Causier Reunion: June 27, 2015

Wouldn't it be fun?? …  With a few minutes of spare time last night and as I frequently do on my less common ancestral surnames,  I ran a search on "causier," and found something great!

There's going to be a reunion of CAUSIER descendants in Droitwich, Worcester, England this summer.  The organizers are celebrating the 300th anniversary of the baptism of Sacheverell Causier at St. Peter De Witton, 27 Jun 1715.  They've received good press coverage in the Worcester area, with articles in both the Worcester News 19 February 2015 and in the Hereford Times 20 February 2015 .  I wish I could go join them all.

These two articles are virtually identical and both include contact info for event organizer, John Causier.  Wouldn't it be great to attend and travel around the area with distant cousins?  Just think of all the photos that will be snapped and all the info that will be shared… wouldn't it be fun?…  but I'll just have to be content with all the dreams I will have about returning to visit England….  I'll have to settle with contacting the organizer, seeing how we relate, and sending my best wishes for a successful event.

I've posted before about this Sacheverell Causier before.  As shown in my line of descent below, I'm descended from 3 consecutive generations of Sacheverell Causier!  Actually there were at least 2 more generations of Sacheverell's, just not my line.

We went to England in 2006 and had a wonderful time visiting with fourth cousins I'd found online: one on the Causier line and one on my Ethell line.  This photo is from Whitwood and shows an old cornerstone naming James Causier.  The year on this stone is illegible, but another stone in the building appeared to be dated 1887 (or possibly 1867).  This James is not in my direct line, but is indeed a descendant of Sacheverell.  The building is within sight of the church I showed in an earlier post.

Line of Descent

Sacheverell Causier = Betty Astmore
Sacheverell Causier = Elizabeth Wood
Sacheverell Causier = Sarah Hunt
William Causier = Ann Tolley
Charles Causier = Catherine Hughes
John Henry Carr = Ann Matilda Carr
Bertha Maud Carr = BT Hegwer (my grandparents)

Photo by MHD: all rights reserved.

My CARR-line mtDNA

[First, a comment: This is embarrassing…my first post in a year…how did that happen? Better late than never?]

One of the projects I've been most involved with over the last year has been genetic genealogy.  Altogether over the past few years, I have paid for or won  (Going to conferences does pay off!) a total of 9 DNA tests on my husband's or my lines.  For the past 18 months, I've made a point of studying more about it.  I've read books, blogs, articles, and gone to several seminars, including the DNA Day at Jamboree last year.   Unfortunately, the field is seemingly growing and changing faster than I can keep up! But I am finally feeling confident enough to post the first in what should be lots of upcoming DNA posts sprinkled among others.  I believe that writing about my results is part of my learning process, but my main goal is to share what I've learned about specific lines…and there's really been a good deal of progress on some of them lately!

A few years ago, a first cousin graciously agreed to give a sample so I'd have info on our CARR maternal line.  From Grandma CARR it goes back through Ann Matilda CAUSIER, Catherine HUGHES, and Lydia COOPER.  The paper trail to my 3rd great-grandmother, Lydia COOPER, is well documented.  According to census data, Lydia was born about 1803 in Brierly Hill, Worcestershire, England.  I hope this year to really search for her parents.

mtDNA Results

Grandma CARR's mtDNA comes back as haplogroup J and is consistent with her English heritage.  As of today, there are 304 HVR1, HVR2 matches.  With just a quick review and, as is the nature of mtDNA, there's no sign of a match in a genealogically relevant time frame.

This test was done over 4 years ago; so, to determine a specific subclade, I'd need to upgrade the test.  Doing so could be useful in eventually confirming or disproving any hypotheses I might come up with for Lydia's parentage.

TO DO

• Review Brierley Hill baptism records to see if I can find any possible parents for Lydia.
• Spend more time/care in reviewing the current mtDNA "matches," …who knows what may show up?  Also, I have my aunt's atDNA…I need to get it transferred to FTDNA and see if any of her mtDNA matches are also atDNA matches.
• Review the FTDNA projects available to me and consider joining them. 
• Consider upgrading this test.  Maybe there'll be special conference pricing at Jamboree!

Carr & Causier on FindAGrave

I've spent a lot of time on Find A Grave lately.  This post is the first of probably several about my finds. For some locations, especially Vermont, FindAGrave has become a necessary part of my search regimen.  

For my Carr / Causier lines, my grandmother and all 4 of her direct ancestors who immigrated to the USA are at FindAGrave with bio info and photos of the markers!  Each memorial page includes links to immediate family also at FindAGrave.

