Charles Montague Pearce

For many years I've been searching for the children of my Great Uncle, Albert Edward "Fred" Pearce. My only leads were that he married an Edith Harrison near Exeter and had 2 sons.  I found one son, Charles M, born in 1913 in Exeter area, but nothing further.

I know that "Fred" (and I assume his wife) were living in Clapham, London in 1915 - based on a business card he put into his Sister's Autograph Book, on her departure for the USA.  He was a commercial artist and used the name Fred Mont. Pearce

I had assumed that this might have been Mortimer, as a tribute to his Sister's husband who essentially raised him --- but now the name Montague appears to be the middle name he was using.  I deduced this from the Civil Registration for his son's death.   In looking for the death of Charles M Pearce, born 1913 -- I found a death for Charles Montague Pearce, born in the correct quarter of 1913, and dying in Islington (London) in 1972.

Now, where did the name Montague come from??

I've also yet to find Alfred Edward "Fred" in the 1939 Register, or the death of his wife Edith (I think she died relatively young, as I know Fred had a "common law wife" named Maisie later in life).  And where did Alfred Edward "Fred" die?   Was he in Islington near his son?  What was the other son's name (brother of Charles Montague Pearce)? Was that son born in London?

I've ordered the death certificate for Charles Montague Pearce -- hoping there will be an informant and a better address than just Islington Reg District.

More to follow.....

UPDATE:  He died in Islington on 14 Aug 1972.  His residence was 27 Hamilton Park, Islington, and he was listed as a Commercial Artist

New Irish Civil Registration Records -- what a goldmine!

Wow! What a red letter day in the world of Irish Genealogy!  Free Civil Registration Records online!  OMG, how long have we needed these!  Now you can finally see the details, which help you determine if it's your ancestor!

The village names, ages, etc -- all those details are so key in finding the correct Mary Walsh or Patrick Connolly.  All my people have such common names, that it's virtually impossible without the village names, or parents names, to pinpoint the right person.

I started with my Walsh family -- and began with death certs.  Going through my direct line, and finding my Gt Grandmother's death in 1923, her husband's death in 1916.

Most interestingly I found their daughter Mary Walsh - my Grandmother's sister.  We had always been told she was sickly (probably with TB) and had died young.  I knew she was still alive in 1911, but lo and behold she died in 1934 and lived to the age of 59!! So much for that family story!!

I found my Grandmother's other sister Margaret, and while I knew her death date, I didn't know why she died relatively young at age 48 in 1931 -- turns out she got septicemia from a cut suffered on the farm -- and died in Hospital over the Christmas holidays.  Very sad!  This detail supplied by my cousin after I sent her the copy of the certificate.

Lots of early dates are not producing images yet, so hope that issue will be sorted out tomorrow when the records truly go live.

So excited to keep making discoveries and correcting some errors (I had some assumed death dates which proved to be wrong).

Look forward to diving into the birth and marriage records tomorrow!

UPDATE: As of Sept 12, 2016 --- I've added 63 new records to my Family Tree!!! Primarily deaths, and some marriages!  Fantastic discoveries continue....

Hurrell breakthrough.....

For many years, one of my cousins has holidayed in a small Devon village called Hope Cove.  It is beautiful, with thatched cottages and a lovely beach.  He has always told me that in the Pub there are some lovely old photos of the local fisherman and some are named HURRELL.  This cousin relates on a completely different line, but knows that HURRELL is one of my direct ancestral lines.

I've never been able to connect any of my South Devon Hurrell's to the village of Hope Cove, and so never thought much more about it.

Today in some random searching, I found a hitherto unknown child, Thomas Hurrell, b 1847 to one of my 1st cousins 4x removed, William Henry Hurrell.   Thomas only appears in the 1851 Census with the family, and then by 1861 is a 13 year old servant living elsewhere.  He disappears in 1871, and reappears in 1881, as a married fisherman in Hope Cove.  He lists his birthplace as Marlborough, when I have it as West Alvington (but they are next door to each other, so understandable).

I then found his marriage certificate at Marlborough, which confirms his Father was William Hurrell, and that he was residing at Hope Cove as a fisherman.

 He and his wife go on to have 6 sons, 3 of whom join the Royal Navy, and another son dies in World War One.   The eldest son Peter Bailey Hurrell, appears to have stayed in Hope Cove and went on to have a large family.

This is Peter Bailey Hurrell, in 1926, when he was a member of a lifeboat crew that went to the aid of a steamer off Hope Cove.

Walsh's of Ogool

In chatting with a new Walsh cousin in Sydney, Australia - we got on to the branch of Walsh's that seem to originate from Ogool and Finnaun north of Spiddal and west of Moycullen.  I am not sure I'm blood related to them (yet) -- as my Sarah Walsh marries into this family, but it seems plausible that it's another case of Walsh's marrying Walsh's to keep it "all in the family".

To confuse matters there are two Uggool's.  One in Killanin Pairsh and one in Moycullen Parish.

The David Walsh that Sarah marries, is from Uggool, and from his marriage record his Father is John Walsh.  He is from the Killanin Uggool -- which borders Finnaun and Letterfir.


In the Moycullen Uggool - In the Griffith's valuation there is a Joseph and Thomas Walsh who are listed as tenants.  In Tithe Applotment Books there is a James Walsh in Ogool -- could he be a brother of John?  I also found a burial in Moycullen in 1799 for James Walsh of Ogool.

