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Peter was the Father of my Grandmother Nancy Sewell (married name Nancy Gray). I know that Peter sailed to New York from Liverpool on the Majestice 15th February 1906, leaving his wife and children in Oldham Lancashire.
He is listed as joining his cousin Thomas Cochrane, 99 Laban St, Honeywell Providence Rhode Island.
The 1930 US Federal Census shows him as head of house aged 66 with wife Ester 65. New Bedford Bristol Mass.
Would love to know more of his family in USA if anyone can help

Sheila KNight

Lots of trees on Ancestry - all suggest he died around 1937 in Massachusetts but no evidence of this.

He emigrated alone in 1906. Is with Esther as wife 1920 and 1930 - she born England as well.

In 1910 in Providence there is a Peter Sewell with wife Emma (born England) and a daughter Rosie three months old. Don't know if this is one and same?

The Peter Sewell on the 1910, 1920 and 1930 census is a mulespinner (cotton) - same as his occupation in England.

Highly likely the same man, just having trouble finding records .....

Yes MC and on the emigration record he is a weaver.....

Can't find any evidence of marriages to Emma/Esther (who may be one and same??) - perhaps because they couldn't marry - Hannah/Ann in England died 1915

But can't pick up a birth for Rosie or deaths :-S

Emma is younger than Esther

Jude

I can't make my mind up about Esther/Emma.

There are no births registered for a Rosie in Rhode Island for the time of any surname with those parents first names.

There's no Peter Sewell in either Rhode Island or Massachusetts city directories, no death record - it's like he managed to stay under the radar.

(The passenger list I looked at said spinner?)
EDIT: The outgoing from UK says weaver, the NY arrival says spinner

Got to go out now, will poke around later.

Not sure 1910 is the same Peter as the one from Oldham and the one in 1920 and 1930

In 1910 census, Peter and Emma have original year of immigration in 1896

In 1920 Peter is 1906 (fits) Esther is 1890

Jude

The Peter Sewell from Oldham was originally headed to Providence, RI so that 1910 is is highly likely to be the right one.

I strongly suspect that the immigration year of 1896 is an error.

Yeah that's what I though MC - but it's definitely 1896 for both he and Emma!

Sure that Emma and Esther are different people - so what happened to Emma and Rosie?



:-)

The reason I think that the 1896 arrival stated on the 1910 census is a mistake is because there were no arrivals for Peter Sewell in 1896 or thereabouts, other than a USA citizen Peter N Sewell in 1894 who was a merchant travelling with his family.

My thought is that if it was Emma who gave the info to the enumerator then she may have given her year of arrival for both of them.

On the 1930 census Esther gives her year of arrival as 1900 whereas on the 1920 she says it was 1890 so the arrival info from any of the census can't be taken as accurate.

Peter J Sewell and Emma T still had their names in the Rhode Island Directory in 1951


Name: Peter J Sewall
Gender: Male
Residence Year: 1951
Street Address: 48 Melissa
Residence Place: Providence, Rhode Island
Spouse:
Emma T Sewall
Publication Title: Providence, Rhode Island, City Directory, 1951

The plot thickens :-S

There are Peter Sewalls in the city directories as follows:

1907 - 1910 Pawtucket, Rhode Island
1914 - 1916 Bedford, Massachusetts
1951 Providence, Rhode Island

No wives names listed on the earlier ones (I'm not sure that they always were). Surname always spelled as SewAll, occupation either "house" or "operative".

Did he move back to Rhode Island when he retired?

Stumped!!

I know we've looked at them, but going to post the census as a timeline:

1910 United States Federal Census

Name: Peter Sewall
Age in 1910: 46
Birth Year: abt 1864
Birthplace: England
Home in 1910: Pawtucket Ward 2, Providence, Rhode Island
Race: White
Gender: Male
Immigration Year: 1906 [1896]
Relation to Head of House: Head
Marital Status: Married (4 years)
Spouse's Name: Emma Sewall
Father's Birthplace: England
Mother's Birthplace: England

Household Members:
Name Age
Peter Sewall 46 - Mulespinner (cotton mill)
Emma Sewall 41 b England
Rosie Sewall 0 [3/12] b Rhode Island

Street Address: 188 Mindon Avenue
..........................................................................................................................

1920 United States Federal Census

Name: Peter Sewel
Age: 55
Birth Year: abt 1865
Birthplace: England
Home in 1920: New Bedford Ward 6, Bristol, Massachusetts
Race: White
Gender: Male
Immigration Year: 1906
Relation to Head of House: Head
Marital Status: Married
Spouse's Name: Esther Sewel
Father's Birthplace: England
Mother's Birthplace: England
Home Owned: Rent
Able to Read: Yes
Able to Write: Yes

Household Members:
Name Age
Peter Sewel 55 - Mulespinner (cotton mill)
Esther Sewel 54 - works in cotton mill, b England, arrival either 1890 or 1896

Street address: 198 Grehard? Street
..................................................................................................................

1930 United States Federal Census

Name: Peter Sewell
Gender: Male
Birth Year: abt 1864
Birthplace: England
Race: White
Home in 1930: New Bedford, Bristol, Massachusetts

Marital Status: Married
Immigration Year: 1906
Relation to Head of House: Head

Spouse's Name: Ester Sewell - operative in cotton mill

Father's Birthplace: England
Mother's Birthplace: England

Occupation: operative in cotton mill
Age at first marriage: 20
Parents' birthplace: England

Household Members:
Name Age
Peter Sewell 66
Ester Sewell 66 b England, first married at 20. Arrived in US 1900

Street address: 708 First Street.

