I'm back!

I realise that an incredible amount of time has past since I updated this old thing and I can only apologise, The truth is that I stopped doing research for the best part of a year. We packed up shop once again and moved back (again) across the country and have finally settled down in North Wales.
   Where do I begin with the ancestry research. I haven't been able to find out much more information about Rosa Marshall/Gore/Edge. I had hoped to find out more about Frederick Gore, Rosa's first husband, but my trial seems to have run cold. Miss Marshall certainly led me a merry dance but I fear the music has now ended. Where do I go to next? What a question that is. My tree has grown so large that it is almost unmanageable. Maybe the next course of action is to go back to the bare bones and re check for any new information coming to light about the ancestors i started the tree with all those years ago.

break over...

I realise that I haven't posted anything for over a year now, but I have been busy adding and growing new branches to my family tree. Yes, my life has been taken over by two very gorgeous boys, Noah aged 2 and Blake aged 1. My time has not been my own, but rather a cycle to sleep, feeding, playing and singing! My research has been completely buried by nappies, bottles and bibs. But with both boys now sleeping through the night, my own body clock back to normal and my brain (fairly) intact, I want nothing more than to delve right back in. I'm not sure how often the posts will be, but i'm going to give a good go to posting at least once  a week. Wish me luck!

Amy 

More questions regarding Rosa L Marshall's marriages.

I have been looking at the marriage certificates again, (obsessed I know!) and one thing that I noticed which doesn't make much sense to me are the addresses given for Rosa Lynda and Leonard James. We know that by the time they married in 1931 they already had two children, Leonard and Beryl. Beryl would have only been two months old. Yet they have stated that they are living at different addresses. Putting the addresses into Google Maps shows that they are about a 30min walk apart, so it isn't even as if they are just around the corner. I find it very strange indeed and another question which will continue to spin around my head with no way of ever finding an answer. I would hate to accuse my ancestors of anything dishonourable, but there is certainly something very strange about the whole affair.

The mystery of Miss Marshall marches on.

I hit the jackpot last night, after hours of scrolling through marriage records on The Medway Ancestors website (brilliant, by the way) I have found the marriage of Rosa Lynda Marshall to a Mr Frederick Gore. So the stories have turned out to be true. Rosa was married to somebody else before she married Leonard James Edge. Below is record of her first marriage:

I know that she has her first child with Leonard Edge in January 1930 so she would have been with him since at least 1929. So what happened to her marriage to Frederick in those 5 years? On her marriage certificate to Leonard, she describes herself as a "spinster" not "widow" or "divorcee". Would this have meant that her marriage to Frederick was annulled? There is no record of a divorce for the pair of them, and I have a record for his death in 1956. The rumour was that her marriage to Frederick was never even consumated. Could this be grounds for an anullment? I can't see that I am going to be able to find out the reasons for this marriage breakdown, but at least I have some solid evidence for what actually happened now. The above marriage certifcate also shows that Frederick was in the Royal Navy. Maybe long stints at sea caused their marriage to fail, (although surely she should have know this before she married him?) Maybe she was unfaithful to Frederick with Leonard. Her marriage to Leonard states him as a Barman, and I know that she used to sing in all the pubs and the clubs in Medway. I am fairly certain that this is how they met.

Their marriage in 1931 came after they had already had two children; Leonard in Jan 1930 and Beryl in Sept 1931 and was performed in a register office "by licence". I suppose that they would have been unable to get married in a church as she had been married before. However in order to obtain a licence for their marriage, she would have had to have a ligitimate reason for her previous marriage breakdown. I cannot see her being able to lie and commit bigamy without being found out. They all lived in the same area of Medway, the community would have known all the goings on.

I guess the next step is to try and find out a little bit more of Frederick Gore's life during the 1920s, being in the Royal Navy means that there are hopefully some military records for him which I can seek out. Hopefully I can unravel this saga a little further.

So they were married after all!

The long awaited marriage certifcate arrived in the post the other day which confirmed that my Grandad's parents Leonard James Edge and Rosa Lynda Marshall DID get married. As for solving the mystery of their marriage, receiving the certifcate has just caused further questions to be asked. The certifcate shows that they were married in a Register Office "by licence". Was this because she had been married before? I have found a record of a marriage in Medway between a Rose L Marshall and a Frederick Gore in 1924. I have searched through the parish records to see if I can find the entry but it hasn't yielded any results. It looks as if I might have to send away for the certifcate again to see if it is indeed my Rosa. Obviously there is the difference in first name Rose/Rosa which leaves a question mark above the marriage, only actually having the certifcate will answer that question. But then what if it is my Rosa? There will be even more questions to answer about her first marriage and what happened the gentleman in question.

Miss Marshall does not make the journey easy, but she certainly makes it an interesting!

How do you draw a family tree?

I was unable to get online this morning, (internet is playing right up!) which has once again highlighted just how much I am reliant on it in order to do pretty much anything in relation to my family ancestry research.  I have been going back through the Edge family, checking my sources, trying to find any pieces of missing information and printing any evidence that I have so that I don’t find myself in situations like this in the future.  I have created two family trees; the first starting with me and my siblings and going back to my Grandad’s parents. This tree also includes my mum’s siblings and my Grandad’s siblings. I have found that often when trying to print off a family tree, it will only include me, not my sisters, and then my granddad but not his siblings. I am obviously creating more work for myself in making the trees so as to include siblings, but that is my personal preference, and I do not think I’d be 100% happy with the results if I hadn’t of included them. For the future generations of my family that may be interested in my findings, won’t my siblings and my aunties and uncles be just as important as me?

 I have had to make a conscience decision however not to include any of the partners of the siblings in the generations going back because there is simply not enough space on a sheet of A4 paper. I may well print off family group sheets with this information on for each sibling though, with their children and any information that I find on their lives. It just seems to be endless, but I want to do it properly.  It would be interesting to know how other people have documented hard copies of their family trees, if you are reading this, please feel free to leave a comment with any advice or tips! They would be most appreciated. =) 

Standing at the bottom of a big old tree.

I was hoping to return from the trip up north laden with information about the Parry's but unfortunately I have come home pretty empty handed. I spoke with Kane's father but once again it is the curse of the male memory to not have any recollections of their families! I have been given a few names of siblings of his mother, but they were all nicknames and he had no idea for birth dates and places. It feels as though the carrot has been dangled in front of my face. I have some obscure piece of the puzzle but it will not fit any of the pieces I have at the moment. Pete (Kane's father) has promised me he will get in touch with one of his surviving aunties to get some information for me, so I am most looking forward to receiving that phone call, but I have no idea how long it is going to take. The Parry's are a huge family, and from what I can make out quite a fractured family too.