The Jessies and their Legacy. The Cross Family Story.

 

 

James Cross     m          Jessie Smart     m           John Tennant    

1826 - 1884                      1830 - 1904

David Williamson Cross    Jessie Cross          James Cross             Unknown female

      1850 - 1918                         1852 - 1881        1855 1858.

m Elizabeth Steed                  m     James Francis Kerr

Early life – James Cross and Janet Smart AKA Jessie

Our Cross family originated from Burtonton, Perthshire. James Cross' life begins there.

My three times great-grandfather, James Cross, was born approximately 1826. Fast forward to the 1841 census he is boarding with the Taylors at age 15. At that young age he is a brewer of spirits. At the time, the spirit brewing operations were undergoing more formal regulation of the brewing distillery industry.

James Cross 1841 census

Brewing usually involved making whisky or beer. Around this time, they were now making whiskey  with grain rather than malt. These were the formative days of the grain whisky. Grain whiskey was a lighter and faster way to produce whiskey than malt whiskey. There were 280 breweries in Scotland.

At some stage, he was drawn to working in Edinburgh and probably ended at the Carlton Hill Brewery in Edinburgh. By the time of his marriage to Jesse Smart, he was living with his parents-in-law at 5 Amphion Place in Edinburgh.

Smart family 1841 census

The Carlton Hill Brewery was located in Amphion Place, so it is assumed James probably worked there, as did Jesse's father, Robert Smart, who was a cooper supplying barrels. Carlton Hill Brewery is on the north side of the north back of Cannon Gate. It was an extensive brewery at the eastern end of Amphion Place.

James and Jessie married in July 1850. They had had a son a few months before, little David Williamson Cross. 

James and Jessie 1851 census

In the 1851 census he is listed with his small son with Jessie a porter to a spirit merchant. Soon Jessie Cross was born in 1852. James Senior died of cholera on 14^th September 1854 at age 28 a victim of an outbreak that had swept through the area as is evidenced in the burial records.

James death from the Cemetary records

The following year, 1855 brought the birth of little James Cross He was born in 87 Kirkgate South. Under his father's name in the registration form it states that he has two girls and one boy alive. The birth certificate of James also shows Jessie as having her fourth child. So far, they had Jessie, David, and an unknown girl. The irony is that James was born seven and a half months after the death of his father on 1 March 1855. Tragically three little children in the household were fatherless. Presumably Jessie was able to call on her parents Robert and Janet (Jessie) Wilson for help. Alas young James Cross died on 14^th February 1858.

Another 2 months into 1858 saw Jessie’s father, Robert Smart, pass away also from chronic bronchitis. He was 64.

Later in the 1861 census we see Jessie,31 and her mother, 54 are living with her two surviving children, David and Jessie by then 11 and 9.  If you turn the page, John Tennant, aged 35, the widower of Elizabeth Hardy, is lodging with the family.

John works as a clockmaker. His motherless children, Jessie, aged five years, and Isabella 6 months, are with their grandparents in Banffshire. Out of love, necessity, convenience, financially or a combination, Jessie and John Tennant married later that year in October 1861 in Edinburgh according to the rites of the United Presbyterian Church.

Jessie and John marriage

The Family in Glasgow
After their marriage John's child from his previous marriage, Jessie Tennent lives with John and Jessie. Isabella does not live with them and it is unknown about her further life. By 1871, a decade after their marriage, they had all relocated to Glasgow after welcoming two more children to their family. These children were William, 8, and Robert Smart, 6. John's child from his previous marriage, Jessie, aged 15, was 15 by this stage. I estimate they moved to Glasgow sometime after the birth of Robert Smart in 1864 as Jessie’s mother Janet (Jessie) Smart nee Wilson died in Glasgow in July 1865.

After she made the move the tenement was crowded with Jessies- 4 in all. All the females in this household are called Jessie!  

Janet Jessie Smart died aged 77 in her daughter Jessie’s home in Crookston Street Tradeston of gangrene of the foot and leg possibly pointing to an underlying condition of severe diabetes or infection due to trauma.