I can use the photo of the Carr niche here because I'm the volunteer who took the photo and submitted it to FindAGrave.  Photos from FindAGrave can only be used with the specific permission of the submitter/photographer.

Here are links to my Carr & Causier ancestors at FindAGrave:

My grandmother
Bertha Maud (Carr) Causier

Bertha's father, John Henry Carr
Bertha's mother, Ann Matilda (Causier) Carr 

Ann's father,  Charles Causier 
Ann's mother,  Catherine (Hughes) Causier

Many, many thanks to all the other volunteers at FindAGrave who make all this possible! 

Happy Birthday, Daddy

My father was born 98 years ago today in Logan Canyon, Utah.  I can't believe that it's been 29 years since he died.

 
This photo is my newest treasure from Aunt Lelia.  She just received the photo from someone but she doesn't remember who (probably a Bannard descendant).  I have no other group photos like this one.  I am so glad that Aunt Lelia thought to share it with me and that Cousin Gary helped her send me a copy.  Also, it was very thoughtful of her to label everyone; otherwise, I would have been doing a lot of guessing....

Standing, left to right:  Mickey, Lelia, Flora, my father, Anne, Fred (barely a shadow over Wyla's right shoulder), Wyla

Seated: Bertha, Anne Matilda (Causier) Carr, Jane

Front: Barbara, Jessie, Margaret

The family groups are:
Anne Matilda (Causier) and 3 of her 7 children: Jane, Bertha, Anne
Bertha and 5 of her 8 children: my dad, Mickey, Lelia, Wyla, Barbara
Jane & husband Fred with 3 of their 4 children: Jessie, Flora, Margaret

The location is most probably somewhere in Los Angeles County, possibly in the North Hollywood area.  We don't know who is holding the camera (perhaps Ray B?) and Lelia doesn't remember the event itself.  It has to be before my great-grandmother Carr's death in 1940.  Guessing from Barbara's apparent age, I think the photo is 1938-9.  Ray H. died in late 1937, but maybe the photo is earlier and he's the photographer.  However, that would make Barbara younger than 6. Does she look that young??

First Friday Folder: Causier & Tolley

I selected this folder for review this month because it is the thickest one in my English line.  I was hoping I could thin it out a bit.  But, it looks like the big result of this review is that I found a huge error outside the folder!

After pulling the folder, the first thing I did was to check past posts and make sure I hadn't reviewed this couple before. Actually, there hasn't ever been a First Friday Folder on a Causier and no Causier posts at all in the past 12 months.  The yucky part was seeing that the last Causier post was titled 'William CARR in Dodderhill.'  I had written a whole post about William Causier and titled it 'CARR.'  That's terribly embarrassing....

The Couple
William Causier and his second wife, Ann Tolley, are my great-great-great-grandparents.  William was born about 1793 in Droitwich, Worcestershire, England, the son of Sacheverell Causier and Sarah Hunt.  He died 31 Jul 1873 in Whitwood Mere, (West Riding )Yorkshire, England; a snip from his death certificate appears above.  He and Ann were married 24 May 1829 in Dodderhill, Worcestershire.  Ann Tolley was born about 1809 in Droitwich.  She died about October, 1891, in Whitwood Mere.

 
The Causier's lived in this vicinity in Whitwood circa early 1870s, but on the 2006 personal tour Cousin Val gave us, she said none of the buildings they actually lived in remained.

The Folder
The folder is almost an inch thick.  I don't know Ann's parents, so I've been keeping Tolley clues and unknown Tolley's in this folder, but now I've moved them to their own folder.

There was a family group sheet from 2007 and one from 2009.  On one hand, I was surprised to see I hadn't printed a new one for 2 years, but it was also nice to see how far I've come in 4 years.  Otherwise, there weren't any duplicates or any papers misfiled.  Darn, the folder is still thick.

The Plan

1. I need to review maps of Dodderhill & Droitwich and the locations of other nearby parishes from the GENUKI database.
2. I need to review my extractions from1813-1874 the Dodderhill Parish Records to be sure I've entered all the appropriate info in my database.  Then, I need to go back further and find William's baptism and first marriage for myself.
3. Who is the Thomas Tolley who witnessed William and Ann's marriage?  Perhaps he will be a clue to her ancestry?  Judging from how rare Tolley is in the Dodderhill records, I'm expecting her family to have been from a nearby parish.
4. Who is the "niece" Elizabeth Bernat, age 6, living with William and Ann in the 1851 census?

