Can you help me find my great great grandmother and beyond?

Symone61

Hello.

I have been trying to find information on my great, great, maternal grandmother for some years now. My great grandmother was Mary Matilda Sheldon (Chilton) born 14 Dec 1903 - Walsall, Staffordshire, England. Death May 1991 - Cannock, Staffordshire, England. She married my great grandfather Clifford Chilton. His information is as follows:

Clifford Chilton1902–1979

BIRTH 4 SEP 1902 • Cannock, Staffordshire, England

DEATH 1979 • Cannock, Staffordshire, England

The only possible information for her mother that I have been able to locate is the following but I don't even know if it is correct:

Elizabeth Jane Horton1878–1939

BIRTH ABT 1878 • Pleck

DEATH SEP 1939 • Walsall, Staffordshire, England

I am trying to find out who my great, great grandmother was and continue on to find her mother, her mother's mother, etc. I believe that somewhere my maternal ancestors left Spain and went to England but I am not sure when or where that happened.

Any information anyone can offer is much appreciated.

Paul W

@Symone61

I will probably have to do this in stages, as there will be a need to consult the GRO and FreeBMD websites to find / confirm the details.

Firstly, I assume you have found the 1911 census record, showing the family at Walsall. Here is the link to the FamilySearch index, with Mary Matilda as the prime person in the record - https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XWW3-1PF. Unfortunately, I do not have access to a copy of the original document, but Pleck must be the intended place of birth, as it is in the borough of Walsall.

I have found the 1900 Walsall marriage between Josiah Sheldon and Elizabeth Horton (no middle name shown) at FreeBMD. The 1911 census does show her as Elizabeth Jane, however, aged 33. The only match for an individual born around 1878 in the Walsall registration district is for the Elizabeth Jane Horton whose birth was registered in the June 1878 quarter. This shows her mother's maiden name to be TAYLOR.

At present, I am looking for a Horton / Taylor marriage prior to 1878. I have found Elizabeth Jane Horton in the 1881 census (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q27F-WJ2Y), but she (and siblings) and her parents have been separated (different pages) in the records, so need to find them on the previous page.

Instead of doing that, I found Elizabeth and her siblings (from 1881 census) in the 1891 census record, found at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:WS17-W2M. This shows her parents to have been Josiah Horton and his wife Caroline. This did lead me to their 1881 census record at https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q27F-WJ7W. In turn, this took me back to FreeBMD, which has the 1875 Walsall marriage of Josiah Horton and Caroline TAYLOR Andrews.

As TAYLOR is shown as her maiden name in the birth registration records of her children, I now have to establish if she was the "widow Andrews" when she married Josiah, or where the name ANDREWS comes in!

Ah, found the connection. It's easier to see on the FreeCEN website - at https://www.freecen.org.uk/search_records/5905ac53e9379091b168a3c4/caroline-taylor-1861-staffordshire-walsall-1859-?locale=en. In summary, an unmarried Sarah TAYLOR is found at Walsall in 1861 in the household in the household of George ANDREWS, with (apparently) three illegitimate children: James, CAROLINE and Ellen. (I can only identify Ellen's birth in the GRO index.) Sarah Taylor is shown aged 34 (i.e., born c1827) at "Mishen" in Derbyshire. Caroline's birthplace is shown as Bloxwich (2.5 miles from Walsall). So, Caroline appears to have adopted the surname ANDREWS from her adoptive (possibly biological) father, George. (I can find no record of George Andrews having later married Sarah Taylor.)

I will have to leave it at that for tonight (nearly 10pm here in London), but will take a further look tomorrow. But, at the moment (assuming your main interest is in Mary Matilda Sheldon's maternal line) we have her mother as Elizabeth Jane Horton (born 1878), whose mother was Caroline Taylor (born about 1858/59), whose mother was Sarah Taylor (born around 1826/27). At least it's a "start"!

(Finding the family in the 1871 census would be the next logical step - except neither FamilySearch nor FreeCEN have 1871 census records for the Walsall area.)

Paul W

(To continue!)

Well, I did manage to get a pop-up, from my (free) access to Ancestry indexes, which showed detail of the family from the 1871 census. This confirmed the family had changed their name to ANDREWS since the previous census. The link I provide above to the 1861 record shows George Andrews (assumed father of Caroline Taylor) and his son (presumably by a former marriage) George Andrews, 17. The latter died at Walsall later in the year and George senior died at Walsall in 1864 - explaining why he is not found with the family in 1871.

I have acquired quite a lot of detail on the TAYLOR family, but have not time, at present, to detail it all here. So, I will cut matters short, again in the belief that your primary aim is in tracing the female line of descent.