During 1870, young Jessie Cross while working as a silk worker gave birth to an illegitimate daughter- another Jessie- Jessie Smart Cross. This little one died at age two months.

Yet again our Jessie, my 2 times great grandmother, was in the 1871 census as stepdaughter, Jessie Cross- mill worker. Also, in the tenement her mother Jessie is living with her second husband, John Tennant and her oldest son David. David had taken on his stepfather's profession as a clockmaker. John Tennant's daughter, Jessie, plus the two children from his second marriage, William and Robert Smart Tennant also live there.

Around this time Jessie had met a young man named James Francis Kerr a young Cab driver from Ireland and a courtship ensued.  

John Tennent death 

The Tennants continued to live in the same area in Glasgow with him working in the clockmaking field. Their young sons had by the 1881 census begun employment with William as a brass finisher and Robert Smart as an apprentice Engine turner. 

In time the children Jessie, David, William and Robert moved on, married and started their own families. Sadly in 1894, John died of paralysis apoplexy leaving his daughter Jessie and wife Jessie to continue living together.

Jumping ahead to the 1901 census, Jessie Tennant, (John's daughter), is now aged 45 and living with her stepmother Jessie, who is now 70. My three times great-grandmother, Jessie nee Smart, previously Cross and then Tennant, lived a grand old life, dying in 1904 at age 74. She had been living with her stepdaughter, Jessie, who was the witness on her death certificate. Her cause of death was senile debility.

Jessie Smart Cross Tennent death 

The Next Generation

In 1873 young Jessie Cross had married James Francis Kerr who was living in Shuttle Street Glasgow. James had come from Ireland and was working as a cabman for Mr. Aiken, a cab proprietor in Bridgeton.

By 1881, he had started up his own business as a cab proprietor, and they were living in a tenement with two rooms or more, with one or more windows. They had three children. James Francis Kerr, born 1873 and died 1874 of measles. James Cross Kerr, 1876, my great-grandfather, and another Jessie -Jessie Smart Kerr was born 1878.

Another child, John Kerr, was born in 1880 but died in 1881. James's lovely wife Jessie died in October 1881 because of severe vomiting in pregnancy. A little over a month later, their one-year-old son John died of convulsions.

Jessie Kerr nee Cross death

David Williamson Cross married Elizabeth Steed also in 1873. After having 2 children he moved to live in England as a mechanic with the postal service where he had 6 more children. He eventually retired and moved in with his daughter and son-in-law as a retired superannuated GPO mechanic following the passing of his in 1898. He died in 1918.

Half-brother Robert Smart Tennant married Sarah Mulholland in 1887. They had a son and a daughter in Glasgow. He died in1890 aged 25 of erysipelas -strep infection while working as an iron turner. They lived in 265 Crookston St Glasgow.

Older half-brother William who married Margaret Moore in 1885 was a brass finisher who had died before 1911 census. Here the family of two sons John and Thomas and daughters Margaret and Elizabeth are shown living with widowed mother Margaret and none other than a sister Jessies daughter Jessie Smart Gallagher nee Kerr who was herself a young widow.   

The Legacy

So, what became of the family? James Francis Kerr went on to become an entrepreneur cab proprietor of mixed fortunes. He later remarried Agnes Yuill, and most of his children were employed in his business until this horse-drawn business declined around World War I.

Two of his children, by Jessie Cross, James Cross Kerr (my great grandfather) and Jessie Smart Kerr, came to Australia post-war and made their homes in Sydney.

James had 3 children after marrying Mary Ann Murphy -James (my grandfather) and Alfred. Stephen deceased. He served in the First World War. Jessie travelled to Australia, met and married Ernest Rayner living out her days in Bondi after running the successful Rayner’s Cafe. She probably kept the Cross Tennent story alive though her nephews James and Alf and continued to write to her aunt and her daughter Peggy Allisson, Tommie etc.

