Find Ancestors

I still can't find a better marriage than the North Yorkshire one.

I can't thank you enough - all this info and help is just fantastic. It has enabled me to find another contact here, Shirley. She has told me that Ephraim was in prison (surmising poverty link, but don't know yet) and Alfred's sister tried to support family by negotiating with local shopkeeper - child resulted. All very tragic by the sounds of it. As poor, am assuming this is why the brothers were in Barnardo's? I have a lot to get my teeth into. Can't believe you have tracked the ship they were on! Many thanks.

Janey,

Just had another look at the record and yes they are listed twice, both on the Corinthian but different dates september 25th 1913 and June 12th 1913........odd....Barnardos Party Sheet 1 and Barnardos Party sheet 4

Ann

I seem to be falling down on the job all over here.

http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/databases/home-children/001015-100.01-e.php

Search for Drake, year of arrival 1913.

The anomaly is that all three of them seem to have been listed as belonging to two different Barnardo's parties.

The only other Drakes that year were a Francis Thomas, 9, and a James, 15, who were in different parties altogether. So I do think that is the three in question being shown twice, possibly as a result of some last-minute rejigging.

One party is described as "boy farm workers", the other just as boys. Both say destination Toronto, but that would have been somewhat pro forma. Barnardo's main staging house was in Peterborough, northeast of Toronto.

Are these the brothers sailing London/Quebec aboard the Corinthian 1913.
Alfred 1899
Arthur 1901
William 1900

They are listed as part of Dr Barnardos Party

Well if you're going to have a star on your chest, this is the first thing you need to have in your quiver:

http://freebmd.rootsweb.com/cgi/search.pl

You find his name, you click on the page number. (You have the huge luck of apparently having a page with only two names -- before 1911, you can't tell which of two brides married which of two (or more) grooms in most cases.) There's a third name there who seems to have been mistranscribed - the page number shown for her doesn't match with Romford, undoubtedly where she married.

Play with FreeBMD. You can search for a surname married to a given name, a given name with a particular mother's surname (after 1911), a Mar* maried to a Jo*, and on and on.

Do not "upgrade" here. "Here" is just a second-hand portal to what lies elsewhere. If you're serious, I recommend Ancestry. Others like FindMyPast.

You don't have access to censuses now? If you want him tracked to 1901, will do. I'm looking at the image for 1901 right now. I think you may well have cracked it.

1881 is free at Ancestry. Start here:

http://www.ancestry.co.uk/search/rectype/census/uk/default.aspx

You should be able to find both of them with their parents in 1881, given how old they would have been when they married in1892, so that's another stroke of luck.

Thank you! Was stuck on how to find his wife's maiden name - will have to upgrade membership, I think. Going to order their marriage certificate now, and start digging! You ladies are real gems!

Good grief! I think you have just become a star in the firmament of GR - which of course means that you will be on permanent duty digging up other people's ancestral skeletons. Sideways thinking is the key.


Marriages Dec 1892
Drake Ephraim Billericay 4a 625
Fairchild Eleanor Mary Billericay 4a 625


I'm not going to start following it and spoil your fun - but you be sure to report back and of course shout if you need anything!

Have just had a thought...I wonder if Ethan should be Ephraim? It would make sense, knowing how names can be altered through word of mouth. Have found an Ephraim Drake, Billericay, marriage Dec 1892 4a 625.
Am going to follow this lead and see where I get to.

My grandfather, Reginald, said he was called Ethan. I really hope this was the case, as one of my twins is called Ethan!!
You have come to some of the same conclusions as me, which makes me feel better! I will get on to the birth certificates...
Priscilla

Can you tell us from where you have got the name Ethan Drake?

So. There's the info. The 1911 and 1901 censuses posted seem to fit. In 1901 Mary Eleanor says she's married; in 1911 she records herself as "wife". To whom, of whom? Anybody get the feeling she was telling porkies?

Do you actually have the Drake-Galley marriage certificate? Is that where the father's name Ethan Drake comes from?

Thing is, as you've discovered, there's no such person in any English record.

If you don't have the certificate, that's where you need to start.

Name: Alfred G Drake
Spouse Surname: Galley
Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1921
Registration district: Romford
Registration county (inferred): Essex
Volume Number: 4a
Page Number: 1068

If Alfred said on his marriage that his father was Ethan Drake, we have a quandary. ;)


This is the best match for your Alfred:

Births Dec 1898
Drake Alfred Billericay 4a 557

-- late September birth registered in October. I'd get that certificate too.



Births Sep 1873 ?
Drake Ellen Mary Chelmsford 4a 209

The names Ellen and Eleanor were commonly interchanged at whim.

1901

Name: Ellen M Drake
Age: 17
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1874
Relation: Daughter
Father's Name: William J
Mother's Name: Mary A
Gender: Female
Where born: Chelmsford, Essex, England

Civil parish: Chelmsford

William J Drake 47
Mary A Drake 49
Ellen M Drake 17
Sidney R King 24 - boarder

Crikey Priscilla, that is a book!

Too late at night for me to absorb, perhaps someone in a different time zone will have a look. Otherwise, back tomorrow.