Conclusions
Every month, I tell myself I am NOT going to continue the First Friday Folder blogposts.  But once again, the process has turned up a gross error.  So, I guess I better keep doing it....  Either that or stop making mistakes!

William Causier in Dodderhill

I went back to the Dodderhill Parish Survey Project site mentioned in last post and found great-great-great-grandfather William CAUSIER actually named! It says 

 Most of the Land is owned by Earl Somers and Thomas Thould, with John Bobeson, Thomas Wilson, Edward Bayliss, and William Causier as main occupiers. Full details are in the Appendices of the document available by clicking the link below, which also has information on the various legal documents conveying the land at Impney to John Corbett.

 My goodness!  A name and more information available?!  What could be better than that?!

It took a while to navigate and get to the additional information, but it is super!  Links led to the Worcestershire County Council site and, wonder of all wonders, they have a searchable database with digital copies of the 1845 tithe maps!  There are lots of ways to display the maps and a complicated/thorough legend and labeling system.  It seems to work much better with IE instead of Mozilla.  This image is a very simplified version of what I found:

The pink hash-marked spaces are roads, with the main one from the right of the top center to the bottom left corner being Bromsgrove Road.  The label didn't transfer with the image, but the area immediately to the east of that road and immediately south of the L-shaped dead-end is Hill End!

Now, for the biggie: look at the line of 8 structures along Bromsgrove Road in the center of the image.  The thin, greenish parcel with the 4th structure down is that of William Causier in 1845!  I hope this makes sense because this is a great find: a map that specifically shows William's land and the location of the Hill End area.

The unique intersections allowed me to use Google street view and locate the spot! It shows lush foliage in a mostly residential area with the Hill End busstop in front of a wall that would be just about where William's parcel was.  I may never get to see it in person, but this find is almost as exciting as that would be for me.

The tithe mapping database says:

Parcel 436

Owner: Earl Somers

Tenant: William Causier

Title: Cottage and garden

Area: 0,0,9

Tithes: 0

Land Use: Non-agricultural 

Parish: Dodderhill

 I haven't yet found the appendices and document mentioned, but I'll keep looking.  And, I don't know what the '0,0,9' means for the area, but I bet the folks at RootsChat will!  Right now, I'm going back to RootsChat to show them what I found because of their answers to my query!

Conclusions
It's good to keep looking and exploring all the info in a large website.  I don't know why I kept looking this time because I know I was assuming it was all just general info and would never have anything on just, plain, regular folk....

Now, I have a map and a very specific location for a great-great-great-grandfather from 1845.  English geography doesn't seem quite so complicated right now!  I am so very excited! A map can be better than anything!

DISCLAIMER

I am not an employee of any of the entities mentioned here, nor do I receive any special consideration from them.

Great Resource: National Probate Calendar for England & Wales

There have been lots of announcements lately about the debut of the England & Wales, National Probate Calendar database at ancestry.com.  I finally got a chance to play around in it and found some of my CARRs and CAUSIERs.

Grice Ethell Carr 

He is one of my great-grandfather John Carr's brothers.  I don't have problems in that generation or the previous one, so I haven't done too much work on Grice Ethell.  Given his unusual name, he is easier to spot when looking for CARRs in general, and I have written about him before.  

This find [1] gives me a specific address and a death date.  The surprise (or problem?) is his wife's name being 'Sarah,' when I was expecting Emily J.  Since I have no other record of him after 1901, Emily could have died and he could have remarried.  I should spend at least a little time and see if I can fill in the new gaps and see if I can resolve the wife issue.  I don't feel a real need to pursue the original records that go with this index entry, but at least I now know where and how to find them!

The address given, however, intrigued me.  I have a terrible time keeping track of the geography and levels of goverance in England.  This one, especially with no punctuation, completely threw me.  So, I posted a question in the Yorkshire section at RootsChat (also see previous post about this great resource).  Almost immediately, I received several responses, telling me that the street address is 12 Brandon Terrace.  'Slade Hill' is an area within the Moortown district of Leeds.  I also was told that it's a very nice area of town and that 'Slade Hill' has an alternate spelling of 'Slaid Hill.'  I love RootsChat!

William Cornelius Causier

Yes, this record [2] only says 'William Causier,' but with the info given, he is the one in my files as William Cornelius Causier, the son of my great-great-great-grandfather William Causier and his first wife, Letitia Willis.  My line is through William's second wife, Ann Tolley, so this is a very collateral record for me.

