In the final days of Family History Month, Ancestor Detective, shares her thoughts on her journey through researching her family history.
I often get asked why I am so interested and somewhat obsessed in doing genealogy and why when my relationship with my immediate family has been so challenging why I want to research their ancestors at all. I often wonder this myself. As I contemplate this I wonder if it is because I want to find out how I am the person I am and so different to the family I was raised in or if I am researching to find out why my family is the way they are.
Mostly though what I have found is people who leave me proud of how they overcome the challenges of being in a new pioneering country, living in challenging conditions where income was insufficient or woman who raised many children and left to raise their children mostly alone while their husbands were sent down coal mines, were out with their sheep in the middle of nowhere for days if not weeks at a time or building lives for their family by farming and growing crops while living in just shanty’s in the harshest parts of the country.
They are who make me proud! Their dogged determination for life is maybe where I have got that part of me from, that never give up attitude!
My blog reflects the lives of my ancestors from England, Scotland and as far away as Italy, these people lived for their families and would do anything however hard to provide for them and to give their children and those to come after them a life better than their own.
From coal miners to bullock drivers to farmers and graziers these pioneers not only made me who I am today, but the contributed to shaping the country, Australia, to what it is today. The phrase “from dust to driving rain” is just some of the climatic conditions these hard workers experienced. The women in my family lived through not just these harsh conditions but raised large families while their husbands earnt an income, not a great income, but enough to put a roof over their head and food on their plate.
Then there are the sad stories I have come to learn that while they were hundreds of years ago they still bring a tear to my eye. Like a little girl who died from burns after her dress caught on fire while a servant for a family or my Downes family who saw such loss and grief but led to my Pop and his siblings leading amazing lives or my Nana’s family whose mother raised 16 children while her husband worked in the coal mines of Scotland with their sons once of age.
It is not until you start your own journey through your family history that you find these stories that shaped who your family is today. You too will learn of hard work, of grief and loss, of hardship and of new beginnings started on the other side of the world.
My Pop, Harold Downes, was born the third son of Daniel Downes (1854-1901) and Eliza Roe (1868-1904) on 20 December 1894 in Staffordshire, England. Pop died on 11 November 1963 in Dandenong, Australia long before I was bornand I didn’t really hear a lot about his life prior to coming to Australia in 1913. Its not until I started researching more of his family that I found a very sad story of great loss to him, his father, Daniel, his wives, both named Eliza and their children. In this blog, as part of Family History Month, I tell the story of their family and the tradgey that fell upon them.
Daniel Downes was born 11 July 1854 in Leek, Staffordshire, England to Abraham Downes (abt. 1825-1887), a cordwainer, and Mary Goodwin (abt. 1824-1910). Baptised on 13 August 1854 in Quarnford, Stafford, Daniel was the third child of Abraham and Mary, who went onto have six children between 1850 and 1865. Daniel was employed in 1871 as a farm laborer aged 17 years at Buck Bank Farm in Cheshire then moved to Higher House farm by 1874.
On 25 April 1877 in Prestbury, Cheshire, Daniel married Eliza Foukes (1854-1887) the daughter of Thomas Foukes, a blacksmith. Daniel and Eliza would go onto have three children; Ann (abt. 1876), Mary Jane (1877) and James William (1881). Sadly on 27 August 1887 in Macclesfield, Cheshire, Eliza would pass away aged 33 years of liver disease leaving behind three young children aged 11, 9 and 6 years.
Three years on, Daniel married Eliza Roe on 11 November 1889 in Yoxhall, Staffordshire and they would have five children; Frederick (1890), Herbert (1892), Harold (1894), Edith (1898) and Arthur (1901).
By 1901, Daniel and his family had moved to Austrey and living in Cork Hall where Daniel was now working as a Banksman [a Banksman works at the pit bank dispatching coal and organising the workforce] at a coal mine. Disaster would soon strike the family when Daniel would suddenly pass away on 23 December 1901 in Tamworth, Staffordshire from an intestinal obstruction and shock leaving behind five young children, the youngest, Arthur, not even one year old.
With a young family of five children, Eliza, chose to fight and on 7 June 1902 was in court claiming workmen’s compensation for her husband’s death. Eliza alleged that Daniel’s death was the result of injury by accident arising in the course of his employment on December 20, at the Tamworth Colliery Co. She sought compensation for £171/12/3 for three years of earnings, at £1/3/- per week, and £10 medical and funeral expenses.
Mr. Masser who appeared for Eliza explained that the doctor certified that death was due to intestinal obstruction and shock, and the real point was as to whether it was the result of an accident or disease. Two fellow workman gave evidence that Daniel in the days prior to his death had strained himself while pushing a truck, which the defence ruled was not an accident.
Eliza in her statement said her husband was 47 years of age, and a banksman at the colliery where he worked for nine years. She went onto say that she had five children, who, with herself were dependent on her husband.
