Hi listers I just thought I would have another go at knocking down my brickwall and am hoping someone might be able to help or suggest what I might do next! I have the marriage certificate of Ellen DAVIS who married Maurice YOUNG 26 feb 1890. They are both resident in Ventnor. Ellen is 21 but unfortunately there is no fathers name. I assume this means she was illegitimate. Is this a safe assumption to make? During the censuses her age tallies up with her being 21 when she married and also states she was born in IOW Freshwater and her death cert 28 november 1931 states she is 62 when she dies and her name there is Ellen Frances Young. However I can find no birth record for her. I have searched the Births on the IOW FHS site and Free BMD. Free BMD comes up with an Ellen Davis born in 1859 which is obviously older than she should be if censuses are correct. I'm not quite sure where to go next. Any suggestions gratefully received! There is also a son Walter Young or Ernest Walter Young who was born prior to the marriage approx 1886-1889 (his age varies with censuses) who I can also find no record of. I have found his world war 1 army service records which gives his date of birth as 1 may 1889 bt no luck with his birth. Again any help would be great Sorry for the long post amy

Amy   As you say there is no sign of a Ellen Frances Davis on Freebmd for 1869 but here is a Frances Ellen  -  Could that be your one??     Regards   John --- On Sat, 17/7/10, amy wiles <wilesamy7@aol.com> wrote: From: amy wiles <wilesamy7@aol.com> Subject: [IoW] Davis brickwall! To: ISLE-OF-WIGHT@rootsweb.com Date: Saturday, 17 July, 2010, 17:31 Hi listers I just thought I would have another go at knocking down my brickwall and am hoping someone might be able to help or suggest what I might do next! I have the marriage certificate of Ellen DAVIS who married Maurice YOUNG 26 feb 1890. They are both resident in Ventnor. Ellen is 21 but unfortunately there is no fathers name. I assume this means she was illegitimate. Is this a safe assumption to make? During the censuses her age tallies up with her being 21 when she married and also states she was born in IOW Freshwater and her death cert 28 november 1931 states she is 62 when she dies and her name there is Ellen Frances Young.  However I can find no birth record for her. I have searched the Births on the IOW FHS site and Free BMD. Free BMD comes up with an Ellen Davis born in 1859 which is obviously older than she should be if censuses are correct. I'm not quite sure where to go next. Any suggestions gratefully received! There is also a son Walter Young or Ernest Walter Young who was born prior to the marriage approx 1886-1889 (his age varies with censuses) who I can also find no record of. I have found his world war 1 army service records which gives his date of birth as 1 may 1889 bt no luck with his birth. Again any help would be great Sorry for the long post amy ************************************** You can contact the Isle of Wight List Administrator by emailing: Isle-of-Wight-Admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ISLE-OF-WIGHT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Hi Amy I spent some time trying to track down Ellen Davis last night, I'm not surprised you are having difficulty. I really didn't come to any conclusions. I assume that on her marriage certificate she is recorded as a spinster, I'm sure you would have said if otherwise. I have tried searching for all females of approximately the right age born in Freshwater in the 1871 and 1881 censuses, but there are none that really look like possible matches. This makes me suspect that she was not actually born in Freshwater, I guess searching for Middleton or Totland or some of the other nearby places might help. The other thing to try is variants of Ellen, I tried Helen, Helena, Eleanor, Ellena etc (my daughter's name is Ellen so I have first had experience of the trouble the name seems to cause). There is even a Heleny Adams in the 1871 census born Freshwater. Is it safe to assume Ellen was illegitimate, hence her Father's name is missing from the marriage certificate? I would say this is one possible explanation and given the lack of other records is probably a reasonable assumption, but I would not be 100% certain of this. Who are the witnesses recorded at the marriage, I wonder if their names might help? I thought that maybe I had tracked down Walter Young, but it turned out to be the wrong boy. There is a William Walter Davis born Cowes district 1888 (Walter's age in the 1891 census would suggest late 1887/early 1888 is more likely than 1889). But I found him with his Davis/Jackman family in the 1891. Regarding your comment about "Walter Young or Ernest Walter Young", in the 1891 census Walter and Ernest are shown separately (aged 3 and 11 months respectively), so I doubt that Walter would have had the middle name Ernest. It is possible that the War record that you have found is actually for Ernest who