His occupation at that time is new to me.  I sent off another question to the Worcestershire section of RootsChat asking about 'Hill End' and the relationship to Droitwich and Dodderhill.  I've seen it many, many times in parish records for the Causiers.  Again, I received replies clarifying the lay of the land and including a new website to checkout:  the Dodderhill Parish Survey Project.  There's enough info there to keep me busy for ages!  Their growing site includes history, maps, and records.  Thanks, yet again, to the great folks at RootsChat!

The WRONG William Carr!

My William Carr is my great-great-grandfather and I only have death information from another family researcher.  Granted he's an absolutely expert researcher, but it would be nice to find more info anyway.  As you should assume, the search at the database turned out oodles and oodles of William Carr's who died in 1916.  But I was excited when one of those high in the list was a William Herbert Carr who died in 1916 from Scarborough, Yorkshire, which is very close to where I would expect to find William, and 'Herbert' is a family name.  But, look at what I got when I went to the image [3]:

Regretably, I have no known relationship to this brave soldier.  I am, however, certain that my 76-year-old great-great-grandfather was NOT off in France in WWI.  This non-find reminds me that no matter how an index entry may appear to match, don't get too excited! 

Conclusions

Yet again, I found myself playing around, finding absolutely interesting stuff on collateral lines and strangers.  Do I need to draw a harder line on how I spend my research time?!

The entry on William Carr was a good reminder that I must never assume that an index entry is the person I'm researching, not even when the dates seem to match.  And, it's real folly with common surnames.

Genealogy people, and especially those at RootsChat, are the nicest and most helpful people!  I should spend more time in RootsChat searching the info already there and I should see if there are any queries where I can be a help and not just a problem.

Sources

[1]  England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861-1941.  [Database at ancestry.com]  Image from 1928, p. 526.

[2]  England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861-1941.  [Database at ancestry.com]  Image from 1870, p. 333.

[3] England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861-1941.  [Database at ancestry.com]  Image from 1917, p. 454

Disclaimers

I am a paid subscriber to ancestry.com but I receive no other special consideration from them in any way.  I am registered at RootsChat [that's free!] and receive nothing but good responses from them.

Sacheverell Causier, 1715

This image is from Worcester, England.  I believe it records the baptism of my sixth-great-grandfather, Sacheverell Causier and (yeah!) shows his father as Wm. Causier [1].  'Causur' is a fairly common variant for Causier.  I believe that this is the Sacheverell who married Betty Astmore in 1744 [2].

Two other entries, perhaps children of the same person but written as 'Will,' are for:

• William, 10 Jan 1712
• Elizabeth, 19 Oct 1717

The first image on this roll in Item 2 has "The living is a vicarage united to the Rectory of St. Nicholas, Droitwich, in 1928.  For microfilm of St. Nicholas parish registers, see BA 4305."  As noted below, having people in Droitwich in this era means we have to look at lots of different places!

Interestingly, the third image says "Note.  In this register is recorded the baptism of Edward Winslow, a Pilgrim father, on 20 October, 1595."  

There are lots of CAUSIER, WOOD, and HUNT entries in this film and the two items listed below.  Most of them are, at this time, 'unknown' to me.  Unfortunately, there is not an ASTWOOD or anything similar to be seen anywhere....

Source

[1]  St. Peter de Witton Church, Droitwich: Parish Registers, 1544-1978; Baptisms 1544-1853, Marriages 1544-1769, Burials 1544-1812, Salt Lake City Family History Library, FHL # 801,595, Items 2-5. Item 2 is kind of in  chronological order without page numbers.

[2]  Cousin Val is my only source for the Astwood link.  So far, I haven't been able to find anything else.

Notes

Additionally, these two records are also available:

Parish register printouts of Droitwich, Worcester, England (St. Peter); christenings, 1716-1875.  FHL # 883,780; Item 3.  The image of the title page says "Computer Printout of Saint Peter, Droitwich, Worcester, England (1716-1875) Births or Charistenings, A thru Z" and that the info is from a controlled extraction program in 1976.  There are 7 CAUSIER (and variants) entries; I only know how 2 of them fit in with the line.

