Genealogy Chat

Hi Mad Bull. This is the third time I have posted this and it dissapeared every time. Weird! My father told me in a letter, now sadly lost, that he was given to Cissie Spencer at birth. Now who would give away a newborn baby like that. Or was it Cissie that had the baby? I wish I knew. On my fathers Birth Certificate it states that the birth was attended, I assume they mean midwifed, by Cissie Spencer and giving the same address. Was she a servant there? Could a Toolmaker afford to have servants, or was she a friend or colleague, staying there?

TIPS. Would there have been a register listing people employed in the Toolmaking trade? Is it possible we could find William Mead on such a register? Where would I have to look?

Sorry again, Walter. I'm really bumbling today. I read that she was an inmate in 1911. Of course that's not what it said!

Actually, Walter, she seems to have been in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire in 1911! Morton, Derbyshire, is her place of birth.

She certainly did move around!

Potty, you are a genius. Hephzibar sure moved around quickly. To be in Disley in 1901. Hull in 1904/5 and Morton Derbyshire in 1911. My dad would have been 7 years of age then. Quite a handful to lug around by a single girl, even by my grandmother who was a toughie I know. But when did she come back to Hull? I know she lived at 109 St Georges Road and often visited her there, but how long was she there?

MadBull, Cissy was an Attendant at the Reformatory, not an inmate but, yes, where was the baby?

Walter, do you know when the Meads gave your father to Cissy?

I did wonder if they were patients in the reformatory but you say Cissy delivered the baby, so she was with them in 1904.

How do you know that Cissy did actually deliver the baby? Was it just word of mouth or is there some documentary evidence? Who was the informant on the birth cert?

Would 3 Ruskin Street have been some kind of a lodging house, do you think. I mean all these different people in such a short space of time. I always had it in my mind that Ruskin Street was out in the countryside at that time and a select area. Once I thought that maybe Cissie was working for the Meads as a maid. But then I thought, how could a Toolmaker afford servants?

But if Cissy was in a state reformatory in 1911 where was baby William Horace?

Hephzibar in 1901 - there is a Florence in the household:

1901 England Census
about Hepzibah Spencer
Name: Hepzibah Spencer
Age: 22
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1879
Relation: Servant
Gender: Female
Where born: Tibshelf, Derbyshire, England

Civil parish: Disley
Ecclesiastical parish: Disley St Mary the Virgin
Town: Disley
County/Island: Cheshire
Country: England

Street Address:

Occupation:

Condition as to marriage:

Education:

Employment status: View image

Registration district: Hayfield
Sub-registration district: Hayfield
ED, institution, or vessel: 19
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 8
Household Members: Name Age
Leigh Slater 59
Lillie Slater 44
Florence L Slater 24
Beatrice M L Slater 23
Harold S L Slater 20
Lilian J L Slater 18
Eustace Hutton 27
Harriett Sandelin 39
Hepzibah Spencer 22
Matilda Beeley 28

OK this is the correct one. Excuse my bumbling!

Births Mar 1905 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mead William Horace Hull 9d 298

Woops! How did I manage that? 10 years out! Don't know why I was thinking 1914.

Hi Glitter Baby. Yes, thats my Grandmother Cissie. I think she got around quite a lot, working as parlour maid, etc. eventually ending up in Hull where she seems to have settled. Having a baby to care for would not be any incentive to travel I suppose. She was 31 then in 1880. She married Walter DeLacy in 1926. He was born in 1980 making him quite a bit younger than Hephzibar (Cissie). Hmmm!

Cissy's marriage:

Marriages Mar 1926 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

De Lacy Walter Spencer Sculcoates 9d 350
Spencer Hephzibah De Lacy Sculcoates 9d 350

Hi Mad Bull. My father was born , 24th November 1904 and registered in Jan 1905. Seeingf as Florence Mead gives her maiden name (Cooper) this seems to imply that she was married, but was she? Walt

1911 ??

SPENCER, Hephzibah Single F 31 1880 State Inbriate Repormatory Attendant Morton Derbyshire VIEW

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

RG number:
RG14 Piece:
7933 Reference:
RG14PN7933 RD146 SD2 ED6 SN9999

Registration District:
Aylesbury Sub District:
Aylesbury Enumeration District:
6 Parish:


Address:
State Reformatory Aylesbury

This is the closest one that I can see on FreeBMD but mother's maiden name was Mead making it look like an illegitimate child.

Births Sep 1914 (>99%)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mead William H N Mead Keighley 9a 313

This is what I said. So strange! Jonesy, William Meads occupation in 1904 was Foreman Toolmaker and to me that must put him as about 40 or 50. Maybe? Strange because almost all Meads I have logged have been either Tailors or in the Drapery business.
Tim. You say that there was no Mead in 3 Rusking Street in 1901. That may well be, but and this might answer both yourself and Mad Bull, I happen to have a Birth certificate for a William Horace Mead, born to Florence Mead (Nee Cooper) and William Mead, Foreman Toolmaker of, wait for it. 3 Ruskin Street. The baby was delivered by my Grandmother, Cissie Spencer of the same address.
I am not sure if this belongs here, but I am learning from it and you are certainly giving me tips, which is what I need.
My father, as I have always known him, is Henry Horace Spencer. There is a great mystery surrounding him. I had it from him in a letter which sadly is now lost. That he was given to Cissie Spencer (Also known as Hephzibar Spencer from Morton in Derbyshire.)by Florence. He spent his whole life trying to prove who his father really was. He adopted the name Spencer and was married to my mother in that name, the name we all bear to this day. Cissie married a Walter DeLacy, a Ships Purser sailing on the Wilson Line Angelo. But this was when my father was about 20 ish. How could any couple, especially when the husband was in a sound trade, give away a new born baby? Why is there a Birth Certificate, but no Marriage Certificate, No Death Certificate. Was the child Cissie Spencers child and did the Meads cover for her by registering the baby as theirs? I need to solve this puzzle so that why I need tips.
Urgently because I have Cancer and Heart disease and time is not what I have a lot of. Thank you for the tips and hopefully they will help me. Regards Walt

What evidence do you have dated 1904 - marriage or birth cert etc ?

Walter, since you say you're new to genealogy, may I suggest a good rule to follow is to stick around when you post a query so that you can answer questions.

1901 the Tarbitson family were in 3 Ruskin Street

There's no marriage of a Florence Cooper to a Mead anywhere, anytime on FreeBMD.