Ancestors Who Suffered the Loss of a Parent at a Young Age - SNGF

Randy's Saturday Night Genealogy Fun this week asked

1)  Do you have ancestors who suffered the loss of one or both parents early in their life?  Did the surviving parent remarry soon after one parent died?  Was a guardian appointed for your ancestor to protect their physical or legal interests?    

2)  Tell us about one or two of your "orphaned" ancestors and how this affected their life.

In five generations I have five ancestors who were young, from 8 years to 1 month, when either a father or mother died.  I don't know whether I feel sorrier for the children left without a parent, or parents left with young children and no spouse.  Either circumstance would be heart-breaking.

These are my five ancestors who became half-orphans.

1. Lee Doyle, my father, and his twin sister, Leila, were born in February, 1913.  Leila died soon after birth.  Lee was about a month old when his mother, Beulah Mae (Gerner) Doyle, died in early April.  She was 24.  She left behind her husband, Gust, and little Lee, about a month old.
   
   I believe my father's life was difficult without his mother.  His father remarried a woman who was, perhaps jealous of my father or of his mother.  From what I've heard, she was somewhat abusive and Gust did his best to keep Lee away from her.  My father once said he knew about the stepmother in Cinderella.
   
   He spent time with his grandparents, William and Tressa (Froman) Doyle.  But a grandmother, no matter how loving, cannot replace a mother.
   
   Additionally, my father's father, Gust, died when my father was 21 and Gust was 44.
   
   
2. Elizabeth (Armitage) Meinzen, my great-grandmother, was born in 1852.  She was 4 years old when her mother, Eliza (Hartley) Armitage, died of consumption in 1856 at the age of 44.  Eliza left behind her husband, Abel, and two daughters, ages 6 and 4.
   
   
3. Edward Jesse Bickerstaff, my great-grandfather, was born in 1871.  He was 7 when his mother, Emma (Nelson) Bickerstaff, died in 1878.  Emma was 33 years old at the time of her death.  She left her husband, Ellis, and three children, ages 15 to 7.
   
   
4. Tressa Rose (Froman) Doyle, my great-grandmother, was born in 1867.  She was 4 years old when her father, John Froman, died in 1871.  He was about 30 years old at the time of his death.  John left behind his pregnant wife, Catherine (Saylor) Froman, and six children, ages 10 to 1. A baby born 2 months after his death.
   In this case, John left the family in debt and the children were provided a guardian, S. W. Mannheimer, whose identity or relationship I've been unable to determine.  Catherine's father, Jacob D. Seylor/Sailer/Seyler, was the administrator.
   
   
5. Andrew Doyle, my great-great-grandfather, was born in 1836.  He was 2 years old when his father, William Doyle, died in an accident in 1838 when he was about 36.  William left behind his pregnant wife, Martha, and five children ages 12 to 2.  The baby was born six months later.
   
   

It is surprising to me that two of these fathers, John Froman and William Doyle, were both coal miners.  William died after being run over by a cart wheel.  Were both accidental mining deaths?  Also surprising is that both of their wives were pregnant at the time of their deaths.

Thanks for the genealogy fun, Randy.

—Nancy.

Copyright © 2024 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Abel Armitage & Eliza Hartley's 1847 Marriage Records

Abel Armitage and Eliza Hartley were married at St. Peter's Church (also known at Bradford Cathedral) in Bradford, Yorkshire, England, on January 13, 1847.  I obtained both a civil record and a church record, shown below. 

Marriage Certificate from UK GRO, Year 1847, Quarter M, Volume 23, Page 140.

The transcription.

1847.  Marriage solemnized at St. Peter's Church in the Parish of Bradford in the County of York
No. 113
When Married.   13 January
Name and Surname.   Abel Armitage    Eliza Hartley
Age.   25    33
Condition.   Bachelor    Spinster
Rank or Profession.   Carter    Mill hand
Residence at the the Time of Marriage.   Horton    Horton
Father's Name and Surname.   John Armitage    Richard Hartley
Rank or Profession of Father.    Collier    Cloth-dresser
Married in the Parish Church according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Established Church, by banns, by me
W F Stirling, Curate
This Marriage was solemnized between us    
Abel Armitage's  x  mark     Eliza Hartley's  x  mark
in the Presence of us,
Charles Hemsworth     Joseph Smith

Marriage Record from St. Peter's Church, Bradford, Yorkshire, U.K.  Available at Ancestry.com.

The transcription.

