I'm working on a history of St Ursula's Church, Berne, in preparation for centenary celebrations next year. The chief benefactor who gave the money for the building was a Mrs John Castlemain from St Louis, Missouri, who came here in 1905 with her "adopted daughter from Yorkshire", Ursula Postlethwaite. The daughter was treated at the world-renowned clinic of Professor Emil Kocher. (The operation was probably for goitre, but one should beware of the idea that the "daughter" was a young child!) A lot of this story rings true - Kocher even lectured in St Louis in 1904. But neither the 1900 US census nor the 1901 English census shows an Ursula Postlethwaite. Nor does FreeBMD come up with one. The local medical records for 1905 are not extant, one did not need a passport to come to Switzerland, the police seldom checked who was staying in the local hotels. Who was Ursula Postlethwaite? I can put up with brick walls before the 1840's or so, but this is one from a hundred years ago. There _must_ be a lead somewhere. Any suggestions? Hector Davie

Did she marry between 1901 and 1905? Who did you get the quotation "adopted daughter..." from? - it might be worth trying to identify where the author sourced their info. Have you tried the Times archive and also any St. Louis and Berne local newspapers of the time? Did Mrs. Castlemain leave a will? Are there any records left by Kocher's clinic? And lastly, how about the archives of St. Ursula's itself - Ms. Postlethwaite may have adopted the church's dedication as a replacement forename. Lawrence. > -----Original Message----- > From: Hector Davie (by way of Geoffrey <lists@sog.org.uk>) > [mailto:hector@davie.ch] > Sent: 31 July 2005 10:21 > To: SOG-UK-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: [SoG] Ursula Postlethwaite > > > > I'm working on a history of St Ursula's Church, Berne, in preparation > for centenary celebrations next year. The chief benefactor > who gave the > money for the building was a Mrs John Castlemain from St Louis, > Missouri, who came here in 1905 with her "adopted daughter from > Yorkshire", Ursula Postlethwaite. The daughter was treated at the > world-renowned clinic of Professor Emil Kocher. (The operation was > probably for goitre, but one should beware of the idea that the > "daughter" was a young child!) > > A lot of this story rings true - Kocher even lectured in St Louis in > 1904. But neither the 1900 US census nor the 1901 English > census shows > an Ursula Postlethwaite. Nor does FreeBMD come up with one. The local > medical records for 1905 are not extant, one did not need a > passport to > come to Switzerland, the police seldom checked who was staying in the > local hotels. Who was Ursula Postlethwaite? > > I can put up with brick walls before the 1840's or so, but > this is one > from a hundred years ago. There _must_ be a lead somewhere. > Any suggestions? > > Hector Davie > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.9.7/60 - Release Date: > 28/07/2005 > > -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Ha Haa! Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.9.7/60 - Release Date: 28/07/2005

After sending this (with the wrong subject line, so it was only thanks to Geoffrey that it made it to the list), I slept on the problem and realized I had left one stone unturned - I had searched the Ellis Island site for POSTLETHWAITE, but not for CASTLEMAN. And fortunately CASTLEMANs were few, and Mrs C had sailed into New York practically every second year. The ship's manifests revealed the problem - the adopted daughter was neither Ursula nor Postlethwaite, but Margot POSTLEWAITE - so much for oral tradition! The rest has been plain sailing! Hector Davie

Well done Hector. Did Margot adopt Saint Ursula's name? Lawrence. > -----Original Message----- > From: Hector Davie [mailto:hector@dplanet.ch] > Sent: 31 July 2005 13:33 > To: SOG-UK-L@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [SoG] Ursula Postlethwaite > > > After sending this (with the wrong subject line, so it was > only thanks > to Geoffrey that it made it to the list), I slept on the problem and > realized I had left one stone unturned - I had searched the > Ellis Island > site for POSTLETHWAITE, but not for CASTLEMAN. And fortunately > CASTLEMANs were few, and Mrs C had sailed into New York practically > every second year. > > The ship's manifests revealed the problem - the adopted daughter was > neither Ursula nor Postlethwaite, but Margot POSTLEWAITE - so > much for > oral tradition! The rest has been plain sailing! > > Hector Davie > > -- > No virus found in this incoming message. > Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. > Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.9.7/60 - Release Date: > 28/07/2005 > > -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Ha Haa! Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.338 / Virus Database: 267.9.7/60 - Release Date: 28/07/2005