Fearless Females 2014: Marriage Record: Minda LEY

The copy of the marriage certificate for Joseph BUCKINGHAM and Minda LEY which is in my possession has caused me a number of genealogical headaches over the years.

Joseph BUCKINGHAM and Minda LEY, 21 January 1872

• If they were married in 1872, why do they not appear on the 1881 census?
• Why does Joseph say he is 29, when actually he was 27 - or even 37?
• Why is the bride named 'Minda' - when some sources call her 'Amanda', and others 'Aminta'?  Her birth registration has her as 'Amelia Melvinia'!
• Who are William Charlick and Mary Yeo, the witnesses?
• Was Adam a labourer, a weaver, or a chimney sweep?
• Was he, in fact, Joseph's grandfather, rather than his father?

Over thirty years later, and I am still wondering...

Thomas Francis BUCKINGHAM, born 1880

Today I have been thinking especially about my great great uncle, Thomas Francis BUCKINGHAM.  Thomas was born in 1880; later censuses have him as being born blind, while the 1911 census has him as being blind from age 1.  I have followed him through the censuses; he had a fairly dull life (some might even say miserable): I can't find him in the 1881, but in the 1891 he was in the workhouse, a pauper; in the 1901 he was still in Plymouth workhouse as a basket weaver, and in the 1911 he was at least boarded out somewhere, and worked as a news vendor.

The reason I have been thinking of him is because today (Friday 11th October) I took part in the RNIB's
'Read for RNIB Day' (RNIB is the UK's Royal National Institute of Blind People).  I wanted to do something for charity, but realised that I am not exactly built for running up mountains LOL, but here was something I could do.  Last year, I did a readathon of Star Trek novels.  This year, my work colleagues challenged me to learn basic Braille in 6 weeks and read something in Braille on The Day.  RNIB kindly sent me two copies of "We're Going On a Bear Hunt" (children's book), one in print and one in Braille, and I read the entire book out loud today at work.  Braille was developed in 1824.  I wonder how much access Thomas Francis had to it?  I am so blessed to have the gift of sight.

Thomas was born in Plymouth and died there in 1930, aged 49.

On This Day: 26 September

Today's "On This Day" person is something of a mystery.  William Edward Murch LEY - or BUCKINGHAM - was born on 26 September 1870 in Plymouth, Devon, UK.  He married Susan Mary STEER in 1894, and together they had nine children.  My grandmother had vague recollections of him being called 'Harry'...and an 1892 Barnardo's report lists him as being 20 (so he would in fact have been born in 1872, and probably within the marriage).

He appears (with family) on the 1901 census as "William L BUCKINGHAM", and on the 1911 census (again, with family) as "William Ley BUCKINGHAM", and he signs himself as "William Ley BUCKINGHAM".  He is proving elusive (read: impossible to find) on the 1871, 1881 and 1891 censuses.  If his parents were truly Joseph BUCKINGHAM and Amanda Malvina LEY (my gg grandparents), then they did not marry until he was two - and I cannot find them in the 1881 census. 

His mother was definitely Amanda - but, if she was unmarried, shouldn't he be called William Edward Murch LEY?  And where did the name 'Murch' come from?

I have been researching this family for over 30 years - with not a lot of success.  Does anybody out there have any ideas of where to turn next?

On This Day: 21 August

John Samuel EDGCOMBE, 1870-1949

On this day in 1949, my great-grandfather died in Australia.  No - I'm not from 'Down Under' myself; in fact, 99.9% of our family tree comes from England.  My great-grandfather, John Samuel EDGCOMBE, and my great-grandmother, Annie Marian BUCKINGHAM (who also died in Australia, in 1961) went out there in 1926 with some of their teenage children.  I think I need to delve more into 'why'.  I've got the passenger lists as to 'how' and 'when'.  But 'why'? 

Twenty years ago, I found that they had more than 600 descendants living in Australia.  But 'why' in the first place?

Fearless Females 2013: Day 27: Off to Australia

Do you have any passenger lists or other documentation?

