Genealogy Chat

I am getting very frustrated with trying to trace my paternal family. My grandfather died when my father was very young. so I never met him nor knew very much about him. There was some controversy after my grandmothers death when we found his demob papers from ww1 which had 2 names on , these were Plume and Cropper. I have traced my grandfathers birth cetificate with the name Plume on , the fathers name on it was henry plume and the mothers was Emma jane Clarke. the place of registration was wolverhampton. I have also found the marriage of Emma Jane and Henry (although on this it was written as Plunb ), Also in wolverhampton. However on the 1901 census Emma jane was living with her brother and giving the name of Clarke, my grandfather alfred was also living wth them but also was a lodger William Cropper. I looked at the marriage index and found that Emma Jane had married William Cropper in 1802 again using her maiden name and in a church . So what happened to henry I dont know, I would accept that discrepencies in spellin surnames due to literacy problems were common . abaut cant explain how someone marries one person and has at least one child, then becomes 'single' again and manages another church wedding. Surely if she was a widdow she would have stated that, or if divorced the i thought that back in tose days it was pretty difficult to get a church wedding . PLEASE ADVISE !

Just going to list this to make it easier to understand: Marriages Sep 1891 Clark Emma Jane Wolverhampton 6b 789 Plumb Henry Wolverhampton 6b 789 Marriages Dec 1902 Clark Emma Jane Wolverhampton 6b 1061 Cropper William James Wolverhampton 6b 1061 Births Sep 1896 PLUME Alfred Wolverhampton 6b 626 Are these the correct ones? Rose

Perhaps Henry died in the Boer War? Rose

Can you list the details in 1901 because I don't see them? There's a William Cropper in Wolverhampton but he's lodging with the Lawrence family. Rose

What was Henry's occupation, ....Was it one that took him away from home? I have known of someone who became 'widowed' while her husband was away at sea and remarried in church in her home town.(1859)... He was none too pleased on his return. It would only be one more move to call oneself single again. Have you looked for Henry in 1901.? Gwyn

Are these siblings? Births Mar 1892 Plumb Henry Wolverhampton 6b 588 Births Jun 1894 Plumb Harriet Wolverhampton 6b 600 Harriet's with the Clarks in 1901 but I don't see Henry. Rose

What was Henry's fathers name on the marriage cert? Might help to narrow down who he is to find him on the censuses. I too am pretty confused about the lodger Cropper and I couldn't find Emma in 1901 unless she is mistranscribed - or her son Alfred. I could only see young Harriet with her grandparents.

It was more common than you would expect for a couple to split up and then marry again bigamously, or just live together as man and wife as it was too difficult and expensive for ordinary working class people to get divorced. Kath. x

Here are Alfred, Emma and William Cropper in 1901: Name: Alf Plume Age: 4 Estimated birth year: abt 1897 Relation: Grandson Gender: Male Where born: Whampton, Staffordshire, England Civil parish: Wolverhampton Ecclesiastical parish: Christchurch County/Island: Staffordshire Country: England Registration district: Wolverhampton Sub-registration district: Wolverhampton Eastern ED, institution, or vessel: 4 Household schedule number: 37 Household Members: Name Age Wm Biopper 21 George Chack 26 George Chack 2 Martha Chack 27 Alf Plume 4 Emma Plume 27 Class: RG13; Piece: 2679; Folio: 65; Page: 7

The 1901 is very strange as there is no-one old enought to Alf's grandparent

1901 and got Emma down as daughter Wm Biopper abt 1880 Rugby, Warwickshire, England Boarder Wolverhampton Staffordshire View Record George Chack abt 1875 Whampton, Staffordshire, England Head Wolverhampton Staffordshire View Record George Chack abt 1899 Whampton, Staffordshire, England Son Wolverhampton Staffordshire View Record Martha Chack abt 1874 Bilston, Staffordshire, England Wife Wolverhampton Staffordshire Alf Plume abt 1897 Whampton, Staffordshire, England Grandson Wolverhampton Staffordshire View Record Emma Plume abt 1874 Whampton, Staffordshire, England Daughter Wolverhampton Staffordshire