Registers of The Church of St. Peter de Witton, Droitwich, Worcestershire: Baptisms 1544-1840, Marriages 1544-1837, Burials 1544-1838.  This very nice book appears to have been published by a genealogy group, but publication info does not appear on the title page or its reverse.  The ISBN is 0-905105-83-4.  There is a very brief, but nice, historical introduction.  WorldCat credits the Birmingham & Midland Society for Genealogy & Heraldry (there are some wonderful resources at their website) and gives a date of 1986.  I was able to access a copy by using interlibrary loan at my local library, with the copy I saw having traveled across the country from Harvard University Library!  Since this was a nicely typed transcript done by locals familiar with the records, I was able to use it to help with the microfilm of the original that the image above is from.  The book's introduction lists the nearby churches of St. Mary de Witton, St. Nicholas, and St. Andrew.  I have also seen records from Dodderhill.  There can be CAUSIERs in any of them!

Gravestone Photographic Resource (revised 7/26)

The blog GenWestUK just posted info on Gravestone Photographic Resource.  It seems to be a very thorough site and has super potential as the contributions increase.  The goal is worldwide, but at least for now, most entries seem to be UK related.

Their database includes entries for George Causier (1854-1916), his wife Jane Elizabeth (Pearce; 1864-1934), and two of their children: John & May.  They are buried in the Municipal cemetery of Linthorpe, Yorkshire.  Apparently, their names are on one monument. George is a great-grandson of my 4th-great-grandparents, Sacheverell Causier & Sarah Hunt.  I was able to fit George's family in my lines because of all the work Cousin Val has done and kindly shared.  I must reconnect with her!

Conclusion:  Uh oh, catching up on reading blogs can seriously add to the ToDo pile....  I won't run any of my other Yorkshire surnames now, but posting this resource should make it easier for me to remember to get around to it!

It's nice to have at least one, moderately unusual surname in my Carr/Causier line!

Thank you, GenWestUK!

Baptism: Charles Causier

This image shows the 4 December 1836 baptism record for Great-great grandfather Charles CAUSIER in the records of the Parish Church of Dodderhill in the County of Worcester in England. It says they were living in the Hill End section of Dodderhill and that his father was a labourer.

His parents were William CAUSIER (1794-1873) and Anne TOLLEY (abt 1809-1891). I'm currently combing the Dodderhill & Droitwich records in an attempt to verify Anne's birth and parents. There seem to have been several churches in the area and I don't think I would have found this image without the notes Cousin Judy sent me: Thanks, Judy!

Source
FHL Film# 352,025; Item 1: Worcestershire Parish Records, Dodderhill, Vol. 7, baptisms 1813-1841, p. 158.

A Carr/Causier Voyage & More

The first time I remember hearing the expression "Every journey has two ends" was in a podcast from the National Archives of the United Kingdom. [Please see Note 5 for more info.] Now, I have my own examples!

Fairly recently, findmypast.co.uk (a commercial subscription site) posted oodles of records of passenger lists of people leaving from the UK on long voyages during the years 1890 to 1960. Last week, I finally got around to playing in those records, accessing FindMyPast for free at my local Family History Center. It was great fun!

The Family
Great-Grandparents John Henry CARR and Ann Matilda CAUSIER made at least two trips between the USA and England. The first trip was between May, 1887 and February, 1889, settling in Wisconsin with 3 young children (Matilda, Grice Ethell, & Charles William). There, Jane Catherine, Ernest Grice, and Bertha Maud were born. Sadly, both Matilda and Grice Ethell died in Racine, Wisconsin in July 1889. About 1894, the family returned to England, where their last child, Anne Martha was born in 1904.

The Voyage with Two Ends
Some time ago I had found the arrival manifest for their 15 September 1907 return through Philadelphia. Here are crops of both pages of the arriving manifest.

Page 1 [Source 1]
John Henry CARR is line 18; Ann and four children are lines 19-23:

Before I talk about the Carr’s in this image, let’s look at the ‘scribbles’ on the page. The line through Mr. Marshall on line 26 means he did NOT take the voyage after all. The date and code numbers on line 23 for Aunt Annie most likely mean that she applied for naturalization in 1931. [Note 6]

Page 2 [Source 2]:

I especially value seeing that great-grandfather John Henry was only 5’7” and had blue eyes, while great-grandmother Ann was 5’3” with brown eyes. Re-examing all this info for the writing of this blog, I see that maybe I can’t find a birth record for Ann is because I have been looking in Tipton, Staffordshire per her death certificate, rather than in Castleford, Yorkshire. Given that the passenger list was made 40 years closer to her birth, it could be the accurate one! It’s funny how re-reading documents can reveal details missed before.

Also, note that on Page 2 where it says John Henry was going to his father’s at 188 Wiliams, it really is his father-in-law Charles Causier’s address. There is no indication that William Carr ever left Yorkshire.

