John Lovelace died 1811

John Lovelace is my 4 x great grandfather.   I knew he had died between June 1809 and December 1811 because he had proved the will of Margaret OWEN (died 1809, Standon Staffordshire) but died before it was fully administered and in Margaret's sister Ann OWEN (died 1814, Standon Staffordshire) will dated December 1811 a beneficiary of the will  is Frances LOVELACE late the wife of my nephew John LOVELACE.  So from that I learnt

• given Ann & Margaret were unmarried John's mother was likely called ? OWEN - so far I've found no LOVELACE + OWEN marriages

I found the burials of Margaret & Ann OWEN but I found no John LOVELACE in Standon or Staffordshire more generally.  John LOVELACE and Frances (surname unknown & marriage eludes me for now) baptised the following children who are named in Ann OWEN's will:

• Matilda (1791) St Andrew Holborn
• Ann (1793) St Andrew Holborn 
• Lucretia Betty Margaret (1801) St George Bloomsbury
• My 3 x great grandfather John (1808) Standon Staffordshire 
• Marcus Brutus Owen - Standon Staffordshire (baptised 1816 but obviously alive in 1811 when Ann did her will) 

There is also a John Junius Brutus son of John & Francis baptised in 1806 in St Andrew Holborn but I am unclear if this John died or if my John was baptised twice.  My John consistently gives Standon Staffordshire as his birthplace in the census.

I looked at the Index to death duty registers on findmypast.  For some reason I only originally did 1810-1811.  Recently I tried 1812 and found John Lovelace, administrator Francis Lovelace, Standon Staffordshire, Bishops Court of Lichfield.  Bingo.  I emailed Lichfield Record Office and after paying my photocopying fee this week received the administration which provides the death date as 23 May 1811 & that he was late of the parish of Standon.

Now where is he buried?  And how old was he?

Sarah Ann Palmer - death found in 1904

After recently listening to the Genies down under blogging stuff for genies podcast I was thinking it was about time I posted on my blog.  Then I received my Inside History magazine and saw the article by Jill Ball Entering the blogosphere and was reminded about so many great blogs that post much more frequently than me!

So I'll start blogging again by talking about the UK death certificate I received in the mail this week.  It's for my great great grandmother Sarah Ann PALMER (nee WENMAN).

When the UK 1911 census first became available in 2009 I searched for my PALMER ancestors.  I could not find Sarah.  I found her 4 daughters - 3 married , 1 single.  I guessed Sarah had died between 1901 and 1911. So I looked for her death.  From the 186 Sarah Palmer deaths 1901-1911 there were still 15 aged 60+- 5 years.  Could I be sure the death would be registered as Sarah Ann?  In 1901 she was living in St Pancras.  None of the 'possibles' were registered in St Pancras.  I decided to leave it to see if some other evidence came to light.

Fast forward to 2012 - I was tidying up some of the information about the Palmers on my ancestry tree.  I came across a burial in St Pancras Parish Chapel for Finchley Cemetery for  Sarah A Palmer in 1904, aged 60, residing 114 Camden St.  I should immediately have known this was the right one as my great grandmother Agnes PALMER was residing at 114 Camden St at the time of her marriage in 1902.  However, I'd forgotten that.

Instead I saw a P at the end of the entry in the death register & thought maybe that means pauper.  Does it?  Well it worked for me.  I browsed the London Poor Law records for Saint Pancras Workhouse admission and Discharge register, 1902-1906.

I found the same Sarah Palmer ie age, address the same but with added occupation caretaker. As her 1901 census occupation was caretaker I was pretty sure I had my Sarah. She was admitted 15/12/1903 and discharged 18/12/03.

So to the death indexes. There was only 1 of right age in right quarter of 1904 but district Southwark?? I decided to order it.

Around 3 weeks later it arrived & I quickly opened it to confirm it was definitely the right one. Sarah Ann Palmer died in Guy's Hospital which explains why the registration was Southwark.