Second cousins once removed, May and Beryl Ingham

I have blogged about May and Beryl before in April 2012 https://sheilasancestralthoughts.blogspot.com/2012/04/beryl-ingham.html. 

They were a clog dancing duo from Lancashire in the early years of the 20th century century and my 2nd cousins once removed on my dad's side of the family. 

I've recently been spending a lot of time searching old newspapers online to see if I can find any interesting articles to add to my family history.  What I already knew was that Beryl was  married to George Formby and knew a lot about her from a biography of George (George Formby a Troubled Genius),written by David Bret. 

I found a couple of articles about the marriages of the sisters.  The first to be married was Beryl who, at the age of 23, was the youngest sister to marry in September 1924.

May married at the age of 27 in November 1926

The sisters had previously had their names in the newspaper in 1920 and had appeared in theatres all over Lancashire after this.

 Ann Selina Mycock  (21st August 1848 - 12th May 1927)

Ann Selina Mycock was my paternal great grandmother.  She was born in the middle of the 19th century and lived well into the 20th century to the age of 78 which was a good age for that period. 

She had 14 children but sadly not all survived infancy.  The family lived in the village of Romiley from the middle of the 1880s which is where I was born and brought up.

I accidentally came across the following article from a local newspaper whilst doing some family history research.

It's not surprising to learn she had so many grandchildren who would all be my dad's cousins.  I wonder if he knew them all?  I doubt there would have been birthday cards and presents all round on birthdays and at Christmas.  I don't think it was the thing in those days and she wasn't a wealthy lady.  

Would have been lovely to know her but even my dad wouldn't have remembered her well as she died on the day before his 7th birthday.  I only knew a handful of the people listed in the article but remember them fondly. 

 Another sad story from my meanderings.  It's almost 25 years now since I started my family history research.  It brought me back in touch with my cousin Valerie Whitby who emigrated to Australia in 1968.  

I found out that she had been involved in the same hobby for a few years by then.  She passed on information to me along with little snippets of information from her mother Nora who was my dad's sister.  Sadly my dad died in 1969 so I was unable to learn about the family from him. 

This is the story about one of my paternal grandmother Sarah Mycock's elder sisters Hannah.  Hannah was 5 years older than Sarah being born in 1875. 

Hannah married Herbert Cubitt on 13th September 1902 in Stockport. Witnesses to the marriage were her sister Sarah and Berties Cheetham. Berties was either Sarah's boyfriend or fiance as she later married him the following year.

Herbert and Hannah had 3 children, Fred born 5th April 1903 Mary Edith born 17th September 1904 and Millicent born 29th October 1907.  

The sad story from  my aunty Nora was that Fred drowned in the canal in the village of Romiley where they lived.  Today while looking through old newspaper records I searched for Fred.  

On 18th September 1918, 15 year old Fred and some other boys, who were on a breakfast break from their work at Chadkirk Print works in Romiley, were playing football when their ball went into the river Goyt which was flowing fast due to flooding.  Fred went into the river to retrieve the ball but was carried away by the fast flowing water.  Another boy Peter Beswick jumped in to attempt to rescue him and was almost carried away too.   Sadly he was unable to rescue Fred.

The newspaper article I read was about an award made to Peter for his very brave attempt to rescue Fred.   He receive a certificate and a very handsome watch.

Very tragic for the family but the sad part to me is that there is nobody left of the family to remember Fred.  Both his sisters lived to a good age but neither had any children so that line of the family ended.

I knew both ladies well but don't remember them ever speaking of Fred.  They were my dad's cousins and I always called them aunty.  Aunty Edie was my godmother and I used to like spending time at her house listening to her gramophone in the late 1950s.  Her favourite record was Softly Softly by Ruby Murray. I used to stay there in my early teens when I didn't want to go on holiday with Dad and mum.

I didn't see aunty Millie as often but  one memory is of the corner shop near her house always comes to mind when I watch Open all Hours.  Her husband, uncle Norman, was a policeman and he was very tall.  She made a lovely potato hash with left over turkey at Christmas.

