Margaret Walker - Update

So remember me saying about Alice Turner being born at 12 Tranmere Vale? Well I had some responses on my forum post overnight and low and behold, guess where it is?

Tranmere Vale 1882

Carnforth Street 1899

Carnforth Street!!! I'm not sure the reason behind the name change, but what a discovery eh? I think I'm going to check all census now for Penrith, Carnforth, Tranmere Vale, Warwick Street and Wilkinson Street to see if I have any relatives living nearby. I've already established that one of my distant relatives, Jeffrey Rimmer - born to Eveline Fender is living here with his wife Ada (nee Pindard) and child, Geoffrey in 1939. Because it may start getting a little confusing, I've started mapping them on Google My Maps. It's still pretty much in it's infancy, so please bear with me whilst I review all my records and update. This could be quite an interesting and helpful discovery!

Tags: #Genealogy #Ancestry #Research #History #FamilyResearch #FamilyHistory Names: #Rimmer #Williams #Walker #Turner #Fender #Pindard Locations: #Birkenhead #Tranmere #WilkinsonStreet #CarnforthStreet #PenrithStreet #TranmereVale #WarwickStreet

Margaret Walker

I've spent a great deal of the day emailing potential relations to try and get a better grasp of my 2nd Great Grandmother, Margaret Turner (nee Walker, previously Fender). If there's one person in the tree that's currently giving me grief, it's her!

Born in about 1852 (location unknown), she gave birth to a daughter Annie Eveline in about 1878 at 35 Walnut Street, Liverpool and gave her daughter the surname of Fender. She listed Annie's father as Thomas Fender, a sailor.

I have not, so far been able to track these three in the 1861 or 1881 census, nor can I find any marriage for Margaret Walker to a Fender.

Margaret then married a Joseph Turner in February 1889. Joseph's occupation at the time is Stonemason and they are both living in Park Lane, Liverpool. Margaret at No 75 and Joseph at 71. Margaret calls herself Madeline on the cert with the surname Fender. It says she is a Widow at 37 years old and gave her maiden name as Walker. Margaret or Madeline (I'll continue to call her Margaret) gave her fathers name as Henry Walker, occupation Farmer. Joseph declared himself as a bachelor and gave his fathers name as James Turner, occupation Stonemason. None of the witnesses are related, that I can tell so far.

Shortly after their marriage (April 1890) Margaret gave birth to James Turner at 16 Penrith Street, Birkenhead. For me to have this exact location I must have a cert, but I can't seem to locate it within my files. In 1891 I have the family living in 15 Warwick Street, Birkenhead, which when you look at one of the old maps I found on the National Library of Scotland website, they aren't too far away from the house in which James was born!

Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

The transcription from the census:

Joseph Turner (Head) Age: 39 Occupation: Bricksetter? Born: Birkenhead, Cheshire Margaret Turner (Wife) Age: 38 Occupation: None Born: Clifford, Yorkshire

Eveline Fender (Step-daughter) Age: 11 Occupation: Scholar Born: Liverpool, Lancashire

James Turner (Son) Age: 11 months Born: Birkenhead, Cheshire

Jane Rigby (Boarder) Age: 21 Occupation: None Born: Birkenhead, Cheshire

Turner 1891 Census, 15 Warwick Street, Birkenhead

In 1892 Margaret gave birth to Alice Turner at 12 Tranmere Vale, Birkenhead. I've put a few messages out on some forums to find out where the exact location would be, so I'll come back and update this when I have new information. Margaret's name ties in with previous marriage cert to Joseph so I know this Alice is definitely Margaret's daughter.

Sadly I think James died in 1894, aged only 4. He death certificate show's cause of death as pneumonia. He died at 43 Tranmere Vale, Birkenhead. His father (Joseph) is a bricklayer.

In the 1901 Census, the family are living at 18 Wilkinson Street, which if you look on the map for the 1891 census above, is just the street on the other side of Oxton Road by Warwick Street. The Turners at first were not easy to find and I only found the connection after I had bought a marriage cert for Margaret's daughter, Alice (I'll explain later). Margaret is listed as widowed but the head of her family, she lives with daughter Alice. Margaret is still showing that she was born in Yorkshire, so it's highly likely I have the right lady. Just need to find out where and when Joseph died, he was named on James' death cert so I'm going to try and search for deaths between 1894 and 1901 next. The transcription from the census:

Margaret Turner (Head - Widow) Age: 49 Occupation: Laundress Work Born: Yorkshire, Leeds

