Dear Genealogists Forum - Who Do You Think You Are, Samantha Womack episode (Jessie Almer/Ryder/Finkle/Garraud)
I have found Jessie Almer sailing to America in 1897, however, you would need to look up Ruth Jezard (Jessie Almer is found just above Ruth on the UK outward bound passenger list travelling with a group of theatricals to America).
UK Outward Bound Passenger List
Name: Miss Ruth Jezard
Birth Date: abt 1876
Departure Date: 7 Aug 1897
Port of Departure: Southampton, England
Destination Port: New York, USA
Ship Name: Paris
This makes sense as Jessie left her daughter Beatrice at Nazareth House on 29 July 1897.
"Samantha visited Nazareth House and was shown the Children's Admission Register which showed that Beatrice's parents were Peter Garraud and Jessie Ryder and that she was received on the 29th July 1897 and taken away by her grandparents in May 1902".
This also makes sense as Jessie is reported in the New York Times on 15 August 1897 (do we know what Jessie (and Ruth)
http://www.jclibrary.org/picture-gal...-think-you-are
"Cynthia Harris, manager of the New Jersey Room, had done research on Samantha’s great-grandmother prior to the video shoot. In an August 15, 1897 article in the Theater section of The New York Times, reference was made to her great-grandmother, by maiden name, “Miss Jessie Almer has been over to America before, as the clown in Barnum’s Circus, and by right of larger experience, she was much respected by the other members of the group. They met at the pier, however, by a representative of the Academy of Music, who took care that none of them should stray away. Once he lost his count.”
Barnum's circus came to England in 1897 - Ruth's family lived in this part of London at this time.
http://circusnews.com/?p=1115
"Most outstanding of the foreign tours was the five-year stay of the Barnum & Bailey Circus in European countries from the fall of 1897 through the 1902 season.
Several fine route books were inspired by this tour. Most notable is “Four Years in Europe with Barnum & Bailey,” by Harvey L. Watkins, a member of the staff. This book recorded the principal events of the four seasons, with maps showing the routes, photographs of staff members and performers, and the complete personnel for the tour. It is to be regretted that the 1902 season was omitted.
The circus was transported to England at the close of the tenting season in America in 1897 and played an indoor winter engagement at the Olympia in London. The show took to the road on 67 specially built railroad cars in the spring of 1898 and spent two years on tour in Great Britain. This tour inspired another route book entitled “Tour of United Kingdom” by J. Austin, for the 1897-98 season, and J. W. Potts issued a route book for 1899, also entitled “Tour of the United Kingdom.”
Ruth/Ruby Thrasher/Jezard married Albert Edward Court in 1900 who was Chief Of Staff of the London Coliseum in 1905. Ruth's sister Louisa Thrasher married Percy Atkins in 1905 who was a theatrical business manager at the Lyceum Theatre in 1905.
Ruth eventually emigrated to America in 1905/1912 according to her inconsistent US census records and 'married' Edward Warren Congdon in 1910 - a booking manager for the Alcazar Theatre in San Fransisco and who worked for Bert Levey a vaudeville agent in 1917/1918 - Ruth died in 1968 California, Edward died in 1919 after signing up to be a WWI soldier in 1917/1918.
Ruth performed with Dan Leno and Herbert Campbell in the lavish Drury Lane Theatre pantomimes in 1898 and 1899 and is remembered in Herbert Campbell's memoirs.
Charlie Chaplin would watch these pantomimes honing his comic skills from Dan Leno - as Ruth later emigrated to America we wondered if she knew Charlie Chaplin and also became involved with silent movies.
Ruth's first husband Albert Edward Court is still alive in England in 1916 according to his WWI soldiers records working at Brook Green Skating Rink - Albert had been working as a rink manager in the 1911 UK census - we believe Albert died in 1923.
Ruth is found living with her sister-in-laws Ethel Congdon and Fanny Congdon in the US 1940 census and had been living with them since at least 1935 and known as Edward Warren Congdon's widow in the 1941 US Los Angeles California city directory.