Once again: Annie Marian Buckingham EDGCOMBE.  Born 11 September 1873 in Plymouth, Devon, Annie married John Samuel EDGCOMBE on 22 February 1894.  John Samuel was a coastguard, and so they lived in Co. Mayo, Ireland for a while, then his farming father called and back they went to South Milton, Devon.  Between the two World Wars, John and Annie decided to leave for Australia.  The two oldest boys, Harry and Ted, went in 1924 on the SS Berrima.  Two years later, on 3 August 1926, John, Annie, and the younger children went to Australia on the SS Hobsons Bay:

Once again, in honour of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.  I know this is really US-centric - but that's not going to stop me honouring my own Fearless Females...

Fearless Females 2013: Day 20: Female Brick Wall - or is she?

Is there a female ancestor who is your brick wall? Why? List possible sources for finding more information.

Amanda Malvina LEY, born 28 April 1852 in Eastbourne, Sussex, married Joseph BUCKINGHAM on 21 January 1872 in East Stonehouse, Devon, and died quite young on 21 April 1895 in Plymouth Devon.  She had eight children.

So, she doesn't seem much like a brick wall, does she? (apart from the fact that she should appear in the 1881 census as a newlywed, and doesn't appear at all).  After all, I have her dates and locations.  But have you ever heard of the myth of King Midas, where everything he touched turned to gold?  Well, where Amanda (or Minda) is concerned, everybody she touched becomes a brick wall.  Husband Joseph, children (especially Annie Marian, my direct line ancestor) were either born, or not born at all, or were born out of wedlock, don't appear in the censuses, and the last two went to Canada as Dr Barnardo's children and never came back.  If I knew where to look, these brick walls might not exist.

Oh, Amanda (or Minda, with or without the Malvina)...

Once again, in honour of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.  I know this is really US-centric - but that's not going to stop me honouring my own Fearless Females...

Fearless Females 2013: Day 15: Annie Marian Buckingham

Write a six-word memoir tribute to one of your female ancestors.

Annie Marian Buckingham EDGCOMBE

Plymouth - County Mayo - South Milton - Australia

Once again, in honour of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.  I know this is really US-centric - but that's not going to stop me honouring my own Fearless Females...

Fearless Females 2013: Day 11: Martha Randle and Johanna Murch

Did you have any female ancestors who died young?

Martha RANDLE (my maternal great great great grandmother) was christened 29 August 1802 at St Lawrence's church, Foleshill, Warwickshire, and married Adam BUCKINGHAM on 11 June 1821 in Astley, also in Warwickshire.  Why are they in a blog devoted to Devon and Cornwall?  Because they are my ancestors, that's why, and their line eventually wandered down to the West Country.

However, Martha died young, aged only 33, and was buried 7 June 1835.  She had already had five children, and the date of birth of the sixth, my ancestor Joseph, is also 1835.  I wonder if this birth was too much for her.  This reminds me of Johanna Murch HAYWOOD (my paternal great great grandmother), who was born 4 February 1844 and died on 17 December 1875 from exhaustion 8 days after the birth of her third child, Ernest.

Martha died before the beginning of civil registration, so there is no death certificate I can get from the General Register Office to show her cause of death.  Is there anywhere else I can look?

Once again, in honour of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.  I know this is really US-centric - but that's not going to stop me honouring my own Fearless Females...

Fearless Females 11: Amanda Died Young

Once again, in honour of National Women’s History Month, Lisa Alzo of  The Accidental Genealogist blog presents Fearless Females: 31 Blogging Prompts to Celebrate Women’s History Month.

March 11 — Did you have any female ancestors who died young or from tragic or unexpected circumstances? Describe and how did this affect the family?

Amanda Malvina Ley BUCKINGHAM (my great great grandmother) died on 21 April 1895 in Plymouth, Devon, aged only 43.  Her youngest child (Ernest Silas) was 9. The cause of death was given as morbus cordis and anasarca.  "Morbus cordis" means heart disease or heart failure, often used by doctors when they didn't know what the exact cause was.  "Anasarca", however, is more specific. Extreme generalized oedema often caused by renal failure and malnutrition sounds to me as though there was a story there.

Three years earlier, several of Amanda's children had been taken into care by Dr Barnado's, and in the years leading up to and following her death, the two youngest became "Home Children" and were sent to Canada.  I have investigated the family history packages which the Dr Barnado's charity offers, and although a simple search only costs GBP15, a more detailed package is much too expensive for my pocket!

• Admission Package - £70
• Full History Package - £85
• Photograph Package - £20

My great grandmother, Annie Marian Buckingham EDGCOMBE, was 18 and in domestic service at this time, so she escaped being sent abroad - and, in fact, only two years later she got married, so maybe she was already courting.