Alice Turner (Daughter) Age: 7 Born: Birkenhead, Cheshire

Jumping 10 years to the 1911 census, I still have the family living in Wilkinson Street, however it looks like they have moved to No 10, or it's a transcription error. Margaret looks like she has a massive brood living with her in their 5 roomed house. From looking at Google Maps street view today, it's an area of shops and business units so I couldn't tell you what the houses were like, but I can imagine given the majority of people working there were labourers so the houses could have been pretty standard two up, two down jobbies. I'll try and locate an old picture and revisit this post at some point. What's interesting here is that Margaret and the rest of the family all have their Birthplace as Birkenhead. Why? It's possible that Margaret just gave Birkenhead to all for ease.

The transcription from the census: Margaret Turner (Head - Widow) Age: 59 Occupation: Laundress Born: Birkenhead Alice Turner (Daughter) Age: 17 Occupation: Laundress Born: Birkenhead Eveline Rimmer (no position to head - Widow) Age: 32 Occupation: None Born: Birkenhead

Eveline Rimmer (G.Daughter) Age: 10 Occupation: School Born: Birkenhead Jeffrey Rimmer (G.Son) Age: 8 Occupation: School Born: Birkenhead Madgalen Rimmer (G.Daughter) Age: 6 Occupation: School Born: Birkenhead Nora Rimmer (G.Daughter) Age: 4 Occupation: School Born: Birkenhead

Frederick Rimmer (G.Son) Age: 2 Occupation: None Born: Birkenhead Margaret also has 3 boarders living with her, not sure if they relations yet!

Now what's interesting here are that the Rimmers on the 1911 census, are clearly Eveline Rimmer's children but here Eveline is widowed. When glancing back to the 1901 census, I noticed just above Margaret are a family of Rimmers. Have a look back at the document, can you make the connection? Eveline Rimmer widowed here on the 1911 census and Eveline Rimmer on the 1901 census is Annie Eveline Fender born 1878 in Liverpool! The dates tie in with her age on the census, so this must be correct!

Margaret isn't found on any documents after the 1911 census and I've yet to locate her death, given that I'm struggling to find her birth and her first marriage to Thomas. I wonder if Annie Eveline was illegitimate or maybe I need to widen the search. Either way, Margaret between 1861 and 1881 just doesn't want to be found! Margaret's daughter Alice marries Thomas Williams (yep, there's my connection!) on the 8th February 1915 in St Wergburghs Chapel, Birkenhead. One of the witnesses on the wedding certificate is Eveline Rimmer - Alice's half sister!!

Williams - Turner Marriage Cert Feb 1915

You'll notice that Alice is calling herself Mary Alice, her occupation ties in with the census and she is still living at 10 Wilkinson Street, so the earlier address on the 1911 census is correct! Do you have any parts of your tree that you are keen to complete and close down, but can't because people don't want to be located? I just wish my grandparents lived long enough for me to ask them all my questions that they would undoubtedly know the answers to.

Who said family research was easy?

Time for bed.

Tags: #Genealogy #Ancestry #Research #History #FamilyResearch #FamilyHistory

Names: #Rimmer #Williams #Walker #Turner #Fender

Locations: #Birkenhead #Tranmere #Liverpool #Yorkshire #WilkinsonStreet #CarnforthStreet #PenrithStreet #TranmereVale #WarwickStreet #WalnutStreet #ParkLane

Hello!

I don't know how many times I have started researching my family tree and then dropped it when real life kicks in, only to pick it back up years later, forgetting everything I'd discovered previously. This time I'm here for good. Armed with my little Chromebook, Bookmarks-a-plenty and more determination than ever, I plan to strip back my Ancestry tree and my collaborated Geni tree, removing any bits that just 'fitted' to make the tree look more interesting. I'm going full throttle into real research and it's great that the General Register Office are still piloting PDF versions of Birth and Death certificates within 1837 –1917, using this pilot records only cost £6 each, compared to £9.25 for a paper copy. Below is an example of a PDF I have received quite recently for Eveline Fender/Fenton

Annie Eveline Rimmer née Fender/Fenton born Liverpool, 4th September 1878

I have also introduced a PayPal funding page, where family members can help towards researching by way of a donation. These funds will be used for subscriptions, documents and official records as/when they are required. If you have a particular document you would like, please send me details along with your donation and I will notify you once it has arrived. Requested documents that have been funded by a donation will be available to view in the private gallery (coming soon). For further information on donations, please click here.

Now time for a fresh brew and a bit of research!