Margaret

Wow, you ladies are efficient! I can't believe how helpful everyone is.
I hope the following clears up any confusion. It is what I know based upon family information.
*Alfred Drake m Emily Galley 25/12/1921 (I have lots of info on Emily)
*Alfred b. 27/09/1898 or 1899 in Billericay. Not known as William Alfred by my family.
*They lived in Barkingside, Ilford, Essex, with their children, and later moved to Wickford, Essex. I believe this would have been some time in the 1960s, possibly earlier.
*Mum says that on his gravestone it says he died aged 70, but she is convinced he was 69 - only a couple of months before his 70th.
*Alfred had 2 sons. Reginald George Drake is the eldest and my grandfather, living. He was born 6/5/1923. Younger son, Bill (William) - you have given me the info here - I knew he died not long after his mother in the 1990s, & not long after divorcing. His ex-wife, Edie, is still alive - has limited knowledge.
*Re. Canada - Alfred went to Canada with all of his brothers we believe. He went and returned (after how long I do not know) before he was married. There has been some intrigue/hush here as it is believed he was getting into some trouble - fights? and decided (?) to work in Canada.
*One brother - not Herbert or William - stayed in Canada, married and we think later divorced. I remember William living a few doors down from us when I lived in Ilford, Essex. He was an old man then and we think he lived with his female 'cousin.'
*Alfred's father was Ethan Drake (I was unable to find him on suggested site - will have another go) and mother we know as Eleanor. Do not know maiden name or where she came from. Am assuming Ethan may have been from Billericay as that was where Alfred was born.
*I have tried site for births and marriages of siblings but could only find possible entries for Herbert (unsure which) and Edith (Edith Maud?) - b.1895 in Ongar, Essex? I am going to have another try!
*I would be interested to know the name of the child who died.
*Just discovered some notes that says Bert (Herbert) lived in Tanners Lane, Barkingside. He married a lady affected by 'dwarfism.' No children.
Okay - this is the sum total of my knowledge!
Priscilla

1901 says she was born Essex too, so I might be up the wrong street with North Yorkshire.

Surname First name(s) District Vol Page

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Marriages Jun 1884 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Drake Thomas Reeth 9d 1024
Hutchinson Mary Eleanor Reeth 9d 1024

Reeth is North Yorkshire.

I didn't check her birthplace in 1901. Fiona do you have where she was born on the 1911?

EDIT it says Essex.

Charles William Drake reg Sep 1900, Billericay.

Is this possibly them in 1901? Not all names tie up, but enough to be worthy of consideration:

1901 England Census
about Alfred Drake
Name: Alfred Drake
Age: 2
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1899
Relation: Pauper Inmate (Pauper)
Gender: Male
Where born: Billericay, Essex, England

Civil parish: Epping
Ecclesiastical parish: St Alban
Town: Epping
County/Island: Essex
Country: England

Street Address:

Occupation:

Condition as to marriage:

Education:

Employment status: View image

Registration district: Epping
Sub-registration district: Epping
ED, institution, or vessel: Epping Union Workhouse
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 1

Mary Eleanor Drake 29 (Ellen)
Lillian Drake 8 (Lilian Beatrice?)
Herbert Drake 6
Edith Drake 5
Alfred Drake 2 (William Alfred?)
Charles Drake 12 months (Charles Arthur?)

My guesses in brackets.

I am setting it out as I know that Priscilla is a newbie.

So is the Reginald, mmm Gulley, your grandfather? Is Gulley a mistransciption and should be Galley?

Younger brother William Charles died 1997. We don't know yet if he married - perhaps you do?

We are now after Alfred the father, b 1899 and what happened to him. Well we have him age 13 on the 1991, with mother Ellen 38. He has brothers Bill and Bert as you said, plus one other, Arthur, and two sisters Beatrice and Edith, so that all ties in.

Then you say he went to Canada and "one stayed there". One who? One brother I surmise. Did Alfred come back to England?

But Alfred married Emily Galley in 1921, possibly two children, your father Reginald G and his brother William Charles. If Alfred went to Canada, did he take his children or go alone? You say he went "for a short while" so did he come back?

Fiona has found the likely family of Alfred in 1911. We cannot go any further forward Priscilla. Janey tells us Canadian records are unavailable, so as she says we can now only look for Alfred's siblings.

Or perhaps you have already done that?

We know his mother is Ellen in 1911, so the next thing is too look for the children of Ellen on the 1901 census. Or look for their marriages as Janey suggests. She has given you a possible link to help. Do you know how to use it? Do you know how to look for the family in 1901?

Shout out if not, we are here to help.

PS Fiona, Ellen is a Wife in 1911, so presumably her husband is somewhere? Something else that might be resolved with the 1901 census.

England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916-2005
about Reginald G Drake
Name: Reginald G Drake
Mother's Maiden Surname: Gulley
Date of Registration: Apr May Jun 1923
Registration district: Romford
Registration county: Essex, Suffolk
Volume Number: 4a
Page Number: 985 (click to see others on page)


View Image