Find Living Relatives

RESULT! Good afternoon all. I have great news. I sent messages through Facebook and this morning got a reply from Aunty Sheila's daughter who actually lives with her. They left Orpington in 2016 and moved to Milton Keynes. We have spoken on the phone today at length. Aunty Sheila has been in tears. They have been trying to find us all for years. She is now 85 years old and through her tears has asked to be taken to her brother Charlie who lives less than an hour away in Peterborough.

She was able to tell me that Reg got married on 19 November 1960, she thinks in Ireland. She also told me that her Mother was born in Ireland. Date of birth unknown. She worked in nursing. She was married but her husband was a Motorbike courier and whilst out doing his rounds in the countryside was killed in an accident. She thinks he may have been a Fry.

We are getting there slowly but surely.

if someone has access, Findmypast has UK Electoral Registers 2002-2014.

Rose

Lainey, I was just saying to Rose by PM ...

I'd try Facebook messaging the other person I suggested too.

But as Rose says, maybe a Friend request to them all, as well?

Could you put a message on your own Facebook page to explain the friend requests, so if they get the request and check your profile, they'll know the purpose?

Thanks for sending me the info, Rose and Lainey, but I have flaked out.

I didn't realize you already knew the town.

192.com's search function won't tell you that, but using google to search for
"jane x smith" 192.com
will most often find a more detailed record that gets you the city name
and then you can use BT online to get possibles
and then use the postcode from the BT online results to search for the surname with that postcode at 192.com
to see whether your people come up

but BT online, as you already know, I now see, doesn't produce anything for any of those names -- it does have a couple with matching initials, but when checked against the 192.com results for the postcodes, they don't match your people.

And for the least common of the surnames in the household, D__, there are no listings in that city at all.

So many people are ex-directory or have only cellphones these days that this trick is less useful than it once was.

Lainey, I think I would pay the 192.com fee to get the full record info for the household.

Unbelievably, Firefox is crashing again. I'll reboot and take another look.

Just to clarify, when I said the phone book, I meant to get an exact address (and also a phone number, of course). I would generally agree about writing first, but this isn't like a child calling a biological parent sort of thing.

I got your message, Lainey, and I will give it a shot as soon as I reboot this stupid new version of Firefox that I accidentally installed ...

DetEcTive, I can understand what you mean and you could be right. I just feel like I have to act fast, as the people I am looking for are in their eighties and one of them already has memory problems. They were split up as children when their Mother died in 1946 and sent to separate orphanages. Their family was torn apart by the catholic church. Charles has always wondered what happened to his siblings and sadly 3 have already passed away. When I found Charles family last week they were so thrilled to find us as they had been looking for us all for years but could not find us. We were all in tears and are arranging to meet up asap. I will be very careful as I can understand that people might be cautious as I know I would be too.

Wouldn’t be better to write if you don’t get an acknowledgement via FB etc?
A phone call might catch her at an inconvenient time plus she might think you’re trying to pull a fast one.

Rose, so well done -- do you want to send me the two names on 192.com?

If you aren't seeing a location, I'm a bit of a dab hand at tricking 192 into giving up info, and I might then be able to match it to something in the phone book.

OMG Rose, I believe you are right. I believe this is our missing Aunt Sheila, but I have messaged through GR and FB and still waiting for a reply. I just used directory enquiries but there are too many with the same name so without an address they cannot give me a phone number. I am on pins.

Think I've found Sheila's daughter on Facebook. She's married a few times and appears to be on here. Have sent you the details.

She's also on 192.com and there's a Sheila living with her.

Rose

Rose, I have not ordered the certificate for Sheila in Bromley yet. Having to wait till next pay Day. It's been an expensive month with family birthdays. This hobby is not cheap is it?

Charlie in Peterborough has memory issues but his wonderful wife Maureen can remember snippets of information, despite it being back in the 1950's and she is now in her 80's. She has told me that Aunt Sheila also had a daughter, who was bridesmaid at her wedding in 1959. So Sheila married in the 1950's had a daughter with her husband, left him and returned to live with family. She then went back to her husband. I think this must be when the son was born as we did have a marriage for a son in 1965. So I think I am getting closer to finding her. I also now have a photo of her taken in 1951, which should help.

Joonie, I did wonder if the address in Stepney/Whitechapel was a type of workhouse hospital. The Father's name on the Birth certificate for Michael was Albert Meager. That completely threw everything. All Michael's life he thought his Father was a FRY and he died thinking that. Now his daughter knows he was a Meager. This name came up on the birth certificate of his Brother Antony. So we know we are on the right tracks.

I also know the birth of her son Charles as Charles F Fry 1937 Manchester MMN Humphrey? We are waiting to see if the family have this cert to give us more info if not we need to order this.