After the Judge ruled Daniel’s death not an accident, Mr. Masser argued with the Judge on the ruling but in the end the Judge ruled the case could not continue as he could not see there was any accident. The case was dismissed without costs.
Tradegy would soon strike the family for the second time
Eliza was to find love again and on 15 November 1902 she married George Henry Chapman, aged 32 years, a widower and miner in Austrey, Warwick. On 24 November 1904, Eliza and George would welcome a son, James. However, tragically this happiness would not last and seven days after James’s birth, Eliza passed away on 1 December 1904 from puerperal thrombosis a critical postpartum illness that develops within a week of giving birth.
It is unclear where Eliza’s five young children went following her death but in 1911 they were either living with her step son, James William or boarding whilst working as laborer’s or miners. The four boys, including my Pop, Harold, would soon immigrate to Australia where they married, had children and lived good lives.
Genealogy is becoming more popular as technology advances and more records become available online, but there are still many who don’t know the stories of their ancestors. I knew nothing about Pop’s family in England and after extenive research I have been able to tell apart of his story and as sad as it was for his family, it was probably these tragedies that drove him and his brothers to look for a better life here in Australia. During August, Family History Month, take advantage of specials being offered by genealogy websites and start to trace your family, you never know what you might find that has made you who you are today.
References
General Register Office, Downes, Daniel Registration of Birth, 1854, GRO.UK (Possession on Author)
1871 England Census, Civil Parish, Henbury, County, Cheshire, Class RG10; Piece 3678; Folio 98; Page 4; GSU roll: 841869.
1874 Morris & Co’s Directory & Gazetteer of Cheshire, (2013), UK, City and County Directories, 1766-1946, Ancestry.com.
General Register Office, Presturby Marriages, Downes, Daniel and Eliza Foukes, 1877, GRO.UK (Possession on Author)
General Register Office, Downes, Eliza Registration of Death, 1887, GRO.UK (Possession on Author)
1901 England Census, Civil Parish, Austrey, County, Staffordshire, Class RG13; Piece 2650; Folio 100; Page 12.
General Register Office, Downes, Daniel Registration of Death, 1901, GRO.UK (Possession on Author)
The Herald, (1902), Workmen’s Compensation Act Case, Saturday, June 7, 1902, page 5.
General Register Office, Chapman, Eliza Registration of Death, 1904, GRO.UK (Possession on Author)
Family History Month is not just about telling the stories of our ancestors it’s also learning from other researchers’ tips on improving our genealogy skills. In this post, Ancestor Detective, discusses the census and the benefits provides to researchers in tracking down ancestors as far back as the mid 1800’s. This post was written prior to the 1921 England and Wales Census being released and copies can now be downloaded from FindMyPast.
The immigration of ancestors across the globe during the 1800’s and 1900’s meant descendants, in some cases, had little information about the families they left behind in their country of birth. While this adds an element of complexity to tracing your ancestors families, there is a wealth of information available to assist you in uncovering who your ancestors family were.
The census is one such research tool available to the keen genealogist to explore and track down their elusive ancestors.
The first census to be taken in England was at the time of William the Conqueror who in 1086 wanted a record of land ownership and livestock numbers. These early records can be found through History Magazine and is known as the Doomsday Book.
In 1801, the English government, unlike other governments across the United Kingdom, introduced the census for statistical purposes for the Overseers of the Poor and the Clergy. Every ten years following 1801 the census was undertaken and each time recorded more information on household composition.
In 1841, the information sought on households have gone onto provide genealogists with a goldmine of information to trace ancestors and their families across the United Kingdom. With a record of names, ages, gender, occupation, place of birth, and year of birth (often rounded up) in each household genealogists now have the ability to track down that elusive ancestor and gain greater knowledge of families and the lives they led.
By 1911 further details were recorded in the census, including how many children were born, how many were living or deceased at the time of the census and whether if any residents had a disability.
In this blog, Ancestor Detective, will go back to 1861 to trace the ancestors of Harold Downes. This exploration of census records will highlight the significance of these records and how much you can learn about your families and the lives they led.
Using the English Census to trace your ancestors
Harold Downes was born in 1894 in England and immigrated to and arrived in Australia on 18 March 1913 on board the ship “Orama”. After his early discharge from the Australian Imperial Force on 19 January 1916, Harold moved to Ouyen in the Victorian Mallee where he married Jean Fleming on 23 July 1924. After farming in the Mallee for some time and owning a dairy in Mildura, Harold and Jean moved to Dandenong where he became a poultry farmer. Harold died on 11 November 1963.
While Harold’s brothers also immigrated to Australia and outlived him, little was known about their family back in England. Using census records Ancestor Detective goes on a genealogy journey to trace Harold’s family in England.
