Looking for Ada Nellie: An example of lateral thinking

One recent query I received as an OPC was to find the baptism of Ada Nellie Smith, born around 1896. Ada’s granddaughter, in making the query, had information from census documents that the family had lived in the Plympton St. Mary area in 1901. She had not been able to find a birth record for Ada Nellie Smith anywhere, though, which was strange since, by this time, civil records were fairly complete and should have been relatively easy to source. (How many times have we thought that!)

I did not immediately find the individual or the family in my parish information; so I asked a few more questions about the data sources and any other family names that might have been recorded.

According to the 1901 census sheet, which I sourced on Ancestry: the parents were John and Ellen Smith; the family lived at 22, Whitleigh Terrace, St. Budeaux, Plympton St Mary; and Ada had a brother, Harry, aged 3. (Readers may choose to use either Ancestry.com or Ancestry.co.uk for searches.)

 

Now the actual census document shows that Plympton St. Mary was recorded as the Rural District and the Civil and Ecclesiastical Parish was St. Budeaux. This parish is not one of mine; so I was not able to look up any baptism, marriage or burial information in my records. The granddaughter had misinterpreted the entry, thinking the enumeration was for Plympton St. Mary parish and had come to me as the area OPC for answers. This is not unusual since Plympton St. Mary is the name of both the Registration District (RD) and one of the parishes in the district. This RD is made up of nineteen separate parishes and there are many occasions when I have had to direct someone to a parish different than the four I administer.

Anyway, I did a little further digging and found the family on the 1911 census as well.

 

Both censuses showed that Ada had been born in Plymouth, not Plympton St. Mary. Since little Ada Smith did not appear on any index I thought that perhaps her birth might have been recorded with a different surname. Maybe she had been born before her mother’s marriage. Hey, it happens! Ada was shown as four years old in 1901 and 14 in 1911; so I searched FreeBMD for an Ada Nellie, born between 1896 and 1897. I found an Ada Nellie Puddicombe, whose birth was registered in the Exeter RD (Devon), in the October-November-December quarter of 1896. That was the only instance of a birth record for an Ada Nellie of any surname. I thought it worth following up because Ada’s mother was shown on the 1901 and 1911 censuses as being born in Newton Abbott which is not far from Exeter.

The granddaughter confirmed that the marriage certificate for John and Ellen, which she had previously obtained, did show Ellen’s last name as Puddicombe and that she was a spinster at the time of the marriage on September 1, 1896. It appeared we were on the right track!

 

Was it possible that the parents recorded her birthplace on the census as Plymouth to avoid any questions as to her origin, especially if she was illegitimate? Could Ellen, in fact, have been a widow, rather than single and the information on her marriage record was in error? Was John Ada’s natural father? Was it also possible that Ellen Puddicombe was not entirely truthful about her age on various census and other records? We knew that the age recorded for her on her marriage certificate was not quite in line with that shown on the 1901 and 1911 censuses. These were all questions that begged for answers. I suggested that a copy of the 1896 birth certificate for Ada Nellie Puddicombe be ordered from the General Record Office to see what parentage was shown.

The granddaughter duly purchased the birth record only to find out that the parents’ names were shown as Emma and Fred Puddicombe! So back we went to the drawing board. Hmmm – we should have asked that the information be checked to see that the mother’s name was Ellen. The answer – no – would then have come back and the cost of this certificate could have been avoided.

I next tried searching records for just a female with the surname, Puddicombe, born in 1896, in the Plymouth area. Again, perhaps I should have done that earlier, as well, in order to get a broader sampling of possibilities. On FindMyPast I came across a baptism entry for Adra Nellie Puddicombe, parents John and Ellen Puddicombe, born June 13, 1896 and baptized November 4, 1896, in Charles, Plymouth. Given the parents’ forenames, that looked promising. (Readers may choose to use either FindMyPast.com or FindMyPast.co.uk for searches.)