We are still no nearer to finding Margery's origins. What we do know now is this is her timeline:

Birth possibly 1900-1930 unknown
1930 Birth of Michael known as Marjorie Adelaide Meager formerly Fry.
1931 birth of Antony known as Madge Boardman formerly Meagher
1933 Birth of Sheila known as Marjorie Fry
1935 Birth of Harry Known as Marjorie Adelaide Boardman formerly Murphy
1937 Birth of Charles known as Humphrey?????
1939 Birth of Reginald Kenneth known as Madge Fry formerly Murphy.
1939 Register Known as Margery Fry
1946 Burial and death recorded as Margery Fry

This is like a huge jigsaw puzzle.

I would like to thank you all again for your help as I never would have been able to unravel this without your help. I am determined we will find the answers and I will post letting you all know of our success. Bless you all xx

I forgot to say -- what a wonderful reunion result, so far. :-)

194 Hanbury - unfortunately, a home for single mothers, so no real help, other than to know her circumstances, which were unfortunate.

http://health.hackneysociety.org/page_id__129.aspx

A couple of rescue homes also accepted women with children: the original refuge at 194 Hanbury Street had a separate shelter for mothers and children attached to it, and children were also taken at Lanark House. Soon it became obvious that there was a need for specialist shelters for expectant mothers, and this became the next development in the Salvation Army’s network of social services.


That page doesn't give any dates, but you can find more info on line by searching for the address.

It was originally for women and sheltered up to 500 women a night. If you look for the address on google maps streetview, that must be the large rather run-down building that is now the Montefiore community centre.

Oops no, the Montefiore Centre was built and occupied as a school for decades.
194 would have been on the other side of the street, which is now hideous flats.

Lainey,

Did you order that marriage certificate for Sheila in Bromley?

Rose

Rose, you were right. The Birth certificate gave the name of Michael's Father. Not at all what we expected either. Thank you so much.

In the 1930 ER, 194 Hanbury Street, Stepney isn't shown individually.

It shows as " 192/6 ", with the names of six women, all with different surnames and no Marjories, Frys, Murphys, or any of the other possibilities.

Perhaps some sort of women's hostel ??

I'm afraid I agree with JC, who said on page 2 -

" 1 January 1900 sounds like a DOB of convenience "

So we don't know if 1900 was correct, but not the rest of the date, or if maybe 1900 isn't necessarily correct either.

No, that Marjory Mary you were interested in, born 1900 Cork, is not your Marjorie -

Marjorie Mary Murphy
in the Web: Ireland, Census, 1901
Name: Marjorie Mary Murphy
Gender: Female
Relation to Head: Daughter
Residence Date: 31 Mar 1901
Townland/Street: Southmall
Household Members:
Name Age
Edmond Murphy 39 - Dublin, physician and surgeon
Elizabeth Mary Murphy 29 - Cork
Marjorie Mary Murphy
Louisa Lord 19 - servant
Mary Murray 50 - child's nurse


Marjorie Mary Murphy
in the Web: Ireland, Census, 1911
Name: Marjorie Mary Murphy
Gender: Female
Age: 10
Birth Year: abt 1901
Relation to Head: Daughter
Residence Date: 2 Apr 1911
Townland/Street: St. Patrick's Hill Post Office
District: Cork No. 4
County: Cork
Household Members:
Name Age
Edmond Murphy 49
Elizabeth M Murphy 39
Marjorie Mary Murphy 10
Sheila Alice Murphy 7
Norah Lee 27
Elizabeth Mary Doyle 32
Hugh M Clanchy 25


Her death (so not your Marjory):

Marjorie Mary Murphy
in the England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995
Name: Marjorie Mary Murphy
Death Date: 18 Jan 1962
Death Place: Cork, Ireland
Probate Date: 17 Oct 1962
Registry: London, England

Marjorie Mary Murphy, of Allevard, Blackrock Road, Cork, spinster - probate to her sister Sheila Alice Murphy, spinster.

Received today. Birth certificate of Michael Fry. Born 10 October 1930 at St Peter's Hospital. Birth name Michael Gilbert Meager. Mother-Marjorie Adelaide Meager formerly Fry. Father Albert Meager, (well that's a turn up for the books!). Motor Mechanic of 194 Hanbury Street, Stepney. Mother also living at same address.

So now we know the name of Michael's Father and he was not a FRY. Yet again the Mother is Marjorie Adelaide (Meager) formerly Fry.

Also marriage cert of Antony Boardman and May Aherne. Married at The Church Of The Apostles Westminster on 19 June 1963.

Thank you so much to all of you who have helped me get this far.

A sad note to tell. When Charlie was a little boy in the Orphanage, one of the Nuns belted him, so his older brother Harry thumped the Nun, sent her flying and she landed skidding across the shiny floor that the children had to polish. The next day His 2 brothers had gone, disappeared. It seems the Nuns felt they were too strong together. It has also emerged that many of the children were sent off to Australia, but Harry and his siblings were spared because their Father would pay half a crown to the orphanage for their keep every week and visit them as often as he could.