Jessie Smart Kerr  wedding?

Jessie and her Kerr nephews Alf top and James below with little Jean

This is the story of the Cross family, of the move from Perthshire to Edinburgh to Glasgow and Newcastle and ultimately Australia. Facts along the way highlight the hardships of the times, despite solid employment, and death from now-eradicated diseases and the trials of pregnancy abound in 19th-century Scotland.

I knew about my 2x great grandmother Jessie Cross from early on, or at least that that was her name. My great-uncle Alf used to talk about her as if he knew her. Her name had been included in my great-grandfather's name, James Cross Kerr. Cross had the misfortune of being recorded as CROFS in Old English for SS. That confused some relatives, particularly those who came from the step-siblings of James Cross Kerr and Jessie Smart Kerr.

Lack of social security for women and the need for someone to housekeep, cook, etc., in families saw many men and women remarry and consequent blended families for genealogists to find. Add a few illegitimate children, and a story where everyone is called Jessie results to distort the DNA and confuse the researcher. At last count there were 6 and I haven’t even mentioned Jean my aunt who died as a child who was named as a derivative of Janet or Jessie.

Along the way, more of the story of the Scottish relatives is revealed. They didn't all come from Glasgow after all. Our relationship with the Tennants continued with Aunty Jessie Smart Kerr, previously Gallagher, living with Maggie, who was the widow from William Tennant. Jessie continued to write to her once in Australia. See photo postcard. We also have a Bible gifted from Tommy Tennant before her trip abroard on the 1910s.

The Cross family’s story is one of resilience and adaptation, shaped by the challenges and opportunities of 19^th Century Scotland. From James Cross’ early days as a brewer to the migration to Glasgow and eventually Australia their legacy lives on through the generations. It’s a testament to the power of family and the stories we inherit.

Note: At some point Tennant became Tennent in the records or was used inter changeably .

DNA matches  

Some of the connections can be verified via DNA. So far I have confirmed matches with two of the of the offspring of David Williamson Cross and one of the offspring of half sibling William Tennant.

Shipboard life in the 1920s

 

What was it like to travel to Sydney from the UK in the 1920s?

Nanny's ticket to Australia

One little scrap of paper in my father's memorabilia and a couple of internet sites gives some  insight on this.

This is a ticket for my grandmother's travel to Sydney in 1926. She purchased the third-class Orient Line ticket on the Ormond in April for £33. Together with her future mother-in-law, Mary Ann, and future brother-in-laws, Alfred and Frank, she was immigrating to Sydney and joining her fiancé, James Kerr of Glasgow Scotland. He had moved there 12 months previously.

£33 buying power is £2,500 in 2025 100 years later and with inflation.  I would imagine it was pretty difficult for most people to afford the fare.

Not much was known about her background. Details of her mother, Mary McLaughlin have only just been discovered. She was known by her family to be an only child but as it turns out, she had  an illegitimate Strelley half-sisters and two half brothers. She went by the name Strelley and spent time with her father at his gym, even though it turns out she was illegitimate. She worked firstly for Saltcoasts Mission biscuits  and then for McFarlane Lang Biscuit Company as an ovens woman and lived with a relative of Macfarlane family in 1921 census. She earned extra money working at fight night events for the Strelley gym. She was able to buy her £33 ticket to Australia without anyone's help.

They applied for their passports and the four prepared for their journey to Sydney. They were travelling to London before departure, on the 29th of May, 1925, staying with Joe Valli's wife (vaudeville fame) prior to the journey.

RMS Ormonde

The Ormond was previously a World War I 14,853 tonnes ship, now converted to a three-class passenger liner. This oil-burning steamer ran a regular service from Tilbury, London, to Australia until 1952. Its regular route went from Tilbury, London, via Gibraltar, Toulon, Naples, Port Said, Suez, Aden, Colombo, Fremantle, Adelaide, Melbourne, Burnie, Sydney and Brisbane. It was known as the RMS due to its extra role as a Royal Mail Ship. It carried post-war immigrants keen to make a new home in Australia. Generally, it had around 278 first-class, 196 second-class and 1,017 third-class passengers as it plied its way back and forward several times a year.

