Brick Walls

Every individual or family listed here is causing me research grief in some way, either just through lack of success (or lack of information) or some difficulty with the information I have that's pointing me in the wrong direction. I'm hoping that someone out there is researching the same persons, but if anyone has even the slightest suggestion of where to proceed to, I'll gladly take it.

William FRANCIS
On every document I've found, but one, William's birth location is simply listed as "England." Considering how common the FRANCIS surname is, you can imagine how helpful I find this information.

The one exception is on the marriage registration of one of his sons, several years after William's death. This document gives William's birth place as "Darlington, Yorkshire, England." Which is where I run into the next issue.

Darlington is in County Durham, though it is close to the Yorkshire border. My best guess is that he was from some small town just inside Yorkshire, with the nearest major city being Darlington and it was just easier for him to say "Darlington" to anyone who asked rather than going to the trouble of explaining where his town was. Somewhat like saying you're from Belleville, Ontario when you really live just outside of Stirling (where?), a few kilometres to the north. (This is where I lived during my high school years.)

William married Alice KEABLE (born in Gravesend, Kent in 1866) on 18 Sep 1886 in Gravesend. Assuming they met there, since it's Alice's home town, William would have had to have been in Gravesend since at least some time earlier that year - the exact when is a mystery. Before emigrating to Canada in 1888, their first son, also names William, was born in 1887 - unfortunately, his birthplace is always listed as "England" as well, though at this point I'm betting it was in Gravesend.

Everything I know about William, and his family, factually - William FRANCIS Details.

Henry PAYNE

Henry PAYNE arrived in Canada, according to family legend, in 1901 (though it may have been a year or two later) with his wife Sarah and seven children. The youngest child, Alfred, is said to have been born during the voyage.

Henry's parents' names I have from his death registration, William PAYNE and Elizabeth MILLER, as well as Henry's birth location. Granting these were likely supplied by Sarah at a very traumatic time, I'm inclined to take them as accurate, though my mind is open to other possibilities.

The PAYNE surname is common enough in England to make census tracking extremely difficult, particularly in London - it would be a wild stroke of luck to run across him in the returns when I don't know where to begin looking. The 1911 Census of Canada might give me some clues, and will at least tell me when they arrived in the country. I eagerly wait for the Canadian government to get off its collective butt, recognize public opinion, and agree to release it in 2003, as they've released all previous Censuses after 92 years, and those beyond on the same schedule. (See The Global Gazette's Post 1901 Census Project for details. Download a petition and get some signatures.)

The youngest of his children has been gone for at least twenty years and none of his grandchildren that I've made contact with so far (only two as yet) has any real knowledge of him.

Everything I know about Henry, and his family, factually - Henry PAYNE Details.

Ole PEDERSEN
My quest for Ole was originally presented to me as a request for assistance from Lena, my cousin living in Denmark, whom I mentioned on the intro page. Her current research involves, among other things, trying to trace all of the descendents of her grandmother (my great-grandmother) Johanne's siblings. So far, I've managed to uncover his emmigration date and, very recently, after finally getting it through my head that changes to surname spellings do, in fact, happen, his marriage to Rosie GREEN. PEDERSEN appears to have gotten changed to PETERSON at or after his arrival in Wisconsin.

Ole was the oldest surviving son and would have inherited his parents' farm. For some reason, he instead chose to emigrate to the United States, settling in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, leaving Denmark when he was nineteen years old.

Ole had two sons, Herry and Walter (the names I've been given, so Herry, at least, may have been altered to fit in more at the time, or it may be Harry or Henry) and at least two grandchildren via Walter (based on at least one photo sent by Rosie to Johanne.

He and, after his death, his wife, exchanged occasional letters with his mother and a few of these still exist, the last of which is dated September, 1956. In 1920, his return address on one of these is for Warren, Wisconsin, a rural route. I've found Ole, Rosie, and Walter in the 1920 census. Herry, several months past his eighteenth birthday at the time, appears to have been living somewhere else I haven't found yet. I'm slowly digging through the 1910 census: the family isn't in the same location as in the 1920, so I'm guessing that they were still living in Milwaukee at the time. (If anyone has any easy access to Milwaukee city directories for 1910, I'd be eternally grateful for a lookup.)

Everything I know about Ole, and his family, factually, from either Lena or my own research - Ole PEDERSEN Details.