1921 census proves my research

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

I have been taking advantage of FMP's half price offer on the 1921 census over the weekend and I was delighted that one of the records has answered a question and proved my research to be right.
My problem had been with my hsuband's great grandmother Edith Shaw and my struggle to confirm her family due to changes in her name indifferent records. See this thread for details http://www.genealogistsforum.co.uk/f...ght=edith+shaw
Yesterday I downloaded the 1921 census of Edith and her husband, Patrick Lyons, where I expected to find them with their 4 children and a boarder. However the names of Patrick and their 8 year old daughter Nora, had a line through and the comment, "not at home". I then downloaded the record of Thomas & Mary Ann Shaw who I believed were Edith's parents and was amazed and delighted to see Patrick and Nora listed as being there and described as son in law and granddaughter! It was totally unexpected and i am delighted to now have proof that I have been following the right family. If only I could now find out what happened to Edith after the birth of her last child.

[ElizabethHerts]

Wonderful, Lynn! I hope the good luck with the research continues.

[Merry]

If only I could now find out what happened to Edith after the birth of her last child.

I see Patrick says 'married' in 1939. Have you any reason to believe he was referring to anyone other than Edith?

[Merry]

I wonder what was going on here?

Flintshire County Herald 25 February 1938

DROWNING HIS SORROWS.

Patrick Lyons, of 15 Park Road, Buckley, was fined 10/- and costs for being drunk at Mold on January 12th.

Supt. Humphreys said Lyons went up to some young men and began conducting an imaginary choir. It seemed he had had some domestic trouble and had taken drink to try to drown his sorrow.

P.c. C. Jones said he saw Lyons first of all in High Street and he warned him to go home. Later he saw him staggering around Chester Street, where he was a danger to traffic.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pity they are not more detailed about the domestic trouble.

[Merry]

When their son died on active service in June 1943 the newspaper notice says beloved son of Mr P Lyons and his address and the names of Gerald's siblings, but no mention of Edith. If she had been dec'd it was usual practice to say 'son of X and the late.....'. So presumably they had split up by this date and most likely by 1939 or even by 1938.

The CWGC entry mentions both parents.

I looked at Ediths in 1939 with dob 1 Jun 1887, but no entry looked more promssing then the others.

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

Wow, that is amazing Merry. Did you get that from the Newspaper archive site? I am pretty certain that Patrick didn't remarry, the story is that Edith left. Gerald actually died of meningitis in a hospital in Scotland and his death certificate had Edith down as being deceased. I wish my father in law was still hear, I am sure he would have found this very interesting. Thank you

[Merry]

Oh, interesting about Gerald's death certificate then. I saw that he died from meningitis but was buried at Buckley. It hadn't occurred to me that, of course, there would be information about his mother on his Scottish death cert!

So, did he/the navy believe she was dec'd but she actually wasn't? Possible. Or was she dec'd, but for whatever reason Patrick ended up listed as married on the 1939 Register?

Of course like most census records, we only see what the 'enumerator' wrote on the final document. I've just looked at a blank copy of the householders form and it asks for Single, Married, Widowed or 'D' if the marriage was disolved by divorce. I expect some people wrote S, M, W or D and M and W could be mistaken for each other!

I was thinking you might only get away with saying your wife was dead to your children if they were very young. (Pity the electoral rolls up to 1933 for Flintshire are not on FMP.) On the other hand, perhaps the family were so angry with her (say she had left very recently) that they might say she was dead to them in anger. At the end of all this, we are really none the wiser. I looked on your old thread and saw her date of birth was 1 June 1887 and she might also be called Adelaide. I did look at the Ediths and Adelaides in 1939 with the right dob to see if any were perhaps not too far away from Flintshire, but there were none that looked more promising that the rest. I kept thinking, maybe she didn't know or report her correct dob and maybe she had gone off to America or somewhere, so rather lost heart with searching. I did notice, though she appeared on a few trees on Ancestry, not one of them had anything for her after the birth of her last child.

The newspaper info was from FMP.

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

You could well be right about the M and W being confused on the 1939, that is easily done. Patrick was the informant on the death cert and it definitely shows Edith as being deceased. Their youngest child would have been 17 in 1939 but there is no sign of him on the 1939 register either, which is strange (Donald Keith 28/4/1922). My father in law who was born in 1934 and had no memories of his grandma at all, although he did remember her siblings. Maybe Edith was already dead in 1938 and that was the cause of Patrick's domestic problems?
Would you be able to send the the newspaper articles please? I have looked but can't find them, I must be blind!

[Merry]

Ok, so I would be a bit surprised if Patrick lied about his wife when he was dealing with his son's death. Also, now you say the family kept in touch with her siblings that puts a bit of a different light on things too.

Another possibility is that they were still married in 1939 and she had died by 1943. Of course then we have to wonder where she was in 1939 and did she have a different surname and did she die with that surname? If not, why can't we see her?

Re Donald - I know there was a time when death registrations were compared with the 1939 register and if it could be proved someone born less than 100 years ago had passed away then FMP opened the record. This didn't capture every case though and if there was any doubt then the record would remain closed. It is almost 100 years now though, so later this year he may appear! The other thing may be that if he had joined up at 17 yrs 5 months (maybe saying he was 18) then he may not show up as service men not living in a private house were not included in the register.

If Patrick said her was married (or was recorded as married) I wonder if he received two ration books!

I've saved the two newspaper snippets. If you could pm me your email I'll send them.

[Lynn the Forest Fan]

Thanks Merry, I did wonder if Donald might not have shown because of the 100 year thing.