Posts by David Haywood
Last ←Newer Page 1 2 3 4 5 Older→ First
-
Have been out and about today with my friend and colleague Emma Hart.
I imagined that Emma would be the Watson to my Holmes, but then I discovered her special affinity to cemeteries. Emma shot about the place like an especially energetic Nancy Drew finding all the graves, while I lumbered behind her like a tired bear.
At any rate, the above is the Coleman's very flash grave (the spire is currently down from the earthquake) in the flashest part of the cemetery.
Also have the wills of Alington, George Coleman, and a divorce affidavit from Mrs E A Winter. Will post these later tonight...
-
Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to Dianne Mitchell,
Interesting that Eliza called her daughter by George Hildebrand…..Hilda.
It certainly points to Hilda being Eliza’s daughter. Also Hilda’s middle name “Annie” was the middle name of Eliza’s deceased daughter to Winter.
Link to suicide in March 1908, in Christchurch of Frederick KENNARD. More tough times for Eliza possibly.
Oh dear.
-
Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to Lynley Chapman,
A perusal of the Will of George Hildebrand Alington might offer something too:
Will do, Lynley!
I’m intrigued about why the documents were at that house.
So am I. But possibly the thing that hid the documents was originally part of another house...
-
Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to SteveH,
Yes, she must have been getting help from somewhere. If she had all the kids with her she would have been caring for six under the age of 10 when George Alington gave her the 20 pounds.
Not to mention paying Stringer & Cresswell all the legal costs for her divorce, and a whole stack of newspaper adverts advising the errant husband of her plan to divorce him.
I’d wondered if the legal costs at Stringer & Cresswell had been funded by Alington. Is there any way to read the £20 receipt in this light, i.e. does the "in settlement" imply previous payments?
-
Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to SteveH,
Those two certificates could well rule out a connection but are less likely to be convincing in terms of confirming a connection. Records that old will only have ages, which are often imprecise, so it won’t be a definitive as birth dates would be.
Darn! What a shame they don’t have DOBs.
Your timeline certainly seems plausible, Steve. But it’s a real mystery as to where the heck all those children went. Eliza couldn’t possibly have had them with her during all that, could she?
I wonder if the children to Winter and (initially) her baby to Alington ended up with – for example – the same relative, who called the baby ‘Winter’ so as to fit the baby in with her half-siblings. Perhaps the relative/carer was known to the Colemans and that is how the adoption took place.
I’m back to speculation again…
-
No problem, Ngaire, I've also uploaded the second and final page of the will for you (above)...
I've also been wondering about the timing of Mrs E A Winter's divorce. Could there have been a plan for her and Alington to marry? Perhaps the Alington family intervened to make the introduction to Alington's eventual young and wealthy wife (she was already related by marriage to the family, as I recall).
Mind you, I'm well into the sphere of speculation by now...
-
As per Lynley Chapman’s suggestion, I’ve looked up the will of the Mrs George Coleman (Amelia Mary Coleman) cited in the adoption letter (see attached).
It states that Eileen Winter Coleman is the “legally adopted daughter”, which gives absolute confirmation of the connection. There appears to be no other adopted child, so the adoption receipt from Wellington presumable is the proof of the “legally adopted” status of Eileen.
Incidentally, Eileen appears to inherit what must have been a considerable fortune (George Coleman’s estate was valued over £20,000 on his death) – good news considering her troubled start in life.
I’m still not entirely convinced that there is only one Mrs E A Winter (or rather that Mrs E A Winter (nee Webb) is the same person as E A Webb). I don’t suppose any expert genealogists could rustle up a copy of Miss E A Webb's marriage certificate to Mr Webb (which presumably would give her date of birth) and then a copy of Hilda Annie Webb’s (Eileen’s presumed birth name) birth certificate. If the date of birth for Mrs E A Winter (nee Webb) and E A Webb are the same then that would put everything to bed.
I’d also be interested to know how we could establish Mrs E A Winter’s address in Methven when she conceived Eileen – that could be very revealing.
I’m intrigued that apparently the Colemans changed their adopted daughter’s name so that it included her birth mother’s surname – it doesn’t seem to quite make sense. Also the fact that they lived a stone’s throw away from the birth mother at one point.
I feel there is still quite a bit more of the story to be discovered.
-
Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to ngairedith,
Captain Coleman was for a long time a member of the Christchurch and Ashburton Bowling Clubs. He was also a Justice of the Peace for Ashbuton District
Mrs Coleman, and an adopted daughter, survive the deceased
Gosh, Ngaire, you're a genealogy machine!
So all those apparently different George Colemans are actually the same person -- excepting the farmer in Amberley who had a different middle name (and who I'd already excluded).
And you've found the link to the adopted daughter. Case closed on that one, too!
I'm half-jealous and half-annoyed by your skill at finding out this stuff. As you can see from the attached JPG, I'd actually done a search for George Coleman in the Ashburton Guardian around the time of his death, and nothing comes up! It only finds the obituaries when you search for the surname by itself. I guess I've learned a lesson here.
Anyway, many thanks -- that's a huge contribution to solving the mystery!
-
I’ve had another email from Ngaire directing me to her genealogy page:
http://www.familytreecircles.com/draft-2-49232.html
According to Ngaire’s research we now have a birth name for Alington’s daughter: Hilda Annie Webb born 9 December 1891 (note that the birthdate doesn’t quite match the DOB for Eileen Winter Coleman given earlier in this thread, and that the mother is listed as Eliza Anne Webb as opposed to the spelling apparently used by Eliza Ann (nee Webb) Winter). [UPDATE: apparently the BDM database is notoriously unreliable and Ngaire always confirms any data on her genealogy page from other sources].
Interestingly, Ngaire claims that Eliza Ann (nee Webb) Winter gave birth to three children between abandonment by her first husband and marriage to her second husband. Eliza must have been a real ‘people person’, I guess. Although again the birth certificates for two of the children (Alington’s daughter and a boy) give her name with a different spelling than she appears to have normally used.
I’ve also asked Ngaire how she made the link between Alington and Eliza Ann Winter, which I imagine will be an interesting story in itself. My bet is that Eliza was Alington’s housekeeper. I’ve also asked about the George Coleman JP (not a captain) on the adoption letter, and the wealthy Captain George Coleman (not a JP) who has been fingered as the adoptive father. These are still important mysteries to be resolved, I feel!
-
Southerly: Who was George Hildebrand…, in reply to SteveH,
Based on these dates I wonder if it was Winifred’s impending birth that triggered the adoption.
Great sleuthing, SteveH!
Actually, I wonder if Alington's marriage on 12 April 1893 might explain the payment he appears to have made to the child's mother on 21st December 1892. Probably the first rule in organizing a wedding is to prevent the mother of your illegitimate child making an appearance!
But your dates of the wedding and Winifred's birth put paid to my admittedly unworthy hypothesis that Alington may have knocked up his soon-to-be-wife as well.
