history research codes  The suburb Windsor didn’t become part of the “Brisbane metropolitan area” until 1925, so would have recorded a country based event prior to that date.

A family mystery (part 2)

Tags

Family history, Genealogy, MacDonald, McDonald, McEwan, Mystery, Sibling of Direct Line

There is a lady in my family tree, who intrigues me and puzzles me at the same time. I wrote about her a few days ago in the hope that someone who reads this may have some knowledge of her, and may be able to help solve the mystery she has created in my family.

Well, I have some new information to add, so I’ll lay out the facts as known again here.

Who?
Name: Linda McDONALD
Born: 21 May 1899 – marriage & death certificates declare Brisbane, QLD
Married: 15 Sept 1921, Helidon, QLD
Spouse: Alexander McEWAN
Children: 3 – Flora, Alexander and an unknown female
Died: Nov 1966 Brisbane QLD aged 66
Parents according to Marriage & Death Certs: George McDonald and Helen Marshall

What I now know.
Linda is recorded as starting school in Toowoomba in January of 1908, aged 8 years 8 months, and the school records record her parent/guardian as being George Stewart MacDonald of Taylor St, Railway Guard. This ties in with the known location and occupation of George & his previously known family. The question that must be asked is, why had Linda not started school prior to this time? The family had been living in Toowoomba since 1901, and there had no doubt been ample opportunity to send Linda to school prior to this.
Having now ruled out siblings old enough to have been Linda’s true mother/father through obtaining their death certificates and drawing a blank, the question still remains – who were Linda’s true parents?
In May 1899, Helen would have been aged 50, somewhat a little old to be having another child, although not completely out of the realms of possibilities. But if Helen & George had been Linda’s parents, then the next youngest sibling would have known about Linda and would have mentioned her to my grandfather to be included on the family tree.

This leads me to only one possible solution. That Linda was not the biological child of anyone of the family, although her being the child of an extended family member has not been ruled out. Tracing George & Helen’s siblings is proving somewhat tricky and problematical, with the only one so far successfully traced as coming to Australia from Scotland, arriving in 1914, too late for Linda to be a part of that family.

One day I’ll find the answer – or it will find me.

A family mystery

Tags

Family history, Genealogy, MacDonald, McDonald, McEwan, Mystery, Sibling of Direct Line

There is a lady in my family tree, who intrigues me and puzzles me at the same time. Since she is now deceased some 47 years, and the chances are her children are deceased as well, I feel I can share details with you. Perhaps someone who reads this may have some knowledge of her, and may be able to help solve the mystery she has created in my family.

Who?
Name: Linda McDONALD (or MacDONALD)
Born: ?? about 1900 – death certificate declares Brisbane, QLD
Married: 1921, Helidon, QLD
Spouse: Alexander McEWAN
Children: 3 – Flora, Alexander and an unknown female
Died: Nov 1966 Brisbane QLD aged 66
Reputed parents according to Death Cert: George McDonald and Helen Marshall

Reasons why a brick wall mystery:

1. She’s not listed on the reputed parents George & Helen’s death certs
2. She’s listed as sibling to their children and daughter to the mother in various death notices, but is Not listed as daughter to the father in his death notice
3. No birth registration can be located under the maiden name as implied at death
4. She Does Not Appear in Any Way on the Family Tree written down While she was alive, yet this family tree contains information about deceased infants from 80+ years prior and information about grandparents of spouses who married in, as well as other info that was rumour or suspected but was marked as such.
5. This same tree contained information about all living family at the time it was written, but Not Linda.
6. She is not listed as a child of the reputed parents on their death certificates

What do I already have?

• Death certificate of Linda
• Death certs for reputed parents
• Electoral Rolls for Linda and husband
• Death notices for some siblings and for mother
• Death cert for a sister who was old enough to be mother

What is “in the mail”

• Death cert for brother & brother’s wife, both of whom were old enough to be the parents but too young to marry and raise a child at the approximate time of birth
• Church records are being investigated by a third party

What do I want to find out?

• What was Linda’s actual relationship to her reputed parents?
• What was her name at her birth?
• When & where was she born?
• How did she come to live with the family and the parents she obviously thought were hers?

Only time will tell what the answer to my questions are.