Last week, at FindMyPast.co.uk, I found the passenger list for the 4 September 1907 departure from Liverpool [Source 3]. So, now I have both the beginning and end of the Carr’s second voyage! This passenger list doesn’t give me any earth-shattering new info, but it does contain the surprise that Grandma Bertha was called, at least once, “Bessy.” If I had not already had the arrival manifest, finding the departing passenger list would have given me a date, a ship, and a port, which would surely make finding the arrival easier.

The Ship

They traveled on the SS Merion. It was easy to find info on this ship at Wikipedia.com. The wiki entry says that the ship was first launched in 1902, so it was still fairly new when this family sailed. The entry continues that the ship held 150 second class passengers and 1700 in third class. Its career includes running aground and a few at-sea collisions, but fortunately none in 1907! Perhaps most interestingly, it was sunk, without casualties, by a German submarine in WWI while on duty in the Mediterranean as a decoy. [Source 4]

Conclusion
Finding documents and matching photos like all these really strike me. I just stare at this ship thinking over and over that I may have never met them, but my great-grandparents were on this ship! Wow!

Maybe this FindMyPast database will be expanded one day soon and I'll be able to use it to find the date and full info about the first Carr/Causier trip to the USA. For now, I'll just try to get used to the idea that Grandma Bertha may have been a 'Bessie.'

Disclaimer
I neither work for nor receive any consideration from any of the entities listed here.

Sources & Notes
[1] cropped from ancestry.com database “Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1800-1945,” 1907 / September / Merion / image 27

[2] cropped from ancestry.com database “Philadelphia Passenger Lists, 1800-1945,” 1907 / September / Merion / image 28

[3] cropped from findmypast.co.uk migration database "Passenger Lists Leaving UK 1890-1960"; SS Merion, Liverpool to Philadelphia, 4 Sep 1907

[4] Merion picture & info from Wikipedia entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Merion -- Wikipedia says this image is in the public domain in the USA.

[5] More info about the National Archives podcasts: The best way to access their wonderful podcasts is at http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/

Here's the podcast specific to passenger lists and every voyage having two ends: http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/podcasts/every-journey.htm

Just for fun, here are links to 3 of my other most favorite National Archives podcasts:
How the sinking of the Titanic affected the families of the crew
a case study on genealogical research featuring the family of Charles Darwin
workhouses of the 1800s
The National Archives have an incredible amount of resources and I could never do them justice in this blog. For genealogy research help, I love the book Tracing Your Ancestors in the National Archives by Amanda Bevan. My copy is the 7th Edition, published in 2006. !

[6] There is a wonderful document “A Guide to Interpreting Passenger List Annotations” online through JewishGen. It has lots of examples and all sorts of info about all the details on passenger lists. Be sure to look at all of the sections: my printout of the guide runs to 28 pages.

Great-Great Grandparents CAUSIER & 7 missing children

This photo was one of the first CAUSIER items that I found online: it’s posted in numerous places now by several family members. I first found it at Genealogy Cousin Kathy’s website. It shows great-great-grandparents Charles CAUSIER, Catherine (HUGHES), and four children: Manwella, Ann Matilda, Charles, and Martha.

Here is the young family in the 1861 census at 70 Chapel Street in Dist. 29, Sedgley, Staffordshire, England:
In 1871, they are at Half Acres in District 9, Castleford, Yorkshire, England:
By 1881, they have moved a bit to 85 Richard Row, Whitwood, Yorkshire
It was fairly easy to find additional info on the four children, which I'll only summarize here:
Manwella (1859-1937), married Enoch Field
Ann (1861-1940), married John Henry Carr
Charles (1874-1961), married Elizabeth
Martha (1876-1937), married David Slater

The 13 years between the births of Ann and Charles bothered me. Having read several basic genealogy books by then, I knew that such gaps should raise questions. I even went so far as to wonder if the last two were actually grandchildren or were otherwise not birth children of Charles and Catherine.

But then I found Charles and Catherine in both the 1900

and 1910 census
In both of these US census records, they are at 188 Williams St. in the 17th ward of Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Both images show entries with Catherine having 4 living children but having had 11 children! I was missing seven children!

Since I already had found the family in every possible England census, it probably meant that the seven had died very young and missed census listings. But it really bothered me not to know their names. Since finding they existed, I have been on the lookout for the missing children.

