Find Ancestors

Jill's right, it's easy to get the wrong year although remember a birthday. I think you said somewhere in this thread you had her address from her marriage certificate. It may be worth trying to get the local library/records office to look up who was living there a couple of years either side of 1931. They probably make a charge, but as your mother is considering hiring someone it may be a cheaper option to see if the occupants can give more clues.

Also bear in mind that she might not show as Edith Ada at birth, but just as Edith or Edith A.
Makes things a little more difficult.
Plus, she might have not told the truth as to her birth year.

Also bear in mind that the birthday itself may be correct on the death certificate but could easily be a year or so out. It would depend on who registered the death, how well they knew the deceased and what the deceased had told them(!) If her birth was not registered then the date of birth shown on the death cert could well be her baptism date from her baptismal certificate. Bit of a longshot maybe but worth bearing in mind.

She may not be on 1911 census, or could be under a different name.

Of all those registered in the right quarter I'm just left with Edith Ada Goacher, born Burton, staffs and Edith Ada G Warwick born Winslow, Bucks. Can't find them on 1911 census to eliminate them, nor any marriages/deaths with any certainty. Maybe someone else could take a look for them?

Is it possible she was placed in an orphanage in Rotherham?.
The entry in the bible sounds very much like the one in my gran´s bible which she recieved on her confirmation when she was living in a Waifs & Strays society home in Leeds. (Now the Church of England Children´s Society).
The orphans were made to go to church by the orphanage & were ofthe placed away from their "home ground".
In my gran´s case, the family were from Barnsley. She was sent to Leeds & 2 of her brothers went to Wakefield & Huddersfieald respectively. Still looking for the 3rd brother :-( :-(

No I agree....she certainly wasn't given the name Spence at birth....and without any other clues it is hard!!

Baptism, however, is a prerequisite to being confirmed.....so she cannot have been confirmed in Rotherham if she hadn't been baptised. So maybe that's the key to the whole thing a baptismal certificate??

Jude

I have traced her husband's past right back and have the address they were at and where he was born (all matches).

So her husband was originally from Lancashire - Swinton.

I agree that Rotherham isn't necessarily where she was born but even doing a wider scale search, isn't revealing her on the 1911 census.....

Michael David....it's not impossible he was deceased....on my grandparents' marriage certificate in 1902 my grandfather's father is shown as deceased - which as he died in 1897 was correct. My nana's father is not shown as deceased but he died at sea in 1893 :-(

I agree with Flip that it is unlikely paying someone will turn up anything more than we have.....

I STILL can't help thinking that Rotherham might be a red herring. THere is absolutely nothing to prove she was born there or had any origins there. The only connection to Rotherham is that bible some 14 years after she was born. So who's to say she wasn't born in Lancashire? And that she returned there where she met her husband.....

That Houghton/Spence marriage is interesting.....if any connection to James could be proved then perhaps her mother was a Houghton and related to James????

Just a thought....

Of all the Edith Ada's born in Sept qtr 1909, I can eliminate a number of them as dead, christened or on 1911 census with both parents - the ones I haven't eliminated yet are:

Goacher, bor Burton
Jones, born greenwich (haven't actually checked her yet)
Warwick born Winslow Bucks.

this death record is definately right and confirms her DOB

??

Name: Edith Ada Houghton
Birth Date: 19 Jul 1909
Date of Registration: Oct-Nov-Dec 1978
Age at Death: 69
Registration district: Barton
Inferred County: Greater Manchester
Volume: 39
Page: 0671

Death cert?? I meant on her marriage certificate. The reason we assume he is still alive when they got married is because under husband's name it gives her dads name and then says deceased... next to her dad's name it doesn't say deceased.

I also have what I think is the death record from June 1931 for John Spence so this would tie in with him still being alive

Michael you say on her death cert that John was still alive. How do you come to this conclusion?

My mother gave her father's name and occupation on her marriage cert in 1943 and he had been dead since 1920. I think quite often people only mentioned if father was deceased if they were asked ...

Registration of birth became a legal requirement in the 1860s I think, but even after that date some still slipped through the net. I have yet to find my grandfather and any of his six siblings all born between 1875ish and 1894ish! So it happened.

Ok some more information from my mum.

On the marraige certificate John is still alive - so would tie in with the death record someone kindly found earlier on in the post (June 1931)

Wedding date was 11/04/1931 in Swinton (Barton upon Irwell)

The bible says the following:

To celebrate the confirmation of Edith A Spence on her confirmation at Rotherham Parish Church on April 6 1925

It is signed by someone on 18/08/1925

Before you go down the route of hiring someone - who won't be able to find her birth without a surname - it may be worth you trying to eliminate all the Edith Ada births from the Sept quarter 1909.

Other than the bible, you have no other link to suggest she was born in Rotherham, what was the date on the bible? Was it a first communion or a confirmation?

As Reggie pointed out you don't have to be registered to be confirmed/take Holy Communion but you do need to be baptised (I believe). It also used to be a statutory requisite to getting married in church. And not registering her would, by then, have been an offence.

Was her father deceased at the time of the marriage?

I too had looked at the Walker birth and a Ferguson birth, but she too died unmarried I believe.

Maybe she was put into care? Not sure how this worked back then, is there any records for this do you think?

I've just been speaking to my mum and I think she is going to pay for someone who does this as their job, if I dont get anywhere! As you can tell, this means an awful lot to my mother!!

I been doing some more playing around and come to the conclusion it isn't walker - I only assumed it may have been as that was the only Edith Ada registered in Sheffield which is where Rotherham is.

I think I'm coming to the conclusion she wasn't registered at birth....
Potentially had out of wed lock

But then how come she had a holy communion!?

It is also confusing as she should be on a 1911 census - but again nothing is showing up!?
:-S

What makes you think it could be the Walker birth - I think this could be that ones death:

Edith Ada Walker
Birth Date: 28 Jul 1909
Date of Registration: Apr 2005
Age at Death: 95
Registration district: Sheffield
Inferred County: Yorkshire
Register Number: C105A
District and Subdistrict: 048/1C
Entry number: 149