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Still the mystery of Emily Stevenson bugs me...eg in. 1901 she is Stevenson and listed as a widow...so this can't have been her maiden name or could it have been? Also in 1911 she is still a housekeeper and William King is still a widower so where did all yens children come from who is the mother? In 1901 William claims Rose is his niece, but by 1911 she has become his daughter....? Every few months I spend some time on this then I give up again....so frustrating.....and lots of very old aunties have the same stories to tell about Emily. Recently I was shown a tiny faded photo of Rose King age 7 incredibly taken in 1906...her husband carried it in his wallet for over 70 years until his death.

I don't subscribe for details, but there are these records:

http://www.findmypast.co.uk/passengerListPersonSearchStart.action

STEVENSON DOB Unknown F 1898 London India Calcutta
KING DOB Unknown 1898 Liverpool India Calcutta

Someone with access to FMP would be able to tell whether they were on the same voyage and whether there are any other details (e.g. occupation).


I don't see "many ships going to India with E Stevenson as passenger in 1898" though.

Snowdrop, Pembrokeshire is in Wales. Emily was *born there*.

In 1881 and 1891, Emily was not in Pembrokeshire, she was in Battersea with her parents. (And Battersea is where Rose King was born.)

In 1901, Emily was not in Pembrokeshire. She was where the 1901 census I posted says she was:

>> Civil parish: Lewisham
>> County/Island: London

You order and pay for it -- the birth certificate. It's the only way. ;)

http://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content/

Your Rose shows in the census as Rose A King, born Battersea.

Rose Amelia King was born 1899 in Wandsworth registration district, which covers Battersea. I think you'll find that is the right one.

Perhaps Emily travelled with a silk merchant ...

I am now wondering if Rose was originaly registered as Rose Stevenson, as Nottingham rings a bell apparently at one point Emily ran a tripe shop up North. How do I get a look at the birth certificate?

Name Rose Stevenson
Year of Registration 1899
Quarter of Registration Jul-Aug-Sep
Registration District Basford
Registration County Nottinghamshire
Mother's maiden name
Volume Number 7B
Volume Page 192

Thank you for all of this.
I'm now fascinated by Emily. One of my very elderly aunts says Emily went to India on a ship. Ive found many ships going to India with E Stevenson as passenger in 1898, with Rose born in 1899 perhaps she was conceived out of wedlock and the 'married on a ship' was used as a cover up, all speculation I know.
Stories about Emily are consistent in the family, she claimed to have been married to a silk merchant and had 3 children all of them died except her and possibly Rose perhaps,, at some point she 'married' a man on a ship, then possibly she had Rose, then she lived as housekeeper with William King. But who was Rose Kings father then, William Kimg or the mystery ship man ot th silk merchant.
Apologies for all the red herrings my geography is pants, I thought Pembrokeshire was in Wales.

1881

Name: Emily A. Stevenson
Age: 13
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1868
Relation: Daughter
Father's Name: Alfred F. Stevenson
Mother's Name: Mary A. Stevenson
Where born: New Milford, Pembrokeshire, Wales

Civil parish: Battersea
County/Island: London
Street Address: 33 Zulu Crescent

Occupation: Nurse Girl (Ds) - image just says "Nurse Girl"

Alfred F. Stevenson 48 - Railway Guard born Iver, Bucks
Mary A. Stevenson 48 - born Westminster, Middlesex
Ellen M. Stevenson 24
Thomas H. Stevenson 19
Charles Stevenson 17
Emily A. Stevenson 13
Richard Stevenson 11
Bertham Stevenson 9
Ernest Stevenson 7
Catherine E. Stevenson 3


1891

Name: Emily Stevenson
Age: 22
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1869
Relation: Daughter
Father's Name: Alfred Stevenson
Mother's Name: Mary A Stevenson
Where born: South Wls
Occupation: Milliner

Civil parish: Battersea
County/Island: London

Alfred Stevenson 57
Mary A Stevenson 58
Emily Stevenson 22
Richard Stevenson 21
Ernest Stevenson 16
Catherine Stevenson 13

It had me like an itch. I just don't believe this. Why would you say (repeatedly) they were in Wales in 1901??