A reference from Genealogy Cousin Judy first showed me that the family had been non-conformist. (I now know that in that time period in Yorkshire non-conformists were common.) Judy’s reference led me to FHL# 1,657,057, which is primarily baptism registers for several Methodist chapels or circuits in Yorkshire. It wasn’t too hard to find three entries (Item 3, Primitive Methodist Baptism Register, Castleford Bradley Street, 1862-1880, pp. 12, 28, & 37 respectively) for children of Charles & Catherine Causier, living in Castleford with Charles’ occupation as a labourer:

Charles (#1), born 24 Dec 1867, baptized 19 Jan 1868
Sarah, born 1 Aug 1871, baptized 27 Aug 1871
Lydia, born 30 Dec 1872, baptized 2 Mar 1873

Now, my list of the children of Charles & Catherine CAUSIER is:
Manwella, born 1859
Ann, born 1861
Missing child 1863?
Missing child 1865?
Missing child 1866?
Charles (#1), born 24 Dec 1867
Missing child 1869?
Sarah, born 1 Aug 1871
Lydia, born 30 Dec 1872
Charles (#2), born 1874
Martha, born 1876

Of course, the possible dates that I’ve listed for the missing children are merely guesses. Catherine would have been about 40 in 1878, so there could even be one that late. [Writing this blog entry also shows me that I am missing real sources for most of Charles & Catherine and for all 3 of the girls in the photo, too! I have to see if the Primitive Methodists kept burial records…. This family group sheet is not in anywhere as good a shape as I thought it was… ]

So, this blog entry is not complete. It is important to me to remember all 11 of Charles and Catherine’s children. At least now I only have 4 missing children. I will keep looking for them and I hope to have good news here one day!

IMAGES All census excerpts are from ancestry.com images

Great Resources: England

The London Gazette is an official newspaper in the British Isles and has been continuously published since the 17th century. My first reaction when I read that it now had a fully searchable online archive was 'Why bother? My people weren't in London.' But, I still visited the site and searched for the fairly uncommon surname CAUSIER and for some of my CARRs, all of whom were in Yorkshire and neighboring areas. ... Now I know that the London Gazette is much, much more than a London paper!

I found Great Uncle Grice Ethell CARR in bankruptcy listings:
11 May 1888 -- p. 2733
18 May 1888 -- p. 2874
16 May 1888 -- p. 6264

His address is listed as "Bridge-street, Sandal-road, Wakefield, Yorkshire" and is a "Grocer and Tea Dealer." The prodeedings are being handled in the Wakefield Court. This data adds to what we know about where he lived and his occupations. The second child of William CARR and Jane ETHELL, his name is actually three of the family surnames! By the 1891 England census, he was back in Whitwood Mere and working in the glass foundry.

I didn't know what the listings were referring to; 'bankruptcy' wasn't mentioned on any of those 3 pages and working backwards to the beginning of each listing had not made it any clearer. So, I went to RootsChat and posted a query there. Within in 2 days I had 3 great responses and that's how I learned great uncle Grice Ethell CARR had filed for bankruptcy. I don't see much in the the genealogy press about RootsChat, but I think it's a great resource for anyone doing research in England, Ireland, Wales, Scotland, etc. Everyone is very nice and very helpful.

I made these website thumbnails using Thumbizy which I learned about a few weeks ago from the Eastman's Online Genealogy Newsletter. But, I'm not totally satisfied with them here and will try something else next time.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I neither work for nor receive any consideration from any of these groups. Actually, I don't work for anyone.

6th Great-Grandparents Causier & Astmore

I don't know, but it may be time to join Facebook…! I’ve held off on joining or even exploring Facebook all this time, thinking that I already have more than enough other activities to keep me busy. Also, I haven’t really seen a substantive reason to join, but...

A few days ago, with just a few minutes to play online and for no good reason, I ran a search for ‘Causier Astmore’, the surnames of my 6th-great-grandparents Sacheverell CAUSIER and Betty ASTMORE. Only a few results came up and one was to a Facebook page.

Wow! It’s entitled ‘Family Causier’ and has about 81 members as of today. The 'officer' is cousin John Causier, apparently of the UK. There’re a lot of wonderful photos, other info, and contacts with Causier cousins (only a handful with whom I’ve had previous contact). It seems to be a serious genealogy group and not just a social group. Photos include one of Charles & Catherine Causier with their children.

It has a link to the fine website “Causier Family of Dunchurch, Dodderhill & Droitwich” by cousin Martin. I’ve used this site before, but not for a while and this was a good reminder.

