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Hi

I'm completely at a loss of where to go to next. I've been looking for quite a while now and there is no trace, many kind people have helped in the past, but I just can't seem to get anywhere (especially as my father keeps remembering things which put me back to square one!!).

Here goes...

--Alice Matilda WOOD (Matilda is on her marriage certificate, recent thought - seeing as this happened with her husband who got his name wrong on marriage cert... - that this may also be false info).

--States age as 21 on same cert. however, the story goes that she was 16 when she met him and 18 when she married him in Croydon, as she was pregnant, so as they were married in 1904, this makes her born in about the mid 1880s. (They had to marry in the registry office as the Church refused due to the pregnancy...apparently...). May also suggest that father is wrong as she didn't have permission???

--Father is down as Charles Wood from marriage cert. Yet no families fit the following about her mother...

--Mother was apparently in Holloway at some point, so Alice and sister (apparently Sarah later Sarah Baxter?? may be more siblings) had to go into the work house. Have checked the census from 1901, there's no Alice (unless she'd already left by then?). Have also checked Holloway censuses, only two Wood women that I can see, one had been there since before A.M.s birth, the other I can't find elsewhere - Ellen Wood b. c.1841. in Ireland. (Unless of course her mother was in there between censuses, may also suggest that her father wasn't around as there was no one to look after the family, and that they had moved into the area and therefore there was no family around?!)

--She was working and living nr. Convent Garden when she met husband in about 1901/2.

--Husband is Charles Henry Buckfield (Henry Charles in his Military records...which is when he apparently found his real name...which again leads to false info on marriage cert - although the rest of his info is correct).

--They had 12 children (6 sons, 6 daughters). All the sons names are from husbands immediate family or cousins. Daughters don't seem to be named for the Buckfields so there may be a possible pattern that might help pick out her family, most of these are still alive however, so I would rather not post the names.

--Apparently had a strong London accent (but this is after she'd been living there or a good 50 years at least, so I don't know how helpful this is)

The surname Wood just isn't helping matters!!

I am completly stumped about where she's come from! I know she's out there somewhere!!

Any ideas are welcomed and appreciated greatly!

Thanks for reading this,

Clare

Hi Clare

Just had a look and clarifying the marriage was in 1905 - Charles Buckfield. His pension record on Ancestry gives his wife and children and address as you say, but he is Charles Buckfield on that.

It may be a mistake but it says his wife is Alice Matilda Wood, Spinster, but for next of kin it says Alice Emma buckfield, Wife.

Could she have been known as Alice Emma or do you think this is just a written error.

Gail.

1905? Sorry! Yes, it was Jan 16th.

I haven't seen the pension record before, but I do know that Emma is the name of their first child, born in 1905 I believe (the one I'm told she was pregnant with when they married). So it could be either error or her actual name!

Thank you,

Clare

there is this Alice in 1901

Name: Alice M M Wood
Age: 20
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1881
Relation: Servant
Gender: Female
Where born: Romford, Essex, England

Civil Parish: Croydon
Ecclesiastical parish: St Peter
County/Island: Surrey
Country: England

Street address:

Occupation:

Condition as to marriage:

Education:

Employment status:

View Image

Registration district: Croydon
Sub-registration district: Croydon
ED, institution, or vessel: 17
Neighbors: View others on page
Household schedule number: 272
Household Members:
Name Age
Naomi Stevens 25
Jesse W Ward 66
Maria Ward 61
Alice M M Wood 20

Thanks Siobhan, she may be a little too old if the story is correct but I'll follow this one up and see what I get! I can never tell with this woman...

:) Thanks

I cannot see any other clues on the pension record. Is it worth chasing the 'sister' who married a Baxter, do you have a time scale or area for that marriage.

Gail.

Possibly this one in 1891 from the above in 1901:

Household Members: Name Age
Alice M M Wood 10 (born Romford)
Arthur Wood 7/12
Ellen Wood 5
Florence Wood 3
George Wood 41
George Wood 11
Rose Emma Wood 8
Sarah Wood 40
Sarah Ann Wood 13

May be promising! Will have to investigate!!!

Also realised that some of A.M.'s daughters have middle names which may help; Harriett, Mary E and initial S (Sarah???).

Of course I would ask the living off spring what they know, but we believe all the sons have passed away and the surviving daughter(s) aren't in the right state of mind unfortunately so I'm told. :(

Thanks,

Clare

Sorry, I've looked for Sarah's marriage but with no success. One clue is that she lived with husband in Birmingham as my Dad was born in their house in the 40s. Problem is, he knew her a 'Nanny Baxter', so the question is, was she really an Aunt?? As they have quite a few so called 'Aunts' and others! I think he really belives she was Alice's sister however...which is a good sign!

Thanks

From the service records for Charles Buckfield it looks like she had another middle name Alice Matilda S???? Wood.

Do you know when and where she died. Perhaps her death ref might help, as it might show date of birth if she died after 1965 i think it was.

She died in 1977. I'll double check the info and post it in a mo. It was probs Chichester though as I've been to their grave in Bognor Regis.

what is the occupation of Alice's father on the marriage cert?

also does it give any addresses?

who were the witnesses to the marriage?

The word that starts with S on the pension record is Spinster..I thought it was another name initially.

Gail.

Alice Matilda Buckfield born 28/06/1887
Chichester
4th qtr 1971
gro: vol 5h page 1769

1971 sorry...got her confused with my sister's y.o.b! :S

Charles in a Marker Gardener on Marriage cert..which fits in as Charles is a Flower Seller in 1901!!

Witnesses were Sarah Hunt and Annie Field (I have checked to see if this is the Sarah my Dad knew but no luck there).

Thanks!!

Addresses at time of marriage:

Charles - 48 Wilford Road (the same road he's on in 1901)
Alice M - 34 Foster Road (there is no Foster Road in Croydon according to Google maps (and my Dad!), but there is a Forster Road).

She is also a Spinster on the marriage cert.

the age is slightly out here. But there is this Alice M Wood, with a father Charles, who's occupation is a gardener.

Name: Alice M Wood
Age: 3/12
Estimated Birth Year: abt 1891
Relation: Daughter
Father's Name: Charles J
Mother's Name: Elizabeth
Gender: Female
Where born: Surbiton, Surrey, England

Civil Parish: Kingston
Ecclesiastical parish: Christchurch
County/Island: Surrey
Country: England

Street address:

Occupation:

Condition as to marriage:

Education:

Employment status:

View Image

Registration district: Kingston
Sub-registration district: Kingston
ED, institution, or vessel: 27
Neighbors: View others on page
Household Members:
Name Age
Mary Ansell 71
Alice M Wood 3/12
Charles J Wood 32
Daisy E Wood 1
Elizabeth Wood 34

Thanks, the name Daisy's come up in the family too (at least their naming pattern's coming in useful..glad she's predicatable in some ways!). The only problem with this is that, she would have only been 14 or just 15 to get married in 1905, I don't suppose there would have been a chance for her to pass as 21 if that was true!

Is this of any use?
Marriages March Q 1905
Charles Buckfield
Alice Matilda Wood
Croydon 2A 435



BOB>>>

How about these?
Charles Henry Buckman Mar Q 1884 Epsom 2A 1
DITTO 1881 Reigate 2A 160
Alice Maud Wood Islington SeptQ 1881 1b 309
Alice Sarah Wood Islington JunQ 1889 1B 289
ALICE MATILDA WOOD Prestwich 1890 8D 36 (38) no immage available Seems this one is a likely candidate its the only one with Matilda given as a second name, There are 1000s of Alice,s

Thanks, I'll have to have to have a look at the births.

Clare