Genealogy Story – Finding Lizzie Evans

Earlier this evening someone posted on a picture on my family tree of my father’s father and step-mother (Erskine and Elizabeth [Evans] Russell) that this was a picture of her great-grandmother and she wondered how other people who had that picture were related to her. This was a bit of a shock to me, as the person posting the comment was from England and I did not have relatives there. After a few back-and-forth messages, she seemed pretty certain that her grandmother had been born to Elizabeth Evans in 1921, just two years before my [step]grandmother (I’ll just call her my grandmother in the below to keep it simple) came here to the US and that Elizabeth had left her young daughter behind.

I didn’t have a lot of information in my family about Elizabeth’s life before coming to the US, but I decided I needed to do a “crash course” of ancestral research about her so I could converse more intelligently about her and see if this might be true. The below are the results of that research (ignoring all the rabbit trails that didn’t lead anywhere).

[Picture of Erskine and Elizabeth]

 

My Starting Point

I had a few documents as a starting point – my grandmother’s obituary, the 1930 and 1940 census, her naturalization paper, and the ship’s register from when she arrived. I also had a single English census record that I had thought might be hers. I decided that I needed to take a very close look at all of these.

Obituary – this listed her date of birth (June 3, 1885) in Sheffield, England, and that she was the daughter of Stephen and Eliza Evans. Her name was given as “Mrs. Elizabeth (Evans) Russell”.

Census records – In the 1930 census she was listed as single, living in a boarding house, with the occupation of dressmaker (this will be important later). She married my grandfather (who had divorced several years earlier) in 1932, so in the 1940 census she is married and no longer has an occupation.

Naturalization Application – She became a US citizen in 1928/1929 (applied in 1928, final approval given in January 1929). The document gave her date and place of birth, the date she came to the US, etc. Nothing new there. But, something I had never paid a great deal of attention to before as that her name on the paper was “Lizzie Evans”, not “Elizabeth Evans” and she signed her name the same way. Was this not just a nickname?

Looking at the document online, I also noticed that it appeared that there was information on the backside that was showing through faintly, so I advanced to the next page (something I had never done before). There, in addition to her signature under the oath to her new country, was another “Order of Court Admitting Petitioner” where she was at the same time applying for a change of name from “Lizzie Evans” to “Elizabeth Evans” which had been granted by the judge. Ah, so a good clue – Lizzie was not a nickname, it was her legal name back in England and she did not become Elizabeth until a few years before marrying my grandfather! This was to prove to be a useful clue

[Naturalization name change]

 

Passenger List – the passenger list for the ship Belgenland on August 4, 1923 had Lizzie listed on line 6. It matched the information and date given in her naturalization paperwork. She listed herself as a 38yo single lady who was going into “Domestic service”. Her immediate past address was in London and she was going to Waterbury, CT. On the back side of the page, it said that she was going to 94 Harvard St, Waterbury to be with her “Aunt Mrs William Scholey”. I had seen this before, but had never taken sufficient time to explore and see if I could verify this “aunt” connection. But now there was more of an urgency to do so as I could use the information to confirm if I had the right person.

[Aunt William Schonley]

 

Where to next?

Looking in the US – I decided to get my confirmation information first, i.e. to see if I could establish the identity of Lizzie’s aunt. I made the assumption that the “aunt” relationship was the key one and that Mrs. Scholey was a sister to Lizzie’s father or mother.

Using census records for Waterbury, I found that Mrs. William Scholey’s first name was Florence. I then found information about the family and discovered that William and Florence are buried in a cemetery in Waterbury (one where several of my relatives are also buried). In looking at the gravestone (thanks findagrave.com), it was very helpful that it gave the information as William Scholey, Florence Bennett (i.e. her maiden name), and their daughter Naomi was also buried with them (she was listed in the household in the 1930 census). So now I had a date of birth, a date of death, and the maiden name of Lizzie’s uncle and aunt. This didn’t help me find Lizzie in England, but would be a confirmation when I had a more complete picture.

Looking in England – Now it was off to England – and see if I could find traces of Lizzie’s life there. I had searched several years ago, but that was using what I now knew to be the incorrect name, i.e. Elizabeth. Let me use Lizzie instead.

Lizzie is a much less common name, so in looking around Sheffield (her listed place of birth) I quickly found some promising information in the 1891 census. There was a Lizzie Evans of the right age (5), together with her father, Stephen, and an older brother Ezra. No mother however. Did that mean that her mother, Eliza, died when Lizzie was just a baby? File that information, and let’s move on. Also, the census record was for a place called Attercliffe in Yorkshire. A quick check of the map reveals that Attercliffe is a small place about 2-3 miles from the center of Sheffield, so that’s consistent.