The registration of Harold’s birth reveals that he was born on 12 December 1894 at Albion Street in Tamworth, Stafford to Daniel Downes and Eliza Roe. Using the names of Harold’s parents we searched Ancestry.com for the English census to trace Harold’s father, Daniel Downes, until his death in 1901.
We located the registration of Daniel’s birth at the UK General Registers Office, showing us that he was born on 11 July 1854 in Stafford, England to Abraham Downes, a shoemaker, and Mary Goodwin. In 1861 the English census was undertaken when Daniel would have been seven years of age. However, while his parents Abraham and Mary are recorded as living in Middlehills Street, Heathy Lee in Staffordshire. At the time of this census, Daniel was one of five children, yet on the day the census was recorded only Daniel’s younger brother, William was present. No record of Daniel’s whereabouts or his siblings on the day of the census has yet been found.
Ten years on in 1871, aged 17 years old, Daniel appears in the 1871 English census working as a farm laborer/servant in the Robinson family at Buck Bank farm in the township of Henbury in England.
By 1881, Daniel, aged 25 years, is married to his first wife, Eliza Foukes, and living at Hyde Hall in Lancashire. As a farm laborer, Daniel and Eliza have three children Ann Foukes (aged 5 years), Mary Jane (aged 3 years), and James William (aged 3 months). Six years later Eliza dies, aged 33 years, leaving Daniel to raise their three children alone.
By 1891, Daniel has remarried to Eliza Roe aged 22 years and they are living in Stonnall, Staffordshire with James William (aged 10 years) from his first marriage and Fred (aged 6 months). Daniel and Eliza would go on to have another four children by the 1901 census living at Cork Hall in Austrey. Employed as a banksman at a coal mine, Daniel, aged 47 years shortly after the 1901 census was recorded leaving Eliza, aged 33 years old, with five children aged under 10 years.
With five young children and no husband to support them by 1911 the children of Daniel and Eliza are split up. According to the 1911 census, both Fred (aged 20 years) and Edith (aged 10 years) are living with their older step brother James William in Staffordshire. Herbert then aged 18 years is living as a boarder while working in the coal mines in Burton Upon Trent in Derbyshire. Finding Harold and Arthur then aged 17 and 10 years in 1911 was more difficult and where they are living in 1911 is still a mystery to solve.
At the same time their mother, Eliza, has also disappeared from the census records of 1911 and it is not until her death in February 1923 in Staffordshire that she reappears.
In the years that follow 1911, all but younger Edith, immigrates to Australia where they live until their deaths.
Registration of Birth for Harold Downes, 20 December 1894, Reg. No. 1895/266, United Kingdom General Register Office. Certified copy in possession of author.
SRO of Western Australia; Freemantle Outwards Sep 1900 – Dec 1915; Accession: 457; Item: 61; Roll: 157
Australia, WWI Service Records for Harold Downes, 1914-1920, Series B2455
Certificate of Marriage for Harold Downes and Jean Fleming, 23 July 1924, Reg. No. 8882, The Victorian Office of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Certified copy in possession of author.
Certificate of Death for Harold Downes, 11 November 1963, Reg. No. 23493/1963, The Victorian Office of Births, Deaths and Marriages. Certified copy in possession of author.
Registration of Birth for Daniel Downes, 11 July 1854, Reg. No. 1854/82, United Kingdom General Register Office. Certified copy in possession of author.
1851 England Census, Heathy Lee Township, Staffordshire County, England; p. 3, family 17; Class: RG 9; Piece: 1949; Folio: 55; Page: 3; GSU roll: 542892
1871 England Census, Cheshire Township, Staffordshire County, England; Class: RG10; Piece: 3678; Folio: 98; Page: 4; GSU roll: 841869
1881 England Census, Lancanshire Township, Staffordshire County, England; Class: RG11; Piece: 4045; Folio: 21; Page: 36; GSU roll: 1341967
Registration of Death for Eliza Downes, 1887, England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1837-1915, Vol. 8a
1891 England Census, Stonnall Township, Staffordshire County, England; Class: RG12; Piece: 2214; Folio: 114; Page: 9; GSU roll: 6097324
1901 England Census, Austrey Township, Staffordshire County, England; Class: RG13; Piece: 2650; Folio: 100; Page: 12
Registration of Death for Daniel Downes, 20 December 1901, Reg. No. 1901/120, United Kingdom General Register Office. Certified copy in possession of author.
1911 England Census, Tamworth Township, Staffordshire County, England; Class: RG14; Piece: 16835; Schedule Number: 21
1911 England Census, Castle Gresley Township, Derbyshire County, England; Class: RG14; Piece: 16770; Schedule Number: 71
Registration of Death for Eliza Downes, 25 February 1923, Reg. No. 1923/221, United Kingdom General Register Office. Certified copy in possession of author.
Ancestor Detective 