The ticket reveals what the third-class passenger would expect for their money. Firstly, each ticket was for either a six, eight or 10 berth cabin. It was guaranteed to carry four quarts of water per passenger per day. Presumably, this was provided for bathing and toilets as well as quality drinking water. Bedding, cabin and table requirements were provided by the ship.

What to look forward to

The ticket lists the weekly provisions supplied to each adult. These were dictated by the Board of Trade and Ministry Scale. This included

2lb 4ozs of pork, 1lb of preserved meat and 2lb 8ozs of bread or biscuits. Also listed was the required  quantity of potatoes, raisins, butter, suet, sugar, oats and  flour etc.

Third Class Dining Room Deck F

Meals were supplied in the third-class dining rooms at the following times:

8am for breakfast

1pm for dinner

5pm for Tea

8pm for supper

Breakfast consisted of porridge with milk, sausage, Irish stew, curried meat, rice, cold meat with bread, butter, jam, marmalade, tea and coffee. Dinner or lunch was served with soup, fish or boiled meat, fresh vegetables, stewed fruits, pudding, bread and butter and jam and marmalade.

Tea consisted of cold meats, pickles, salad, cakes or scones, et cetera, plus bread and butter and jam, et cetera. Supper was bread and butter, cheese and biscuits.

Dining Room Third Class Deck E

Each passenger was permitted 15 cubic feet of luggage, carried in trunks to the value of £10 unless insured for more. A 15 cubic feet is a trunk of 14 inches (L) by 35 inches (W) by 17 inches (D).

Being so far from home on this lengthy trip oh how they would have marvelled at the exotic sights along the way.  Was the trip an epic adventure expected of travellers today? Did they partake in the sun and sea air? Between meals did they use the gym, enjoy dancing, partake of shipboard sports such as  tennis and shuffleboard.

A few stories from other relatives who made the long trip.

An earlier trip by the Kerrs travelling to New Zealand resulted in a shipwreck. David Montgomery Yuill Kerr, Hannah Anderson Johnson, with their children, James, Robert, May and David left Scotland to make a new life in New Zealand in 1922. They originally left for N Z on the SS "Remuera" on 20 July 1922. It appears to have had a collision with the SS " Marengo" near Weymouth in the English Channel. The passengers were taken off the ship by the SS "Victoria"

My Gadsby family travelled with great great grandmother Selina and family Grace, Maude, Julia, Kitty, Selina, and young son William. They met up with future friends the Thurlows, and a shipboard romance ensued. They carried with them a well-thumbed copy of the “Girl's Own Annual” hundreds of pages   with stories of fashion, Australian lifestyles, cooking and memories left behind. I've often imagined my relatives and their exploits on the six-week trip with their experiences and new found friendships.

Later in the 1920s, my mother-in-law, Wynne travelled over as an eight-year-old with her six-year-old sister, Patricia under the guidance of a stewardess. One of her memories is of the residents of the Suez Canal welcoming them by lifting their dresses. To their shock, they were wearing no underwear!

 At port stops were our relatives too scared to venture ashore at exotic and unfamiliar ports?

Perhaps they were offered shells, ivory carvings, exotic foods et cetera, by the locals at docks on the way. Pieces of coral and ivory, amongst my grandparents’ memorabilia makes me think they  did gather some souvenirs on the way!

Carved Ivory

Vintage Coral

Australia Day 2026-the Ford side.

An Australia Day 2025  Lunch with seafood at Yum Yum Cafe

 

I saw a suggestion a couple of years ago some family history  within an Australia Day theme. I decided to get organised to write a bit about my husband’s family coming to Australia.

