Morning everyone,
2Jays - my Thirza was born - wait for it - between 1858 and 1869. And I know that's an 11 year span covering potential birth dates, but those are the different dates that are listed on the records I have found (mainly census returns) where there have been other facts included that show that despite the different dates, it was definitely my Thirza! For example, her place of birth is pretty much consistently listed as Dorchester, Oxton, on every record.
I found on the census for 1891, that she was working in a college, as a maid, in Blackpool. Her age there is given as 28, born in 1863. On the marriage certificate, (which I have a copy of) she lists the college as her place of residence - as does my Great Grandfather, her husband. She lists her age there as 25 - this was in 1894, giving her a birth year of 1869, making her 4 years older than Cyril, her husband. From this, I got the name of her Father - John. I know Cyril died in 1899, from pneumonia, (I have his death certificate), and that at that point they had two very young son's. I find her again on the 1911 census, where the names of the sons, the address, and the place of birth given, all confirm its my Thirza - she says she was born in 1861 on this census! It was from this census I found out about the illigitimate son - a boarder is listed who shares her maiden name - thinking he must be a nephew or similar, I traced him back hoping it would give me a link to her family - and it was then I discovered that he was actually her son! I think it was from records relating to his birth, that I got her dob as 1858. To cap it all, I also have found her death record - where she is listed as having been born in 1860.
Whichever the right year was, from what I can gather, Thirza had very much fallen off the popular name list by the 1950's. Even trying the different spellings, and extending my search to the whole of Britain, and covering the dates from 1855 to 1870, I can only find a handful of Thirza's born over that time span - and as far as I can tell, none of those birth records relate to my Thirza.
Its looking like we will be in the Canaries for a mini break, the week after next! Probably from the 29th/30th to the 2nd! So will miss both you and Slugsta, sadly - hope you both have a wonderful time, though xxxx
JM, glad you enjoyed the snow - my idea of hell to try and walk in it, but it does sound beautiful!
I find some of the things I discover to be really sad too, Spamar - especially the death of children. I remember my maternal Gran, who had dementia, talking about waiting for 'George' to wake up, me asking who he was and her insisting he was her baby. I didn't have an Uncle George, so put it down to the dementia - doing the research, I find there was an Uncle George, who passed away aged only 3 - so sad
Annebythesea - thank you for that info - will follow that up and see if I can fit it in, it sounds like it might be really helpful
You never know, it might lead to me tracking down the elusive Thirza's bith records, and help me take her line further back!
Hi Egbert (love the name!) - welcome to TP, though I am sorry that you have had to find us x yes, the delusions are the hardest part - so many are paranoid or upsetting to Mil in some way. Avoiding re-enforcing a delusion, whilst also being advised to not contradict it was always a tricky balancing act - not easy at all. And yes, it probably doesn't help to know where these delusions spring from - just my curiosity made me wonder
Right - time to get sorted for work.
Have a good day, everyone xxxx