Whilst researching your family tree there is usually one or two aspects of the story that are curious to you. Why did they move to a different place? How did they meet? Who was she? Where does she fit in? Tales told by elderly relatives of their wider kinship networks can be both fascinating and frustrating to research. Are those stories true or do you need to take them with a pinch of salt?
By nature, I’m nosy (or curious); traits which have helped
me with my family history research. I
like to find out about those stories which are passed down by elderly relatives
to see if there is any truth in them. It
is the thrill of the chase and trying to join the pieces of the family jigsaw
together, the sense of achievement and in some cases the feeling of pride in the
outcome.
For the #52ancestors challenge this week – meet my relative,
‘Auntie Polly with the Wooden Crutch’.
Whenever this particular lady came up in conversation
amongst my Dad’s siblings there was curiosity about where she fitted in the
family and also the inevitable snigger! Whoever
heard of a woman with a wooden crutch. Rude
children!
But what did we know about Auntie Polly?
My Dad’s eldest sister Vi could remember her as the lady who
came to help when her mother died in 1917. There was some family relationship, but she
didn’t really know where she fitted in.
She was called Auntie Polly and used a wooden crutch as a walking aid,
hence her name recorded in family lore.
Vi was about 10 at the time.
As my family history research got underway, I was introduced to my Dad’s cousins who were the children of his Auntie Gert. Auntie Gert lived in Walsworth near Hitchin in Hertfordshire. Gert was a younger sister of my grandfather. My step-grandmother Meg evidently died at Auntie Gert’s house from a thrombosis. She had been helping to peg out the washing and they were drinking a cup of tea together afterwards when she collapsed and passed away.
I remember a lovely visit to speak with Cousin Ida when her
eldest sister May was visiting from Australia.
May, being born in 1901, could
remember more about my grandmother Alice, my great grandmother Elizabeth, and
the mysterious Auntie Polly. I still have the handwritten notes I made after this
visit, dated 24 July 1984, and have the photo I took of these elderly sisters,
see below.
May candidly told me that she was born before her parents married. Surely a taboo subject?
Once back in Australia she sent over a photocopy of her
parents’ marriage certificate which she possessed.
Gertrude Montjoy and Frank Pettengell were
married by Licence at Willian in Hertfordshire on 2 March 1905. May would have been 4 at the time. On the certificate Gertrude stated that her
father was called John Montjoy, a Master Mariner.
May also remembered Auntie Polly from her visits to see the family
and said that she was a companion to a Miss Stanton who was a schoolteacher in
Bepton in Sussex, and said ‘Polly had a pointed nose, one eye which had a
terrible squint and was very tiny’. Not
terribly flattering!
The surname Mountjoy however rang a bell.
Great Grandmother Elizabeth was Elizabeth Mountjoy when she married
my Great Grandfather Alfred John Nickels.
She was a widow and older than her new husband, although the age gap
does differ from different census and certificates! From further research she was 12 years older
than Alfred John. She had what is now
known as a ‘toy-boy’.
Alfred John and Elizabeth had three children, Bessie, Kate,
and Alfred Charles, all proudly inscribed in the family bible which I inherited
from my Auntie Vi.
The inscription in the Bible states ‘Elizabeth Mountjoy from Mrs Lach 30/8/72’ (or is it 3?) with the publication date of the Bible being 1870.
It is clear then that the Bible had originally been owned by Great Grandmother Elizabeth, but the names of the children must have been added by Great Grandfather Alfred John, as the handwriting is different. Whether Elizabeth or Mrs Lach wrote the inscription is unclear.
Family lore also recited that Great Grandmother Elizabeth
was originally an ‘Elizabeth Dominie’ from Poole in Dorset. All well and good, but where did Auntie Polly
fit in? And where was Gert’s birth in
the family bible?