On his side the Fords, Hudsons and the Cassidys all came in the second and third decades of the 1900s

My husband’s paternal grandparents Sidney Ford and Ethel Hudson came as a married couple in 1913 just as the war was about to break out in Europe, They had left from England where they both lived and had newly married. He arrived to live officially in Melbourne on 20/6/1913 on a merchant ship Makarini. He had travelled backwards and forwards before that in the Merchant Marines between 1911 and 1913. Sid’s wife Ethel Hudson who arrived heavily pregnant gave birth in Melbourne before arriving in Sydney soon after Alice was born.

James Cassidy arrived in Sydney 3/11/1927 on S.S.Hobsons Bay  

Do the the Fords and the Cassidys have Australian royalty? Heaven forbid they were convict stock. Steve is an Australian mongrel. His  relatives are largely English. Just so happened his paternal grandfather Sid, was of British origin, but born while his father worked on the Coast Guard in Donegal Island. No wonder they called him Paddy.

Did any ancestors arrive under their own financial steam?

Yep, Paddy came out on a merchant ship (he jumped ship as they say) and his wife followed. The Cassidys probably paid their own way. Travel costs may have been paid by Hendersons who were looking for workers to work in their hat factory.

How many came as singles?

James E Cassidy- grandfather  was a widower. James came on the 3rd of November 1927 leaving his motherless daughters, Winifred and Patricia back in Bury , England with relatives. The girls were reunited with their father after travelling to Australia unaccompanied under the watchful eye of a stewardess after their father met and married May Davis.

May had come to Australia in 19 September 1926 with her family from Bedworth in Warwickshire. James married the boss’ daughter!

How many came as couples?

Ethel Ford Nee Hudson arrived in December 1913 on the SS Hobsons Bay H22. She had married Sidney in England and was expecting her first baby by the time she arrived to meet up with her husband who had come across on a merchant ship. She had to disembark to give birth in Melbourne. Then came the happy reunion in Sydney with baby Alice.

Ethel's shipping documents 1913

Did one person lead the way and others followed? James E Cassidy found himself a job and married the boss's daughter. Then his little daughters Winifred and Patricia arrived in Australia in unaccompanied.

Wyn and Pat arrived on the 8th of December 1928 on the SS Orsover via Ceylon, Columbia.. May had come to Australia in 19 September 1926.

Winifred's shipping documents - travelling unaccompanied

What was the longest journey that they came to get here? They all came from England directly.

Did any make two-step migration via another place? No.

What state or colony did they arrive in? New South Wales. All were aiming for Sydney. Ethel had a short stopover in Melbourne to have her baby Alice.

Did they stay in their first state or did they move? All made their homes in Sydney, Drummoyne and Ryde.

Do you have any first Australians in your tree? No.

Were any self-employed? Having seawater in his veins Sidney  the answer is No. Plying the waters of Sydney Harbour on ferries was Sid's calling.

James fell into his job at Henderson Hats. It was a skill he brought with him from Lancashire.

What skills or occupation did they make? Does anyone still follow this occupation?

Sidney work on Sydney Ferries all his life.

Hats fell out of fashion in the 1960s and James moved on to work as a watchman at Hoover in Meadowbank. However James's daughter  Wynne did work in Hendersons before her marriage . She met her future husband, Joe, via a note in the army hat she had prepared that was issued to Joe during WWII. Patricia became a nurse.

Did any ancestors leave or go home? No. They all loved Australia and led quite comfortable lives compared with their families back home.

Some questions for the Steve

What is your state of origin? New South Wales.

Do you still live here? Yep. Any special places you like to holiday now? See other answers. Share your favourite spot in Oz picture.

What's on your Australian holiday bucket list? I love a good railway trip and I'm sure my wife has ideas.

How do you celebrate Australia Day? Surrounded by my family, Aussie flags and after a few games eating a good barbecue.

The grandkids celebrating Australia Day 2021 in Yamba

Australia Day post (The Kerr, Strelley, Gadsby, Kelf side)

 

This year they seem to be reframing the day

 

A couple of years ago  Aussie genealogy bloggers Jennifer Jones and Jill, aka Geniaus put out a reminder of an Australia Day Geneameme that was devised by Pauleen, aka Cassmob. 