Matrilineal Monday: Amanda Malvina Ley BUCKINGHAM (1852-1895)

Amanda Ley BUCKINGHAM was my great great grandmother.  The name 'Amanda' is quite familiar to a lot of people; it is derived from Latin and means 'lovable, worthy of love'.  But how many people are familiar with its abbreviated version - Minda?  Some websites insist that 'Minda' is a Native American name and means 'knowledge'.  But those of us who come from the south-west of England know that it is actually a shortened version of 'Amanda'.

Amanda calls herself 'Minda' on the certificate of her marriage to Joseph BUCKINGHAM, when they married in 1872 in East Stonehouse.  Yet, poor enumerators have struggled over the years, one calling her 'Aminta' and the 1881 census enumerator giving up entirely!

Star Trek fans will of course know that 'Amanda' means 'beloved', and further details on her can be found here. The first moving pictures were invented in 1877, when my Amanda was 25; roll film for cameras didn't come along until 1881.  The Lumiere Brothers invented a portable motion-picture camera, film processing unit and projector called the Cinematographe and presented a projected motion picture to an audience of more than one person in the same year that my Amanda died.   

Why are you doing this?

I read a fascinating post written by Marian of Marian's Roots and Rambles, in which she discussed her three top bits of advice for blogging.

She first asked: what is your goal in blogging? (for instance, to attract clients, share  your knowledge etc).  This made me think.  Why am I blogging? Why am I doing this? is it just to give myself another excuse to beat myself up at the weekends when I realise I haven't posted even once during the previous week?

No, I'm not trying to attract clients.  Nor even distant cousins.  I am happy to demonstrate my knowledge of a particular area, but don't for a moment imagine that anybody reads it.  So why am I blogging?  When I set up GenWestUK, it was just along the lines of "it seemed a good idea at the time", and "everybody else is doing it".  What I found was something quite surprising.   When you have to post about a time, an ancestor, a type of occupation, and so on - it focuses you tremendously!  Although for years I have been warning beginners against the scattergun approach of trying to research all your ancestors at once, I have not followed my own advice.  This sees me "doing family history" like a butterfly, zooming from the same ancestor to another same ancestor - you know, the brickwalls that frustrate you every time.  So many of my ancestors are missing out on my attention.

Blogging has changed all that.  In order to write a decent post, I have been forced to sit down and concentrate on one th (oh, look! a bird) ing at a time.  And this has opened up new horizons for me - gosh, new vistas.  I had never slowed down and stayed in one place long enough to realise that my great-grandmother, Annie Marian BUCKINGHAM, saw the first horse-drawn tram in Plymouth, travelled to Ireland, lived through the invention of the car and plane, then went to Australia! or that a great great grandmother, Eliza ELLIOTT wasn't just a dressmaker- she made fancy frocks out of damask and brocade. 

I look forward to learning more about my forgotten ancestors, now that blogging has made me sit still in one place...

Annie Marian Buckingham EDGCOMBE and Transport

Annie Marian Buckingham EDGCOMBE was my great grandmother (1873-1961).  The first horse-drawn tram in Plymouth, Devon, UK, appeared the year before she was born, she went to County Mayo in Ireland in the 1890s with her coastguard husband and small children, and she travelled to Australia in 1926, where she lived in Sydney, New South Wales until she was 88 years old.

Other transport events of note:
In 1869 (four years before she was born) the Suez Canal was opened.
When she was 12, Karl Benz invented the first practical automobile to be powered by an internal-combustion engine, then Gottlieb Daimler built the world's first four-wheeled motor vehicle.
In 1894, the same year that she got married, the Manchester Ship Canal was opened.
By the time she was in Ireland (1900), the zeppelin had been invented by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin
When she was aged 30 and had 5 small children (1903), the Wright Brothers invented the first gas motored and manned airplane
Only 4 years later in 1907, the very first piloted helicopter was invented by Paul Cornu
And of course in 1912 - the Titanic sank...

Annie Marian Buckingham EDGCOMBE

Since the small child on her knee is probably Frederick Charles, the photo was probably taken just after World War I, which ended in 1918 - she was still in the UK at this stage!

