Genealogy Chat

KeithG are you completely disregarding my conclusion that 'Sherretz' in the marriage index is almost certainly a misreading of 'Shurety' on the marriage certificate or local register office entry?

( my post 9 Jan 2014 22:51 )

If you ask the Register Office for the Weston-Surety marriage I think they will find it. They can't find a Weston-Sherretz marriage because there never was one.

I'm not sure what led you to that particular Florence Weston in the first place but I don't think there is much question about her, she married Mr Shurety and had children in England and died in England.

Unless you could locate family of hers you would not know whether sometime in between she ran off to Argentina with your father :-)

No, I'm not disregarding it, JoonieCloonie, I'm investigating other options. You said yourself that you thought the evidence ruled this Florence out as being the Florence I'm looking for.

I am curious as to how the Sherretz record came to be misconstrued, assuming it was, and if necessary I could try and get the miscontruction corrected.

I made some notes from things my Mother told me at various times. One was that he lived with a woman called Jane in the Argentine (who allegedly created a stink about something or other and it was this that got into the papers apparently) , the other that he took Florence Weston (no middle name given, but from Woking or Wokingham) to the Argentine with him as his wife. I had these down as two separate "facts" but I'm now wondering whether they are one and the same person, eg Florence Jane Weston.

Unfortunately, none of the shipping records we have turned up as yet have a middle initial for Florence, although the birth year given (calculated?) was 1894.

There was such a person born 1893 in Croydon, so I'm now looking for her in census records (already found 1901 & 1911). I've not yet found her in electoral rolls which I would have thought likely after 1920 ish. Or have I got that wrong? Anyway she should turn up somewhere between say 1920 and 1940, shouldn't she?

You can't really have the GRO altered but if you confirm the error you could always add an alternative name at Ancestry and a postem at FreeBMD so anyone puzzling over the couple in future might find it :-)

I think it's a fairly readily understood misreading if the writing was not the clearest

S, h, er (for u), r, e, t, z (for y)

it is not hard to imagine 'u' being read as 'er' and especially 'y' being read as a longhand 'z'

keeping in mind that the marriage certificate was written in longhand.

What about the Florence who travelled in 1935, dob shown as c1891?


A Florence J Weston married in Croydon in 1924 to Cole.
There is a birth in Croydon later in the 1920s.
Florence Jane Cole born March 1893 died in 1983 in Croydon.


Your Florence Weston could also have been a married woman i.e. husband's surname Weston ..........

Your Florence Weston could also have been a married woman i.e. husband's surname Weston

Indeed, just to make things more difficult : so now I'm looking for a Florence Jane Anything!

Well, it's not quite that bad! I now need a Florence Jane Anything who married a Something Weston ... Maybe!

What about the Florence who travelled in 1935, dob shown as c1891?

Also possible ...

What about the Florence who travelled in 1935, dob shown as c1891?

However the sailing of 31 Jan 1930 was on the same boat as Arthur and there she's shown as 1894

The closest I've come is a Florence White who married an Albert Weston in 1912 in Oxford :-)

There is a Florence White born abt 1892 in New Hinksey Oxfordshire living in Headington in 1911 who is the niece of Charles Weston who has a son Albert Weston, so I think that's the Florence White in question. Which tells us nothing ...

Can you help on the Electoral Rolls question? I would have thought that Florence would have shown up somewhere ...

sorry I don't have electoral roll access

By the time women could vote a woman born about 1894 would very likely have been married so not knowing whether your Florence was a Weston by birth or marriage doesn't help ...

(the vote for some women over 30 in 1918, all women over 21 in 1928)

So that's a pretty narrow window between 1924 and the 1930 sailing ... During which time there's a chance we might find a Florence (Jane) Weston, and if that happened to be in Woking(ham) ...

Unfortunately the address associated with the 1930 sailing (112 Savernake Road London NW3) turns out to be a transit address.

I now have a copy of the Weston - Sherretz marriage certificate, I am only slightly better informed ;-) The writing is pretty difficult to decipher and it is not improved by the photocopying process!

First off, try as I might I cannot make the name look like Shurety. The final letter closely matches the z in Elizabeth (but to be fair I can only find one "y" in the text for comparison purposes).

I wonder whether someone here might be able to help further with some of the other fields?

The groom's name is Leonard George Sherretz (as best as I can make it out) aged 25 in November 1925. His profession is hard to read but seems to be Coachman.

From now on I'm going to omit "it's hard to read but ..." as it's all hard to read, please take it as read ;-)

His address is given as 53 ...hope Street, London, my best guess would be Linhope Street, is / was there such a place?

His father is George Squiggle (smile), the She is pretty clear and there's a z close to the end! His occupation is given as Foreman G.A.O. General Agricultural something? General Accounting Office? It might just be G.R.O. but I think an A is more likely.