would have been born in May 1890 in reality (rather than 1889) if the 1891 census record is correct. Military service records can of course be misleading as young men often were economical with the truth regarding their true age so that they could sign up early, so it is not difficult to imagine that he gave the correct date of birth but not the year when he enlisted. Sorry for the long and not very helpful reply :-) Jon Baker -----Original Message----- From: isle-of-wight-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:isle-of-wight-bounces@rootsweb.com] On Behalf Of amy wiles Sent: 17 July 2010 17:31 To: ISLE-OF-WIGHT@rootsweb.com Subject: [IoW] Davis brickwall! Hi listers I just thought I would have another go at knocking down my brickwall and am hoping someone might be able to help or suggest what I might do next! I have the marriage certificate of Ellen DAVIS who married Maurice YOUNG 26 feb 1890. They are both resident in Ventnor. Ellen is 21 but unfortunately there is no fathers name. I assume this means she was illegitimate. Is this a safe assumption to make? During the censuses her age tallies up with her being 21 when she married and also states she was born in IOW Freshwater and her death cert 28 november 1931 states she is 62 when she dies and her name there is Ellen Frances Young. However I can find no birth record for her. I have searched the Births on the IOW FHS site and Free BMD. Free BMD comes up with an Ellen Davis born in 1859 which is obviously older than she should be if censuses are correct. I'm not quite sure where to go next. Any suggestions gratefully received! There is also a son Walter Young or Ernest Walter Young who was born prior to the marriage approx 1886-1889 (his age varies with censuses) who I can also find no record of. I have found his world war 1 army service records which gives his date of birth as 1 may 1889 bt no luck with his birth. Again any help would be great Sorry for the long post amy ************************************** You can contact the Isle of Wight List Administrator by emailing: Isle-of-Wight-Admin@rootsweb.com ------------------------------- To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ISLE-OF-WIGHT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message

Dear Amy, I don't know if this helps but there are the following births registered in Portsea District, (Many IOW people had their children registered / baptised at Portsea). Births Mar 1868 DAVIS Eleanor Portsea 2b 406 If Walter was born prior to her marriage, I assume he would have been registered under his mother's maiden name of DAVIS and there is also the following birth in Portsea District. Births Jun 1886 -------------------------------------------------------------------------- DAVIS Walter Portsea 2b 523 There are also 2 Male DAVIS children born during the Mar 1/4 1889 on the IoW - It might be woth checking these out. Unfortunately I know it costs to obtain birth certs (even when they turn out to be incorrect), but sometimes it is the only way of confirming / eliminating someone. Kindest Regards Vanessa Dorset (looking forward to visiting the fair Isle in October to chase my elusive Islanders!) ----- Original Message ----- From: "amy wiles" <wilesamy7@aol.com> To: <ISLE-OF-WIGHT@rootsweb.com> Sent: Saturday, July 17, 2010 5:31 PM Subject: [IoW] Davis brickwall! > Hi listers > > > > I just thought I would have another go at knocking down my brickwall and am > hoping someone might be able to help or suggest what I might do next! > > > > I have the marriage certificate of Ellen DAVIS who married Maurice YOUNG 26 > feb 1890. They are both resident in Ventnor. Ellen is 21 but unfortunately > there is no fathers name. I assume this means she was illegitimate. Is this > a safe assumption to make? During the censuses her age tallies up with her > being 21 when she married and also states she was born in IOW Freshwater and > her death cert 28 november 1931 states she is 62 when she dies and her name > there is Ellen Frances Young. However I can find no birth record for her. I > have searched the Births on the IOW FHS site and Free BMD. Free BMD comes up > with an Ellen Davis born in 1859 which is obviously older than she should be > if censuses are correct. I'm not quite sure where to go next. Any > suggestions gratefully received! > > > > There is also a son Walter Young or Ernest Walter Young who was born prior > to the marriage approx 1886-1889 (his age varies with censuses) who I can > also find no record of. I have found his world war 1 army service records > which gives his date of birth as 1 may 1889 bt no luck with his birth. Again > any help would be great > > > > Sorry for the long post > > > > amy > > > ************************************** > You can contact the Isle of Wight List Administrator by emailing: > Isle-of-Wight-Admin@rootsweb.com > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to ISLE-OF-WIGHT-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message