On Wednesday, 9 September 2020 at 00:00:08 UTC+1, Ian Goddard wrote:
On 08/09/2020 23:03, John Wadkin wrote:
Trying to research the Ford side of my family history. My great-grandfather Thomas is pretty much well documented. I know from his military records and marriage banns that his father is Michael, an army pensioner. There's also mention of a sister
Mary and a brother possibly David (hard to read the writing!). Locations are variously Gort, Portumna and Galway. Thomas is born in 1866/67 in Galway, and dies in Leeds in 1922.
I cannot find the births of any of the three Fords - Thomas, Mary and David.
This might be the reason why you can't find them: https://www.familysearch.org/wiki/en/Ireland_Record_Loss
Another possibility is that people are reliant on what others have said about their place of birth. They may have been misinformed. The might
not have been informed at all but when asked for place of birth simply
say the place were they first remember living which will be some years
after birth.
Yes - I knew about the fire and was hoping I might be lucky. Such a terrible loss. Multiple different sources refer to Galway, Gort and/or Portumna for Thomas as a place of birth, so I reason he must have been born somewhere in Galway at least. All the
relevant census records have gone too, in the fire, so the ability to track the family growth over time has gone. Immigration records were only kept for UK or Ireland to Europe/America - nothing between Ireland and the UK.
Have you tried Army records?
Indeed - they're the source for much of what I know.
The only Michael Ford I can find that was (1) in the army; and (2) in Galway around 1866 (to father Thomas), left the army in his early twenties completely blind and "unable to do anything for himself". How likely is it that he would have raised a
family at that time? Curiously, I can find a blind, army pensioner named Michael in Leeds with a daughter Mary, both from Galway. Massive coincidence?
It seems from your own evidence that he did raise a family so your first question seems to be redundant. As to your second, it may well be the
only information you can get but you could try to research it further.
You say nothing about where you find Michael and daughter. Is the
context such as to have given rise to reports in the press? If so have
you looked? A reporter might give more information.
Michael is in Leeds. Thomas his son was de-mobbed to Leeds in 1891, and a few years later married a Hannah. As I say, the only Michael I can find that fits the facts, is blind. What are the chances of there being two blind Michael Fords, ex-army, from
Galway? And he appears in Leeds, living in the same area (same streets on occasion) as Thomas, but at a different time. It's all circumstantial and coincidences - but a lot of them. Ideally I need Thomas and Michael living together, but Thomas leaves the
army in mid-1891 after the census, and is married by the time of the next census, so it's just electoral rolls.
What's the context of "unable to do anything for himself"? This may
have been his status originally but he might have adapted to his
situation later. It might have been said in a context where he was
trying to get financial support and might have overstated his condition.
Two different sets of records, Army and Chelsea, have the phrase "unable to do anything for himself" in relation to sight loss - I think the medical notes are referring to cataracts as we know them now. He's about 24 at this time, so the potential to
live a long life today, but back in the 1800s, maybe not so. He had a pension but would have needed support.
All so frustrating! I've been at the research for about two years now, off and on, and had a few moments of joy but a lot of banging my head on my desk :) The mother's side of the family was pretty easy to research in comparison to my father's side (
Ford/Wadkin) - Geordie's didn't set fire to all their records!
Ian
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