Page 57.
1847.  Marriage solemnized at St. Peters Church in the parish of Bradford in the County of York
No. 113
When Married.  13 Jan
Name and Surname.  Abel Armitage   Eliza Hartley
Age.  25   33
Condition.  Bachelor   Spinster
Rank or Profession.  Carter   Mill hand
Residence at the Time of Marriage.  Horton   Horton
Father's Name and Surname.  John Armitage   Richard Hartley
Rank or Profession of Father.  Collier   Cloth dresser.
Married in the parish Church according to the Rites and Ceremonies of the Established Church, By Banns by me, W. F. [illegible words], Curate
This Marriage was solemnized between us Abel Armitage's X mark   Eliza Hartley's X mark
in the Presence of us, Charles Hemsworth   Joseph Smith [signatures]

Record images together for comparison. 

The church and government records request the same information but you can see that the handwriting is different in these records.  The only other difference I see between them is that the church record has a page number and the civil record does not. 

On at least one occasion I purchased a UK GRO marriage record after having already found a church record.  When the civil record arrived I was disappointed to see that the images were identical, almost as if the GRO had copied the church record onto their form. 

I haven't been able to learn where or how the UK GRO obtains its information, whether directly from the couple or the minister, or in some other way.

Comment
It's great to get the names of the bride's and groom's fathers but not really helpful in determining which man is their father when there are several men with the same name in the same community or county.  Finding a church birth record is helpful but even then, the record only asks for the mother's given name. 

I also find it interesting that no one has added the parents of either Abel or Eliza to FamilySearch's family tree.  Often documents/sources are attached to the tree and I take those as hints to research further.  No help from FSFT yet for this couple!

-–Nancy.

Copyright © 2022 Nancy Messier.  All Rights Reserved. 
Do not copy or use any content from this blog without written permission from the owner. 
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Eliza (Hartley) Armitage - Death Certificate

When I first began research on my mother's paternal side of the family I was told by another researcher that Elizabeth Armitage Meinzen's mother was Ann Bell.  Comparing Elizabeth's and her siblings' death certificates, it did not make sense to me that the informant for Elizabeth's certificate, one of her daughters, knew only Elizabeth's father's name while several of Elizabeth's siblings' children knew both parents' names.

I pondered that while I searched for Elizabeth and her parents in census records.  Elizabeth was born in 1852 and her older sister, Ann, in 1850.  Their younger siblings were born between 1859 and 1872.  I began to make sense of the situation when I found the 1851 census with Ann Armitage with her parents, Abel and Eliza.  When I searched the 1861 census I found Elizabeth and Ann with parents Abel and Ann, and another son, Peter.  I finally understood that something had happened to Eliza before about 1859 -- possibly a death or a divorce.

Further searches revealed that Abel Armitage and Eliza Hartley were married in 1847.  Looking at the death indexes for England I found more than a few Eliza Armitages.  A few months ago, when the U.K. GRO began offering PDF versions of death certificates at a reduced cost, I made an educated guess about which Eliza was probably mine based on where Elizabeth and Ann lived in the 1861 census.

When the certificate arrived there was no doubt it was the Eliza of my search.  It's so satisfying to learn what happened to an ancestor and put her to rest, so to speak.

This certificate is from U.K. GRO Year 1856, Volume 10A, Page 54.

This is the transcription.

Superintendent Registrar's District  Stockton
Registrar's District  Sedgefield
1856.  Deaths in the District of Sedgefield in the County of Durham
No. 167
When Died.  Twenty-second October 1856  Trimdon Colliery  Trimdon
Name and Surname.  Eliza Armitage
Sex.  Female
Age.  44 Years
Rank or Profession.  Wife of Able [sic] Armitage Coalminer
Cause of Death.  Consumption  Not Certified
Registrar's Description and Residence of Informant.  X the mark of Jane Jackson Present at the death Trimdon Colliery Trimdon
When Registered.  Thirtieth October 1856
Signature of Registrar.  William Sowes Registrar

It's easy to understand why Elizabeth didn't know her mother's name to tell her children:  she was only four when her mother died.  In fact, she probably had few, if any, memories of her mother.  It's also likely that after Abel remarried there was little talk of his first wife, the mother of his two oldest daughters.

I'm grateful to learn the sad end of Eliza Hartley Armitage's life.

--Nancy.

Copyright ©2018, Nancy Messier. All Rights Reserved.

B is for Bradford Cathedral - Family History Through the Alphabet

Bradford Cathedral, also known as Cathedral Church of St. Peter, is located in Bradford, Yorkshire, U.K.  It is the scene of at least five events in the lives of several of my great-grandparents, beginning as early as 1813, and possibly earlier.

A Brief History of Bradford Cathedral tells me that a stone church had been built on the site as early as 1327.  Through the centuries the building received various changes and reconstructions.  The nave arcades were built in 1458 and are still in use now.  Even with all the changes, many parts of the building were in existence during the times of my known ancestors two centuries ago.