Name: William M King
Age: 36
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1865
Relation: Head
Where born: Deptford, St Paul
Occupation Engineer's Clerk
Condition as to marriage: Widowed

Name: Emily A Stevenson
Age: 32
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1869
Relation: Housekeeper
Where born: Nayland, Wales
Condition as to marriage: Widowed

Name: Rose A King
Age: 2
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1899
>> Relation: Niece
Where born: Battersea

>> Civil parish: Lewisham
>> County/Island: London

William M King 36
Emily A Stevenson 32
Rose A King 2


Emily's place of birth is actually Neyland (Nayland is in Suffolk). It's in Pembrokeshire, reg dist Pembroke.


Births Mar 1868
Stevenson Emily Amelia Pembroke 11a 772


So I do think there were some tall tales. ;)

She may have met a man on board ship, but it seems she didn't marry him.

Births Jun 1899
King Rose Amelia Wandsworth 1d 612


I'm still just not seeing any trace of any "other brothers" of Rose.

Snowdrop, you have deleted at last two posts from this thread. What is the point of that??

Well! There's a start, anyhow!

Thanks MC - I was going to go ask for the 1911 lookup if somebody hadn't come along by the time I got back. ;)


Snowdrop ... you keep saying they were "in Wales" in 1901, but no matter how many times I've asked, you won't give details -- names, ages, actual location, etc. I can't find them. If you know who these "other brothers" are you can try looking for their deaths here:

http://www.cwgc.org/debt_of_honour.asp?menuid=14

but nobody else can, because we don't know their names or ages.

Ive just found Kenneth J King so excited he was born 1934 in Lewisham son of Tom King Rose's brother and Winifred Dredge his mother.....thank you for inspiring me to think about this more carefully. Now the mystery of his emigration can be followed up a bit better now I have a proper name and DOB. I'm sure this must be him, aged 15 in 1949 so possibly the whole family emigrated.

Here's the 1911 for reference:

KING, William Head Married M 46 1865 Engineer's Clerk Kent Deptford
KING, Rose Daughter F 12 1899 London Battersea
KING, Edward Son M 9 1902 Kent Lewisham
KING, Lorua Daughter F 7 1904 Kent Lewisham
KING, Alfred Son M 5 1906 Kent Lewisham
KING, Tom Son M 2 1909 Kent Lewisham
HOUSEKEEPER, Emily Stevenson Son Single M 41 1870 Housekeeper Nayland Rock S Wales

Registration District: Lewisham Sub District: Lewisham Enumeration District: 49 Parish: Lewisham

Address: 98 Fordel Road Catford County: London

(Have reported the transcription errors, along with about a dozen other similar Housekeepers)

Of course you are so right how can he have been a 'brother', I'm going back to the family to see if I can dig up some more information. Rose King married Frank Noakes and had 14 children, so it's unlikely Kenny was her child but I suppose it's possible. Thank you for your patience with me, I am obviously very new at this and have just started looking at records, I probably need to go on a genealogy course!
Kenny was a King and yes they we all in Wales in 1901 then in Lewisham in 1911. The other brothers will have died in WW11 possibly?

Look what I have found.

I searched in 1911 for

given name Emily
occupation Housekeeper
living with surname King


[surname!] HOUSEKEEPER
[given names] EMILY STEVENSON
M [male!] 1870 41
Lewisham London

(and it didn't occur to you to mention this??)

So, the Kings living with a person named HOUSEKEEPER are

KING WILLIAM 1865 46
KING ROSE 1899 12
KING EDWARD 1902 9
KING LORUA [note the mistranscription] 1904 7
KING ALFRED 1906 5
KING TOM 1909 2


How would anyone have found that from what you said??

I wanted it because it contained all the info you didn't give -- like Emily's age.

She was 41 in 1911, by that report.

So she really did not have a son "Kenny" in the mid-late 1920s.

It would be quite possible that Rose had a son around then, though, and even that Emily reared him.


I don't subscribe for 1911 so I can't see the details of place of birth etc. And 1901 is still a mystery to me.