What a great idea to follow up on for this years Aussie Day. Basically it’s a questionairre about where we came from, how we ended up here and what happened.

On my side of the family, the main family names are Strelley, Gadsby, Kerr and Kelf. 

My first ancestor to come to Australia was the Harris family. Lucy Strelley, her husband, Joseph, and children were pioneers of the Swan Valley. They arrived on the Signet on the 27th of January 1833.

I have Australian royalty..….. Not. No convicts in my line but I’m following up on my grandsons’ incredible and infamous convicts in the Small family and John Cashmore Isreal.

However my 3x great grandmother's sister Sophia Allan came here with her family while her husband was the Deputy Commissariat for the NSW Colony in early 1820s. Not convicts but the Government! David Allan got into a bit of trouble with his dealings and they were recalled home.

I am an Aussie mongrel. On the whole my ancestors came to Australia from England and Scotland. There is a good bit of Irish mixed in amongst Scottish ancestors who arrived in Scotland a generation or two before that.

Did any of your ancestors arrive under their own financial steam? My Kerr ancestors looked to have paid their own way. A couple of them were even rich enough to pay passage home when Australia didn't suit them.

A few of the Gadsby men probably worked their passage on merchant ships with the rest of the family travelling together .

How many ancestors came as singles?

There were a few single men, for example, Henry Gadsby, my great great -uncle who came as a young man after the death of his parents. I suspect he was sponsored as he was a bricklayer.

My widowed great great Auntie, Jessie Smart Kerr came on her own. My maternal grandfather, Frank Kelf also came on his own. Quite some years later my great grandfather James Cross Kerr came after the war but he was paving the way for relatives to come.

Jessie Smart Kerr

James Cross Kerr's passport photo 1925

My maternal grandfather, Frank Kelf also came on his own perhaps as a result of a dysfunctional family. Funny no sooner was he here but was signing up to fight the war in Europe.

How many came as couples? Family Groups?

The Gadsbys came as a family. As I've said before, they were a big family and could have taken a cheaper /quicker trip to Canada. I'm convinced someone  helped them out of England. It may  or may not have been a royal payoff by Edward VII to get a certain woman out of the country if the rumours are true.

Did one person lead the way and others followed?

The first Kerrs to depart were a family of horse breeders to New Zealand. Sisters and half sisters came over to Sydney. More relatives arrived, lived here for a while and some  returned. Having enough money to pay for a return passage makes me doubt the myth that they were poor as church mice.

Back in the day, it was a bit of a badge of honour to have travelled on certain ships. Perhaps there was also a certain snobbery about the route they travelled Liverpool, London or elsewhere.

Did anyone make a two-step immigration? I believe all arrived in one go, but possibly one, James Gadsby, arrived via the Boer War and First World War. He didn't like what he saw with his mother's behaviour taking up with her daughter's fiance.   He himself married a divorcee and  fled to New Zealand for good.

Did they settle, remain in one state or colony? With the exception of Henry Gadsby, who started off in Queensland. Yes. We had some explorers from the Harris/ Gregory line in Western Australia and Queensland. It certainly was a land of opportunity.

Do you have any first Australians in your tree? Not that I know of, but I’ve heard a slight rumour that Joseph Strelley Harris may have fathered a line of Harris's in Western Australia. Joseph Strelley Harris developed good relationships with the Noongar people while moving sheep around Western Australia during his explorations resulting in his understanding of Indigenous fire control.

Were any of the families self-employed? Great Grandfather Thomas Gadsby brought over his bricklaying skills. His wife ran a store and most of the children started their own businesses and were quite entrepreneurial, including the women. My grandfather, James Kerr  sold fruit and veg from the back of a horse and cart, building up from one box of tomatoes, mainly because work was scarce in the Depression.

Did any of the ancestors leave Australia to go home? Yes. It looks like my great grandmother Mary Anne Kerr took a look around. and went back home shortly after arriving in Australia. She was accompanied by my great uncle, Frank, who went back to Scotland and lived there for good. 