Auntie Polly evidently died in 1918 in the Union Infirmary,
in other words the Workhouse, at Hitchin, Hertfordshire and was buried in the
council cemetery. When I extracted all the records for my family
surnames from the burial books, in a very cold and damp cemetery chapel in the mid-1980s,
not only did I check for my Mum’s family (Morgan, Moules, Cotton and Taylor), I
also checked for Alfred John, Elizabeth and Polly who were all supposed to be buried
there. The Sexton showed me the actual
plot for Elizabeth, alas just a patch of grass, a similar story for Alfred and
Polly.
Polly took some finding.
I had been told that she had died in 1918 so by searching through all
the burials, I eventually found her buried as ‘Mary Mountjoy’.
Mountjoy again………
With the digitisation of census returns and parish registers
available via www.ancestry.co.uk I have
been able to track down where Auntie Polly fits in the family.
My great grandmother Elizabeth Mountjoy was a widow when she
married my Great Grandfather Alfred John Nickels. They were married at St
Stephen, Walworth on 3 May 1874. Alfred
John stated he was 25, a bachelor, a Plumber, living in Albany Road, his father
being Charles Nickels, Publican. Lizzie
Mountjoy states she is aged 30, a widow, also living in Albany Road, her father
being James Domney, deceased. Both
signed their names.1
From the 1881 Census return, the first one after they
married, we find the family at 121 Hill Street, Newington, Surrey.
Alfred Nickels Head
Mar 32 Plumber Suffolk Orford
Lizzie Nickels Wife Mar
37 Dorset Poole
Bessie Nickels Dau 6 Scholar Surrey Newington
Kate Nickels Dau 5 Scholar Surrey Newington
Alfred Nickels Son 1 Surrey Newington
Mary Mountjoy Visitor 18 Dressmaker Dorset Poole
There she was, Mary Mountjoy, a
visitor and born in Poole, Dorset, so I conjectured that she must be somehow connected
with Elizabeth, who was also born in Poole.
Jump 10 years to the 1891 Census, we find the family still living at 121 Hill Street, Newington, Surrey.
Alfred J. Nickels Head
Mar 41 Plumber Suffolk
Elizabeth “
Wife Mar 46 Dorsetshire
Kate “ Dau 15 London Walworth
Alfred “ Son 11 London Walworth
Mary Mountjoy Visitor 25
London Walworth
Gertrude “
Visitor 5 London Walworth
There is Mary Mountjoy, and a Gertrude Mountjoy, both visitors on census night. Could this be Auntie Gert?
In 1901 we find the mysterious
Mary Mountjoy living at 127 Lorrimore Road, Newington, Surrey.
Mary Mountjoy Head S 31 Linen Collar Maker Poole Dorset
Alice Sutch Visitor S 21 Linen Collar Maker London Newington
Interestingly, my grandmother
Alice Sutch is visiting Mary on census night which implies that they were
friends and from the census had the same job as a linen collar maker. Alice
would later in 1901 marry my grandfather, Alfred Charles Nickels.
‘Girty’ Nickels however is living with Alfred John and Elizabeth at The Fox pub in Willian, Hertfordshire. She is described as a daughter, aged 15. Alfred John is the publican.
In 1911 we find Mary Mountjoy in
Bepton in Sussex.
Rosa Standen Head 51 Single Elementary School Teacher West Sussex County Council Worker Kent Sydenham
Mary Elizabeth Mountjoy Servant
49 Single Housekeeper (Domestic) Dorset
Poole
Bepton had come up before when
talking with cousin’s Ida and May in 1984.
Mary
was living with a Miss Standen in Bepton, as a housekeeper.
Mary Elizabeth Mountjoy, born in Poole. Elizabeth Nickels formerly Mountjoy also born in Poole. There had to be a connection!
On a holiday in Dorset in the 1990s we visited the Dorset Record Office and located the first marriage of my Great Grandmother Elizabeth.
She had married a John Mountjoy at St James, Poole on 29 December 1857. John Mountjoy was aged 23, a mariner and lived in Lagland Street, Poole. His father was John Mountjoy, a seaman. His bride was Elizabeth Dominey, aged 20, a spinster, living in Baiter. Her father was James Dominey, a Coal Metre.
On 11 March 1859 their daughter Mary Elizabeth was baptised at St James, Poole.