Surname Saturday: Yardley

Eliza YARDLEY came from Dublin, Ireland in about 1803.  For over 20 years she was housekeeper to my ggg grandfather, Adam BUCKINGHAM, and appears in the censuses as such.  Yet, there was never a mention of a Mr YARDLEY, and small children kept appearing.  Adam and Eliza got married in 1869 (why have the children first, and *then* get married?) when the youngest child was in her early 20s, and Eliza died in 1876, with Adam following a year later.

This has provided me with somewhat of a mystery.  Were the small children a result of Eliza doing more than housekeeping for Adam?  Did Eliza really come from Ireland? (another census says she came from Foleshill in Warwickshire, where she was living, and there are YARDLEYs who come from Foleshill, so perhaps she was a part of them?).  Hmmm.  I feel more certificates coming on...

Surname Saturday: Edgcombe

EDGCOMBE has probably the highest number of variants in my family tree.  I never discount any EDGCOMBE I find, since the spelling varied so hugely. The family legend was that we were descended from the Earls of Mount Edgcumbe.  I have never dare tell my family that that was wishful thinking, and we are in fact descended from the peasants who worked the land belonging to the Earl... although, if you go far enough back, I suppose we might well interlink somehow...

The closest EDGCOMBE to me was my maternal grandma, Minda Mary Edgcombe BALL, born in 1894 and christened in Ringmore, Devon.

Here she is as a young married woman.  I can see my mother in her (my mother, Audrey BALL, was the youngest of seven).  In a photo I have of Minda before she changed from EDGCOMBE to BALL, I can see myself in her.  I have already posted this photo on this blog, but I have yet to learn how to link from one post to another.  If I find out, I will come back here and do the linking.  Minda lived until 1985, and to me she was the epitome of what it means to be 'a lady'.

Minda's mother was Annie Marian BUCKINGHAM (1873-1961).  Both Minda's parents (Annie Marian and John Samuel EDGCOMBE) died in Australia; several of her brothers and sisters emigrated from the UK to Australia, and several years ago I was sent details of over 600 EDGCOMBEs of our family who live there.  Some of the older generation still liked to be sent traditional Christmas cards with snow and robins, because they remembered them from childhood, and Australia seems rather devoid of snow and robins.  I wonder if the EDGCOMBEs in Australia think of themselves as Australian through-and-through?

Surname Saturday: Ley

This is the most maternal surname I had for many years: my mother's mother's mother's mother's.  And to my delight, the line stretched back from Devon to Mevagissey, Cornwall, where my own mother had spent a blissful holiday many years ago, not knowing that it was the place of her ancestors.  This is the line of coastguards I have already mentioned.  A happy line, I thought, where the only difficulty lay in that my great great grandmother was married to the largest brickwall ancestor in creation (or so I thought).

Amanda LEY appears in the censuses as Amanda and Aminta (and another relative names her Amanda Malvina), and doesn't appear in the 1881 census at all (which would be the most valuable, since she would be a young mother with a husband of only a few years).  On her marriage certificate, she is named Minda (a diminutive of Amanda, and a name given to babies occasionally in our family).   According to family legend (oh, how those stories get distorted sometimes!), Amanda's husband, Joseph BUCKINGHAM, was a well-to-do coal merchant, who was kicked in the head by his horse and ended up in hospital.  His brother (or brother-in-law, depending on who you spoke to) ruined the family business and the girls had to be taken out of convent school.  Except he was a chimney sweep, and went into hospital for something quite different, dying quite young; the children ended up in the workhouse, Amanda had two children by another man, then she ended up in hospital, died in her early 40s and the children were sent to Canada.  My ancestor, Annie Marian, was named Mary by Dr Barnardo's - this is more a subject for Madness Monday!

Back to the LEY family.  Amanda's father, Nicholas LEY, was a coastguard found in Pembrokeshire, Wales in the 1841 census, then Pevensey, Sussex, in the 1851 census.  I have posted his photo before (a Wordless Wednesday), but it bears re-showing here:

I was very excited to be given this picture.  Looking at his built-up shoe - was this because of an injury received whilst a coastguard? or was he born with a disability? in which case, why did the Coastguard Service accept him (I doubt they had discrimination law quotas in those days)?

This line, which started me off with the happiness of a traceable history of ancestors, has now added all sorts of questions to the mix.  And the genealogist in me groans at the thought of all those doubts, while the detective in me shouts for joy!