Florence Elizabeth Weston, also 25, spinster, gives her address as 7 Havelock Road Wokingham. Is there any way of finding out who lived there in 1919 - no electoral rolls I think as weren't they suspended during the war? Her father's name is Andrew (confirmed by C1901). His occupation looks like Labourer.

Witnesses are Robert something Challis, and Joseph Something - where this Something ends in y.

Well, there you have it. Anyone up for a bit of detective work?

BTW I don't know if it's allowed / encouraged / frowned upon, but I could scan the certificate and make it available on eg Dropbox for decoding purposes, anyone have any thoughts / advice on that please?

you can feel free to post a scan on line and a link to it here, it would be interesting to see :-)

I know that in Scotland if a record you have paid for is not clear you can ask the register office to decipher it, can that be done in England ?

Name: Leonard Shurety
Year: 1925
County or Borough: Westminster
Ward or Division/Constituency: St Marylebone
Street Address: 14 Linhope Street


With Florence Shurety.

Name: Leonard Shurety
Year: 1921
County or Borough: Westminster
Ward or Division/Constituency: Paddington and St Marylebone
Street Address: 13 Linhope Street


No other Shurety living there.

Name: Leonard George Shurety
Year: 1935
County or Borough: Westminster
Ward or Division/Constituency: St Marylebone
Street Address: 14 Linhope Street


With Florence Elizabeth Shurety.

I think that settles it, and in 1935 no less :-)

Looks pretty convincing to me too. That's brilliant, thank you!

For those (still) interested I have put the scan of the marriage certificate in dropbox, I hope the following links works ...

https://www.dropbox.com/s/th30fu0u4k0p798/Sherretz%20Weston%201919.pdf

Please let me know if you can / can't read it.

And that, of course, still leaves me looking for a Florence (Jane) Weston, ideally with some connections to Woking(ham)!

BTW if anyone is able to add some sort of correction note about the marriage, eg on Ancestry, I'd be grateful. I'll try and put one on freeBMD.

yep, that's Leonard George Shurety, I think it's clear. Witnesses are Robert Henry Challis and Joseph Percy ... although if I were being perverse, I'd say Perez :-D

(Andrew on Cert?)

1911
WESTON, Andrew Head Married M 65 1846 Road Labourer Chilchester
WESTON, Mary Wife Married31 years F 55 1856 Bramley Hants
WESTON, Thomas Son Single M 29 1882 Carman Mortimer Westend Berks
WESTON, Fred Son Single M 14 1897 Errant Boy Hurst Berks
LEADBETTER, John Visitor Single M 49 1862 Carter Bramley Hants
RG number: RG14
Piece: 6614
Reference: RG14PN6614 RG78PN328 RD122 SD1 ED1 SN224
Registration District: Wokingham
Sub District: Wokingham
Enumeration District: 1
Parish: Wokingham
Address: 77 Haverlock Road Wokingham
County: Berkshire

1901
WESTON, Andrew Head Married M 53 1848 Labourer On Farm
Silchester, Hampshire
WESTON, Mary Wife Married F 42 1859
Framley, Hampshire
WESTON, Alfred Geo Son Single M 21 1880 Carter On Farm
Mortimer, Berkshire
WESTON, Thomas Son Single M 19 1882 Labourer On Farm
Mortimer, Berkshire
WESTON, Pheabo Jane Daughter F 11 1890
Silchester, Hampshire
WESTON, Florence Eliz Daughter F 6 1895
Hurst, Berkshire
WESTON, Fredrick Andrew Son M 4 1897
Hurst, Berkshire
Piece: 1155
Folio: 5
Page: 2
Registration District: Wokingham
Civil Parish: Wokingham Without
Municipal Borough:
Address: Embrook, Wokingham Without, Village
County: Berkshire

1891
WESTON, Andrew Head Married M 43 1848 Agricultural Labourer
Silchester, Hampshire
WESTON, Mary Wife Married F 34 1857
Bramley, Hampshire
WESTON, Alfred Son M 11 1880 Scholar
Mortimer, Berkshire
WESTON, Thos Son M 9 1882 Scholar
Mortimer Westend, Hampshire
WESTON, Annie Daughter F 7 1884 Scholar
Mortimer Westend, Hampshire
WESTON, Phoebe Daughter F 1 1890
Silchester, Hampshire
Piece: 959
Folio: 92
Page: 2
Registration District: Basingstoke
Civil Parish: Stratfieldsaye
Municipal Borough:
Address: New Street, Stratfieldsaye
County: Hampshire

Chris :)

Yes, Chris, that is certainly the family, interesting that it's *77* Haverlock Road, it's either 7 or perhaps 71 on the cert! This has been a lesson (for me) in the (in)accuracy of records!

(looking at 1911 image, it says No 7)

Chris :)