City Directories:

U.S. City Directories, 1821-1989

Name: Peter Sewall
Residence Year: 1907
Street Address: 192 Mendon av - same address in 1909
Residence Place: Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Publication Title: Pawtucket, Rhode Island, City Directory, 1907

Name: Peter Sewall
Residence Year: 1910
Street Address: 188 Mendon av (same in 1911)
Residence Place: Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Publication Title: Pawtucket, Rhode Island, City Directory, 1910

Name: Peter Sewell
Residence Year: 1912
Street Address: 435 Cottage
Residence Place: Pawtucket, Rhode Island
Occupation: Spinner
Publication Title: Pawtucket, Rhode Island, City Directory, 1912

Name: Peter Sewall
Residence Year: 1914 (1915 & 1916 same)
Street Address: 28 Winsor
Residence Place: New Bedford, Massachusetts
Occupation: Operative
Publication Title: New Bedford, Massachusetts, City Directory, 1914

Name: Peter Sewell - operative
Residence Year: 1921
Street Address: 148 Bonney
Residence Place: New Bedford, Massachusetts
Publication Title: New Bedford, Massachusetts, City Directory, 1921
*** Esther is listed on this one

Name: Peter Sewell
Gender: Male
Residence Year: 1923
Street Address: 71 Ruth
Residence Place: New Bedford, Massachusetts
Occupation: Operator
Spouse: Esther Sewell
Publication Title: New Bedford, Massachusetts, City Directory, 1923

Name: Peter Sewell
Gender: Male
Residence Year: 1926
Street Address: 345 Purchase
Residence Place: New Bedford, Massachusetts
Occupation: Operator
Spouse: Esther Sewell
Publication Title: New Bedford, Massachusetts, City Directory, 1926

Name: Peter Sewell
Gender: Male
Residence Year: 1927 - 1930 the same
Street Address: 708 First
Residence Place: New Bedford, Massachusetts
Occupation: Operator
Spouse: Esther Sewell
Publication Title: New Bedford, Massachusetts, City Directory, 1927

Name: Peter Sewell
Residence Year: 1932
Street Address: 1089 Acushnet av
Residence Place: New Bedford, Massachusetts
Occupation: Operator
Publication Title: New Bedford, Massachusetts, City Directory, 1932
*** No mention of Esther

Name: Peter Sewell
Residence Year: 1934
Street Address: 39 Acushnet av
Residence Place: New Bedford, Massachusetts
Occupation: Opr Rll
Publication Title: New Bedford, Massachusetts, City Directory, 1934

Name: Peter J Sewall
Gender: Male
Residence Year: 1951
Street Address: 48 Melissa
Residence Place: Providence, Rhode Island
Spouse: Emma T Sewall
Publication Title: Providence, Rhode Island, City Directory, 1951

As Lewis Carroll said "curiouser and curiouser". So MC - two separate Peters after all do you think?

This is his first marriage

Marriages Dec 1883 (>99%)
Evans Annie Oldham 8d 875
SEWELL Peter Oldham 8d 875

and this is probably his birth

Name: Peter Sewell
Date of Registration: Jul-Aug-Sep 1863
Registration District: Oldham
Inferred County: Lancashire
Volume: 8d Page: 451

So this ties in with 1930 census "age at first marriage".

So while first Peter in Providence ties in with him going to his cousin's how do we explain Emma disappearing for thirty-odd years?
:-S :-S :-S :-S :-S :-S :-S :-S :-S :-S

Morning Jude!

I have a suspicion that the 1951 Peter and Emma are different people in Rhode Island, especially given the appearance of middle initials and as they're nowhere to be found previously.

There are 2 trees on Ancestry that have more or less the same info (most likely copied) and they both state he died about 1937 in MA. If Sheila hasn't already done so, it would be worth her contacting them (via Mundia if not an Ancestry member) and finding out where they got the info. However, it's possible that they've made an assumption on 1937 being midway between the 1934 city directory and the 1940 census that he doesn't appear to be on.

This one is really annoying me!

I've found Peter J and Emma T at 48 Melissa in 1947 and 1953 as well...as for the 1937 death, yes I agree that it's an assumption because he doesn't feature on 1940 census. There is no back-up reference for it.

Indexing on A really bugging me on this one. There are dozens of references to Emma T "in the missing years" but when you look at the image Emma is not Sewall and Sewall is not Emma aaaaggghhhh!!!!!!!!!!

It would be good if we could find the 1906 marriage referred to in 1910.

Jude

Just throwing around ides...there is this death in Bedford Mass.

Name Emma Sewell
Event Type Death
Event Date 28 Dec 1914
Event Place New Bedford,,Massachusetts
Gender Female
Age 46
Marital Status Married
Birth Date 27 Apr 1868
Birthplace England
Father's Name John Turner
Spouse's Name Peter Sewell

Would explain why Emma is replaced by Esther?

This record shows the American practice of using the maiden name as middle name:

Massachusetts, Death Records, 1841-1915

Name: Emma Turner Sewell
Death Date: 1914
Death Place: New Bedford, Massachusetts, USA


Died of breast cancer, ill for 9 months. Buried 31 Dec 1914 Rural Cemetery.

The informant stated as Peter Sewell (per CE Vaughan) 28 Winsor Street.


(Was it him in 1951 and he was confused as to who he was married to?)

ADDED: Well done Jude!