There are some older images of the cathedral available on the internet.  One drawing shows what the church might have looked like during the time of the Tudors, with a graveyard nearby.  Another undated drawing of the church shows smaller buildings clustered on streets near the Cathedral.  And one last drawing shows a view of the large, arched, stained glass window, out of our view in the photo above.

We can't know what the building and surrounding areas looked like during the times my ancestors lived near Bradford and attended the church.  Was it in the center of the town and surrounded by buildings in the early 1800s or did it stand apart with other buildings at a distance?  I like to imagine that when my ancestors walked into the heart of the church, the sun shone through the clerestory windows then just as it does now, enlivening the nave with a bright yet peaceful light.  Were they in awe of the beauty and majesty of the building?  The Cathedral may have seemed large and imposing to my ancestors, common folk who worked in the local mills and mines.  Were they regular attenders and comfortable worshiping there? 

Church records tell me that

• Abel Armitage, son of John and Hannah Armitage, was baptized on October 21, 1821.  John was employed as a comber.  The family lived in South Horton. 
• Abel Armitage and Eliza Hartley were married on January 13, 1847.  He worked as a carter, she was a mill hand.  They lived in Horton.  Abel's father, John, worked as a collier at the time of Abel's and Eliza's marriage. Eliza's father, Richard, was still working  as a cloth dresser.
• Ann Armitage, daughter of Abel and Eliza (Hartley) Armitage, was born on May 21, 1850, and was baptized on June 16, 1850.  Abel worked as a barrier at the time of Ann's baptism.  The family lived in Bowling.
• Elizabeth Armitage, daughter of Abel and Eliza (Hartley) Armitage, was born on August 24, 1852, and was baptized on September 19, 1852.  Abel was a porter at the time.  The family lived in Bowling.

Considering the line of association these two families had with Bradford Cathedral, I can guess that perhaps other records will be available for Abel's and Eliza's parents, their marriages, and other children in their families.  And I hope to find a death record for Eliza

This post is a contribution to the Family History Through the Alphabet challenge.  Go to the link and you can see other submissions for this meme.  Alona Tester of  Genealogy and History News is the creator and keeper of this meme.  Thank you, Alona!

Both images of Bradford Cathedral are courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.  The photo of the outside of the Cathedral is courtesy of Mick Melton.  The photograph of the nave is courtesy of Popis.  I extend grateful thanks to both photographers.  To see more images of Bradford Cathedral search google and select "images."

--Nancy.
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Abel and Eliza in Yorkshire & Joyce

On Tuesday morning I noticed the post Yorkshire Vital Records Online on Lorine McGinnis Schulze's blog, Olive Tree Genealogy. I was excited because I have a brick wall in Yorkshire: my great-grandmother Elizabeth Armitage's parents, Abel Armitage and (probably) Eliza Hartley. I clicked through from my blog reader with anticipation, hoping that Lorine would point us to a free resource. Not so. The records were available on Ancestry. I don't have Ancestry at home so I made a mental note to go to the public library or the Family History Center (FHC) soon.

On Monday I posted a newspaper image and transcription, Armitage Reunion, July 4, 1922. On Tuesday morning I read an email from Joyce Humphrey, another Armitage descendant through Abel's second wife, who wrote to thank me for posting the article. Joyce and I have been corresponding irregularly for a year or so. We've shared some of our findings and, in particular, the difficulty of not finding death records for Abel or his second wife, Ann. They disappeared from Jefferson County, Ohio, after the 1880 census.

In the email I sent back to her I mentioned that Ancestry had several new databases for Yorkshire records and that I'd look at them when I got to the library or FHC.

She wrote back that she had Ancestry at home.

Then I sent information that I thought would help her: Abel's locations in the various censuses; probable name and possible marriage date for his first wife; birth dates of their first two children and locations; possible marriage date for Abel's second wife; etc. I wasn't sure how much information she had but I suspected that she wouldn't know Abel's first wife's surname. She said she'd look for Abel later that night. I spent the rest of Tuesday on on things and promptly forgot about the Yorkshire records.

Late Tuesday evening when I checked my email I noticed two from Joyce, one of which had an attachment. She sent transcriptions and images of four records she'd found in the Yorkshire collections at Ancestry. They included the marriage record for Abel Armitage and Eliza Hartley plus baptismal records for both. In addition, both records named the fathers and their occupations.

To say I'm excited is an understatement. Finding this information closes a nearly five-year quest for Elizabeth's parents. Hooray for Joyce, that excellent researcher!

In a future post I'll go into more about how I went about my part of the search for Abel and Eliza.