52 Ancestors - #3 Emily PIKE / PIKE-TOZE / TOUZEY (WYATT)

Today I have chosen Emily as my 52 Ancestors entry of the week. I find Emily to be a bit of a mystery and part of that is what her surname was which is why the title has so many names listed.


I first found out about Emily when I received a copy of my Great-Grandfather's birth certificate. He was born Henry James John WYATT on 5 February 1899 in New Tredegar, Gwent, Wales. Emily registered his birth herself and gave her name as Emily Beatrice WYATT formerly PIKE. So off I went and found Her with Henry and his father Absalom WYATT in the census of 1891. Absalom WYATT was a pretty unique name so that bit was easy but by 1911 Emily had and Absalom had changed his name just to trick us.


That single entry for Emily in 1901 tells us that she was listed as married and using her 'husbands' surname, we are told that she was 26 so would have been born circa 1875 in Crediton, Devon, England.

1901 Wales Census - Class: RG13; Piece: 4942; Folio: 97; Page: 15.

I have obtained birth certificates for four Emily's 9 children as well of baptismal records for 6 of them. Each of the birth certificates I have were registered by Emily but she gives different information on her maiden name each time.

Emily's name as given on 4 birth certificates by herself. From Left to Right: 1894, 1896, 1897, 1909

I have searched for Emily many times over the past few years but have never found a marriage for herself nor Absalom. This has left me wondering if they didn't marry at all or if they had married while he was still in the Army and but the entry never appeared in the marriage index for military marriages either. Apart from what we can deduce form her children's births and a single census, the only other documentation that shows she existed is her death certificate in December 1909. She died from Antipaitum Haemorrhage Syncpoe which I believe to be that she passed out (syncope) as a result of blood loss, most likely a miscarriage as the last child born was in November 1908 (birth registered January 1909). She was only 35 years old.


There are 2 census records prior to the birth of Emily's first child that I suspect could be her. In 1891 the recorded is Emily Pike aged 17 from Crediton in Devon, a servant while in 1881 the girl recorded as Emily Pike aged 7 from Crediton in Devon, a visitor. Although they appear to be my Emily I am still cautious and reluctant to call her mine.

It was once written "that which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet" (Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act 2, Scene 2, Lines 47-48).  Emily is that rose, regardless of what name she was given at birth she is still my 2nd Great Grandmother.  Emily may always be shrouded in mystery but I will keep looking and in time I hope to gather the birth records for the remaining 5 children to compare the maiden names given on them.

52 Ancestors - #2 John GRAHAM

John GRAHAM is my Great Great Grandfather. He was born in Omagh, Co. Tyrone, Ireland on New Years Eve 1877 to a labourer called William GRAHAM and his wife Mary Anne QUINN.  At the age of 19 years John enlisted in the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers and is described as 5' 3.5", 119lbs, a fresh complexion, blue eyes and black hair with no special distinguishing marks.  I would love to know why he joined the Army and what he felt about his time there as with two years of enlisting he had gone AWOL twice, the second time he was tried and convicted of desertion, maybe he he had asked for leave and was refused or maybe he didn't want to be in the Army but couldn't afford to buy his way out.  What ever his reasons were, the charge of desertion fell in January of 1899 and his first born son was born in May that year but John would not marry the child's mother (Ellen McCardle) until September, this makes me think that Ellen has sent word of being with child.

On  11 October 1899 the British Empire went to war against the South African Republic (Transvaal Republic) and the Orange Free State, a month later John was posted to South Africa with the 1st Batt. Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.  Following the 
Battle of Colenso on 15 December 1899, John is once again recorded as missing, this time his saving grace is that he is found to be amongst the 755 wounded individuals from the British companies and is returned 'home' early the following February. Ten months on and John is formally discharged as medically unfit for service, he has now grown to be 5' 6" and has scars on his face and the back of the neck.

Following his discharge John returns to Ireland and settles in Enniskillen, Co. Fermanagh. He and Ellen move to Glasgow, Scotland where they have two daughters and John has found work as a Labourer before returning back to Enniskillen to have a son who dies as an baby and another daughter.

Sadly John falls over a bridge and is drowned in the river bellow in June 1912, he was just 34 years old and leaves Ellen a widow to raise four children aged 3 to 12.




Sources

• Civil Birth Record, RootsIreland.ie
• Certified Marriage Certificate Ireland, Civil Registration Marriages Index, 1845-1958 , Ancestry.com
• British Army Service Records 1760 - 1915, FindMyPast
• Anglo-Boer War Records 1899 - 1902, FindMyPast
• 1911 Census Ireland, National Archives of Ireland
• Certified Death Certificate Ireland Civil Registration Deaths Index, 1864-1958, Ancestry.com
• Man Found Drowned Article, irishtimes.com

52 Ancestors - #1 Edward Irvine KING

Edward Irvine KING, my 3rd great grandfather, was a native of Clogher, Co. Tyrone, Ireland.  To date nothing is known about his childhood, in fact the earliest record I have for him is his marriage certificate.

Edward was a Policeman when he married at 28 listing himself as the son of George KING a farmer. He married Jeannette Mary HUNTLEY (otherwise known as Mary Jane) who was 23 and the daughter of Edward Boyce HUNTLEY a Shipbuilder on the 9th January 1851 by licence at the Parish Church of Kirkley, Suffolk, England.

By the end of March that year Edward is recorded on the census in Halesworth, Suffolk, England as lodging with a Senior officer and their family while his wife and new born son were at her family home.

 Class: HO107; Piece: 1803; Folio: 580; Page: 17

In 1855 Edward moved from the East Suffolk Constabulary to Surrey Constabulary. The Appointment book lists that he had served the East Suffolk Constabulary from 1847 until 1855 and describes him as 5ft 10 ins, with dark brown hair and blue eyes.  Whilst at Surrey Constabulary he was disciplined twice for gross misconduct, the first in 1858 when he was demoted and "removed at his own expense from Egham to Ripley" and then again in 1867 when he was "called upon to resign" from being an Inspector.

In 1871 Edward had found himself a new occupation as a Builder's Shop Keeper, his eldest son had taken up lodgings a few doors away with his soon to be wife and her family.

Class: RG10; Piece: 814; Folio: 60; Page: 54

As the years passes Edward's children grew up and left home but grandchildren were never far away.  Edward and his wife were left to raise grandson John Alexander KING when their son Edward Huntley KING took a second wife in Kent, England.  

We are still looking for his daughter in law Emma following the John's birth in 1883 as well as what happened to Edward Irvine KING.  I'm sure they are rolling around their graves laughing as I try to find the needle in the haystack but the search continues.