Great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents Sacheverell Causier & Betty Astmore apparently married in 1744, possibly in Droitwich, Worcester, England. My line of descent from them is:
Sacheverell Causier = Betty Astmore
Sacheverell Causier = Elizabeth Wood
Sacheverell Causier = Sarah Hunt
William Causier = Ann Tolley
Charles Causier = Catherine Hughes
Ann Matilda Causier = John Henry Carr
Bertha Maud Carr, my grandmother

Who knows what other great things I may find if I join Facebook or otherwise contact all these new cousins?!

Great-Grandparents John Carr & Annie Matilda Causier

This is one of my photos of All Saints' Church in Whitwood, Yorkshire. My great grandfather John CARR and great grandmother Ann Matilda CAUSIER were married here 129 years ago today. There is also a photo of it at the GENUKI site. (When I first found the church at this site, the page was labeled 'Whitwood' and the photo 'All Saints' Church, Whitwood. I don't know why they have changed the titles.)

This copy of their marriage certificate was among the things my dad left. I don't know where he got it, but I suspect it was from cousin Judy. As you can see, the 10 October 1880 wedding was performed by Jno. Jas. (JJ) Needham, Rector of All Saints'.


The 1881 English census was just a few months after John and Annie's wedding. It show them living in Castleford, West Yorkshire, which is about one mile from Whitwood.


The family of John's parents, William and Jane (ETHELL) CARR are nearby in Whitwood, interestingly just 4 entries away from Rector Needham. Also, the way I've cropped the census image, you can see William and Jane's son, Grice Ethell Carr who was one of the witnesses for his brother's wedding.


In September 2006, my husband and I were able to travel briefly to England and see part of Yorkshire. My research had led me to fourth cousin Val, who still lives in the area. She and her husband were wonderful tour guides and showed us places we could never have found by ourselves. While Whitwood, in general, is understandably much changed, the church is still there! What is left of the church cemetery is nearby, but very few headstones remain.
After approaching one of the Whitwood headstones, I was surprised to read that it was that of Rector Needham.


An inscription for his mother is on the left side of the large marker. He is not an ancestor of mine, but it is somehow touching that I could photograph a headstone for a stranger whose name I had seen in old records. I have not found any record that Rector Needham ever left descendants and I wonder if anyone else will ever search for him or his mother.

Great-grandparents John and Annie CARR appear to have left for America between 1887 and 1889, joining Annie's parents and siblings in the greater Milwaukee area of Wisconsin. In contrast to that of the man who married them, their burial niche in Glendale, California, is marked by a small plaque. Their youngest daughter, also named Annie, is with them.


SOURCES
Photos and marriage certificate copy: MHD collection

1881 England Census excerpt #1: England, Yorkshire, Castleford, District 17, p. 31 from ancestry.com

1881 England Census excerpt #2: England, Yorkshire, Whitwood, District 4, p. 6 from ancestry.com

Carr interment location: Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California;
Great Mausoleum, Dahlia Terrace, Columbarium of the Graces, #11686

Great-Great-Grandparents Charles Causier & Catherine Hughes: New Info!

Familysearch.org is adding new databases almost daily; I try to remember to go and look for new info regularly. Currently, the site is still at pilot.familysearch.org , but that URL will probably be changing in the near future as the "New" FamilySearch rolls out.

Last night, while just playing around, I saw new data for the Wisconsin State Censuses and ran the surname 'Causier' just for fun. Sure enough, there was great-great-grandfather C. CAUSIER in June 1885 in the village of Bay View, Milwaukee County!

The household is 2 males and 2 females, all born Great Britain. That data lines up perfectly with my expectations for Charles, wife Catherine (HUGHES), son Charles, and daughter Martha. This new info is especially nice to have since Charles & Catherine supposedly immigrated in 1881 but I had found no record of them in the USA until 1889 and 1890 at 188 Williams St., Milwaukee in a Milwaukee Wisconsin Directory (ancestry.com). Now I can look for them specifically in Bay View.

An adjacent 1885 Wisconsin census entry is for the family of E. Field. That data lines up perfectly with expectations for son-in-law Enoch Field, his wife Manwella (Causier), and their 3 oldest children Enoch, Ada, and Charles. This new info is nice to have since it fits so well with a ship manifest showing them arriving May 11 in New York on the ship 'Germanic' from Liverpool (NY passenger list available at ancestry.com). Note that in the 1900 and 1910 US censuses, Manwella is said to have immigrated in 1884, but in the 1930 US census, she supposedly immigrated in 1888. So, even given that census entries and memories may be faulty, we must at least consider that there may have been both earlier and later trips to the USA than the 1885 trip for the Fields.

What a great find! The only problem that every "great find" seems to lead to more questions...!