[1891 census]

 

Let’s check for census results in following decades, 1901, 1911, 1921…

In the 1901 census, at age 15, Lizzie is no longer living with either parent. Instead, she is living in St. Pancras, a part of greater London a little more than a mile north of the Thames River and Big Ben. The census shows her as having been born in Sheffield, so we know we have the right person. The other people in the household are Fredrick J and Maria Spark, her uncle and aunt, and her cousin Frank Spark. Lizzie is also listed as a dressmaker (remember how I said that would be important).

In the 1911 census, Lizzie is still at the same location in St Pancras. Her uncle is listed as Fredrick John Spark, Maria is no longer there, and Lizzie’s cousin Frank is still at home. Lizzie’s occupation is listed as a milliner. Ok, and now we have yet another family relationship – either Fredrick or Maria Spark – to see how they fit into the final picture.

Finding relatives – Finally, I decide to go the other direction in the census and see if I can find anything more about Lizzie’s family by looking for her father Stephen in the 1881 census, possibly with Lizzie’s mother. I quickly found what I was looking for.

In the 1881 census for Attercliffe, Stephen is living with his wife, Eliza, and their 10-month old son, Ezra. Thus, I now have confirmation that this is the right family with both parents matching the information in Lizzie’s (Elizabeth’s) obituary. But, fortunately, living with Stephen, Eliza, and Ezra is a 10-yo girl by the name of Sarah Jane Bennet, who is listed as a sister-in-law of Stephen, i.e. a sister of Eliza. Thus, we also find that Eliza’s maiden name is Bennet[t], i.e. the same maiden name as Florence [Bennett] Scholey back in Waterbury! Pay dirt!

[1881 census]

 

Building out Lizzie’s Family Tree

Now, having the legal names, dates-of-birth, and places of birth (neither were originally from Sheffield, so my long-ago searches for them there had not found them) of Lizzie’s parents, it was a fairly quick set of searches to find the families of both Stephen and Eliza and who their siblings were.

On the Evans side, Stephen’s siblings were Alfred, Louisa, Eliza, and Maria. Maria’s age matched the age of the wife of Fredrick John Spark, and some further quick checks confirmed that relationship.

On the Bennett side, Eliza’s siblings were Florence, Elizabeth, and Mary Ann. Again, a quick check revealed that Florence had married William Scholey and moved to the US with him.

I haven’t yet found all the dates-of-death, but here is a quick synopsis of Lizzie’s life:

·       1885 – born to Stephen and Eliza [Bennett] Evans in a suburb of Sheffield

·       Sometime before 1891, Eliza dies

·       1891 – living with her father Stephen and older brother

·       Sometime before 1901, Stephen also dies

·       1901 – Lizzie now living with her father’s sister, Maria, and Maria’s husband and son in London. Even though she is quite young, Lizzie no longer going to school, but has picked up a trade of dressmaker.

·       1911 – Maria now dead, but Lizzie still with her uncle Fredrick and cousin Frank

·       1916 – Fredrick dies. Lizzie, now an orphaned spinster in her 30s, moves out on her own and is living elsewhere in London

·       1923 – Lizzie is invited by her mother’s younger sister, Florence, to join their family in America. She makes the voyage to the US by herself and settles in Waterbury, CT. Perhaps she stays with her aunt and uncle initially, but she supports herself as a dressmaker and moves into a rooming house about a mile away in the center of the city.

·       1928/1929 – Lizzie becomes a US citizen and changes her name to Elizabeth

·       1932 – Elizabeth marries Erskine Russell, about 10 years younger than herself with two children from a former marriage (children are living with his former wife, then later with his father and step-mother until the children marry).

·       1970 – After 38 years of marriage, Erskine passes away. Lizzie follows him in death just 6 months later.

I am now satisfied that I have “found” Lizzie Evans, the woman I knew as “Nana Russell” growing up and whom my parents called “Aunt Bess”. She had a difficult life growing up, losing her mother, then her father at a young age. Being taken in by an aunt and uncle, then having them die as well – and all this by the time she was 31. Then being invited by yet another aunt and uncle to come to America, she worked to support herself here, finally marrying at the age of 47. But then she got to spend the last 38 years of her life in a stable relationship.

Aftermath and Learnings

This was my first time at doing detailed ancestral research using non-US record collections. While similar to using US records, one has to get used to what sort of information can be found in which collections. So my knowledge base has been expanded.

I have also learned that one should not leave partial, unverified, results in one’s tree. That one “possible” census record for Elizabeth Evans that I left attached to my grandmother’s record in my family tree as likely the cause for what I have now seen as a couple of trees of UK individuals who used it to attach my grandmother and her picture to their family tree. I sent an apology to the person who posted a comment on my grandmother’s picture and want to do so for any others who may have used that picture incorrectly.

But, more importantly, I now have completed the “story” of my grandmother and her life and preserved it for others.