 

 

Their residence was Mount Pleasant, Egg Buckland parish, Devon. There was also a baptism recorded for a boy, John Henry Smith, in 1898, parents John and Ellen Smith, also living in Egg Buckland. Egg Buckland parish is right next door to St. Budeaux parish and both are part of greater Plymouth.

 

 

We concluded that this John Henry was probably the Harry shown on the censuses. The 1901 census had shown him as being born in Egg Buckland. Now the family members started to fit together even better. FreeBMD had a birth entry in the July-August-September quarter of 1896, for an Adary Nellie S. Puddicombe. Now I was even more confident we were close. The use in searches of the forename, Ada, and the surname, Smith, had distracted us and the concentration on only the surname, Puddicombe, was providing more useful data.

The granddaughter now agreed to purchase this second birth certificate to see if it would finally answer the question as to Ada’s origin. And it did!

 

The name on the part of the record for forenames was Adary Nellie Smith. Her surname was shown as Puddicombe. Her birth date was June 13, 1896, the same as that shown on the later baptism entry, and the birth was registered on July 24, 1896. The father’s name was not shown but the mother was indicated as Ellen Puddicombe. Ellen’s residence, 27 Harwell Street, Plymouth. That was the same address as was shown for Ellen on the marriage certificate.

All the pieces now appeared to have fallen into place. The use of the surname Smith on the birth record strongly indicated that John was Ada’s father. The residences shown for Adra Nellie and John Henry, along with their parents’ forenames of John and Ellen, in the baptism register, suggested the same family. The addresses on Ada’s birth certificate and Ellen’s marriage certificate confirmed Ellen, the mother of Ada, was also Ellen, the bride of John. The birth dates on both Ada’s birth certificate and the baptism entry strongly indicated they were the same individual.

One conflicting piece of information was that the baptism entry showed Ada’s surname as Puddicombe but her birth certificate had Smith. The Vicar in the parish of Charles, Plymouth, probably possibly did not approve of using the child’s father’s surname, Smith, since the parents were not married at the time of her birth, but would likely have consented to show there was a father present by the name of John. It is interesting to speculate why the couple waited until September to marry and until November to have her baptized.

In this case, the fact that we could not find a birth record for Ada Smith, at a time – late 19th century – when such information should certainly have been recorded, suggested that the name under which she was born and registered was not the name she went by in later years. Ada had been recorded on various documents as Adra and Adary although, to her granddaughter’s knowledge, had never gone by either of those names. That certainly threw our searches off.

Through a lateral thought-process, using the maiden name of her mother and a birth from the censuses, success in discovering Ada’s origin was finally realized.

Baptism images reproduced here are used with the kind permission of the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, Census records are the property of The National Archives and published under their Open Government License. Birth and marriage certificates were obtained from the GeneralRegister Office of England and Wales. Images were downloaded from Ancestry or FindMyPast , or copied from my own microfiche. 

Some Unusual Endings

Family historians may find instances where the deaths of ancestors cannot be found anywhere. In some cases it might be because they died and were buried far from home, completely unknown to those who found them, such as in the following examples.

1613 May 20 – Plympton St. Mary burial – “a walking woman wch dyed in a feeld between Plimpton Morice and Cornewood”

1795 March 14 – Plympton St. Mary burial – “man floted in the tide name unknown”

1883 April 10 – Plympton St. Mary burial – “Woman Unknown Found drowned in the Laira river”

Occasionally deaths and burials will be annotated with a cause of death or unusual circumstance which might lead one to look for information in other types of records.

 

1681 August 31 – Plympton St. Mary burial – “was buried John Latchwell who was drownd in the quarry at Smithalee”

 

1835 May 6 – Plympton St. Mary burial – Stephen Hoskin, “killed by a fall from his horse”

Perhaps a newspaper might have reports about these accidents.

Richard Smith fell out of a window. In this case, there apparently was a Coroner’s Inquest for him so that may provide another source of information.

1843 May 14 – Plympton St. Mary burial – Richard Henry Smith, “killed by falling out of a Window, Cornoner’s Inquest.”

 

Richard was only 17 months old. How often have you heard that kind of story?