It transpires the place name (shown as "Mishen" in 1861 and "Hersham" in 1871 was meant to be Measham, Derbyshire (in Leicestershire since 1897). There were two Sarah Taylors baptised there in the 1820s (see https://www.familysearch.org/search/record/results?count=20&q.birthLikeDate.from=1826&q.birthLikeDate.to=1828&q.birthLikePlace=Measham%2C%20Derbyshire%2C%20England%2C%20United%20Kingdom&q.birthLikePlace.exact=on&q.givenName=sarah&q.givenName.exact=on&q.surname=taylor&q.surname.exact=on). The one baptised in 1828 (to Henry & Ann) married a John Crisp at Measham in 1852, which confirms "your" Sarah was baptised 25 June 1826 at Measham, to Joseph Taylor and Ann PICKERING. The icon alongside her name shows this record has already been attached to a Family Tree ID - MCR9-L1M. If you go to her profile on Family Tree you will see her parents confirmed as Joseph Taylor and Ann Pickering. The "tree view" shows that Ann Pickering's parents were Thomas Pickering and Sarah COOPER. There are a number of sources attached to these individuals, which appear to confirm their identities.

There I have to leave things for now. The 1768 Measham baptism inputted for Sarah Cooper appears to be guesswork, but I have not found the time to check further.

As I say, I do have further notes, from census, etc., so please contact me (here, or by private, internal message) if you have any specific queries. In summary, your line goes back through Elizabeth Jane Horton (1878), Caroline Taylor (Bloxwich 1858/59 - see 1861 census), Sarah Taylor (Measham 1826), Ann Pickering (Measham 1799) to Sarah Cooper (identity to establish).

I would suggest going to Sarah Cooper's profile (at https://www.familysearch.org/tree/person/details/MCR9-L1M) and building your maternal ancestry, etc. from there.

Best wishes - Paul

Paul W

I have now merged MYLX-3DW into MCR9-L1M, as sources and relationships had already been added to the former by another user.

Had a bit of spare time on my hands this morning, which led my to identify Rachel Cattermole as wife of George Andrews. Added details to Family Tree, including Caroline Taylor's marriage to Josiah Horton.

Paul W

@Symone61

I'm not after any "thanks" for the details provided, but it would just be good to at least hear you have revisited this page since you posted your query. Otherwise, the many hours spent on this would only prove "good research experience" for me, but of no use to you whatsoever, of course.

Symone61

Hi Paul!

Oh my goodness I had no idea you had replied and that all of this information was here! I just happened to see an email from one of the Administrators stating that my question had been answered. My apologies.

THANK YOU!

Yes, I am trying to keep going as far back as possible in my maternal line to at least find my connection to Spain. I am amazed at what you have found already. Now that I know you have replied I will keep checking back.

Symone61

Symone61

@Paul W

And again, thank you so much! This is amazing!

Symone61

@Paul W

I have added all of the females to my family tree that you have mentioned. I have been trying to find this information for so long and my mind is absolutely blown lol

Your efforts are so very much appreciated! 🙏

Paul W

@Symone61

So glad you were able to find the details I had researched, as it is quite common for people who have posted queries here not to be able to find there way back for any responses!

Hope you can get back still further. I have tried a similar exercise, but only got back to a woman (Elizabeth Gamble) who was baptised in Leicestershire in 1808. I have tried for many years to find her parents' marriage, failing which I have been unable to discover her mother's surname and hence get any further with my maternal (all female) line. Hence, I had some empathy in respect of your searches!

Symone61

@Paul W

Nice to hear back from you so quickly! I hope that you will have a breakthrough and find more information after all of these years, just like you have done for me. Other than the links and sources you have mentioned in your replies, I have no idea how to do any of this, so I am very grateful. I just relocated and am going through the gradual "fun" of going through boxes, etc. so I had gotten side-tracked with that. I thought about this information from time to time but in all honesty, after years of trying to find information, I wasn't very confident anyone would reply. You sure surprised me! lol

Graham Buckell

@Paul W

Have you tried DNA? I have had several successes breaking long standing brick walls using DNA. With a missing ancestor born in the late 1700s, there is a reasonable chance of success as it is not too far back.

Symone61

@Paul W

Hi!

Have you made any additional progress with your maternal lineage? I was just updating my tree with more of the information you provided and I am still amazed at what you were able to find.

Also, have you tried the DNA route as Graham Buckell mentioned?

I hope all is well!

Symone61

@Paul W

I actually found a record pertaining to my Great (6x) Grandmother and I had to come back and tell you because I am so happy! lol I have no clue as to doing this genealogy research, which is a bit entertaining to think of because I absolutely LOVE doing research in general. So for me to find the following made me want to skip down the hallway :-) Don't mind me, I'm just a big kid.😊

Sarah Pickering, "England and Wales Census, 1841" • FamilySearch

This is all I have been able to find so far. I also searched under her birth name of Cooper but haven't found anything yet.

Symone61

And I just realized it won't allow me "Like" any of the comments in here, nor can I get it to show I have clicked on "Awesome" or "Insightful". 😕

Maile L

@Symone61 this is a known bug we are investigating.

Symone61

Thank you for letting me know @Maile L !

I wasn't sure if it's because I'm new or not. I just wanted everyone to know I am grateful for their posts! ☺️