In the Killanin Uggol - There is no Tithe Applotment Book, but in the Griffith's Valuation there is a Mary Walsh (probably a widow, and possibly David's Grandmother?).    In the 1901 Census there is a 91 year old John Walsh still living, which is likely David's father.  David and Sarah are in Finnaun in 1901, and he dies before 1911, with Sarah still in Finnaun for the 1911 Census.

More research needed, but need to concentrate on the Walsh's of Finnaun, Letterfir and Uggool (Killanin) -- need to look for burials (probably in Spiddal Cemetery rather than Moycullen).

UPDATE:  In July 2018, descendants of this family from Sydney, London, California and Ohio gathered and walked to the ruins of the family home in Ugool.

Yorkshire Toulson's!!!

A whole boatload of new Yorkshire records were added to Findmypast.com today! So, off I went to find some Toulson's!

Found just a few new folks, primarily female Toulson's who married, and their subsequent children.

Also, was able to fill in actual marriage dates and photographs of the actual certificates for over 50 Toulson's!!!  What a bonanza!  This in turn gave me some approx birth dates for some of the spouses, and fathers of spouses, to help establish the correct person in earlier census returns (helpful with common names -- once you've got the approx birth year, place of birth and father, it's fairly easy to find the correct John Smith).

Now to move on to the burials and baptisms!!  There are 87 Toulson burials and 133 baptisms.  Some are too early date wise (most of my Toulson's seem to have migrated from Lincolnshire to Yorkshire in the mid to late 1800's).  There are very few that are not part of my family, just a few miners from an area called Worsbrough.

I still suspect that there is a connection between my Toulson's and the Yorkshire Toulson's, somewhere up the tree in the 1600's.  At one time, someone suggested that the Civil War may have been when some of the Northern folks ended up down in Lincolnshire/Nottingham, for military purposes.  Need to do some historical reading to see if that is a plausible theory.

Possible massive Pearce breakthrough!!!

My Pearse/Pearce family has always been elusive, a common name in a difficult county (Devon), with frequent crossings into Cornwall just to confuse things!  My Pearce great great grandfather (Henry Pearse) was a bastard, but luckily his Father's real name William Pearse was listed on his birth certificate.

Henry was an interesting character, and through luck I traced him via Royal Marine records to his home village of South Brent, Devon.  I found his Pearse line going way back in the village. But, what had become of his Father, William who had sired him?  He never married Henry's mother.  I had a possible death in Plymouth for him, but it was just a guess.

Recently, dear Henry turned up in the Bodmin Gaol records for "breaching the peace" with his wife. When I got the records it noted that there were letters sent/received between Henry and his wife Susan in St. Ive (which proved it was him), and his brother William in Callington (Cornwall).  What? Who was this???  The Bodmin Gaol record was for 1849, so I checked for a William Pearse/Pearce in the 1851 Census for Callington.  Bingo! Found him and wife Elizabeth.  He was born 1819 in Callington, so was 2 years younger than Henry.  All this made good sense.

Then I checked to see if there were other Pearse's in Callington in 1851 and what do you know, but a William Pearse, age 70, born in South Brent, Devon and his wife Purdence!!!!  South Brent, that is the ticket -- tying this all neatly together!!

Further searching found William Pearse marrying Prudence Perry Betty on 2 June 1819 in East Stonehouse (Plymouth), Devon.  He was a full age Mariner, of the Parish. She was a spinster of full age of the Parish.

They went on to have son William Pearse who was baptized on 19 Sept 1819 in Callington (which was Prudence's birthplace).  So a bit of a shot gun wedding!

They lived in Callington in 1841, when they have 3 other children listed (Rachel, 14, Thomas 12, and Elizabeth 8). In 1851 they are living on there own (no children with them), and he must die sometime between 1851-61, as Prudence is a widow in 1861 living with a grandau Harriet Pearse, age 15. Prudence dies in the 2nd Quarter 1866 in Liskeard Reg Dist.

Son William (my GGG Uncle) goes on to marry Harriet Trezise/Tresize/Treise (mispelled in Civil Registration as Treise, when it's likely one of the first two variants) in 1843.  They had Elizabeth, Harriet, William, Thomas and Lucy, before Harriet dies in 1877.  He went on to marry a Susan Nicholls in1879, and he died in 1902.

All of this very exciting.....can't find headstone or burial info for many of them, and need to look for Civil Reg's for them to further prove things -- but it all ties up nicely.  While this whole line are just half-related, it is still exciting to finally nail down what happened to my GGG Grandfather William.

Henry Pearce -- my Gt Gt Grandfather's Bodmin Gaol record

After patiently waiting a couple weeks, my mailbox was finally filled with a package from the Cornwall Records Office today!  I'd sent off for the prison record of my Gt Gt Grandfather in 1849. I wasn't sure what to expect, as the index said there were letters between he and his wife and brother. I hoped for those letters, but realistically didn't expect them to survive.  I hoped for at least a physical description.

The 2 images - photos of the original register - gave me lots of good information, but of course raised additional questions.

There was a wonderful physical description of him, more detailed than I could've hoped for!

And there was information that his brother William was living in Callington in 1849.  The William I can find there in 1851 is a possibility, but says he was born in Callington, and in a later census St Austell.  This doesn't square with his brother's birth in Harford, Devon. So not sure where we are with that......is it even the right William in the census?

The "want of sureties", means he couldn't find anyone to vouch for him or put up bail, so he sat in jail for 3 months before the next Quarter Sessions.  And when that date came up, his wife didn't appear to press charges, so he was released.  I found this reported in the West Briton and Cornwall Advertiser newspaper.

More investigation needed, but fascinating stuff!!!