My great grandfather and his wife MAry Ann who went back home

My step great great grandmother , Agnes Yiull Kerr did the same and returned to Scotland with her son Thomas. There’s more to this story than meets the eye- I’d love to know more.

Comment It's a pretty brave act to make this type of decision to travel half way around the world chasing a new life, jobs, land and the opportunities. It is hard to imagine. I'd love to see more advertisements and articles from relevant newspapers at the time about those who were enticed to be part of that big immigration movement out of London and England in the 1900s onwards. Some copies of old letters would be nice!

 

Now it's about me.

My state of origin is New South Wales, Sydney.

Do I still live there? Hell no, not in Sydney. Wollongong is much quieter and my suburb even quieter too. We’ve brought up a family of three daughters there who all studied at Wollongong university.

Any special place we like to holiday? We spent heaps of time in sunny Yamba on the north coast of New South Wales and lots of camping over the years on the South Coast of NSW. A little bit of history, beautiful beaches and nature.

The Grandkids with Belinda at the Kerr telegraph pole in Maclean

Studying family history makes for good holiday explorations to Glasgow, Edinburgh, Warwickshire, Derbyshire and London. Ireland and Norfolk are next.

My Australian bucket list is getting shorter, but I'd like to check out where the Harris family emigrated to in the Swan Valley in the 1830s. When they arrived, they almost starved. They made money, farmed, explored, grew wine, and after a while Lucy as a widow went back to England.

Australia Day necessities

How will I celebrate Australia Day 2026? I'll be at our holiday place in Yamba. Yamba is the home of the Yaegl people. In the past, there have been celebrations and welcoming by the local elders at Australia Day functions. Recently, these have been suspended as celebrating Australia Day has been overshadowed by Aboriginal pain about invasion. I get that there has been a change of sentiment, though in the past they have been very proud and welcoming.

Usually our family and friends gather around for swimming, cricket, barbecue and drinks.

Australia Day 26/1/2021

Too many possibilities in the Baker family but a chance find and some DNA matches crack the brick wall.

 

Sometimes everything just falls into place. We have established that Thomas Baker, my three times great grandfather, was a Sergeant in the Coldstream Guards and that he had previously been a pearl button maker in Warwickshire. See previous blog Thomas Baker 1799- From Pearl Button Maker to Coldstream Guards. 

His service was terminated due to ill health in March 1829.  (Interestingly the Coldstream Guards recently celebrated their 375^th Anniversary in 2025.)

Other times there are just too many combinations to speculate on. Namely Thomas Baker marriages and deaths. Thomas is my 3 x great grandfather.

In trying to find out more I returned to the 1841 census. From this possible census document in 1841, Julia, Mary Ann, and John Baker are listed. Julia I believe  is my 2x great grandmother. Their father who retired from the Coldstream Guards is quite possibly unwell and also quite possibly widowed. This may explain why his children are living with a family in Walthamstow, Essex. The lady of the house appears to be caring for them due to their age.

The Bakers in the 1841 census

All records for Thomas Baker, upon leaving his post, call him a pearl button maker who originated from Warwickshire. You could speculate that he returns to his roots in Warwickshire or at least his children do if he is deceased. Later we find  his daughter Julia has moved north from Essex and London and is living in Dudderston, Warwickshire where she marries. Thomas is listed in Julia’s marriage certificate and appears to be still alive but maybe the father details just don’t say “deceased”. She is seen marrying Samuel Smith, a 25-year-old gasmaker from Bordersley, Warwickshire. Thomas is listed as a pearl button maker on this marriage certificate. In 1852 they have a son, Thomas born in Aston, Deritend. The marriage is short lived as Smith dies soon after.

Julia's first marriage

So far I had ……..

Thomas Baker m   Ann?

