Find Ancestors

Did you find when her parents died or what happened to her siblings ?

Her brother
Marriages Jun 1921
Kendrick Isabella Mossendew Leeds 9b 897
Mossendew Frank * Kendrick Leeds 9b 897


Births Mar 1900
Mossendew Frank Furlan Leeds 9b 519

Hi Shirley. Her mother died in 1911 and her father in 1946. Not quite sure where your Mossendew connection fits in and as far as I know she didn't have a brother only a sister Mary Ann who died I 1990.

just browsing recent threads ... and having a slight interest in home children as my Hoar ancestor's sister-in-law emigrated and married a home child who was one of the cheap farm labourers that many of the boys were sent out to become ...

the Sarah Medley who was sister of Frank Mossendew is a different person, see this 1911 census

Name: Sarah Medley
Age in 1911: 5
Estimated birth year: abt 1906
Relation to Head: Daughter
Birth Place: Leeds, Yorkshire, England
Civil Parish: Leeds
Joseph Henry Medley 52
Sarah Medley 42
Frank Furlan Mossendew 11
Joseph Henry Medley 7
Sarah Medley 5
Emily Leeming 41
Ada Leeming 39

her mother was formerly Mossendew, with her mother and stepfather Batty and son Frank in Leeds in 1901, married Joseph Medley in Leeds in 1901, that Sarah is their daughter, birth reg June quarter 1906 Leeds



one thing I was going to suggest was to get Sarah's birth certificate for her exact date of birth if you don't have it

after 1969 dates of birth are recorded in the deaths index and it can be searched at Ancestry by given name and dob only

to search that way you would be assuming
. she kept her given name after adoption if she was adopted which is likely if she was over 5 yrs old
. the person who reported her death knew her dob and reported it correctly

and of course there is the fact that Sarah is such a common name

but you might be able to make a list that you could then try tracing backward
e.g.
. 17 people named Sarah who were born on 1 September 1906 died after 1969
. 5 of them had Sarah as a middle name
. 8 of them were Sarah with a middle name
. 4 were plain Sarah

(I would not rule out Sarahs who had middle names although your Sarah didn't, as a middle name might have been given by an adoptive family ... it might also be that the Sarah was kept as a middle name)

the ruling out process would be tedious and in some cases impossible

for instance, finding who the Sarah Davies who died in Merthyr Tydfil in 1986 was, assuming she was a married woman, would never work without seeing the certificate and hoping a family member was the informant ... how many Sarahs must have married Davies men?! but then your Sarah probably didn't die in Merthyr Tydfil ...

others would be easier
for instance Sarah Elverston born 1 Sept 1906 who died in 1983 in Brentwood
was Sarah Stockwell who married Charles Elverston in 1931 in West Ham
the only Sarah + Elverston marriage 1924-1940
Sarah Stockwell's birth was reg Sep quarter 1906 in Epping

if you could find a Sarah whose surname was accounted for by a marriage but whose birth as the name in the marriage record could not be found ... or a Sarah whose name could not be accounted for by a marriage and whose birth could not be found as the name in the death record ...

the situation that would be impossible to identify would be if your Sarah married under a surname other than Meadly (or variant) and then emigrated ...

Hi Joonie. Thanks for that. Lots of food for thought! I have just sent for her birth certificate in the last couple of days so hopefully it will be of some help. The last record I have is in Wavertree cottage home in the 1911 census as she doesn't seem to have gone back into the workhouse. There is no record of a marriage or a death under Sarah Meadley so the only other 2 possibilities are adoption or being sent as a migrant child. Both seem to offer nothing but dead ends.

Or of course she could of just lived with someone never marrying but took their name

true jax, and her death have been registered under that name too, that was quite common

with her date of birth it could be possible to explore some of the possibilities but of course it is useful for death records only after 1969

That's true Jax. There are endless possibilities. Let's hope info on the birth certificate will help. Thanks both.