Can You Help?



Did Elizabeth Smith have any connection with Wales?

I've heard a very exotic story about Elizabeth Smith, involving an aristocratic ancestry and an elopement from Wales. But the census evidence is far more mundane, saying she was born in Wandsworth (although I haven't yet found a baptism that looks like it's hers). Can anyone cast any light on the roots of the stories?


Where did David Dear come from? Where were he and Margaret Perrow married?

David and Margaret's eldest daughter was born in Newcastle upon Tyne (according to one census entry), and a David Dear, engineer, born in Scotland was widowed there in 1845. Were the two Davids the same? How did Margaret come to move all the way from Falmouth to Newcastle? And exactly when and where was Margaret junior born?


Who are the gentlemen in these pictures?


This picture belonged to Freda Sibyl Williams. My father tells me it's "Robert Fiveash", but if so which one?
Unknown Fiveash Gentleman


This picture was found behind a photo of Alice Chapman which belonged to her daughter Mabel Alice Newland. There is a resemblance to Mabel's son Denis Raymond Olliver, who is presumably a descendant, but which family does this man belong to?
Unknown Newland? Gentleman

(Jayne Shrimpton, who gave a very interesting and informative talk on dating family portraits at WDYTYA Live 2011, has suggested to me that it is from a small photograph which has been enlarged and touched up with pencil, and probably dates from the 1850s or 1860s.)

Who was Annie Fiveash Chapman?

The informant on Charlotte Jane Fiveash's death certificate is A. Cottle, niece. But when Annie Fiveash Chapman married Alfred Cottle in 1892 her father was stated to be Robert Fiveash Chapman, Engineer, and in 1891 she was living with Charlotte and Robert and described as Robert's sister - even though she was born around 1874 when Robert's mother was 73 and his father had been dead for six years! Was she Robert's illegitimate daughter? And if so, why was she so close to Robert's wife?


How was Emma Hanson/Giles/Gallini related to Robert Fiveash?

The informant on Robert Fiveash's death certificate is E. Gallini Niece. But I can't find any evidence that Emma (or her husband) was related to Robert.


When and where was Thomas Upton born?

Thomas Upton was born about 1863, but I've been unable to locate a birth certificate for him.
SOLVED! His birth name was Albert Thomas.