Mary Ann                                 John                                    Julia m Samuel Smith

1831-                                      1832-                           1834-

 

Sarah's marriage

Recently, I found a marriage for Sarah Baker 1927-1900 living in Deritend, Aston also. She married a widower, Martin Yates, in 1847. Her father is also Thomas Baker, a pearl button maker. Any relation?

Lo and behold, in the 1851 census, she is living with her husband, stepson, and children. Her brother John, of the 1841 census, aged 19 and a wood turner born in Windsor, also appears in this census. Yes!  I have found a sibling. Windsor we will remember from a previous blog, is the place where the Coldstream Guards had been stationed. With the addition of Sarah’s baptism, census  and potential death in Birmingham here’s the family now

Yates family 1851 census 

John Baker in the Yates household 1851 census

                                                                                   Thomas  m Mary? Ann

Sarah                                 Mary Ann               John                           Julia m Samuel Smith

1827-1900                             1831-             1832-                           1834-1914

Always with lingering doubts about whether the information I revealed in my previous blog is correct, I'm pleased to find this marriage certificate  for Sarah and the 1851 census with both Sarah and John. I enter the details onto my ancestry tree with speculation in the identifier. I park it and leave it to gather some hints, which helped me build the family tree further.

With so many options for Thomas Baker marrying various versions of Anns and no definitive idea of his death, it is likely there will be another dead ends for a while to come.

Pleasingly, after my DNA test, I had been able to match a couple of Julia's grandchildren.  i.e., my grandmother Selina's siblings and their descendants in both Australia, England, and Canada. I can narrow this down to her Greedus ( Smith-Baker ) side  relatives.

There are at least 10 DNA matches to Julia and/or Thomas Baker. Suddenly, others around the fourth cousin range emerged with some further hints from Ancestry "thru lines".  Cautiously, I flesh out Sarah Baker's tree, and more DNA matches are revealed. I'm confident I'm on the money.

Four DNA matches to Sarah Baker from two of Sarah's children have emerged on Sarah's line to add to the 10 through Julia.

Sarah and Martin Yates had at least eight children between them-

William Jesse b1848

Selina b 1850

Sarah b 1853

Charles b 1855

Rosina b 1861

Eliza b 1864

Emma  b 1865

James b 1869

DNA matches from the Yates line

One of them, William Jesse Yates 1849-1918, has DNA matches which co-match with me and my Gadsby relatives. William Jesse married Charlotte Doody.  While William and Charlotte had 10 children quite a few of his family  appears to have gone to Michigan, USA, to live. Another example of the diaspora.

DNA matches seem to be emanating from two of Sarah's children. The second is Sarah Yates 1853-1930, who married Joseph Edward Lowe. They had 12 children. I’ve explored and verified these matches.

Of Sarah and Julia’s brother John, the last we saw of him was when he was living with his sister Sarah and newly married husband back in 1851. With all the possibilities, there are too many John's and marriage options to speculate on. It's quite likely that he even left and went to Canada or America. The last I can find of Mary Ann Baker was she was possibly a servant in Middlesex in the 1851 census in St Luke's, Finsbury, but nothing else definitive there.

So excitedly, one more part of the Baker brick wall has a big crack in it. Beware of the rubble. Fiddling around with true lines with caution and DNA matches can be useful in helping to sort a brick wall. I've been able to sort some ambitious ancestry suggestions by cross-matching the dubious DNA matches with my Pro tools. For example, one that was telling me I was definitely related to another unknown relative of the Baker family, has now showed through cross-referencing with Pro Tools that the person is actually related via the Kelf family, despite the fact that this person seems to have a paper trail back to possibly the wrong Thomas Baker.

 

Tip of the Day:

Occasionally, it's necessary to start a tree, put it on Ancestry, and wait for hints. Sometimes it works, and other times there's no response. Recently, I did this with a Polish tree where I had no clue. I am being prompted with hints and gathering up information bit by bit after putting a speculative tree on Ancestry with a warning that it was definitely speculative. I did the same with the Bakers with some pleasing success but there are a lot of Thomas Baker combinations hence the importance of warning others about speculation.