Two days and two hours (give or take a late start of Friday & Saturday, lunch & toilet breaks, chatting, etc), and the tree is looking a little fuller (or more full, if we’re being pedantic (which I usually am)).
What surprised me was that I didn’t find what I went in to search for, though I did find a lot else instead. For example; I thought I’d start with the recent past, and find my grandfather’s brother (and any other siblings), and his family. But, I couldn’t find him; the most obvious explanation being that he wasn’t called William Roy Taylor, in which case he could be one of the many other William Taylors in the ledgers, and why is he the first not to be Roy when his dad and grandfather and brother are?? The thing is… I couldn’t find any trace of a birth, death or marriage which is, to say the least, odd. Must ask the Old People if they remembered correctly!
As for my mum’s side… I found when her grandfather died, and an uncle who didn’t last all that long, but her side of the family remains sadly elusive. Which means next time I’m down there, I’ll be trolling through all the ledgers, making notes of all the De Moriases, Boys, Boyes, Carvilles and De Cruzes, and hoping to match them up. Pity they were based in Bengal Presidency, the largest of the three.
But there were other aspects to explore… Grandfather Taylor’s maternal family were the Smales. I found her two older siblings, and her uncles and aunts, one of whom seems to have been born on the other side of the blanket, as they say. Mind you, there seem to be two John Smales; that or John was puting it about a bit, as he sired three children with Catherine his wife, one daughter with Elisabeth (while married) and possibly another by Catherine (either the same one or a different one), though he is only recorded as being married once. This is based on his occupation as given on the ledgers when the births were recorded… what are the chances of there being two apothecaries called John Smales working for the 13th Regiment NJ?
I also seem to have found more Snuggs than I’m related to. The Snuggs are Grandfather Taylor’s grandmother’s family. I think. Anyway, Charlotte (for it is she) was baptised in 1842, same year as her brother, with Jane given as he mother’s name. But Jane was her father’s second wife; the first was Anne, who died in 1837, and was buried with her fourth child, also called Anne, who was born the day before (fill in the blanks). But John and Anne had a daughter… Charlotte. So, was Our Charlotte born to Anne, but only baptised later? The only way to be sure is to find first Charlotte’s burial certificate, but even then there’s a measure of doubt. And 25% of the records are missing, remember…
I also tracked down the wife and some of the descendants of Robert Snugg. Alas, he isn’t the same Robert as Charlotte’s brother (or step-brother), but could be the son of one of the other siblings – the years fit, at least. And there’s a few more Smales lying around, too, which gives me a couple of starting points for the return next Easter (ish). Might not take the full chart down with me though, it currently stands at 44 A4 landscape pages!