• World War 1 Family Loss

I often wander off  from searching for direct ancestors and so discover family stories rather than just names.  This is sad story I discovered accidentally. 

His mother Mary Emma Swindells was a sister of my grandmother Sarah Ann Cox. This means that William Swindells was my first cousin once removed.

I assume he died following injury in a WW1 battle but don't know which or how to find out but I will start searching.  

There are no family members left to ask about it.  My dad, who died in 1969 wasn't even born when this happened so he never knew his  cousin.

Didn't take me long to find out that he died in action in France and Flanders.  So sad!

Joining the dots!

In my previous post there was a photo of a group of people by a lake in Canada.  These were William and Mary Stacey and their cousin Annie Broadhead (right).  

My family tree programme has calculated my relationship with them and I was surprised to find that they were my 1st cousins twice removed. 

In a previous posting from June 2016 I mentioned Annie as the person who embroidered a picture which was sent to me by Liz Bucknell who was another 1st cousin twice removed of Annie.  

I find relationships a bit confusing but to put it as simple as I can we are all descended from my g g grandparents  John and Mary Stacey.   I was descended from their daughter Everil, Liz from their son John and Annie from another of their daughters Ann.

This is getting a bit long winded so to the purpose of this post.  I can now put a face to the talented lady who embroidered the picture.  I believe that Annie and her husband only had one child, a boy so maybe that is why her lovely work was passed on to her cousin Patricia who was Liz's mother.  Apparently Patricia had several items that Annie had made and when Patricia passed Liz offered me this one.  An heirloom to treasure.

Emigration to Canada early 20th century

 One of the problems with researching family history is going off on a tangent that takes up your time. Not only that it brings surprises you never expected.

What started me off on this story is a newspaper article I found on Find My Past website.

Kelita Stacey was my g g grandmother Everil Stacey's eldest brother who was born in Ecclesfield, Yorkshire in 1961.  He died in November 1949 in Rotherham, Yorkshire and left  the sum of £1109 of which £200 was to go to his son George who had emigrated to Canada.  His cousin said he had gone to Canada a number of years ago with his sister and another brother.

This started me on the journey to find out when he emigrated.  I checked the passenger lists of ships going to Canada.  The first I found was William Stacey, Kelita's second son had emigrated at the age of 21 in 1911, sailing on 17th June on board a ship named Teutonic from Liverpool to Montreal.  There were no other Staceys with him.   My next find was John Charles Stacey 26, the eldest of Kelita's sons, who sailed on 2nd May 1914 on board a ship named Canada, also heading for Montreal.

The next find surprised me.  On 3rd August 1923 Annie Stacey 59 and Mary Stacey 26 sailed together on board a ship named Montclaire also going to Montreal.  These were Kelita's wife and daughter. Mary was a few years older than this, I believe she was 65.  Perhaps that was thought to be too old for sailing all that way so she bent the truth a bit.

The last one I found was George Stacey born 1995, who is the one I had been searching for.  He sailed on 3rd October 1924 on board the Canada heading for Montreal.

Amazingly  Kelita's wife and all his children had gone to Canada and left him home alone.  I doubt I will ever know why.   I do know that John Charles did return as he was living in England with his father in 1939 when the 1939 register was taken prior to WW2.  

Another task for me now to try and find out what happened to those living in Canada.

William Stacey was living in Vancouver, British Columbia on the 1921 Canadian census. He was living in lodgings and working as a "motorman." On 7th May 1928 he married  Margaret Welsh a 42 year old spinster in Vancouver.  They were still living in Vancouver on 1931 census but don't have any children recorded at that time. He was still a motorman.  Margaret died on 5th January 1953.William died on 22nd May 1981 at the age of 91 years. He was buried in Ocean View Burial Park in Vancouver

Name	William Stacey
Sex	Male
Age	91
Birth Date	09 Dec 1889
Birth Year (Estimated)	1890
Birthplace	Yorkshire, England
Marital Status	Widowed
Father's Name	Kelita Stacey
Mother's Name	Anne
Event Type	Death
Event Date	22 May 1981
Event Place	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

 I also found George and his sister Mary in Vancouver. According to the 1931 census they were living together in a lodging house.  George was working as a labourer in road  construction and Mary was listed as a lodger. He died 10 years after his father Kelita, I wonder if he ever received  his inheritance.