It now became clear that Mary Mountjoy and Polly Mountjoy were one and the same person. Polly can be used as a diminutive of Mary. She was the daughter of my Great Grandmother Elizabeth from her first marriage.
But who was Gertrude?
On her marriage certificate of 2 March 1905 at Willian, Hertfordshire, Gertrude Montjoy was stated to be the daughter of John Montjoy, Master Mariner. She is stated to have been 21 years old.
After much searching in the registers of birth at St Catherine’s House we eventually found the right birth. Ethel Gertrude Mountjoy was born on 2 July 1885 at 121 Hill Street, Walworth, the daughter of Mary Mountjoy, a Dressmaker. No father noted on the certificate, so Gert was illegitimate. She was registered on 12 August 1885 by her mother, Mary Mountjoy, living at 121 Hill Street. 121 Hill Street was the home of the Nickels family in the 1881 and 1891 census.
Gert was brought up as a sister to
Bessie, Kate, and Alfred Charles, when she was in fact a step niece. Because of the way she was brought up, she
was always known as Auntie Gert by my dad and his siblings. The generations were thrown out of sync when
Elizabeth had her first child when she was 23 and her last when she was 46,
with an illegitimate grandchild thrown into the mix. It is
good to know that Gert was not abandoned, but just added to the young Nickels
family and brought up with them. Even at her marriage her illegitimacy was masked by putting her grandfather's name in the place of a non existent father.
Subsequent research has revealed that Elizabeth Mountjoy nee Dominy was widowed soon after Mary Elizabeth (Polly) was born when her husband John Mountjoy was lost at sea.
Two-year-old Mary Mountjoy is found living with her grandmother and her aunts and uncles in Pile Court, Poole in the 1861 census whilst her mother Elizabeth, a widow at 23, is at Murmor House, Lytchett Matravers, Dorset, a servant in the household of Edward Blunt, a clergyman and perpetual curate of Lytchett Minster. As a servant Elizabeth would have been unable to have her daughter with her so left her with her mother.
© https://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/place/828
In the 1871 census, Mary is living
with her aunt, Mary Ann Wills and her young family at Baiter, Poole. Mary
Ann is Elizabeth’s younger sister. Mary is 12 and described as a niece, a scholar. Mother
Elizabeth is by this time living elsewhere, I suspect if not in London, half-way
there. The identity of Mrs Lach, if it can be found,
may provide a clue – the inscription in the Bible is dated 1872 or 73, she may
have been Elizabeth’s employer.
One presumes that Elizabeth and Mary kept in touch and were reunited in London in the early 1870s. Gert was born at the family home and brought up within the family unit. Perhaps Elizabeth regretted having to farm Mary out with relatives when young whilst she was working in Dorset and the subsequent move to London. She did not have much choice in having to work as a young widow and must have been thankful for the support of her family, even if she had to pay them board and lodging for Mary.
So, Auntie Polly, you were the eldest daughter of my Great-Grandmother Elizabeth. You were brought up with the families of a grandparent and aunt for the first dozen years of your life. By 18 you are reunited with your mother in London, with her new husband and young family. You had an illegitimate daughter, Gert, when you were in your early 20s who was brought up as a younger sibling of my Grandfather and his other two full sisters, Bessie and Kate (who died when she was 15). You continued to work as a dressmaker, or linen collar maker, in London and eventually became a housekeeper to a schoolmistress is Sussex. Your daughter Gert, living with the family in Hertfordshire, subsequently also had an illegitimate daughter, May, and seven other children who in turn had issue themselves. You came to Letchworth to help your mother, Elizabeth, with her 6 young grandchildren when their mother, my grandmother Alice, died in 1917. I suspect you were not well then but came to help anyway. You died from cancer in 1918 and were buried in Hitchin, Hertfordshire.
‘Auntie Polly with the wooden crutch’, you had a challenging life – I would have loved to have got to know you.
Notes
1. 1. London Metropolitan Archives; London, England;
London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P92/STE1/013 via Ancestry.com.
London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1936 [database
on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010. [last accessed
23/01/2022]
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