In the case of the 1826 death of Samuel Tall, information that an inquest was held was also noted in the burial register.

 

1826 February 13 – Plympton St. Mary burial – Samuel Tall, “Accidentally killed by a Stone falling on him in Cartsford Quarry, Inquest”

A search of local newspaper archives revealed a report (in this case, in Trewman's Flying Post, dated Tuesday, February 23, 1826) that said, "On Monday se'n night at Plympton St Mary, Samuel Tall was accidentally killed while at work at Cartsford Quarry, by a large mass of stone falling on him. He was at the time in the act of holding out his hand to receive his wages, when the stone fell upon him and caused his death, without in the least injuring the person standing close to him. Verdict – Accidental Death." Other records tell us Samuel left a wife, Jane, and three small children.

If you lost an ancestor somewhere in southwest Devon in 1745, this might be your man. The location indicate of his death might, of course, have been a shack somewhere out in a field or exactly the kind of place you are thinking right now. . .

1745 November 16 – Ermington burial – “A man unknown found dead in an out house at Beach . . .”

All images reproduced here were downloaded from FindMyPast and are used with the kind permission of the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, the copyright-holder.

Inauspicious Beginnings and Untimely Endings

Occasionally Vicars made notations in the parish registers that give us a glimpse into the lives of individuals in the community. These comments rarely make it into published indexes so those lists will usually only show names and dates.

Some children did not have a very auspicious start. The parents of all of the children shown on the following entries are unknown. There is no explanation with respect to the surname given to them.

1617 March 21 – Plympton St. Mary baptism – “Thomas the father & mother unknown.”

 

No surname is shown so it is impossible to say whether the child died or continue to live and prosper in the parish.

1738 November 7 – Plympton St. Mary baptism – “A child Baptized by the name of Elizabeth, Parents Unknown.”

 

The entry appears to go on to say that “the Rector said it w^d. be called November.” No individual of that name has been found in any other record in the area, however.

1788 November 28 – Cornwood baptism – “Elizabeth daughter of Persons Unknown a nurse child with William & Mary Vivian.”

 

It is not known whether she was adopted by the Vivians and given their name. The couple did have one other child, John, born in 1789.

1789 May 17 – Plympton St. Mary baptism – “William Blight – Base Born Parents Unknown”

One might assume Blight was the individual’s surname and that he was also a child or infant, however no such information is present in the entry. A William Blight was buried in Plympton St. Mary parish the following year. Perhaps it was this poor little one and he never really had a chance.

An infant, found abandoned, was taken in by some kind souls in the spring of 1800 and baptized with the name of the town, Mary Plympton. She died only a few months later and was buried with no one ever knowing her family circumstances.

1800 August 31 – Plympton St. Mary baptism – “Mary Plympton – Tis child was found on the 24^th June last in the High Road, deserted & forsaken by its parents”

1801 February 22 – Plympton St. Mary burial – “Mary Plympton the Child that was found in the Road 24 June 1800”

This child, too, did not fare well – another child abandoned by its parents. He died in the poorhouse at the age of two.

1887 November 28 – Plympton St. Mary baptism – “Claud Mills, An infant found near Marsh Mills Parent Unknown.”

 

1889 June 13 – Plympton St. Mary burial – Claud Mills, Union Workhouse, 2 years.

A child may have begun its life with no parents but have been fortunate because of the charity of someone in the community. The Vicar did not know where this little girl came from but she became part of a new family. Her birth was officially registered as Roberts. The family disappeared from Plympton St. Mary parish shortly after her birth so I do not know what eventually became of her.

1875 January 21 – Plympton St. Mary baptism – “Emily Millicent – Parents Unknown, Adopted by Alfred George & Emily Mary Crewill Roberts”

Many other examples of children with no parents are present in parish registers. When tracing back ancestors to any one of these individuals, researchers will come up against brick walls, probably never to be broken down.

Images reproduced here were downloaded from FindMyPast or copied from my microfiche and are used with the kind permission of the Plymouth and West Devon Record Office, the copyright-holder.