George Stacey

Sex Male

Age 65

Birth Date 02 Apr 1894

Birth Year (Estimated) 1894

Birthplace, England

Marital Status Single

Father's Name Kelita Stacey

Mother's Name Anne Ward

Event Type Death

Event Date 17 Nov 1959

Event Place Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

 I have been unable to find their mother Annie on the census but later found her death on  3rd February 1931 which was probably before the 1931 census was recoded.

Name	Ann Stacey
Sex	Female
Age	74
Birth Date	03 Nov 1856
Birth Year (Estimated)	1857
Birthplace	, England
Marital Status	Married
Father's Name	John Ward
Mother's Name	Ann Spooner
Event Type	Death
Event Date	08 Feb 1931
Event Place	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

The photo on the left is Annie Stacey (Ward) Kelita's wife.

The photo below is Mary and William Stacey in Canada in 1969 with their cousin Annie Jennings (right), who visited them from England. The photo of Annie Stacey given to her by William 

An unusual but rather sad story I think.  Why was Kelita left home, did he just refuse to go and nobody bothered about him or was there a big family rift that broke them up.  Was John Charles the only one who cared so he went back home to stay with him.  William  was the only one who married and as far as I can see he didn't have any children.  I have been unable, as yet to find out what happened to Mary.  The brothers seemed to be looking after her as she wasn't living alone. That line of the family probably ended here. 

I need to find out what happened to John Charles after 1939. 

 Family History Hiccough

When I first started family history research in 2000 the line I followed was that of my dad William Cox. It was quite easy using the Free Birth, Marriages and Deaths site (FreeBMD) back as far as it went which is 1837. This brought me to my great great grandfather Asa (Esau) Godber and from his marriage certificate I had the name of his father James Godber. I found James on the 1841 census living in Ilkeston in Derbyshire with his wife Ann and son Asa.

I found James' death on 21^st March 1848 at the age of 69. His occupation was given as Out Pensioner of Chelsea Hospital. His name was James Godber alias Parrott.

I found a record of the discharge of James Godber in the Royal Hospital Chelsea admissions book. It said Sergeant Major James Godber was discharged from the militia aged 55 due to acute rheumatism after 35 years of service. I was so thrilled to have this record.

Trying to find the reason for the alias Parrott on James' death certificate led to me finding out his mother Mary Godber was unmarried but when James was a month old she married Edward Parrott. With James using the name Godber I wasn't sure whether or not Edward was his father. I thought maybe they would have changed his name to Parrott but he still used Godber.

This year I was looking at old newspapers on line and came across the story of the accidental death of Sergeant Major James Godber in Cossall, Derbyshire in 1848. Towards the end of the story it said that he had not been married. Could I have the wrong James Godber?

Back to Royal Chelsea Hospital records and I found a record for James Parrott who was discharged from the army in 1808 after 8 years and 6 months service due to loss of vision caused by ophthalmia.

I do have the right James but should have looked at the records more carefully. The first record I found was for a James Godber who was in the militia while the correct one was in the 35^th Regiment of Foot. James Godber (Parrott's) death certificate did say he was from the 35^th Regiment.

I was surprised that James had used the name Parrott to sign up. I found 2 records of his marriage to Ann Burrey in 1811 one gave his name as James Godber and the other as James Parrott Godber.

The James Godber who died due to an accident was 2 years younger than my James Godber but they both died in 1848.

Just shows you can be confused and make mistakes with unusual names not just common ones like Smith and Jones