You mentioned Wales in 1901. I can't find a Rose King or Stevenson or an Emily King or Stevenson in Wales.

Might one of these be "Aunt Lorna" -- who I gather is in the 1911 census somewhere?

Births Dec 1904
KING Lorna James Swansea 11a 1102
Births Sep 1907
KING Lorna Josephine Bedwellty 11a 98

There's no trace of either of them in the 1911 census (and neither died before 1911).


"In 1911 she is still apparently Williams housekeeper but now there are more children all with the King surname, and certainly were her children ... . All of Rose's brothers were killed in WW1"

Not if they were born after 1901 they weren't, likely.


I love a genealogical mystery, but this is one that there are too many pieces missing from.

If you will reproduce the information from the 1901 and 1911 censuses -- all the names in the household and their ages, and the location, at least -- so someone else can find it, we could try again.

Rose Chriss appears out of nowhere and marries in 1926. She wasn't born Rose Chriss, and she wasn't Rose who married a Chriss. ?


But it looks like I may be following a herring; 1911:

CHRISS ROSE 1899 12 Whitechapel London
CHRISS MRS MINNIE 1881 30
CHRISS HANNAH F 1901 10
CHRISS SIDNEY M 1903 8

... but ... no births for any of them under that surname.

This is the passenger record you're looking at:

KING Kevin K 1927 M 1949 London Australia Melbourne

so in fact born about 1927 *is* a correct age for him?

The middle initial is K -- you failed to mention. Could his middle name have been Kenneth and that's the name he went by?

No Kevin K was born in England/Wales 1926-28 who seems to match your surnames in any way.

And I still think it's unlikely that a woman who had a child c1899 -- and three children before that?? -- had another child in the mid-1920s.

Snowdrop, is this Rose's death?

Name: Rose Roith
Birth Date: 1899 (the index says "about 1899")
Death Registration Month/Year: 1974
Registration district: Brighton
Inferred County: Sussex, East Sussex
Volume: 18
Page: 0326

So this is her marriage?

Name: Rose Chriss
Spouse: Morris M Roith
Date of Registration: Jan-Feb-Mar 1926
Registration district: Stepney
Registration county (inferred): Middlesex
Volume Number: 1c
Page Number: 438

and her husband's death?

Name: Maurice M Roith
Death Registration Month/Year: 1959
Age at death (estimated): 58
Registration district: Lewes
Inferred County: Sussex
Volume: 5h
Page: 590

Now ... there are no Roith-Chriss births. Was Chriss a first married name? And the other Roith births around that time are accounted for by other marriages.

... Or have I gone off on a total red herring chase ... that hasn't led anywhere anyway?

"The emigration date is certainly 1949 and remembered well."

Memory isn't always perfect, though.

There are these passenger records:

KING Keneth M 1927 M 1954 London Australia Melbourne
KING Kenneth G 1925 M 1948 Southampton Australia Sydney

Might 1948 be possible?

But ... is it likely that a woman who had a child in 1898 (Rose) had another in 1925ish?

Someone remembers his exact year of emigration -- but not how old he was / when he was born, even approximately?? Whether he was married, had kids ... ?


Some of the story of Emily certainly sounds quite interesting, but I'd be prepared for finding out it isn't all quite factual.

Edit -- I have no idea why Snowdrop deleted the post that this was in reply to. It was confusing, but some info is better than none ...


Oh my, Snowdrop, that is just a dog's breakfast to anyone who doesn't already know what it's all about.

It would make enormous sense for you to actually copy the 1911 census details here so we could have a clue what you're talking about, instead of all this "Aunt Lorna" or Emily married William King "later" sort of thing when no one reading has any idea who Aunt Lorna is.

You still ahaven't said such basic things as *where* these people were in 1911.

Kenny isn't really a name -- I mean, the likelihood that someone was named officially "Kenny" in the early 20th century is pretty low. Kenneth, perhaps?


I'd try to help, but I can't even find an Emily Stevenson living with anyone named King in 1911, or a two-year-old Rose King in 1901 living with an Emily Stevenson ...